New Blood
by JFalcon
Summary: For three years the ninja of Konoha and their allies have fought a losing battle. When Konoha becomes so short handed that Shikamaru must train a Genin squad no one could have predicted the effect he and his team would have on the war. ShikaTema
1. Enter Team 10!

**Disclaimer:** The writer of this story does not own Naruto or any of its characters. All characters in this story not from Naruto are original characters created by the writer, and in no way borrowed or stolen from anyone else, and similarity to persons real or fictional is purely coincidental and entirely unintentional.

**WARNING:** This story takes place thirteen years after Naruto's "time skip" and as such the characters are older, the Genin of Shikamaru's team are original characters, most of the villains are original characters, that said enjoy if you dare.

**New Blood **

**First Scroll: The Next Generation**

**Chapter One**

_**Enter Team Ten!**_

Iruka glared at his class. "From this day forward you are no longer mere students of ninjutsu, but full fledged shinobi." He'd said this before. "But among the ranks of the Shinobi you are mere novices, the lowest of the low. Your greatest challenges all lie ahead."

He looked out at the students, oh so many of them wouldn't make it. "Normally we would assign you all to temporary teams of three to be evaluated by a Jounin . . . those deemed unworthy would be sent back here for additional training. I've received word from the Hokage that this will not be the case this year." Iruka almost choked on the words, not because it was a break in tradition but because he was meant to pretend that this wasn't being done because Konoha's ninja were coming close to being wiped out . . . every novice Genin was needed at this point and most of these kids would die because of this desperate act. "You're all exceptionally skilled," Iruka forced the words from his mouth. "There are thirty of you, and you'll be assigned to ten three man squads." _One or maybe two of which will survive if we're lucky_. Iruka thought.

He read the names off of all the squads, they'd been balanced as well as he and the Hokage could manage but he couldn't help feeling like he was sending more than a few of these kids to their deaths.

He came to the final three names, "Finally . . . Sarutobi Yomiko, Hatake Kotaro, and Ishida Naomasa, as you've probably deduced, you're squad ten."

He looked at the three young faces, Sarutobi and Hatake, the children of Asuma and Kakashi . . . Ishida came from no notable ninja family but maybe he'd stand a chance on the same team as these two.

Heck most of these kids were the children of powerful ninja that Iruka knew well . . . it gave him hope for their survival yes, but it would also make the loss, and having to explain to their parents that he hadn't properly prepared them for life as Genin, that much harder if anything happened.

Not that the death of a child was ever easy to accept. And these children were, despite all appearances, soldiers. Shinobi trained and ready to serve Konoha . . . and he could see it in their eyes. Each and every last one of them was proud and pleased to have reached the rank of Genin, some of them were whooping and cheering even, and Iruka kept himself from scolding them.

Since the war had started there were so few reasons to celebrate anything, let the children be happy for now, who knew when they might have such a chance again.

* * *

Yomiko squirmed in her seat. She couldn't believe it; at last she was finally a Genin.

Well okay she'd been a Genin for a few days now; Iruka-sensei sure had been keen on letting it sink in while the Hokage assigned them all to their squads.

But now the wait was over, she'd be given a Jounin mentor, or teacher to guide her down the path of being a ninja, and she was ready to report for duty.

She'd spent so much time practicing and training to be able to pass whatever test her Jounin teacher would throw at her that now that she knew no such test would occur she felt . . . well, relieved.

She felt her heart skip a beat when the doors opened and a Jounin with red tattoos on his face entered. If the tattoos were anything to go by he was from the Inuzuka clan, and the pair of huge dogs that followed him in confirmed it.

"Alright," He said, "I'm Inuzuka Kiba, where's squad four?"

Yomiko slouched a bit, so that wasn't her Jounin mentor. Too bad because she was eager to get started, and a punctual sensei would have been great.

Next came a rather pretty woman with foreign clothing and her hair in a double bun. She smiled a cheerful, pretty smile and Yomiko felt her whole heart leap with joy. A _female_ mentor, oh the joys of learning from a woman, a fellow Kunoichi, they could be like sisters and--

"Oh I could just take you all home with me, I remember when I was like you, brimming with youth. But anyway I'm Tenten, who's from team two?"

Rats.

So Yomiko waited . . . and waited.

She sighed as teams one through nine were all called, and over the course of the hour that _that _took she stole more than a few appraising glances at her teammates.

There was Kotaro; he'd had rather good marks in the academy. He had spiky, silvery white hair and wore a coat that went down to his ankles when he stood up. He wore a mask over his face and some sort of claw pendant tied to a rope around his neck. Yomiko hadn't noticed him wear that before so it'd probably been something his parents got for him after he got promoted to Genin . . . maybe it was a family heirloom.

Then there was Naomasa. He didn't have brave and noble ninja for parents so Yomiko hadn't bothered to pay any attention to his marks. Medium length black hair, brown eyes and nothing really significant to note about him aside from the fact that for some reason he, a merchant's son had decided to abandon his comfortable life of wealth to become a Shinobi.

Yomiko wondered _when_ her teacher would finally show up! Whoever it was he had better be worth the wait, better be someone legendary, like Hyuuga Neji or something.

She began to pace back and forth by the third hour, everyone else was gone . . . aside from herself and her team. She looked out the window and groaned, "What's going on? Where's our new sensei?"

"Maybe he was assassinated." Kotaro said cheerfully, "Ambushed on his way here by a vastly numerically superior force, he fought bravely but in the end he was overwhelmed and with his dying breath he used a final Jutsu that wiped out his killers and destroyed his own body, leaving nothing but a crater."

"Uh . . . yeah, that's not likely." Yomiko scoffed.

"Well . . ." Naomasa said calmly, "he was probably on his way when he met an old woman who needed help crossing the street, and then he ran into a little girl whose cat was caught up a tree, and then there was this dog see, and its owner had fallen down a well. While trying to save the boy however he fell down the well himself and now needs _our_ help if he's going to get out."

"Now that doesn't even seem possible!" Yomiko scoffed.

The door suddenly creaked open, and master Iruka came in. He looked quite surprised indeed, "What are you three doing here?"

"Waiting for our Jounin to show up!" Yomiko burst out.

Their former sensei looked at a clip board, "Team ten . . . team ten . . . ah. Well that explains it." He laughed and shook his head, "You'll have to forgive him, he'll be here soon." Iruka said.

"How do you know?" Yomiko asked, "It's already been three hours."

"Yes . . ." Iruka said calmly, "But you see the clouds? They're getting black, it'll rain soon. He'll come then."

"Oh really?" Naomasa raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry I'm late." A bored voice said as a young Jounin entered the room. "It's troublesome, but there was this kid lost down a well . . . and then I was attacked by assassins."

"I'm half surprised you showed up at all." Iruka laughed. The young Jounin shared the older man's hair style, and wore black clothes and the leaf village flack vest; he wore his head band around his arm instead of his head.

"But weren't you just telling them I'd be around sooner or later?" The Jounin smirked.

"Just to ease their little minds," Iruka-sensei laughed, "I would have sent them home if you weren't here by the time the rain started."

The Jounin smirked now at Yomiko and her teammates, "Ah, I take it by your confused looks you don't know who I am . . . but I'd have thought Yomiko would remember me . . . you were six weren't you? The last time I saw you." He sighed, "This is going to be . . . so troublesome." The Jounin looked at Iruka, "I know one of them too well, so I can't lead this unit."

"They're hand picked for your command by the Hokage, you know that." Iruka said, and Yomiko felt a little bit of a thrill. So the Hokage, the_ Hokage_ had hand picked her for this Jounin's team?

Well it must be because both her parents had been Jounin, as well as Kotaro's . . . there was no explaining Naomasa but maybe his parents had paid the Hokage for the privilege. Yes this Jounin must be top mark, strong and powerful indeed.

"Well anyway this is Nara Shikamaru; he'll be your mentor." Iruka-sensei said with a smile.

"Commanding officer is more like it." Shikamaru-sensei sighed.

Yomiko gapped. "Nara Shikamaru? _Nara Shikamaru_! I know you!" She exclaimed.

"I would hope so; I was a close friend of your family before the war started." Shikamaru said.

"You're the legendary Konoha Lazy Ass Ninja!" Yomiko wailed in shock, "I've been hand picked to be trained by the Legendary Laze? Oh master Iruka what did I do wrong? Did I fail the last test? What's to become of me?"

Iruka just sighed.

"A drag, isn't it? I know just how you feel." The Legendary Laze commented.

* * *

Juukei Keiji looked at the small army he'd amassed for the sake of Iwa.

Of course it wasn't a legion of thousands upon thousands of warriors . . . a small group of six ninja was all it was. Four Chuunin, or Journeyman ninja, and a pair of Jounin or Elite ninja, himself and his brother Toshiie.

In an age where just this small group of ninja would have been enough to turn back an army ten, perhaps twenty times their size, such armies were unnecessary save in the most desperate of situations. The war was being fought, and for the last few years _had_ been fought by small armies such as this one.

A six man army readily capable of destroying a little border town like the one before them.

But Keiji liked the idea of inspiring fear in the hearts of those fire country villagers bellow him. "Formation B." He said to his team and he waved his hand.

The Chuunin dispersed, Toshiie slapped him on the shoulder, "Don't waste too much energy, brother . . . remember this is only a warm up."

Keiji grinned wickedly as his brother left . . . he looked at the village . . . how like people the animals living inside of it looked.

Beasts that resembled mothers bidding their offspring "goodbye" as they went to school . . . animals that resembled husbands holding, or kissing their wives as they left to work in the fields . . . ah how like people these animals looked.

Well they were Fire country and so their lives were forfeit. Perhaps they understood it was part of the risk of building a town near the border . . . perhaps they assumed they would be left alone because they were no threat.

And if they were _people_ that might have been true. Perhaps if they'd been beings whose lives had a value greater than trash Keiji's team might not even have considered the annihilation of this village.

But now, simply to whet their appetites for blood, simply because his strike team needed to get some target practice in, a "warm up" as Toshiie had so eloquently put it . . . well for that sole reason all of these _things_ that so resembled _people_ were going to die.

Down to the last smiling child.

Keiji began his Jutsu; the rocks around him began to move, to take shape, to grow . . .

Toshiie had said not to waste too much energy . . . so he only made a dozen stone golems.

Forged to look like armored warriors on horseback the invulnerable stone minions raised their spears in salute to their creator, and Keiji bade them forward.

There was a cry of alarm . . . the attack had begun.

And it might even be over quickly since just as soon as Keiji and his strike force decided they weren't having any more fun . . . they'd kill the last of the villagers and move on.

**To Be Continued . . . **

**Note: **Yomiko is the daughter of Asuma and Kurenai, and Kotaro is the daughter of no one. He is however the _son_ of Kakashi and Anko. Years ago when this story first began both their fathers and mothers were still alive in the manga, and Kurenai's pregnancy was pure speculation, I chose to write her a daughter based on the possibility that she and Asuma might get together and then he met up with Hidan which ended . . . well most fans know how that ended. Much later Kurenai's pregnancy was confirmed in the manga and I'm sure she'll end up having a son, but I really don't care. This is a Fan Fiction. Believability is key but even the most believable fan fiction is still fan fiction so let's not split too many hairs over this.

I also want to thank all the readers and reviewers and non-reviewers who helped make New Blood such a blast to write.


	2. Enter Tombugiri!

**Chapter Two**

_Enter, Tombugiri!_

Shikamaru sighed as his eyes opened of their own free will, despite his best efforts to convince them to do otherwise.

What time was it?

He didn't know.

Or maybe he didn't care. It was one of the two.

He yawned and looked over to the other side of the bed . . . nobody there . . . well he wasn't surprised. She usually wasn't there, but sometimes she surprised him so he held out hope most every morning . . . he wondered if that was romantic or just pathetic.

He'd worry about it later.

Well . . . he knew he had something he was supposed to be doing. He stared at the clouds as they drifted past his kitchen window . . . slowly he sipped a glass of orange juice . . . coffee would only wake him up fully and he didn't feel like he wanted to be fully awake just yet . . . besides actually preparing the coffee would be too troublesome.

He saw a cloud that looked like the number 10 . . . his old days as a member of team 10 came to mind, he smiled weakly at the memory but for some reason "team 10" kept ringing through his head as if it should be significant . . . had Chouji and Ino decided on the old group getting together today?

No . . . it wasn't that. Ino was away on a mission.

Team ten . . . team ten . . . he remembered the good old days with Asuma-sensei and the old Ino-Shika-Cho team . . . yeah . . . now if he remembered correctly Asuma-sensei's daughter Yomiko had been assigned to a ninja squad just yesterday . . . in fact it was squad ten, kind of neat coincidence really.

Shikamaru laughed softly to himself, from what he remembered of little Yomiko just six years ago she was really sure of herself, having two Jounin parents tended to do that to a kid. She would probably be hard to actually teach and Shikamaru took a moment to pity whatever sorry loser had got stuck leading the new team ten . . . and slowly, very slowly the horrible truth sank in.

"Oh . . ." He whispered, and looked at the time . . . he might have only been an hour late if he hadn't sat around doing everything in his power to remain in a state between sleeping and waking. Might be only an hour and a half late if he left now, even though he wouldn't.

He knew he had to go, he just didn't see the need to be too quick about it, after all, he was already late, it wasn't like getting there any sooner would make up for it.

Maybe next time he'd go through the trouble and make that coffee.

* * *

Yomiko glared at her sensei from across the room, he was sitting in a chair-incorrectly, she might add, he was leaning forward against the back like some hoodlum-and watching them with a very bored expression. "So . . . how does this work?" He asked.

"Well gee, you're our sensei, you tell us!" Kotaro laughed, obviously he thought Shikamaru-sensei was kidding. Yomiko knew better. The Legendary Lazy Ass would be a disappointment at every opportunity, she bet.

Shikamaru-sensei scratched the side of his head and thought out loud, "Let's see . . . how did he do it? Ah yes . . . I want you all to start by telling me your names and a little bit about yourselves."

"Like what?" Naomasa asked.

"Well your hobbies, your goals . . . anything you like . . . just don't talk my ears off." Shikamaru-sensei responded.

"Well you go first and show us how it's done, Sensei." Kotaro said.

"I could do that. But it'd be too troublesome . . ."

Yomiko scoffed, "Fine then, _I'll_ go first." She said, and Shikamaru-sensei shrugged. "Well _I_ am Yomiko, of the Sarutobi clan if you must know. I like to do my best at everything I attempt, I _hate _quitters and la-" Yomiko stopped herself before she could say "lazy people" and instead said "La . . . lakes. My hobbies include practicing Genjutsu and my chakra control. My goal is to become a Jounin just like my father and mother."

Shikamaru-sensei nodded. "Interesting." He said without any emotion or even the slightest hint that he was impressed. "Now you." He said, waving his hand vaguely at either Kotaro or Naomasa, the two boys were standing next to each other . . . it was almost as if he was too lazy to pick a specific speaker.

Kotaro took the opportunity to speak up, "I'm Kotaro, of the Hatake clan. I'm the kind of person who doesn't feel like talking about his likes and dislikes. My dreams for the future are none of your business . . . but I don't really have any hobbies."

"Ha-ha! I want to answer like that! Can I answer like that, Sensei?" Naomasa asked.

"Why? What's so great about that? He didn't even tell us anything!" Yomiko cried.

"Fine. I like to read, and I like snakes. I dislike bossy girls." Kotaro said, and Shikamaru-sensei gave a slight nod of agreement.

Yomiko folded her arms and "humph"ed them.

"My goal for the future is to master a thousand Jutsus like my father . . . I really _don't_ have any hobbies."

"Wouldn't mastering Jutsus be a hobby?" Shikamaru-sensei asked.

"I didn't say I _enjoyed _it . . . it's just something I need to do." Kotaro whispered.

Shikamaru-sensei nodded. "How about you then?"

Naomasa shrank a bit, "Well I'm Ishida Naomasa, but you can call me Nao. I dislike snobs, people who don't know when _they're_ the impoverished ones. I like to have fun, I guess that's my hobby too, just having fun. My goal in life is just to be a good ninja, and help protect this country from the war."

Shikamaru-sensei nodded to him and said softly "So . . . now that we all know each other so well I guess I'd normally concoct some diabolically cruel test to see which of you clowns is worthy of becoming a ninja and which of you needs more training . . ."

"But you cant!" Yomiko cried, raising her hand and waving it in the air, "Because the Hokage wants every Genin to pass this year!"

"That's right. So I'm stuck with the three of you for good." Shikamaru-sensei said with a yawn.

"Or until somebody dies." Kotaro pointed out.

Shikamaru-sensei nodded, "True, but I have no intention of allowing that to happen . . . even if you are a bothersome bunch." He got up out of the chair and rubbed his hands together, "Well you know what this means . . . time now for my diabolically cruel test."

"B-but you _can't_!" Yomiko protested.

Shikamaru's expression became annoyed, "I can't _fail_ anyone, that's true. But I can see for myself where you all stand, and maybe teach you a few things while I'm at it. Man this is going to be a drag . . . but I've got no choice, tests like these, more specifically the things you'll learn while taking them can someday be the difference between survival and death . . . so you see miss Sarutobi, I _can_ and even though it's way too troublesome I _will_."

"Well this stinks, I didn't even study." Naomasa griped.

"That won't matter." Yomiko said, matter-of-factly. "It's a survival test."

"Don't be so sure." Shikamaru-sensei said. "Come with me . . . we're going to the market place."

* * *

"Temari-sensei!" Kyoko screamed, Temari's eyes snapped open and she leapt out of her tent, a kunai in each hand, half dressed and ready to kill whoever was harming her student.

"Temari-sensei!" Kyoko cried, hiding behind her, "They're teasing me with a beetle!"

Temari's eye twitched as her other two Genin, Yukio and Ryu laughed, Ryu had a rather large beetle crawling on his palm.

"Just a bit of fun, sensei." Yukio said with a wink.

Temari would kill all three of them. "Ryu!" She snapped angrily, ignoring Yukio, "Damn you Ryu, stand still!"

"Hehe! Why?" Ryu asked.

"That _thing_ on your hand is poisonous, if you startle it it'll secrete a toxin that will leave you paralyzed for days, and we can't afford to drag you along with us! We'd have to leave you to die." Temari snapped, "Stand still!"

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" Ryu gasped, "Get it off me, sensei! Get if off me!"

"I cant, it's watching me too closely." Temari said.

"It is?" Ryu whimpered.

"Yukio, you need to get it off him . . . but don't touch it!" Temari said.

"Y-yes sensei." Yukio said, suddenly no nonsense.

Temari bit down on her thumb while Yukio went about trying to prod the beetle off of Ryu's hand with a kunai. With her other hand she held a finger to Kyoko's mouth to keep her quiet as she began her jutsu.

"Ah, don't piss it off Yukio!" Ryu screamed.

"Shaddap."

"C'mon man I don't want to die!"

"Shaddap! I almost got it . . . here we go!"

Temari completed her jutsu and Kamatari the weasel appeared before her.

She glared at him and nodded towards the bushes while motioning her eyes towards the boys.

Kamatari sneered and disappeared into the bushes.

"I'm gonna die! Just leave me here, but tell my sister I died fighting a thousand Cloud ninjas!"

"We're on our way to Konoha, you won't meet any Cloud nins around here. Besides, it paralyzes, it doesn't kill." Temari said in a sarcastically comforting voice. "We'd be the ones who kill you, to make sure any passing Stone Shinobi don't get any secrets out of you once we leave you behind."

"No, sensei!" Ryu moaned.

"Got it!" Yukio said, flicking the beetle onto the ground, then stomping on it. "There, you're okay."

"Thank you! I owe you my life!" Ryu said.

"The beetle is nothing," Temari said, trying to sound relieved, "The flesh eating ferrets that hunt them on the other hand . . . well they're much worse. A single bite from them and you're one dead little brat. So anyway I hope you've learned your lesson about teasing-oh my gosh, look out!" Temari screamed as Kamatari leapt out of the bushes and landed on Yukio's head, the boy fell to the ground screaming, and Ryu leapt back, also screaming while Kyoko and Temari laughed.

"A ferret? I'm insulted." Kamatari told her over the screams.

Temari smirked at the weasel, trying to stop laughing "Sorry 'bout that." She told him, but to her students she stood up tall and strong, "Now stop crying you big babies, and don't tease Kyoko any more. Some day you'll stop being annoying preteens and you'll be awkward teenagers, and you'll be begging her to be _seen_ in your company so don't screw things up now. And don't wake me up again!"

"But sensei you said you wanted to be woken up before sunrise if you weren't already up . . . and it's almost noon." Kyoko said.

Temari's eye twitched again, "Why didn't you wake me then?" She asked Kyoko.

"Well I went in there to wake you, but you just moaned 'wake me up later Shika-kun' and when I tried shaking you, you nearly gutted me with one of those kunai you were holding a moment ago." Kyoko said dryly. "So who's Shika-kun?"

"Shaddap." Temari grumbled. They were lucky they hadn't been attacked while she was asleep. They were in Konoha's territory, but awfully close to its border with the Rain country, which meant that they were right on Iwa and Konoha's battle line.

Iwa had been trying for almost a year to wipe Suna off the map, they were close to succeeding too. Ninja from the Stone and Sand villages always fought to the death on sight, that Temari's students were mere Genin wouldn't have deterred any Iwagakure ninja.

They were a merciless lot.

* * *

Kotaro frowned when they reached the market, it was bustling, which was not at all unusual. It was the weekend, most kids were enjoying themselves, in fact he could see some of the other Genin amongst the crowd, doing just that.

Not Kotaro and team ten. No they were working, and it'd make all the difference. Sure Yomiko said this guy was the Legendary Laze, but it didn't look like any of the other teams were training. They would be on top of all the other teams because of their tireless training efforts.

"Look at this," Nao groaned, "It's almost noon, all the other teams finished their first day of training and we havent even started yet."

Oh . . . okay that made sense too . . . maybe they _did _have a lazy sensei . . .

Kotaro made a face and said "We're going to break for lunch, right?"

The Laze frowned at him and scratched his head, "I guess if you guys do well enough I'll buy you lunch. But if you fail to impress me, we'll go out for survival training and you'll all miss lunch. How's that?"

"No fair!" Kotaro protested.

"Hmm. Is that what you'll tell the Cloud ninjas as they kill Nao or Yomiko? It's not fair?" The Laze shrugged, "Life's not fair, war is far from fair, if you can't stand to miss one meal you're just not cut out to be a ninja." The Laze put his hands in his pockets and yawned "But don't worry, I'm incredibly easy to please . . . and I want this to end just as soon as you do, so let's see . . ."

"You mean you brought us here without a plan of action? What are we doing here if you don't know what we're doing here? We could have stayed where we were!" Yomiko cried.

"Don't be silly. It's a bit of a pain but I already know what you're supposed to do. I'm the teacher, remember? Now stand back . . . I don't really like doing this but it's important to know what you're all capable of I guess." Shikamaru-sensei grumbled, he bit down on his own thumb until he drew blood, then traced a design on the ground, "Now . . . lets see what you've got!"

Yomiko blinked when the meanest, scariest looking weasel she'd ever seen appeared before her.

However Nao raised his hand and instead of asking The Laze where the rodent came from he said "Why's it wearing clothes, sensei?"

"I don't like naked weasels." Shikamaru-sensei said.

"Oi! You're not my boss!" The weasel complained.

_Haha . . . yeah it freakin' talked, _Kotaro thought. He was _so _outta there.

But Yomiko and Nao stopped him from running off, each stomped on one of his feet and the shame he felt overrode the creepiness of the talking weasel situation.

If he didn't die from it, he'd probably thank them.

"All right, now I admit I borrowed this little fellow from a friend of mine," Shikamaru-sensei was saying when the weasel cut him off.

"Little? I ain't little, if that's how you feel I might as well just go back!"

"But you'd miss your chance to have fun with these Genin if you did that, Tombugiri." Shikamaru-sensei smirked at the weasel, and the little weasel decided to stick around after all, it looked eagerly at Kotaro and his teammates, "Besides, summoning you takes less chakra than my usual ally, so be glad you're seeing the light of day."

"One of these days I tell ya, one of these days!" Tombugiri growled.

"So even when you're training us you're doing the bare minimum?" Nao gawked.

Yomiko shrugged and said "What do you expect?"

"He is the Legendary Laze." Kotaro agreed.

"Never mind that. Anyway Tombugiri here is going to play a little game of tag with you. He's going to hide and flee from you in the market place. Your mission is to show me your ninja skills by capturing him without causing any disturbance to the nice people doing their shopping."

"But it's packed!" Nao protested, "How will we keep from causing a disturbance?"

"A Shinobi must be able to stealthily accomplish a mission even in a crowded area . . . or something. Just do it, don't be irritating. Did I mention I'm giving a full day off to whoever brings me the weasel?"

"That's gonna be me!" Nao cried, "I can't lose!"

"_Please_, the weasel is _so_ mine!" Yomiko scoffed.

Kotaro frowned . . . couldn't they work together? No, if Shikamaru-sensei wanted them to do that he'd have told them so, this was a solo operation.

He cracked his knuckles, "Well as long as it promises not to bite me I'll bring it in first."

"I promise nothing!" Tombugiri cried.

"You're still here?" The Laze demanded and the weasel scurried off, he looked at his watch, "So . . . off you go kids."

**To Be Continued . . .**


	3. Setbacks

**Chapter Three**

_Setbacks_

Keiji smirked as the dust settled, the small village was nothing but an empty old ghost town now, "Well everyone , how was the exercise?"

"Interesting . . . turns out there was a team of Genin here in town, I questioned one of them before I killed her, took quite a bit of persuasion to get her to talk, but I think the information I _did_ get out of her was reliable. It would seem that there is still a Jounin, but she was headed for Konoha, left a day ago. Should we look for her?"

Keiji shook his head, "That's not our mission, Toshiie."

"But if she finds the village like this," Toshiie began to protest.

"You said yourself that she was headed for Konoha and was already a day ahead of us meaning she's already half way. She doesn't know what happened to the village, and even when she gets back we'll be on our way. Never mind her."

"All right . . . I guess." Toshiie grumbled.

"I know it seems like she's gotten away," Keiji reassured his blood thirsty brother, "but our mission is what's important."

"I know Kei-uh, I mean sir. But . . . if we'd razzed this place just a day earlier I might have had a chance to kill someone _worth _killing."

Keiji grinned, "They're _all_ worth killing. But I know what you mean. You could have been killed too, and if we're going to accomplish this mission I'm going to need you, Toshiie."

"Yes sir." Toshiie slumped.

Keiji nodded and called out to the team, "All right, lets get a move on, continue to the target."

* * *

Naomasa moved stealthily through the market and entered a candy shop.

He could see Tombugiri on a top shelf helping himself to some candy that Nao was almost certain he hadn't paid for, the merchant in him disapproved but the ninja in him was pleased because the weasel would be distracted. He moved as quietly as he could, tried to look like he wasn't up to anything and slowly approached the magical weasel.

Then . . . unfortunately he discovered that trying to look like you're not up to anything while you're a twelve year old kid in a candy store always makes you look like you're up to something.

"Hey kid! Either buy something or get the heck out of here, and stop looking over your shoulder! Yeah I've got my eye on you!" The store owner shouted.

Tombugiri looked down and spotted Naomasa . . . well if he wanted the weasel now he'd just have to go for it. He leapt for the top of the shelf, "Come here you!" He shouted, but the weasel leapt away and in the process somehow managed to cleanly slice the shelf in half, causing candy to fall off, but Naomasa ignored it.

Kotaro and Yomiko were the children of elite ninja, they might have to live in the shadow of their parents, but at least people knew they'd be great. Naomasa was a nobody with no ninja blood to speak of, he had to do better than them, had to show everyone that he'd be a good ninja without the gift of genealogy

So in the name of all nobodies everywhere, or everybody nowhere, or whatever, he leapt. He leapt and grabbed Tombugiri, he leapt and grabbed his future . . .

He fell . . .

He fell and hurt his back.

"Oi that looks like it hurt, mate. Here you go, nice try." The weasel tapped its foot on his chest and shoved a candy in his mouth, which actually _did _make him feel a little better, then it scurried off.

Naomasa groaned and struggled to his feet, he meant to run off after the weasel but a strong arm caught him by the collar and the fat candy store owner glared down at him, "You gonna pay for that?" He demanded.

Oh that sneaky weasel had shoved that candy into his mouth to stop him from chasing after him. Nao quickly fished into his pocket and gave the man some money.

The man glared at him, "Well this is enough for _one _candy . . ."

"I only _had _one!" Nao protested.

The owner pointed to the ruined shelf and the shattered jars and broken boxes of sweets all over the floor.

"You break it you bought it . . . so will that be paper or plastic? Don't think that just because you're a ninja with your silly little headband that you don't have to pay me!"

Naomasa gawked at the large pile of candy and tried to calculate how much money it was going to take him to pay for all of it . . . a real ninja would have been able to escape without paying . . . and since Nao didn't have the kind of money this was going to take anyway . . . what was he going to do?

He reached into his pocket again, "All right, all right, I've got your money."

"I doubt it." The shop owner sneered, "But let's see."

Nao pulled out a pair of flash pellets and threw them at the ground, he then swept his leg backwards, kicking the shop keeper in the groin, the man groaned and freed him.

Then Naomasa ran, he ran as if his life depended on it and when he heard the shop keeper shout "Police! Police!" He figured it probably did.

* * *

Yomiko spotted the little weasel run out of a candy store, shattering a window in the process and heard the owner scream "Police! Police! My store is ruined!"

She smirked as Nao came running out of the shop. Well if the police got him that'd be one less competitor to worry about in the struggle to capture the little weasel, so she ignored her companion's need for aid and instead set off after Tombugiri.

She followed and the little creature ran over to her and ran around her feet excitedly, she tried to catch it but it was just too fast.

Then it leapt up onto the counter and ran across, every bowl of ramen it passed however was cleanly sliced in half, spilling its contents . . . sometimes onto the people who'd been trying to eat them.

How was the little cretin doing that? Yomiko ran after it but the ramen shop's owner, a bald old man said "Now just a minute, are you going to pay for the mess your pet has caused?"

Yomiko scoffed, "My pet? You're crazy, that little monster just uh . . . it just trashed my dad's candy store, I'm trying to catch it myself, and whoever the owner _is_, they're in for it once my dad gets his hands on them!"

"You expect me to buy that obvious lie?" The ramen peddler demanded.

"Hey!" One of the customers cried, "The sweets shop down the street looks like its been broken into, and I saw the owner screaming about a boy and a weasel!"

"See? A boy, not me! Now if you'll excuse me I have to go catch that weasel for my daddy!" Yomiko said.

The ramen peddler nodded and gave her a thumbs up, "All right then, go. Go and when you catch him bring him here so I can give him a piece of my mind too!"

She nodded and ran.

As she left she heard the cook say "Such a dutiful daughter! I wish I had one like that!"

"Hey, wasn't that Sarutobi Asuma's daughter?"

"Eh?"

"Sarutobi Asuma, you know the Jounin who . . ." and that was all Yomiko heard of it before she'd gone out of ear shot.

Or so she thought at first, but when the owner screamed "**STOP HER! POLICE! POLICE! THAT GIRL AND HER PET HAVE JUST RUINED MY SHOP**!" She heard him loud and clear.

To make matters worse she had lost Tombugiri, and if she stopped now to look for him she might get nabbed by the police for something that wasn't even her fault, she knew if she could catch the weasel and force it to tell them the truth she'd be okay though.

So she ran on, hoping to catch a glimpse of the weasel.

Man had she totally blown the whole "don't cause a disturbance" mission objective.

Still it was kind of cool that someone had recognized her and knew who she was, who her father had been . . . that kind of made her famous . . . it was neat.

* * *

Kotaro could hear a buzz going through the market place, police were everywhere and people were loudly murmuring about some kind of trouble going on, but Kotaro just wanted to find his target . . . that spooky little weasel.

He didn't care about anything else, he had to honor his mother and father by proving that he too could someday become a Jounin, and if he couldn't do this how would he face them?

He kept his eyes peeled, searching in every direction, he briefly wished his father had had the wisdom to marry a member of the Hyuuga clan, then realized that really he'd come out of his mother so maybe _she_ should have had the wisdom to hook up with a man from Hyuuga . . . but then his last name would be Hyuuga and he didn't really care for that name, after all Hatake was what he'd been raised with and he was rather used to it.

Now Uzumaki, there was a name both stylish and demanding respect, maybe his mother should have gotten it on with that Uzumaki guy.

There was kind of an age difference, and Kotaro might have ended up being about five years younger unless his parents got it on while his would be father was fifteen or sixteen, okay so maybe his mother hooking up with _the _Uzumaki Naruto wasn't such a good idea.

In fact imagining his mother hooking up with anyone, his father included was kind of giving him this creepy grossed out feeling, how did he get into this line of thought? Where was he going with it? Was it worth the fact that he'd vomit blood if he went any further?

And what was he supposed to be doing again? Oh yeah, looking for some kind of weasel.

Where to begin, how would he-

"That's him! He's the mastermind, he told us to do it, he was in on it the whole time, if you want to keep us from causing more trouble take him away too!" Yomiko screamed, Kotaro turned around and saw Miko and Nao both held firm by a pair of shinobi police, another one stood glaring at him.

"What are you talking about?" Kotaro demanded.

"If we cant get that weasel we agreed you're not getting it either . . . sorry." Naomasa said.

Kotaro blinked, "B-but-"

"There's no proof that this kid has anything to do with the trouble you two have caused, until he does something we can't take him away." The fifth officer said.

Then Tombugiri the spooky weasel leapt onto his shoulder.

"What the-" The officer blinked, and Kotaro charged, he'd get that weasel, he'd get that vacation.

He leapt and both hands shot out, Tombugiri leapt into the air, landed on his head and scurried down his back, Kotaro however kept going and barreled into the officer.

"Ah! Well that's assault," The officer said with a dark grin, "a whole team of Genin, now that's a prize. They'll promote me for this, you rotten little trouble makers."

So Kotaro fell into line with his teammates as they were dragged off towards the prison if they were lucky, their parents if they weren't.

"Thank's a lot Miko." He scoffed.

"Bite me, Taro." Yomiko scoffed.

"No talking!" The cop cried and whacked them both on the head.

Nao snickered and then he got hit too.

* * *

"Getting kind of late sensei . . . can we stop for a bite?" Yukio asked.

"We're almost there . . ."Temari said, calculating. It was a few hours past noon, it would get dark soon . . . ninja could travel in the dark of course, preferred it really.

And she wanted to reach Konoha as soon as possible . . .

But the Genin did need to eat . . . and no matter how hard she pushed them Konoha was still a day away.

She nodded slowly, "All right. We'll stop for one hour. Eat, rest, take care of business, then we continue. I want to get another five miles before we call it a day . . . I know of a good camp ground." Temari said honestly.

During her time as a go-between for Suna and Konoha she'd worked out certain paths and resting points that few others knew about.

Aside from leaf Shinobi familiar with the area anyway.

They had been leaping through the trees and her Genin all stopped in various trees now to rest and eat some of their trail rations.

"So who's Shika?" Yukio, who was in the tree nearest to her asked.

"Yeah! I want to know too!" Kyoko cried, leaping out of her own tree and landing on Temari's branch.

"I'm not talking about it now." Temari said flatly.

"Please, sensei? Just a bit? Is he a Konoha Shinobi, or is he some kind of ambassador from Suna?"

"Of course he's from Suna, Temari-sensei wouldn't date a leaf ninja! That's not even legal . . . is it?" Ryu asked.

Temari sighed. "Not really. Not during times of war. And anyway who said anything about dating? Nobody is dating anyone, in fact when we get to Konoha you kids keep your hands to yourselves, you get me?"

"Yes." The three of them said.

"So sensei . . . about Shika?" Kyoko spoke up.

"Can't you see Sensei is busy keeping watch?" Temari demanded before leaving her Genin team so she could establish a quick perimeter and make sure that no one came within earshot of her loud mouthed team.

She was starting to wonder about them. Her original plan had been to deliver the message they'd been assigned to deliver to Konoha, then ditch them somewhere safe and spend some time with _him_, but now she was thinking they might try to follow her or something, they were far too interested in her personal life.

She smirked. Maybe she'd introduce them to Shikamaru after all, see how he was with kids . . . and see if he, with his impressive intellect, could think of a good way to ditch them for a few hours.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	4. Ino's Team

**Chapter Four**

_Ino's Team_

Shikamaru stared up at the sky and wondered what she was doing just then. Where she was, if she was thinking of him.

Maybe he was whipped.

But man did he miss her. He _could_ get up off his butt and go see her . . . but she usually showed up on her own if he waited long enough, and he _was_ the legendary Lazy Ass Ninja so . . .

"Knew I'd find you here." A voice said, Shikamaru turned around to see the speaker, and was only slightly disappointed when it was Naruto.

Not that he had anything against Naruto, the man was one of his closest friends, he'd just been hoping it'd be . . . _her_.

"Well I'd hope you'd be able to find me, I mean you are the legendary Konoha Whirlwind." Shikamaru said.

"And you're the legendary Konoha Laze!" Naruto laughed.

"Yeah, that name's kind of a drag. So . . . what brings you here?" Shikamaru asked.

"Nothin'. Can't find Sakura-chan, thought I'd come see how you were doing with the team. Uh . . . where are they?"

"I dunno." Shikamaru shrugged.

"Yeah . . . I know you weren't too enthusiastic about leading your own Genin team." Naruto said.

"How did you manage it?" Shikamaru demanded, for Naruto had been assigned a team of Genin five years ago and all of them had since become Chuunin, one in fact, was a Jounin.

Naruto shrugged, "I just thought that if I cant lead a three man team, cant keep them safe and protected who was I to become Hokage?"

"You've got a point." Shikamaru admitted, "But I don't know what to teach these kids, my list of Jutsu is pretty short . . . and teaching is just so troublesome."

"Well my team did well. After we got to know each other it was easy, they learned more things on their own than I ever taught them, all we sensei really need to do is teach them the basics and see what kind of characteristics they have. Nurture them into the great ninja they're destined to be and impart any wisdom we can to make them even stronger."

Shikamaru stared at Naruto, and scoffed "You're just quoting what someone else told you, aren't you?"

"Yep, Sakura-chan." Naruto grinned.

Shikamaru grinned back, Sakura might have the right idea. He'd just sit back, give basic guidance and see what kind of abilities these kids developed . . . maybe.

"Are these yours?" Neji demanded. Shikamaru turned to see Neji and Hinata escorting his three students, who all looked rather dejected.

"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata squeaked.

"Naruto?" Kotaro gapped.

"_Uzumaki_ Naruto!" Yomiko cried.

"_The_ Uzumaki Naruto?" Naomasa gasped.

Naruto frowned and scratched his head, "Uh . . . what's this?"

"These three were arrested for robbery, destruction of property, and assaulting a law enforcement official." Neji said with a slight smirk.

Naruto's jaw dropped, "You're off to a good start with them, Shikamaru!" he laughed.

"They all said they were trying to catch a weasel, summoned by their sensei-that's you by the way-which leaves their sensei equally responsible and guilty of all three counts. Senesi in this case being _you_, as you know." Neji was trying not to laugh, Shikamaru could tell.

But as if he needed to remind Shikamaru that he was their sensei. "So you're going to try to arrest me, eh? I won't go quietly, now I'll show you why being a sensei gives me the advantage, Hyuuga! Children, attack!" Shikamaru cried dramatically, and all four adults laughed while the three kids just kind of stood there sharing uncomfortable, confused glances.

"Look, Neji, Hinata-chan, whatever they did the Hokage's office will cover it, Shikamaru's training methods are approved by the Hokage herself." Naruto said, wiping a tear from his eye.

"We know, that's why we brought the kids here, we figured we'd find Shikamaru here." Neji said.

"Good. Hey you guys can help me find Sakura-chan then!" Naruto said excitedly, "I mean if you're not doing anything else."

"Uh sure . . . Naruto-kun." Hinata said, slumping a bit. Shikamaru wondered if Naruto _really_ didn't know about Hinata's attraction to him or if he was just ignoring it. Of course it wasn't like he was dating Sakura or anything . . . even though they did spend a lot of time together lately.

Naruto and the Hyuuga cousins left, Shikamaru was left alone with his star struck team.

"Sensei! You never told us you knew _the _Naruto!" Yomiko cried.

"Never thought it was relevant." Shikamaru grumbled.

"But sensei this changes my whole perspective on you!" Yomiko said.

"Really?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah! Now your weak laziness is even more pathetic because you're friends with the toughest ninja in the village, aside from the Hokage!"

"Okay listen here you troublesome girl," Shikamaru began but Kotaro spoke up.

"Now you're going too far Miko!" Kotaro snapped, and Shikamaru folded his arms, glad that one of his students was rising to his defense. "Uzumaki Naruto is easily as strong as the Hokage, if not stronger!"

Okay, so much for that.

"Well maybe, but that only makes our sensei more of a looser!" Yomiko cried.

"Oh no, I agree with you there!" Kotaro scoffed.

Shikamaru could feel his eye twitching, "Okay then . . . this concludes your training for today . . . off you go."

"Hey wait a minute, that's it? That's all our training?" Yomiko demanded, "I don't get to learn a Jutsu or anything?"

"No . . . you don't." Shikamaru said, watching a cloud that looked kind of like a like an hour glass.

Maybe it was an omen?

"Is it because we think you suck?" Kotaro asked.

More eye twitching. "No. It's because I'm tired and bored, go home." Shikamaru said honestly.

The girl stormed off, and Kotaro followed after her, though he was in a much better mood and even said "Excellent! Now we can just hang out like everybody else!"

"I'm not hanging out with you!" Yomiko snapped.

"Well I wasn't asking you to-"

"Shut up!"

But Naomasa remained behind. Shikamaru glowered, he wasn't going to be troublesome too was he?

"I don't think you're weak Sensei . . . lazy, but not weak." Nao said grimfaced and serious.

"Good. Now run along." Shikamaru said, waving him away.

But the kid didn't budge, "Sensei, if you were over here that means you weren't watching us. How do you know whether or not we displayed proper ninja skills during this test?"

Darn it, Shikamaru was hoping none of them would ask him that.

He couldn't tell them he'd just wanted to ditch them for a few hours.

"I didn't have to. Tombugiri would have told me which of you did well and which of you didn't." Shikamaru said, it was relatively truthful, the little weasel was an adequate judge of character. "He's known some powerful ninja and if any of you displayed good qualities he'll tell me. There's no need for me to waste my time shadowing all three of you." Okay, well that wasn't completely true, Tombugiri wouldn't know a Genin from a Jounin if they wore signs on their foreheads, but Shikamaru had intended to hear his telling of their personalities and abilities, and judge from there . . . or something, really he'd just wanted a couple hours of peace.

"Sensei . . . this war," Nao said, "We're going to be fighting it, right?"

"Not right away if I can help it." Shikamaru said, "You don't need to worry, I'll make sure you're ready. But wars between ninja villages don't last very long, this one has been going on for years, it may be over by the time you're all prepared."

"I hope not." Nao said. "Because I want to fight. And I want you to teach me how."

"Why?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because you're my sensei."

"Obviously. I mean why do you want to fight?" Shikamaru scoffed.

"Because . . . I have to become strong." Nao said.

"For what purpose?" Shikamaru asked in a guarded tone. This wasn't going to be another half-crazed kid seeking revenge was it?

Shikamaru knew what happened with guys like that. Sasuke was a prime example of it.

"Because my teammates . . . they're going to be incredible. The daughter of the Sarutobi clan, the son of the Hatake clan, and me . . . a nobody with not a single ninja ancestor to call on. Their blood lines are powerful and if I'm not as good as them I'm only going to hinder them." Naomasa said.

Shikamaru relaxed a bit . . . so this kid wasn't out to murder anyone . . . that was good.

"Listen here . . . some blood line traits, like the eyes of those two Jounin that brought you to me . . . that can be passed down. But talent? That's another thing all together. Sure being raised in a ninja clan gives you a head start on the basics, and I'd be surprised if Yomiko and Kotaro didn't learn at least one Jutsu from their parents, but that doesn't make them geniuses. You might even be a genius and leave them in the dust."

Shikamaru scratched his head, he wasn't good with this whole "big brother" thing Asuma-sensei had managed with him, "Not one of you has what it takes to be a great ninja right now, that's why I was given command of your tutelage."

"But you won't teach us anything!" Nao protested.

"Who said that? I said we were done for today. And we are." Shikamaru shrugged, "There's nothing more for you three to gain today, you failed your task. You can go off and complain like Yomiko, or talk about how much of a drag the test was like Kotaro, these brave young Ninja scions. Or you can sit and think about why you failed, think about what it might take to succeed next time around." Shikamaru said.

Naomasa was silent, he seemed immersed in thought.

"And while you're deciding which of those paths you want to take," Shikamaru added, "do me a favor and go track down your teammates and tell them to meet me in the market place tomorrow at dawn for your next training session."

"Do you a favor? You just want me to go through the trouble of having to hunt them down while you sit up here napping!" Nao complained.

"Nonsense." Shikamaru scoffed, "I hardly ever nap up here . . . and I don't recommend it. It gets really cold up here at night."

"I'll try to keep that in mind." Nao grumbled and went off, presumably to find his teammates.

"They're all lame. Girl's a loud mouth, the boy with white hair barely tries and the other kid is gullible." Tombugiri said, appearing on Shikamaru's shouder all of a sudden.

"Well we'll just have to fix that." Shikamaru scoffed.

"Wha'chu want em for tomorrow? Another chase? More fun?" Tombugiri asked.

"I haven't decided yet. But I'd better teach them something." Shikamaru said.

"The sooner they make Chuunin the sooner you can ditch them." Tombugiri pointed out.

Shikamaru said nothing, that thought had already occurred to him, he was a genius after all and that was common sense.

* * *

Yamanaka Ino stared at the ruins of the town she had left her team in just a day ago.

Just a day ago it had been a thriving village with easily two hundred residents, all of them charming. She'd left her team behind because one of her Genin had twisted her ankle.

Ino knew enough medical Jutsu to remedy that, but she could tell the kids wanted to use their teammate's injury as an excuse to take a little time off. She had allowed it, after all she trusted them to behave themselves.

Sure she'd had reservations about leaving three young girls alone in a strange town, but she'd trained them for two years, she'd had a good measure of their personalities, and their capabilities. Not one of them would have put herself in a position to be taken advantage of, or forced upon, since they were all Shinobi nearly ready for the Chuunin exams anyone trying to force himself on them would be asking for a great deal of pain anyway.

They were careful with their money and they wouldn't spend their life savings on knickknacks that'd never be of any use to them, and they were well behaved, they wouldn't destroy the whole place.

_They_ wouldn't destroy the whole place.

So she'd go to Konoha herself and report that their mission was complete, a two day long journey, then come back for them, giving them, more or less, the entire weekend to themselves.

She fell to her knees, she'd forgotten her makeup bag that morning and refused to let herself be seen in Konoha without a proper "face" so at about noon she'd headed back to retrieve the bag and her students.

She'd accepted, even looked forward to the fact that the girls would tease her, make jokes and all that, accuse their sensei of trying to look good for her man, and generally act like a group of . . . well, girls.

She'd been looking forward to seeing their faces again, hearing their voices, they were a part of her, like sisters, she couldn't have cared more deeply for them if they were her own daughters.

But the entire town was shattered, bodies lay everywhere, some ripped in half, some crushed.

Closer inspection revealed hoof prints from horses obviously carrying ridiculously heavy riders, Ino felt tears welling up in her eyes, the loss of life here was incredible . . . and if she'd been in the village it was very likely that she'd have died too.

But she might have prevented it as well.

Animals ate at the bodies, some dogs, some birds, more than a few rats. She saw one of her girls, Akiko lying face down in the center of a large bloody stain on the ground, and she rushed over, even though she knew it was through, there was nothing she could do.

Akiko's forehead protector was split down the middle . . . so was her once beautiful face. It was as if an impossibly sharp sword had simply cut her head down the middle. Ino wondered if Akiko had even had a chance to fight back, to prepare herself for her opponent . . . to prepare herself for death.

Ino wept for Akiko while searching for any of the other two, if she could find them . . . maybe they were still alive! Maybe she could save them!

As Ino searched through the bodies her hope began to build. These girls were capable Shinobi, maybe Akiko had been taken off her guard, but Omi and Natsume . . . surely they had fought back, killed some of the invaders and fled into the woods with some of the village's survivors. Ino was almost certain she'd find her other two students alive and well as she searched and found no trace of them.

Until she found Natsume. Natsume who'd always had a joke up her sleeve, always brought a smile to the team's faces. Natsume who now lay impaled on a stalagmite that had erupted out of the dirt road.

Ino fell to her knees and screamed with such pain that one might have assumed she too had been impaled. The slim chance that she'd find Omi was the only thing that gave her the strength to continue her search. A part of her didn't want to know what these monsters had done to Omi, just wanted to chase after them, kill them all, viciously murder them the way they'd viciously murdered her Genin and all the people in this village.

But she owed it to Omi, loved Omi enough to find her first. If there was any chance that Ino could save her she'd do it.

She'd have done anything for these Genin . . . including going against regulations and letting them have a weekend off. Why couldn't she have been more strict this one time? The girls would still be alive if Ino hadn't spoiled them . . . it was all her fault.

No.

Well _yes_ it _was_ her fault, but she refused to believe that they were all dead. Omi might still be alive, she wouldn't give up hope until she found the body.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	5. The First Mission!

**Chapter Five**

_The First Mission_

Temari yawned, it was nearly sunrise, it was time to move out. "All right kids," she said, "I want the camp packed up within seven, I want you three ready to move out within ten."

"Hurry up Yukio, can't you see Sensei wants to see her _boyfriend_?" Kyoko giggled.

"I've been thinking, maybe this Shika person is a girl and that's why Sensei won't tell us about them. Do you like girls, sensei?" Yukio asked.

"Wouldn't surprise me." Ryu laughed.

Temari cracked her knuckles, "And while we do this it'll be an exercise in stealth, so any one of you Genin that says anything is going to get a fan-my fan in fact-brought down on their head."

The three nodded and went to working packing up camp. Temari loved abusing her power and normally would have just sat back and watched the kids while saying things to coax responses from them so she could hit them-lightly-with her fan just for the fun of it.

But Kyoko was right. She wanted to see her boyfriend, she wanted to get going, she wanted everything packed and ready to move out not now but _fifty_ minutes ago.

Her Genin were so shocked when their sensei began helping them pack up that they almost failed to start making knowing winks and nods at one another.

Almost.

Temari in turn almost pretended she didn't see them.

_Almost._

"Yukio, stop winking at Ryu, I won't have any flirting between teammates in this squad!"

"B-but Ryu is a _boy_!" Yukio protested, "I'm not flirting with him, sensei!"

Temari whacked him with the fan.

'Ouch!' Ryu mouthed.

"Dead meat says what?" Temari demanded.

"What?" Both Kyoko and Ryu gagged.

Temari smirked and rolled up her sleeves, "Y'know you're all terrible when it comes to stealth."

"Boo! You're mean Temari sensei!" Kyoko cried, buy Ryu, a bit wiser than Kyoko knew that whining would accomplish nothing and tried to run instead.

He got three paces. But only because Temari was feeling generous that morning.

* * *

Yomiko stretched her arms wide and yawned, "You know sensei, my mother doesn't like the idea of me being out here so early."

"Your mother? She's the one who calls people "idiot" with hardly any provocation right? Who cares what she doesn't like?" Nao scoffed.

"Shut up you nobody!" Yomiko snapped, "My mother was a Jounin, compared to her we all _are _idiots, so don't talk like you know her."

"I know I don't have much patience for people who treat others like dirt the way she does. I don't care if she _is_ a Jounin." Nao said.

"You know nothing! And she does not!" Yomiko cried.

"I can see why a girl like _you_ wouldn't recognize it." Nao smirked.

"What do you know? And mommy only says that to people she _knows_ are idiots!"

"She called _me_ an idiot once." Kotaro pointed out.

Yomiko waved a triumphant hand at Kotaro, "Point proven."

"When you three are done making cracks about each other's mothers," Shikamaru-sensei said disdainfully, "we might get started."

"Okay sensei! What are we going to do?" Yomiko said.

"Why it's your very first mission. D rank, assigned by the Hokage herself."

Yomiko felt her chest swelling with pride . . . her first _mission_.

"If I die, I want you guys to remember the good times we've had as a squad." Yomiko proclaimed.

"What good times?" Taro asked.

"Shut up, _idiot_!" Yomiko scowled.

Shikamaru-sensei shook his head, "Hey, people are sleeping. Anyway nobody is going to die. At least . . . not unless you really, really screw up."

"Of course not sensei!" Yomiko nodded, "But for those of us who have no talent . . ." She trailed off, nodding towards Nao, who bristled angrily, leaving Yomiko feeling absolutely superior.

"Well try not to let your lack of talent hinder the rest of us in the future, Sarutobi." Shikamaru-sensei grunted, and now Yomiko was the one feeling anger, "But this particular mission however has a ninety nine percent survival rate. Your mission objective, my troublesome team ten . . . is to clean up every piece of litter in the market place, and finish _before_ the early bird shoppers arrive."

"This is a ninja mission? _This _is a ninja mission!?" Yomiko screamed, "You're so lazy sensei! You're so . . . so . . . ugh!" Yomiko screamed.

"Seriously, Sarutobi. People. Are. Sleeping." Shikamaru-sensei said coolly.

"I'm going to have to side with Miko on this one sensei," Taro grumbled, "This is a really lazy mission. We want to do ninja stuff."

"Yeah . . . good for you. This mission is approved by the Hokage, who do you think cleans this place every day? Genin teams like this one, that's who. Now understand this, you three made a mess of this place yesterday, it wouldn't be fair to ask, say, team three to clean it up, would it? Show respect for your fellow Shinobi, and pride for your village by cleaning this place and being the first team to complete a mission. It's that, or you be the first team to fail a mission, but the mission has been accepted, so I suggest you get to it."

"And what will you be doing, sensei?" Taro asked.

"I'll be helping you of course, so don't think I get any pleasure for this little mission. But a good Jounin mentor is willing to get his hands dirty right alongside the students . . . I suppose."

"Well at least we don't suffer alone." Yomiko decided.

"Too right. Too right. So you clean that half of the place, and I'll clean this half."

"A whole half? Wow! We had you all wrong sensei, hey I've got an idea, lets make it a race, whoever finishes first!" Taro said.

Yomiko grinned, "And the loser can treat the winners to breakfast!" She said, her teammates agreed.

Shikamaru-sensei frowned, "Well . . . all right. I guess that wouldn't be _too _much of a drag."

"Alright!" The three Genin cried together and got to work.

However, Shikamaru drew some blood from his finger and pulled a scroll out of a holster at his hip. He then grinned at them, and spread his blood over it, and suddenly three great large deer appeared.

"All right boys get to it!" Shikamaru-sensei grinned.

"Hey-hey-hey, what do we get for this?" One of the deer demanded.

"Free food." Shikamaru said, pointing to the litter.

"Uh-ah, you get goats for that!" A second deer said.

"I would, really, but guys . . . those kids there, they don't believe you can do it." Shikamaru-sensei said, "They bet me they could clean half this place before you guys."

"What? How dare they!" The biggest deer demanded. He had large antlers, and expressive if somewhat bored looking eyes, each deer wore a cape of various colors, this one's cape was blue.

"Yeah so . . . get to it." Shikamaru-sensei told them.

Yomiko stared blankly, "How did you summon three deer?"

"With the scroll." Shikamaru-sensei shrugged.

"No but how did you summon three of anything? I mean you're so lazy, how can you possibly have the chakra to call on three deer?" Yomiko demanded, "My mommy tells me that summoning takes a huge amount of chakra, and she mentioned you don't have the greatest endurance."

"Like she'd know." Shikamaru-sensei grumbled. "Anyway I'm a Jounin, so of course I can summon three deer."

"We're a package deal kid, he summons one of us, and then that one summons the second, and the second summons the third." A green caped deer, the smallest of the group, said.

Shikamaru sighed and held his forehead. "Can't you see he was lying to impress his students, Han?" A red caped deer demanded.

"Sorry!" Han cried.

"Anyway let's get this over with." The blue deer said, "We'll show these Genin a thing or two!"

"Whoa man, we never said anything about you deer!" Taro cried.

"Don't patronize me!" Blue screamed, bored eyes becoming blazing fires of hatred, "Don't make me cross this line and kick your butts!"

"There's no line, Jin." Red coughed.

"Just . . . shut up, Wu." Jin sighed.

"Yeah . . . so you guys get on it." Shikamaru-sensei said.

"Wait a minute sensei!" Yomiko demanded, "That's not fair!"

"Again with the not fair." Shikamaru-sensei groaned, "Man you're a bore. Look, ninjas are masters of deception, you've got to know how to pull things out of your sleeve that your opponent doesn't expect . . . or you're dead. So just get cleaning, once these guys get going they don't stop."

"But-but-" Yomiko tried.

"Really, get going. Or . . . did you want to buy _us_ breakfast? 'Cause let me tell you, these three can really put it away. They've got nothing on my best friend but . . . yeah. Anyway call this another test. Show me your ninja stuff, get this place cleaned before they do."

Yomiko could see the deer were already using their antlers quite proficiently to take litter up off the ground and throw it into trash cans. Shikamaru-sensei sat down on a bench and . . . seemed to go to sleep.

Yomiko grinned.

Ninja stuff eh? Ninja were masters of deception . . . and those deer didn't seem too smart.

"All right you guys follow me . . . the Sarutobi has a plan!" Yomiko sneered.

She led them over to the unofficial side of the deer, and pointed at the litter, "Get to it." She said.

The boys stared at her. "What? Look, Miko I'm not made of money!" Taro complained.

"Shut up and do it. Just trust me." Yomiko said.

And obediently the boys helped her begin work on their sensei's side of the market.

"Hey-hey-hey!" Han cried, "That's our side, right? Right Jin? They're cleaning our side!"

"Na-uh!" Yomiko said quickly, "We have to clean this side, you clean that side. Sensei wanted us to clean the side by where he is so that he could keep an eye on us."

"But . . . he's sleeping!" Wu protested.

"Yeah well . . . you know Shikamaru-sensei, am I right?" Nao laughed, and Taro and Yomiko laughed too, as if the deer should know exactly what was so funny.

And the deer laughed . . . though they seemed a little unsure about it.

"Y-yeah. Yeah we know how good old Nara is, yeah. Yeah we _know_! Bwahahahahahahaha!" Jin laughed maniacally.

"Yeah, all the stuff we cleaned here was just . . . you know. Giving you kids a head start, you know? Letting you pull a little ahead 'cause once we get going it'll be a slaughter!" Wu cried.

"Too right!" Han agreed.

And the three deer trotted, or whatever it is that deer do, over to the Genin's side of the market and began to clean furiously.

"Can I get a high five?" Yomiko grinned at her team mates, holding both hands up, "Don't leave me hanging!"

The boys slapped her hands, "Excellent Miko!" Taro complimented.

"Masters of deception." Nao grinned.

"We should clean everything up here, you know? Shikamaru-sensei won't be able to believe it if his side still looks the same." Yomiko told her team.

The boys nodded and they all got to work eagerly cleaning their sensei's side of the market, they became so intent on the work that they ignored the deer on the other side.

The better part of an hour passed, and soon the early shoppers would arrive, Yomiko looked at her team, "Hey I bet those deer are done, let's trick them into going back here then wake up the sensei and announce our victory!"

"You're one clever girl Miko!" Taro admitted.

"Yeah, I do what I can." Yomiko said with a grin.

However once the three looked at their side whatever complementary thing Naomasa might have been about to say came out as a shocked profanity.

* * *

Ino clenched her fist and glared into space.

She'd kill them all herself.

That was a decision Ino had made shortly after finding Omi . . . the upper half of her anyway.

Ino was not sure who had done it, but she suspected Shinobi. Who else could so cleanly annihilate an entire village, and three youths at or near the Chuunin level?

The fact that they had killed all three girls left Ino unsure as to how to proceed. She knew _she _could have beaten the girls, but not without difficulty. These people had, it would seem, killed the girls without much trouble as Ino's inspection revealed that Natsume, who always favored projectiles, had used only a few of her shuriken, Akiko who wielded a blade had indeed drawn it, but there was no blood on it, she had not injured her opponent.

Omi, the group's genjutsu specialist had left no signs of battle, but then that was not to be unexpected, genjutsu did not leave burnt craters or bloody fields.

Ino closed her eyes, her entire team had been killed.

She could not return to Konoha, it was two days away from the village even at her best speed. Still she would need backup for the mission.

She might be able to do it alone, but she did not know what the enemy's strength was. She scowled and closed her eyes, she began to go through the movements for a Jutsu.

"Twin Mind Jutsu!" She cried and suddenly her mind was split, she was in two places at once.

It always gave her a slight headache to suddenly have two separate pairs of eyes so she kept her real ones closed, marking her target for the Jutsu before she even began the signs.

Through the eyes of the crow, Ino beheld herself, beautiful but road-weary.

She quickly scrawled a note with her human hands. With her new crow body she flew down to her human self, and read her note quickly, impressed with her ability to write so neatly with her eyes closed.

It was a note for Chouji, Shikamaru or Sakura, whichever of them the bird found first.

She then planted a strong subliminal desire within the bird to fly to Konoha with all haste, she planted an image of the three ninjas the bird was to seek out.

The crow's subconscious mind-or whatever it had that passed for one, Ino couldn't be sure since she'd never used this Jutsu on an animal before-would force it to fly to Konoha, it would take it the better part of a day.

A day that Ino would spend tracking the murderers, instead of running back home, the note explained the situation as best Ino could on a piece of parchment large enough to fit in the crow's beak without hampering its flying ability to severely, she had also listed a rendezvous point.

Once she found them, she would lead the murderers there, and they would be trapped between her, and the reinforcements she was hoping for.

She could not let them go, could never forgive them. Ino held Akiko's blade in her hand . . . for her fallen Genin this would be the weapon which she used to kill the man who killed them. For them, and for herself, she would plunge this sword into that man's heart.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	6. Change of Plans

**Chapter Six**

_Change of Plans_

Kotaro stared in horror, the deer hadn't cleaned _anything_. In fact they'd knocked a few trash cans _over_ making an even bigger mess of things.

They were brawling about, Jin the big blue deer and Han the little green deer were locking antlers while the red Wu watched.

"Get 'im Wu! Get 'im! You promised me you'd help me get 'im!" Han cried as Jin pushed him back

"Yeah . . . about that . . . I decided the conditions weren't right for the campaign, and withdraw from our agreement." Wu said.

"Aw man! Wu this is the fifth time!" Han complained, then Jin threw him into a trash can, knocking it over .

"I can't help it," Wu complained, "maybe you should stop trusting me."

"Nonsense, you're perfectly trustworthy!" Han cried.

"If you say so." Wu grumbled.

"H-hey!" Miko screamed, "Why haven't you guys cleaned anything?"

"What? Oh . . . we tried?" Jin asked.

"I think so." Han said.

"To the best of our abilities." Wu agreed.

"No-no-no, you made the mess _worse_!" Yomiko screamed, "You . . . what are you doing? Why are you-"

"Geez, Yomiko, I told you people are _sleeping._ Do you know what that means?" The Laze asked.

_Ah crud, _"Sensei!" Kotaro cried, "Uh . . . good to see you!"

"Yeah . . . so . . . you guys messed up." The Legendary Laze said behind eyes that betrayed his amusement.

"Look, sensei we-" Kotaro began but the Legendary Laze cut him off with a grin.

"Thought you'd test out your deceptive skills by tricking these less than clever deer into cleaning up your side of the market place, right?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Nao grumbled.

"Now learn this. A ninja needs to see the deception behind the deception. There is a consequence for everything. You thought you could be clever and talk the deer into cleaning your side, that's good. But did it never occur to you that I might be deceiving you too? Notice how quickly I went to sleep? Do you really think I am _that _bad? No dear Genin, I wanted you to have as much time as you needed to figure out what you could do, and do it. Had you observed them for just a few minutes before approaching them you'd find that they've got incredibly short attention spans, which is totally troublesome to tell the truth, can't really count on them in a battle."

"But there's no way you could have known that we would ask them to work our side, there's just no way!" Miko scowled,

The Laze grinned, "So you took them on, told them to do your work while you did theirs. Trusted me, your enemy, on my word that they would do well. You believed I would not predict your movements, but made every movement that I all but told you to make. You're predictable as the sunrise. If you are to be ninja, if you are to be _good _ninja, learn to see the deception within the deception."

Kotaro grumbled, his father used to tell him that . . . pity he hadn't remembered it.

"To be a good ninja you need to know a lot of Jutsu and kill a lot of enemies." Miko said coolly, "A ninja fights for his country, and dies only after he's used every Jutsu he knows, and is surrounded by enemies."

"Really?" Shikamaru said, a dark somewhat disgusted expression on his face, "The greatest ninja I've ever known died after displaying far less than a thousand Jutsus, and did not kill a single foe in his final battle. But he died a hero, and he'll never be forgotten. His name was Asuma, you might know him Yomiko. If you followed his example you'd be a greater ninja than I." The Laze said.

Miko just "humph"ed him and grumbled "I already _am _greater than you."

"Maybe. Maybe someday you'll be able to prove it." Shikamaru said, and Kotaro could tell from her expression that Miko hadn't meant for him to hear her little comment.

"Nara Shikamaru?" A masked Anbu asked, appearing quite suddenly behind the Legendary Laze.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "Shino?"

". . . please do not refer to me in such a familiar manner. I am an Anbu."

"Right . . . so . . . what do you want?" Shikamaru grumbled.

"The Hokage has assigned you a new mission. Actually . . . it was Naruto who put your name up for this one."

"Naruto?" Naomasa gasped, "Sensei, Naruto can assign missions?"

"His missions are usually pranks." The Laze said, but Nao, Miko and even Kotaro were too busy thinking about how cool it'd be to accomplish a mission assigned by _the _Naruto.

"That is why I felt I should tell you . . . so you know what to expect." The Anbu admitted. Go out to Konoha's gates and await a four man squadron from Sunagakure."

"Suna?" The Laze demanded, suddenly very interested in the mission.

The Anbu shook his head slowly, "I believe so. Uzumaki may just have told me to tell you that so that you would accept the mission."

"You got some grudge against Suna, sensei?" Kotaro asked.

"Who cares? This is a _real _mission assigned by Uzumaki Naruto!" Yomiko cried, "We are honored to accept it mister Anbu-man!"

"What insolence." The Anbu grumbled.

Shikamaru-sensei shook his head, "I'll do it . . . but tell Naruto that if this is just a waste of my time I'll hunt him down and make him hurt."

The Genin all started to laugh, _how ridiculous_, Kotaro thought "Like you could beat Uzumaki, sensei!" He laughed.

The Anbu however just chuckled, "That'd be a sight to see. The Genius and the Whirlwind."

"It's the Laze." Shikamaru sensei corrected.

"Not when it counts." The Anbu said with a nod, and then he disappeared.

Kotaro tilted his head to the side, "What's he talking about Sensei? When what counts?"

"You know; It." The Laze shrugged, "Now let's get a move on . . . I guess. To the gates . . . or something."

Kotaro could think of only two words to sum up his feelings for that news. "Road trip!"

"For the love of all ninja arts, people are sleeping!" Yomiko screeched.

"Both of you shut up. Anyway it's not a road trip, we're walking outside the gate, traveling for about a mile and waiting for some ninjas from the village hidden in sand."

"Sensei, didn't he say to wait 'at the gate'?" Yomiko asked. "Why hike a mile?"

"Because if it is a prank by Naruto, I would rather not be in exactly the place he wants me to be. And if there really is a team from Suna coming, I want to meet them as soon as possible."

"So . . . kind of a road trip, right?" Kotaro asked.

"Fine. Whatever makes you happy. " The Laze shrugged.

"Haha! See, I was right!" Kotaro grinned.

"So what? You're still a loser!" Miko laughed. Kotaro sighed. What an annoying girl.

"Sarutobi . . . it's okay for now, but once we're outside of the gates you'll have to stop." The Laze commanded.

"Stop what?" Yomiko huffed.

"Flirting with Hatake." The Laze said with a bored look on his face.

Yomiko stopped walking and stared, mouth agape at their sensei.

"I was not!" She yelled.

"You've hardly done anything else to him." Shikamaru scoffed.

"I _was _**not**!" Yomiko screamed.

"Does raising your volume get you what you want with your mother? Because it isn't going to work with me." The Laze said flatly.

Yomiko scoffed, "Me? Flirt? Hah! _You_ stop flirting with _me_, Taro!"

What? He hadn't been . . .

"Look for all our sakes you two, keep it quiet until you're old enough to get a room." Shikamaru yawned.

"Okay." Kotaro grumbled. He hadn't been flirting with Yomiko . . . at all. And he was pretty sure she hadn't been flirting with him either, she was just a brat. Their sensei was just trying to be . . . a jerk.

So it was time to pay him back for it . . . "Sensei, are you this mean to your own kids?"

"Don't have kids." The Laze shrugged.

"What about your wife? Are you mean to her?" Kotaro asked.

"I don't have a wife." The Laze yawned..

"That explains a lot." Yomiko scoffed.

"Like what?" The Laze demanded.

"Lot's of things. Besides sensei, you've got tot admit you couldn't get a girl if you tried." Yomiko said.

"Well . . . maybe if you grew a mustache." Nao commented, "Women like mustaches, my dad used to say that."

"Yeah, no way our lazy sensei would even bother to ask a girl out. No way he'd get a girl." Kotaro laughed.

"Oh I can get a girl." The Laze chuckled.

"Oh yeah?" Yomiko sneered "Then have you ever been married? What's that? No! So there, you know nothing!"

"Actually . . ." Shikamaru grinned, then trailed off, "Never mind."

"Wait, what?" Nao demanded. "You mean you _were_ married?"

"Well . . . I was almost married. The most beautiful woman I've ever known . . ." He shrugged.

"What happened? Did she die in the war?" Yomiko asked, her tone suddenly much softer, her sneer had disappeared.

Kotaro himself was interested, what had begun as a plot to discredit his sensei's knowledge of flirting was suddenly offering up an opportunity for him to better understand the man.

Shikamaru-sensei held his hands behind his head as he walked for a while, he was quiet and said finally, "Yeah . . . it was the war. But she's not dead . . . it's just that with the war on we can't get married, it wouldn't be allowed. We were on thin ice as it was during peacetime."

"She's a ninja." Nao reasoned.

"That's right." Shikamaru said.

"What's she like?" Yomiko asked, stars in her eyes.  
"Talented. The woman could level the better part of a forest when she was fifteen," He grinned, "Literally I mean. I think that was the first time I saw her smile . . . it's funny she scared me out of my wits but as troublesome as she was I thought it was the prettiest smile I'd ever seen."

"How romantic . . ." Yomiko sighed wistfully.

"Yeah, you wouldn't say that if you'd been there." The Laze grunted.

"What did she look like?" Kotaro asked, wondering if she was one of the other Jounin that had come to take control of a squad, or perhaps one of his mother's friends.

"Blonde hair, perfect eyes . . . h-hey!" The Laze said in surprise, "That's enough all right? We're at the gate!"

"Hold up! You didn't tell us who she was. Nao said.

"It doesn't matter, you're kids, you won't know who she is." The Laze said, "Now lets get out of here . . ."

"Wait, so tell me again why we're doing more work than we're supposed to?"

"Because I feel like it." Shikamaru said.

Kotaro stared at him, "But . . . you're supposed to be lazy."

"Yes." Shikamaru said simply and offered nothing by way of explanation.

"I have a feeling when Sensei says he feels like doing extra work . . . whatever the reason is, it's a good one." Nao said.

"Are you done sucking up?" Yomiko asked.

"Are you done flirting with the boys?" Shikamaru-sensei asked.

"You know there's a difference between flirting and . . . and . . ."

"Being irritating?" Kotaro offered.

"Yeah! I mean **no**!" Yomiko cried. "I mean between flirting and . . . insulting people!"

"That's very true. Now . . . before you make a racket that ends up marking us to any unfriendly ninjas in the area . . ." Shikamaru-sensei said.

"You're such a jerk sensei!" Yomiko cried.

"I do what I can." The Laze grinned.

* * *

Keiji smirked as he inspected the smashed beetle, "This was a camp site for ninjas from hidden sand. You can tell because of the foot prints, the bottoms of their shoes are Suna style."

"How many?" Toshiie asked.

"Looks like a simple team, judging by the foot prints I'd say it's probably a training squad. What they're doing out here, who knows? But they're not our problem."

"Let me hunt them down." Toshiie pleaded.

"I need you for this mission, Toshiie." Keiji said sternly.

"Brother you can accomplish this mission without me, I want to kill a worthy opponent!" Toshiie whined.

Keiji scowled, "You'll have that chance one we reach our objective."

Toshiie scoffed, but said nothing further, Keiji cracked his knuckles, "As for the sand ninja . . . I'll make it up to you. Once we're through with our real mission, we'll have some _real _fun and burn some Wind villages."

"All right, so long as there's at least one powerful ninja for me to face." Toshiie said.

Keiji smirked, "Just keep focused, I can't do this mission without another Jounin, even if I have the others it's a Jounin I need."

Toshiie nodded. "Our target is that powerful, eh?"

"Yes, but it is vital that we take him, dead or alive. If we fail the Leaf and Sand Shinobi might just end up defeating us in the war."

"But don't we outnumber the leaf and the sand? With our allies the Cloud, Mist, and the lesser countries grass, and waterfall and rain on our side Konoha and its allies are certainly doomed." One of the Chuunin, a spectacled genjutsu user named Hohiro said.

"If there were any sort of coordination between villages regarding attacks I'm sure leaf would be finished by now and Suna on its last legs, the problem is that none of the villages trust each other enough to commit to a full scale assault and leave their base exposed to their allies. Ninja are masters of deception, the Cloud could easily turn on us, which is why we must, we _must_ keep focused on this mission."

"Why?" Hohiro said. "What's it got to do with Cloud?"

Keiji smiled, "You'll see . . . when we get there."

**To Be Continued . . .**


	7. Team Akimichi

**Chapter Seven**

_Team Akimichi_

Shikamaru couldn't suppress a grin as they moved further and further from Konoha.

If it really was her, she'd know where to meet him, and he planned to be there when she arrived, since she'd definitely stop there first just in case.

He sighed when they reached the spot that he and Temari had used as a meeting place countless times, she wasn't there yet.

Naruto wouldn't mess with him like this . . . oh wait, yes he would.

But he'd give it a while, it wasn't like he had anything better to do.

He glanced at the kids, something to keep them occupied and maybe burn off a bit of their energy to keep them from annoying him . . .

"Yomiko, you said you like to practice Chakra control, right?" Shikamaru asked her.

"Yes sir!" Yomiko said, saluting smartly.

Shikamaru nodded, "I want you to climb that tree."

"Oh give me a break." Yomiko scoffed, and she began to climb the nearest tree.

"Good job. Now come back down and do it again . . . without your hands." Shikamaru said.

"Ha stinking ha sensei!" Yomiko shouted.

"He's not kidding, Miko!" Kotaro laughed, "Don't worry it's easy, especially if you weren't lying about the chakra control."

Shikamaru leaned back and nodded, he watched as Kotaro climbed up the trunk of the tree, though it didn't look quite that easy.

"Your parents taught you to do that?" Shikamaru asked.

"Well my dad taught me trees," Kotaro said, "My mom wanted to teach me to walk on water, but we decided against it."

"Why?" Shikamaru asked.

"There's the off chance that if I tick her off she'd drown me instead." Kotaro grinned. Of course you could only see his eyes, it was still easy to tell.

Shikamaru smirked, "Well then since you're such a professional, why don't you teach Ishida and Sarutobi how it's done?"

"Yes sir." Kotaro saluted.

"Sensei, stop calling us by our family names!" Yomiko shouted, "And why are you going to make Taro teach us? Do it yourself, sensei! You're a lousy sensei!"

"Are you still in that tree?" Shikamaru demanded.

"I uh . . . I'm good at getting up, but I cant get down."

Shikamaru withheld his laughter. "Troublesome girl." He said.

He leaned against a tree of his own as the kids began their practice. Despite how eager he was to see Temari though, he found himself watching them, noting their progress.

Through helping the others Kotaro was actually refining his own technique, working the kinks out as he went along it seemed, Nao was learning slowest but that was probably due at least in part to the fact that Yomiko practiced chakra control as a hobby anyway-though Shikamaru was surprised Kurenai hadn't taught her daughter to climb trees along with all the other forms of chakra control the girl must use.

"You're all doing very well, but lets stop the tree climbing for now. Come here, I've got something to tell you." Shikamaru said, and waited for his team to assemble. "Now you all know your basic Jutsus, like creating clones," he said, creating a clone of himself, "and substitution?" He asked, as his clone used the substitution Jutsu and disappeared in a puff of smoke, replaced by a log. "But how is your skill with Shuriken?" Shikamaru asked.

"Passable." Nao said.

"_Exceptional_." Yomiko bragged.

"I'm okay." Kotaro shrugged.

Shikamaru nodded. "Well then exceptional Sarutobi, throw a shuriken at me right now. Aim to kill."

Yomiko hesitated, "Uh, sensei I wasn't just bragging, I really am good."

"I trust you. Now throw."

"Uh . . . you'll die you know."

"Just lay it on me. Pow, right in the chest." Shikamaru insisted.

"Uh . . . okay . . . good-bye then. I hope we get Uzumaki-sensei as our new mentor . . . so long." Yomiko said, then she threw a shuriken at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru's hand whipped out, his own shuriken flew and deflected Yomiko's.

"Uh . . . okay, so what was the point of that? Anyone can do that." Yomiko said.

"Yet you honestly didn't believe that I would? Why were you so upfront about your attack?"

"I thought you wanted to die." Yomiko said, "Or . . . you know, show us something really cool that Uzumaki-sensei had taught you."

"Okay, stop calling him Uzumaki-sensei, he's just plain Uzumaki to you, got it? I'm your sensei."

"It's rude to just call him Uzumaki." Kotaro said.

"He's not here to be offended." Shikamaru yawned. "Well . . . anyway lets see you deflect my attack." Shikamaru told her.

She shrugged and he threw his shuriken at her.

His clone, hiding in the bushes threw a second.

It flew and she whipped her kunai out to deflect it.

"Miko!" Kotaro snapped, throwing his own kunai to deflect the second.

He missed and hit a tree instead. Luckily Shikamaru's clone had aimed for the ground right in front of the girl anyway so it didn't matter.

Yomiko however threw herself behind a log, "We're under attack! Take cover! Don't worry if we can't rely on sensei, I'll get us out of this, you guys!"

Shikamaru's clone emerged from the bushes, and Yomiko swore while the boys laughed.

"The lesson is using your clones to the fullest." Shikamaru explained, "None of you are like Naruto, capable of creating an army of shadow clones, in fact unless Kotaro learned the technique from his father, none of you should even know it."

"He never taught me shadow clones . . . I never asked." Kotaro admitted.

"Well then that settles it. You'll have to use your regular clones. We're going to have a little exercise now, each of you is going to choose a different area of this field and prepare a base. Put in that base a flag. Your job is to protect your base and capture the other two flags simultaneously."

"You're kidding." Yomiko scoffed. "You said yourself we don't know shadow clones, our clones wont actually be flesh and blood so what you're asking isn't possible."

"If you like I can make a base and you can all attack me instead while I take your flags." Shikamaru offered, hoping they didn't want to take that road since it would be incredibly troublesome. "But either way you're going to have to learn sooner or later that attempting the impossible is something shinobi do every day, and succeeding at it is the sign of a good ninja."

"That's deep." Kotaro said.

"Yeah, I think I read it on a milk carton." Shikamaru shrugged.

"That doesn't deal with the fact that all of our clones will just poof away if they get hit!" Yomiko protested.

"So don't let them get hit." Shikamaru shrugged. "Now hop to it! When you three master this I'll arrange for Naruto himself to help me teach you the shadow clone Jutsu, a Jounin level technique." Shikamaru said, and was just a little annoyed at how excited they all looked at the mention of Naruto helping to train them, "Mind you we _are_ waiting for a team from Sunagakure, so don't go leaving any traps that they might stumble into. If that happens and their leader is who I think you'll all be eating your meals through a straw."

"Yes sir!" Yomiko saluted, "What can we use as flags?"

Shikamaru reached into his equipment pouch and produced three summoning scrolls, "Sarutobi you'll protect the scroll that summons Jin. Hatake I want you to protect the scroll of Wu. Ishida you'll be taking the scroll of Han."

"Aren't these too valuable for us to just use in our little game?" Naomasa asked.

Shikamaru shook his head as he tossed each of them their respective scroll, "I can write new ones, and I can summon them without the scrolls too. But if you plan to treat this like a game, you're going to lose. This is serious training, if it's fun then so much the better but what you learn today may someday save your life, especially if you should find yourself fighting this war."

"Yes sensei!" The three of them said, then they dispersed to hide their flags.

Shikamaru smirked, he then pulled out a kunai and made a small cut in his hand, he summoned Tombugiri.

"Oi you're not my boss!" Tombugiri protested again.

"Yeah, yeah I know. She might be here soon though, then you can whine to her about how much you hate being summoned by me."

"Oh finally!" The little weasel cried.

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway the kids are having a little training session . . . I want you to go out there and teach them that even when they think they know what they're up against there's always a chance of surprises."

The little weasel snickered, "Right boss!"

"I thought you just said I wasn't your boss." Shikamaru smirked.

"Eh? Why, whud I say now?"

"Nothing, just go."

"Right, boss!"

* * *

Temari took a sip of water from her canteen, then passed it back to the kids. She tapped her chin in thought.

Konoha knew she was coming, and the Hokage knew about her . . . relationship with Shikamaru.

So it wouldn't surprise her if Hokage-sama had let Shikamaru know that she was on her way. He'd almost always been in the know about her visits and they'd worked out a little place about a mile from the village. A place where they could meet and be alone far from the judgmental eyes of the commoners who'd grown even more suspicious of their relationship since the war broke out.

Temari fought back an oncoming sigh, not wanting her Genin to know that she was getting wistful. She'd go to that place, it was closer than Konoha after all, it couldn't hurt to check.

But then she heard a twig snap.

She bristled and went on her guard.

She continued to keep up a casual appearance, not wanting whoever might be watching them to know that she was aware of their presence, and began to subtly scan for some sign of them while keeping her ears open.

Another snap of a twig, this time much louder, as if someone were running towards them. Temari's head snapped into the direction from whence it came, all her Genin grew tense, and she reached for her fan.

The ruckus in the bushes became louder, and suddenly someone emerged from them, Temari however ignored them when she heard a voice directly behind her shout "Temari-chan!"

She leapt up and over the head of her mysterious attacker and brought a kunai to his back, stopping short of stabbing him.

She smirked, "Akimichi Chouji, you maniac! I could have killed you!"

"Ch'yeah, you could have tried." Chouji laughed, he spun around and grabbed Temari in a powerful, crushing bear hug, "It's been over a _year_!" He said, "What have you been up to? What brings you back?"

Temari laughed and shoved the massive Chouji away, "Just a mission. Gaara wanted me to bring a message to your Hokage. As for what I've been up to, well teaching these three to be Ninjas has been my major focus lately."

"Are you Shika?" Kyoko asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

Chouji grinned, "Naw. Akimichi Chouji, what's yours?"

"I'm Yukio, this is Ryu and Kyoko."

Temari laughed when she saw the three other Konoha ninjas, the first, the young woman who'd emerged from the trees first, Temari remembered was named Tomoko, a tall young girl with dark skin and long braids, her forehead protector around her neck, the way Temari had wore hers at that age.

To the girl's left was a boy named Daisuke, short and pale with long golden curls, somehow he managed to be Tomoko's twin brother. They both wore black outfits, though color was just about the only similarity. Daisuke's sleeves and legs were cut short while Tomoko's sleeves were instead oversized.

Their third teammate was a wide young man with long wild black hair and Inuzuka tattoos, though he, Inuzuka Kyusaku was not accompanied by any dog.

Temari remembered the last she'd seen Chouji's team Kyusaku had been having issues, he was an Inuzuka but he lacked the family's empathy for canines, in fact dogs tended to bark and snarl whenever Kyusaku was around. By the look of him he was starting to learn Chouji's way of fighting instead, he'd been far slimmer last time Temari had seen him. He wore his forehead protector backwards, like a certain straw chewing proctor from Temari's youth.

"I'm Oedo Daisuke, this is my twin sister Tomoko, and our bosom chum Inuzuka Kyusaku."

"Ch'yeah, you need to not use the word "chum" and while you're at it, best not call him your "bosom" anything Dai-kun." Tomoko scoffed.

"Forgive my sister, she's a delinquent and feels that everyone should speak as she does. I daresay-"

"Don't say "daresay"." Tomoko piped.

"I _daresay_." Daisuke insisted, taking Kyoko's hand. "Never before have I beheld such a fetching young desert lily."

"Desert lily? Are you _hitting_ on that twelve year old?" Kyusaku coughed.

"Hm? Oh no I just . . . I'm just so romantic it overflows." Daisuke said.

"Liar." Tomoko whispered loudly.

"I don't have a thing for younger women!" Daisuke cried.

"Yeah, you're not old enough for them to be women yet. You've got a thing for little girls." Kyusaku said.

"Don't say it like that, it sounds creepy when you say it like that!" Daisuke pleaded with his "bosom chum" Kyusaku.

"Don't worry, you're not the only one. Temari-chan likes 'em young, don't you?" Chouji winked.

"Ha, ha, and ha. Shut up." Temari commanded, folding her arms. "He . . . impressed me with his maturity."

"So he is a he." Kyoko observed.

"Pay up." Ryu smirked, holding his hands out as Yukio and Kyoko each handed him some cash.

Temari's eye twitched.

"Uh . . . okay. So are all leaf shinobi losers like these ones Temari-sensei?" Yukio scoffed.

"Losers?" Kyusaku scoffed, "Kido, Tomoko here is the weakest of us and she can break you with both hands tied behind her back!"

"Weakest?!" Tomoko demanded, kicking Kyusaku roughly in the base of the spine.

"Can you believe it's been three years?" Chouji laughed.

Temari laughed too, though she'd thought that Chouji's team would be Chuunin by now, they all had talent from what she'd seen, they'd all schooled the snot out of Ino's team too, though that was probably just because they were a year senior.

Temari remembered these kids had been much smaller when last she'd been here, now they were almost young adults. She had been gone a very long time.

"So . . . judging by the fact that your team mistook me for Shikamaru, I'm going to guess that you haven't seen him yet." Chouji said.

"Nope." Temari shrugged. "We haven't arrived just yet."

"Well that's great, we'll go together. I'll arrive first, I haven't seen my best friend in a month-we've been on assignment-and I know once he lays eyes on you everybody else in the village isn't going to exist."

"Ooh, how romantic!" Yukio jeered, Temari slapped the back of his head.

"It's been over a year Chouji, I'm not waiting any longer. Not for you, not for anybody." Temari winked.

"Ooh, then lets go together. I'll try to leech off your popularity. Maybe try to get him to pay me back some money he owes me." Chouji said, offering Temari his arm.

"Sounds like Nara-sensei is _your_ "bosom chum" sensei." Tomoko smirked.

"I'm now convinced that you don't know what that word means!" Daisuke scoffed.

Temari smirked, "We'll go together. You can escort us in."

"Oh good!" Kyoko squeaked, latching onto Daisuke's arm even though it wasn't offered. "Off we go then!"

**To Be Continued . . .**


	8. Clone Wars?

**Chapter Eight**

_Clone Wars?_

Naomasa smirked when he saw Yomiko's base.

He was sitting in the trees high above the field, he had four clones, one guarding his base, one attacking each other base with a fourth waiting to intercept anyone coming at his base before they actually reached it.

He himself was standing by waiting to attack Kotaro or Yomiko, whoever showed weakness first.

He suspected Kotaro and Yomiko were doing the same thing, in fact he'd spotted Kotaro poorly hidden in some trees not far off.

It would have been a good hiding spot if Nao wasn't high enough above him to see him, the tree's branches shielded him from prying eyes beneath him, not above.

He'd know Kotaro was out if he moved from his position, then he'd just go take his scroll.

Shikamaru-sensei had made it clear that they couldn't take their own scrolls from their base, Nao had made arrangements for that.

A second base, he'd hidden the scroll where his two defensive clones could see it without being close enough to seem like they were guarding it, then he'd forged a scroll and placed it in a slightly more obvious base, the one that Yomiko and Kotaro's clones were even now approaching.

He sighed with relief when Yomiko's clone walked right past his scroll.

The fight began, the clones were really incapable of actual fighting, one hit was all it would take to dispel them, so it was mostly an acrobatics show of dodges and feints.

Except when Nao spotted Kotaro's base he noticed one Yomiko blatantly making contact with anything she could, dispelling a Kotaro clone and nearly eliminating Nao's.

So the real Yomiko was at Kotaro's base.

Nao smirked when he saw Kotaro leave his hiding place to attack Yomiko, he himself remained for an extra second then watched as Kotaro and Yomiko began to fight.

Yomiko seemed to accept that it was the real Kotaro and immediately opened up with some kind of Genjutsu attack that left the young ninja stunned, Nao decided that now was as good a time as any to move.

He threw his kunai at Yomiko and Kotaro.

Yomiko sensed it and threw her own kunai to deflect his, however his other kunai struck Kotaro.

He hadn't meant to hurt him, he didn't want to . . .

Kotaro disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Nao cursed, that hadn't _been_ the real Kotaro, he'd acted too quickly.  
Worse he'd given his position away to Yomiko and the real Kotaro, wherever he was.

He threw himself from the tree, and made a dash for Kotaro's base, Yomiko cursed when he arrived, "Well if it isn't the nobody!" She snarled.

He really hated that.

He wouldn't dignify her with a response other than an attack, he charged for her, she charged for him, she drew a kunai, he drew one as well, their blades struck. He noted how she held hers underhanded, trying to be so darn cool, but it only made it easier for him to overpower her.

She began to make hand seals with one hand, or try to anyway, it was a split second before Nao realized that there was no way she could do that. In that split second of confusion Yomiko's head surged forward and her forehead slammed into his, rocking him back.

But then he felt something grab his ankle, and Yomiko squealed.

"Head Hunter Jutsu!" Kotaro cried and in the blink of an eye Naomasa was buried up to his neck in the ground.

He glared at Kotaro who laughed at them, "Welcome to my parlor said the spider," Kotaro grinned.

"You laid a trap!" Yomiko cried.

"Duh." Kotaro shrugged.

"How?" Nao demanded.

"Well you probably noticed how you could see "me" sitting in that tree right? I mean you kept your gaze on me, didn't move until I did."

Nao felt sick to his stomach. "You were above me?"

"Yeah. I knew Yomiko would come for me first because she doesn't think too much of you, and I guessed you'd hang back and try to look for an opening before you did anything, it was luck that had you take shelter in the same tree as me after hiding your little scroll."

"You saw that too?" Nao groaned.

"Yup. Why'd you think my base was so easy to find? I didn't care if you found it, I got into position instead, I wasn't more than two meters away from you, Nao and you totally didn't know I was there. Then you and Yomiko kept each other occupied while I got into position to use my dad's Jutsu."

Naomasa felt sick. "Yeah, yeah, so you're good, don't shove my face in it."

"You got lucky!" Yomiko snapped, "If I'd caught you with my Genjutsu I'd have won!"

"Maybe. But you didn't and you don't have enough room in your little earth coffin to do the hand signals to cast it again. So . . . I guess this means I win. Serves you guys right for teaming up and ruining my shot at catching Tombugiri."

"Somebody say my name?" Tombugiri cried, leaping onto Kotaro's shoulder.

"Ahh!" Kotaro screamed and threw himself forward, Nao surged out of the ground as far as he could (a few millimeters) and got hold of Kotaro's jacket with his teeth and held on tight.

Kotaro tried to run but got jerked back by Nao, he pulled hard and Yomiko joined in.

It was possible that their teeth would be pulled right out of their skulls by the fleeing Kotaro, but it didn't happen, instead they successfully pulled him to the ground, Tombugiri snickered wickedly and leapt onto Kotaro's chest.

"Oi you got weasel issues mate! No worries, let me show ya how friendly I am! Watch this!" The little weasel said, and he began to do an odd little dance on Kotaro's chest.

"That only frightens me more!" Kotaro protested.

"I know!" Tombugiri snickered, "I know!"

"Well that's not very friendly at all!" Yomiko cried.

"Oi! I didn't say "how friendly I am" did I? Sorry, because I what I _meant_ was "how friendly I ain't!" The little weasel continued to dance about on a now petrified Kotaro's chest.

"Well it would be _truly_ unfriendly of you to dig us out of these holes." Nao pointed out.

"Ah no, that'd be downright cruel, I'm not cruel, no worries lil' guy, you can stay in your 'ikkle hole!" Tombugiri snickered.

"I hate weasels." Yomiko grumbled.

"Oh aye, you say that now, but when you get older, grow a brain and all that you'll _know_ that we weasels are the strongest in the land!" Tombugiri cried and took his dance to the top of Yomiko's head.

Kotaro was still petrified.

Nao sat in the ground and sighed. "So . . . how long do you think it'll be before Shikamaru-sensei comes to get us?"

Yomiko just scoffed, Kotaro shuddered and Naomasa tried valiantly to be entertained by Tombugiri's weird little dance.

* * *

Shikamaru spotted a bird of some kind-was it a crow?-in the sky, it soared lazily in a circle around their heads.

Okay so . . . that wasn't normal. There were no dead animals around, Shikamaru's keen ninja nose-not so keen as Inuzuka Kiba's but still keen-would have detected the gentle reek of rotting flesh.

The bird was also coming lower, he watched it closely and noticed an odd little note in its beak.

The bird came in much faster now, Shikamaru held out his hand and the bird landed on it and dropped its message and simply left.

"Well that wasn't weird at all." Shikamaru grumbled, he unfolded the little note and immediately recognized the handwriting of Ino . . . judging by the slightly odd way it was written though he guessed she was probably half awake when she wrote it, but the instant he looked at the words one word jumped out at him.

Annihilated.

He quickly read the note;

_This message is meant for Haruno Sakura, Nara Shikamaru, or Akimichi Chouji, but whoever might receive this letter know that Team Yamanaka has been wiped out, village near border of Rain is annihilated, Jounin Yamanaka Ino pursuing attackers, request backup near Black Monument within three days of the second evening of the fourth month, at least one Shinobi team suspected, unknown origins._

Shikamaru swore and refolded the note.

He might make it if he left _now._ There was no time to find Chouji, he was still out on a mission with his team.

He shouted for his Genin, play time was over. He wanted to wait for Temari-if she was really coming-but Ino's need was far more pressing.

Damn this war, it had no consideration for people's love lives.

When the Genin didn't come he sought them out, he found Kotaro lying on the ground staring up at the sky, and Yomiko and Nao were neck deep in the ground.

Tombugiri was dancing on Nao's head while Yomiko jeered.

"Playtime's through, Tombugiri beat it!" Shikamaru said, waving his hand, Tombugiri disappeared. He roused Kotaro and pulled Yomiko and Nao out of the ground.

"When'd you get so strong sensei?" Yomiko demanded suspiciously.

"No time. Kotaro and Naomasa, you will remain here and wait for the Suna team, escort them back to Konoha and complete the mission. Yomiko take this letter to Konoha, find any ninja you can, tell them this needs to be given to Haruno Sakura, the Hokage, or Uzumaki Naruto, do you understand?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yes sir!" Yomiko saluted. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to leave you three alone."

"Where are you going?" Nao demanded.

"Hopefully I'm going nowhere." Shikamaru grumbled. "You're Shinobi, I'm your sensei. Obey my orders."

"Yes sir!" The three of them said. Shikamaru turned and left.

"Sorry Temari." He sighed. "I really wanted to see you again."

* * *

Kotaro shook his head, "Miko what's that letter say?"

"What? I cant tell you! You go do what Sensei said!" Yomiko cried. Nao tried to snatch the note from her, but she backhanded him, "What are you doing?" The girl demanded, "This precious document is-hey! Taro you jerk!"

Kotaro opened the note and gave it a quick read, "Whoa!"

"What is it?" Nao asked.

"Do you know anyone named Yamanaka Ino?" Kotaro asked. The name was so familiar.

"Yeah, she's a Jounin right? I got to see her students compete in the Chuunin exams last year . . . they didn't make it though."

"Yeah well they won't ever make it now, they've been "wiped out" and Ino's after the guys who did it." Kotaro said soberly.

"Whoa!" Nao gasped.

"No way! I saw them, they were so cool!" Yomiko said. Her gaze hardened, "Is that why Sensei left? He wants to get back to safety? Coward!" Yomiko cried.

"Don't be stupid." Nao snapped, "He's gone to help Yamanaka! Isn't it obvious?"

"Our sensei? No way!" Yomiko snapped back.

Kotaro shook his head, "Miko you saw Yamanaka's team in the Chuunin exams right?"

"That's what I said isn't it?" Yomiko scoffed.

"If a team of ninja beat them all, killed them all, do you think Sensei could stand any chance against them?"

"You kidding? I bet sensei couldn't stand a chance against the three of _us_!" Yomiko laughed.

"That's that then. He needs backup."

"Uh ch'yeah, I think that's why he told me to take that important document to the village." Yomiko rolled her eyes.

Kotaro shook his head, "Do that if you want. I'm going to backup sensei."

"Me too." Nao said.

"No, I'm the best of us, I know the most Jutsus and I just kicked both your butts, I'm the only one who should go." Kotaro sai,

"Excuse me?" Yomiko screeched, "Best of us? I told you didn't I? If I got you with my genjutsu you'd be singing a different tune! I'll go, _I_'_m_ the Sarutobi y'know, my clan has a history of protecting the village."

Kotaro wisely bit back the retort that Yomiko's clan had a history of _dying_ for the village. There was no call to insult her or her ancestors now.

If he was right . . . they'd be marching into battle soon. "Nao should go back with the note then." Kotaro said.

"Not happening!" Nao hissed, "I'm coming!"

"No he's right. You don't know anything but the basic Jutsus, you haven't got a proud blood line, you'd just get in our way." Yomiko said.

"I wont!" Naomasa said quickly, "Please trust me, I wont get in your way, I'll be useful!"

"Fine." Kotaro said before Yomiko could respond, "But then who takes the message back?"

"I've got an idea." Naomasa said, "The Suna team will be coming through here right? We leave the note, and we make a note of our own explaining the situation."

"Brilliant!" Yomiko cried sarcastically.

She'd have said more but Kotaro cut her off by saying "Yeah, clever," in a more serious tone. "Miko, Nao, go get Sensei's scrolls, he forgot them. I'll write the note explaining the note." He took a bit of parchment from his supply pack and quickly wrote "Team Nara moving to rendezvous at Black Monument, please take this message to Konoha and send reinforcements" he placed the notes on a tree trunk where they'd be easily spotted and struck them there with a kunai.

"All right, are we ready?" Kotaro asked.

"Yessir!" Yomiko saluted with the blue scroll of Jin.

"Then let's move out!" Kotaro said, "We've got a Legendary Lazy Ass Sensei to catch!"

**To Be Continued . . .**


	9. The Target

**Chapter Nine**

_The Target_

He pressed against her, his arms around her waist as she wrapped hers around his neck.

"It's been too long." He whispered.

"I've missed you." She said.

He knew what she wanted to ask, but didn't. She loved him, and she trusted him just as he loved and trusted her.

She would not ask him why he was in the land of fire . . . she would not ask him how far away his ninja team was even though she knew they were close. He couldn't have come so far into enemy territory without them.

She would not ask him about the movements of Cloud's Shinobi, she wouldn't ask him anything except "how are you" and "shall we go to bed."

It was the only way for their secret relationship to work . . . they spoke of many things certainly, did things other than enjoy the soft and comfortable bed. But when they were together both their headbands were set on a nightstand not to be recovered until their liaison was finished.

He loved her. He trusted her. But she was a ninja, and so was he. If he gave her information she'd use it, just as he'd use any information she might give him.

"How is your family?" He asked her.

"They're well . . . my father's health is improving."

He smiled, "I'm glad. How is your sister?"

"Who knows?" The young woman laughed, and he shared in it. "Tetsuo . . ." she said softly.

Tetsuo held his lover closer, "What is it Hanabi?"

"It'll never work."

"Yes . . . that's what you always tell me." Tetsuo admitted.

"Unless you're the one telling me and I'm the one denying." She laughed mirthlessly. "But I mean it. You are a Hattori, heir of one of Kumogakure's most precious bloodlines. I'm a Hyuga, there'll never be a middle ground for us."

Tetsuo smirked, his father often told him the same thing, he often repeated it to Hanabi.

They were still together.

But today he had a new "attack" in his arsenal.

"You didn't ask me . . . how my family was Hanabi." He said with a smile.

"I'm sorry . . ." She trailed off, tilting her head slightly. "How are they?"

"They are well . . . they are also considering the value of a Hyuuga for a daughter in law." Tetsuo said with a grin. "They're prepared to suggest that Kumo back down from its war with Konoha. They won't suggest an alliance just yet, but for my sake, for _our _sake they're willing to petition the Raikage to take the first steps towards ending the war."

Hanabi's eyes widened, "Tetsuo . . . you're joking!"

"Hanabi I'm a ninja, there are some who say I'm a great one, but since I've met you I'm the worst. I can't remain unattached, every time I face Konoha shinobi I feel sick in my stomach because I never know if the person I'm killing is you or someone precious to you. I can't do it anymore."

"But . . . but how?" Hanabi demanded, "How did you-I mean I know your family is influential but-"

Hattori Tetsuo smiled sheepishly, "I said that we'd decided that . . . you would join Kumo if our child was born with the Kagegan, and that I would join Konoha if they had the Byakugan."

Hanabi's pure white eyes widened, "Wh-what child? I'm not pregnant!"

"My father doesn't know that." Tetsuo smirked, putting a finger to her lips. "Anyway I'm the only son of the Hattori main line, and besides my father there's no greater master of the Kagegan. Kumo cant risk me joining an enemy."

"You fool!" Hanabi gasped, "It'd be easier for them to just kill you!"

"You're worth the risk, besides there's no way my father would risk losing his greatest heir. And there's no ninja in Kumo short of the Raikage who can stand up to me."

Hanabi looked far more worried than Tetsuo liked. He'd wanted to get it off his chest, he knew it'd been stupid but the fact that she had to point it out made him worry too.

His father, Hanzo had been . . . to say the least, annoyed. But Kumo needed him, he was the greatest heir of the Hattori clan, he'd mastered and improved the Shadow Eye, done more with it than any other member of their clan.

He could still remember the first time he'd seen Hanabi . . . it had been during a Chuunin exam, her soft white eyes, the opposite of his empty ebony orbs had struck him, he'd thought she looked bizarre, but beautiful.

He'd been unable to resist her, even threw his fight against her in the final round.

Which incidentally had annoyed her enough to confront him about it once the exams were over, he'd convinced her to let him take her out by way of apology and they'd been together ever since.

Of course the relationship had not gotten . . . adult, until they too had become adults.

Hanabi seemed so worried, it was rare to see her like this.

But she held him close and pressed her lips against his, he held her.

He was willing to take Hidden in Clouds out of the war for her.

The fact that he held greater influence over the rank and file shinobi than the Raikage himself was part of the reason it was working. Most of the "troops" were agreeing that the wholesale slaughter of the village hidden in leaves was rather extreme, there was no denying that the land of Lightning had expanded its border quite a bit into Fire country territory, if Konoha would consent to allowing the village hidden in Clouds to keep that territory the war could end between the two villages.

True that Shinobi were tools of war, but who wanted war with a weak and dying opponent?

Hanabi was strong of course, so were most of the surviving Konoha Shinobi, but the village itself was barely a great power any longer and Tetsuo had convinced most of his comrades that furthered battle with weak enemies was worthless, especially when other villages existed on their borders that could provide a challenge as well.

He knew that Hanabi was right. The Raikage would probably be better off assassinating him.

That's why his team was so nearby. He was ready to repel any assassins Kumo could muster, he knew every ninja the village had that could compare to him, he knew their fighting styles, he knew how to beat them.

What was the worst that could happen?

* * *

Keiji pointed to the small inn, and the trio of Kumogakure ninjas sitting around a campfire outside of it.

They must be cold, he supposed, it was only dusk and already they had a fire burning brightly.

Well it didn't matter.

"Spare one of them, barely alive to report back to his masters." Keiji said as he stowed his Iwa heaband and instead wrapped a stolen Konoha headband around his head.

"What are we doing this for?" Toshiie gawked as he placed the Konoha headband on his head, "Kumo are our allies."

Keiji grinned, "These ones are Konoha sympathizers, besides which our target is pushing for peace between Kumo and Konoha, which could endanger our supply routes with Kirigakure. It cant be allowed, and luckily the Raikage agrees. The entire team here is expendable, and their captain is our target. He has to die and it has to be blamed on Konoha. They'll deny it but it wont matter. That's why I need you Toshiie, our target is a member of the Hattori bloodline."

"Very well then." Toshiie said. "We outnumber them two to one . . . lets go!"

"Hold on." Keiji said, "Which one will we allow to live?"

Toshiie grinned, "That one, the four eyed one."

"Excuse me? I resent that comment." Hohiro said.

"I don't care." Toshiie shrugged. "Let's leave her, she's a woman, she's probably weak. Lets kill the stronger ones."

"All right then . . . is everyone properly disguised?" Keiji asked.

"Wouldn't transformation be easier than dressing up?" Hohiro asked.

"If you're hit hard enough you might lose your focus and your transformation might fail. This is better. Now . . . attack."

The four chuunin grinned, and the two Jounin moved out.

This was their mission.

Ending the life of Hattori Tetsuo and Kumo's chances of peace with Konoha.

* * *

Sora smiled as she poked the fire and listened to Garma and Jiro joke around like a pair of wet nosed Genin.

That goofy ass Tetsuo and his little Konoha cupcake would be at it for a few hours. It wasn't any of her business what they got up to in that inn, she didn't care.

But for the rest of them . . . well they'd just sit out here and wait for their squad leader to finish with the woman. Sora and the others had affectingly nicknamed her "the Konoha Cupcake" since she had to be pretty damn sweet to get Tetsuo's attention like this.

Suddenly Sora felt a sharp pain in her neck, she fell from the log on which she'd been sitting, her glasses came slightly askew, one of the lenses cracked.

She could move her eyes, she could look around but otherwise she was completely paralyzed

She wanted to call out for help, she couldn't.

Garma, her husband came over with a grin on his face, "Tired, my love?" He asked.

_No, I cant move! _Sora thought desperately as the implications sank in. She wanted to scream for Garma to run, beg him to get away.

The kunai slammed into his shoulder as she tried to force her mouth open and failed.

Garma however shouted to their third team member, "Jiro, get Tetsuo-sama!"

"Too late." A leaf Jounin laughed as he emerged from the very rock. He drew a long blade that seemed to be made of stone and with a clean, effortless sweep he struck Garma.

Sora screamed in her mind, but she couldn't open her mouth, she could do nothing but stare with living eyes trapped in a dead body as her beloved stood unphased for about two agonizing seconds before his body finally came apart at the waist.

The Jounin, Garma's killer was completely bald, he had a nasty scar over his right eye-which surprisingly still seemed to work-he spun his stone sword and spat on Garma's body, "Damnation, those little girls were better sport than him!"

"Don't let your guard down Toshiie!" A second Jounin, this one similarly bald but devoid of scars shouted. He threw a kunai at Jiro who deflected it and began to go into the motions for his signature jutsu.

He'd never finish it though, more Leaf shinobi, Anbu by the looks of their masks, appeared behind him as the Jounin held his attention.

Sora found as she saw Jiro die that there was one thing she could do other than stare and that was shed tears. Something she'd not done since the day she became a Shinobi.

But she'd never before faced such a crisis. Garma was dead, he was _dead_! Killed by the very slime that she and Tetsuo had been trying to convince Raikage to have mercy on!

Well they didn't deserve it. They deserved death! Down to the last woman and child. Sora was just sorry that she couldn't be the one to commit the deed.

She waited patiently, hating her attackers with every fiber of her being, She waited for her turn to die.

The scarred one grinned wickedly and game over to her, "Oh Kei I chose right. She's a pretty one . . . maybe I can have some fun with her before we go on?" He moved a repulsive hand over Sora's cheek.

That damned hand had killed Garma, Sora wanted to break it, rip it from its owner's wrist and burn it.

"No time."

"Too right. Very well . . ." He smiled at her and gently slapped her cheek, "Guess you're not worth it anyway. Didn't put up much of a fight did you? Must be some kind of coward, you didn't even fight the poison. But don't worry . . . we've got a message that we want you to take back to Kumo, are you listening?" He stood up and viciously kicked her in the stomach.

Despite being unable to move her body, she could certainly feel the pain of that blow!

"Keep out of Konoha, you and all your filthy cloud spies. Konoha is through being your punching bag."

_Oh I haven't even started on you bastards yet._ Sora thought bitterly as tears flooded over her eyes, _and I'll get you too if Tetsuo doesn't._

The konoha shinobi kicked Sora a few times more until she felt like she might never be able to eat again. He'd missed the mark of her stomach slightly on the last kick and broken some of her ribs, but she'd get over it.

She'd get over it and murder that slime.

The six Konoha ninjas left her next to the warmth of the fire, though her entire body felt cold. She was left staring at the remains of her lover Garma. She wanted to close her eyes and stop looking at him.

But this was the last time she'd ever see that face.

She swore she'd make Konoha pay, she'd beg Raikage's forgiveness for her stupid mistake. Tetsuo was misguided, he'd forgotten that Konoha were their enemies. They'd underestimated them, seen what they'd wanted to see, believed the Konoha shinobi were weakened.

Of course Tetsuo was in a greater danger, Sora realized.

After all his little girlfriend must have betrayed them, how else would a task force like that know where they were and just stroll through the defenses Jiro had set?

Sora did the only thing she could do physically and cried for who knew how long.

Mentally however she could already hear the screams of the people of Konoha as she killed them a thousand times over in her mind.

It never occurred to her that such thoughts were the very kind that her enemies _wanted _her to dwell on.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	10. Hattori and Hyuga

**Chapter Ten**

_Hattori and Hyuuga_

Shikamaru rushed through the forests at top speed, there was no other way he'd reach Ino's suggested rendezvous point in time, the bird had come a day after Ino's letter had been written and Black Monument had been built in between Konoha and Suna, it was a day and a half away from either city, Shikamaru had spent the first half of his day training the kids.

The kids that he realized were following him. He stopped suddenly and snapped "I know you're there, come out and explain yourselves."

"We couldn't let you go alone Sensei!" Shikamaru heard Naomasa say.

"My father told me once," Kotaro said, "That ninja who break the rules are lower than trash, but ninja who turn their back on their friends are even lower than that. You're kind of a friend to us, and you're our sensei, we can't turn our backs on you."

Shikamaru scowled, he didn't have time for this . . . of course then again he didn't want to count them out completely. Against his better judgment he said "All right then this is your last chance. If you keep following me I'm going to consider you part of my ninja team."

"I thought we already were!" Yomiko scoffed.

"As such," Shikamaru continued, "Your lives will be in danger, the survival rate of this mission is dangerously low for you Genin."

"Why's that?" Yomiko demanded.

"We're going after a person, or group of persons who killed or incapacitated three shinobi near the Chuunin level, I'm not sure how the Jounin survived. If you come along I'll do what I can to protect you but you'll have to do exactly as I say, when I say, no hesitation no matter how insane what I tell you might sound. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir!" Naomasa said firmly.

"I got you." Kotaro said seriously.

"I'm a Sarutobi, protecting Konoha is what we do." Yomiko said.

Shikamaru frowned, "So none of you are going to turn back?"

"Nope." Kotaro shrugged.

"Not me." Naomasa said.

"What did I just tell you?" Yomiko demanded.

Shikamaru nodded. "All right then you troublesome brats. But there's just one problem, and it's that we're not stopping until we reach Black Monument, if you cant keep up with me go home now or you'll just get yourself lost, I cant turn back for any one of you." He said, one last warning.

"I'd be embarrassed if you could keep up with me!" Yomiko scoffed.

"I'll show you sensei, I'm capable." Naomasa assured him.

"We're wasting time standing here." Kotaro said.

"Then lets go!" Shikamaru said.

And the team moved out.

As they rushed on through the trees Naomasa piped up, "Uh, I'm sorry sir but . . . what _is_ Black Monument?"

"Some time ago there was a crisis in Konoha, a group of S-Class missing ninjas gathered together and tried to destroy Konoha and Suna, all the ninja villages. To do this they stole the . . . uh . . . the souls of nine of the most powerful ninja, or at least they tried to."

"So we built a monument to them?" Nao asked.

"Not quite. We built a memorial to honor all the ninja who died fighting them." Yomiko said solemnly.

"Ninja from every village, it's built right in between Suna and Konoha. It's a huge obelisk, right sensei?" Kotaro asked.

"That's right." Shikamaru said, feeling somewhat sobered by the thought of it.

His sensei's name was up there. There were more familiar names than he was comfortable with up there.

"Have you ever been to see it Yomiko?" He asked softly.

"Uh-huh." Yomiko whispered. "Mom took me when I got accepted into the academy."

"Why did she take you someplace like that?" Naomasa asked.

"Because Miko's dad was-" Kotaro began but Shikamaru cut him off.

"Right well enough chatter, keep it quiet until we reach the monument." He wasn't sure if Yomiko was comfortable with the topic of Asuma-sensei's unfortunate demise.

* * *

Temari burst out of the trees, unable to contain her excitement . . . at seeing an empty clearing?

"I was sure he'd be here." She said.

"Well he probably didn't know you were coming." Chouji said.

"Hey wait, take a look at that!" Yukio said, "A message!"

Temari rushed over and tore it down from a tree, "Ah-hah! He's headed for Black Monument, the slime, going on a mission when he should be with me!" She smirked until she read the second note, her expression hardened and she handed the note to Chouji.

Chouji's expression grew even harder. "All right turn around, we're going to Black Monument."

"Wait, what?" Daisuke demanded, "I beg your pardon but-"

"Not one but two ninja teams are in danger at Black Monument and not only are we the nearest team available to respond, we're requested by name in this message. We'll get there almost a day late, there's no helping that but we have to do what we can." Chouji said.

"All right teams, we're moving out!" Temari shouted.

"No we're not!" Chouji corrected, "You've got a mission to finish, get to it, and take these messages to the Hokage, we don't know how much of a threat this is and someone will need to get a team or two on the border right away in case any more shinobi teams try to infiltrate."

"But Shikamaru-"

Chouji smiled, "Temari he's my best friend, I won't let anything happen to him. You just make sure you're in Konoha when he gets back, he's been too depressive these past eighteen months."

"I can't believe you're going to act so calmly!" Temari scoffed, "Don't forget I've been a Jounin longer than you have, I'm going."

"It's a leaf village matter to be handled by leaf ninja," Chouji said, "Don't worry. I'll bring him back."

Temari glared off into the distance. She was used to Shikamaru being on missions, of course he'd had missions while she'd been away. He'd had missions before they'd even gotten involved, some of his most dangerous missions.

She herself went on missions, she was prepared to deal with his death if it ever came to that, _she_ had had emotional training after all.

But she'd been so _close_ it was frustrating.

"What d'you want to do sensei?" Yukio asked.

"What?"

"Well do we follow them now, or later?" Kyoko asked.

"Not at all." Temari shrugged.

"Hey, I've gotta see this Shika guy with my own eyes or else I'll never believe he exists. So-" Yukio was saying but Temari cut him off.

"Keep your mind on the mission," Temari said, "Never lose sight of your mission. The mission is the most important thing. If you don't finish the mission, you don't get paid. You don't get paid the village suffers. The village suffers-"

"Okay, okay, we get it. Geez!" Ryu scoffed.

Temari scratched her head. She couldn't go after Shikamaru, she had to set an example for her Genin. Besides, he was capable, one of the greatest ninjas she knew.

But . . . just in case something did happen . . . well she'd find out who'd done it and make them pay. As it was she hoped Shikamaru showed no mercy, since these people-whomever they were-had had the un-medicated gall to injure Ino's team, and interrupt Temari's plan. She folded her arms, "We have a mission to finish, come on, Konoha's only a mile away now."

"Yes ma'am!" Ryu saluted and the four Suna Shinobi headed towards Konoha.

* * *

Tetsuo's black eyes narrowed, he looked out the window to the calm, quiet town outside. Something seemed wrong.

There was a gentle knock on the door, Hanabi let out an exasperated sigh and went over to answer the door.

"Don't." Tetsuo said suddenly.

Hanabi raised her eyebrows, then whispered "Byakugan!"

"That's odd." She said, "There's no one out there."

Tetsuo considered that for a moment, and then leapt back from the window, "Hanabi look out!" He shouted.

The window exploded inward, showering him with broken glass, luckily he wasn't injured and he was able to shield Hanabi from the shards.

The floor boards began to creak, he leapt back and glared down at the large stone statue that erupted from the floor.

He could escape easily with his Kagegan, but Hanabi . . .

He'd have to get her out.

A pair of Shinobi leapt in through the window, another pair leapt out from the hole in the ground, and two more burst in through the door.

Tetsuo spotted the leaf village symbols on the headbands of the intruders and glanced at Hanabi, "Friends of yours?"

"I don't know them." Hanabi said.

Tetsuo nodded. "Then you won't mind if I kill them all." He said loudly, by way of intimidation.

"Surrender." One ninja with a shaven head said calmly.

Hanabi laughed, "Oh very well then. We shall accept _your_ unconditional surrender."

"You misunderstand," The bald ninja said, rolling his eyes.

"Not at all, we understand perfectly. Do _you_ understand how suicidal it is to threaten us?" Tetsuo smirked.

"Very well then. There is nothing more to say." The bald ninja shrugged, and another lunged forward.

He looked rather similar to his companion, save that he had a nasty scar of his eye. He wielded a slightly overlong Katana. He took a swipe at Tetsuo.

Tetsuo shoved Hanabi out of the way but made no attempt to dodge himself. Instead his hand shot out and took his opponent's wrist which he easily broke, he tore the sword from the man's hand and cut down, slicing him cleaning from left shoulder to right thigh.

And he crumbled into a pile of rocks, a clone.

Tetsuo gripped the sword however and used it to meet blades with the read swordsman.

The true sword cut through the fake like a knife through butter, something Tetsuo had not been expecting.

He threw himself backwards, avoiding the sword's blade by a hair, he rolled on the ground and came up near the window.

He could get out, but what about Hanabi?

He wouldn't leave without her.

She was using the gentle fist of course, and making great progress against a pair of Anbu, however the unscarred Jounin was already beginning the hand signs of what looked to be a complicated Jutsu.

Tetsuo wouldn't let him finish it. The young Kumo ninja fell backwards, activating the powers of his eyes, and fell into his shadow.

* * *

Toshiie prepared for another strike when the target simply fell into the ground.

He became a shadow, a shadow that rapidly moved off towards Keiji.

"Keij!" Toshiie roared, "Keij!"

Toshiie's elder brother ignored him, too focused on completing his Jutsu as the target emerged from Keiji's shadow.

Kunai in hand he reached out and gripped Keiji's chin, forcing it up and exposing his neck, Keiji's hands shot to his neck but the Hattori's kunai came like lighting.

Toshiie couldn't reach Keiji in time, but he'd make sure that his brother's death ensured the target's own demise. He lunged forward, and threw his sword.

The blade spun vertically and slammed into the ground where the Hattori ninja had been.

Keiji fell forward, his throat had been cut by the kunai but Toshiie had, it would seem, acted quickly enough to prevent his brother's death.

Keiji leapt back to his feet, Toshiie heard an agonized scream from one Anbu who fell forward vomiting blood, the Konoha woman kicked him aside.

It was then that Toshiie noticed the grotesque look of her eyes. Thick pumping blood vessels and empty, soulless white eyes.

A Hyuuga, the greatest clan of the leaf village.

A Hattori, the greatest clan of the cloud village.

Toshiie rushed over to recover his katana and roared with laugher, "See brother? Finally enemies _worth_ killing!"

If Keiji could answer through the blood flowing from his throat he chose not to. Instead he thrust his hand forward, the stones that Toshiie had used for his clone earlier came to life and melted together to form a large golem. Its hand shot out for the Hyuuga woman who easily dodged it, but made the mistake of leaping onto its back.

Stupid woman.

The stones gave beneath her like quicksand, she melted into the golem until she was submerged up to her waist.

Then the Hattori appeared again, emerging from the shadows of the ceiling he shot forward and landed on the golem.

Had Toshiie spoken too soon? Were these two just too stupid to know when to quit? Now the Hattori was stuck in the golem too.

"Finally!" Keiji grunted, "Now kill them!"

**To Be Continued . . .**


	11. Being Followed

**Chapter Eleven**

_Being Followed_

Ino knelt down over the woman lying near a roaring fire and two corpses.

She examined her. She was a rather pretty woman with glasses on her face-her left lens had cracked-and long blonde hair.

Ino moved her hand over the woman's back until she found the dart that had delivered the poison, she then examined the dart.

It was from the village hidden in stone all right.

She examined the Cloud Shinobi. They were enemies, and what this one was doing in Konoha was beyond Ino. But the enemy of my enemy is my friend, or so the saying goes. She began the medical Jutsu to remove the paralyzing poison from the woman's body.

She'd barely finished when the woman's hand shot out to her neck and began to squeeze hard.

"Did you really think I'd let you live?" The woman asked in a cold voice.

Ino choked, "I . . . let you."

The woman laughed darkly, "You leaf shinobi are all the same . . . murderers and manipulators."

Ino glared. _So the enemy of my enemy is still my enemy. Good to know._

"I'll bet you thought that just because you were a medical ninja I'd spare you. Because you'd helped me I'd give you information, right? Wrong on both counts, and it's going to cost you."

Ino's eyes narrowed, "I don't . . . want to . . . hurt-"

"Hurt me? Well that doesn't matter, because I _really _want to hurt you." The woman said with a dark glee coming into her eyes. "Yes I'd like that very much . . ."

Ino however still had both her arms to use; this woman was using both hands now to strangle her.

Ino reached for a kunai and spun it in her hand so that it was underhanded. She then slammed the metal handle into the side of the woman's head. In Ino's professional opinion it would probably be a concussion.

The least this woman deserved.

"You're alive for questioning." Ino said coldly, "You're going to tell me who killed your teammates and poisoned you. I want to know how many there were, what they had with them, everything, and if you don't tell me . . . you'll die." Ino said.

"Kill me then! Kill me like your comrades killed Garma!"

"My comrades, my whole squad," Ino screamed, "are dead! And I'm willing to bet their killers are the same men who killed _your_ comrades, you can cooperate or I can kill you and get revenge alone, it's your choice!"

The woman glared at her, "I'll kill every leaf Shinobi in this world!" She declared finally.

Ino scowled, "That'd be hard to do if you're dead." She said, drawing Akiko's sword.

She was a ninja; she'd do what she had to.

* * *

Shikamaru leaned against a tree and listened carefully.

"What's with this? I thought you said no breaks sensei!" Yomiko cried.

"Not that I mind." Kotaro said, sitting down on a tree branch.

"Is something wrong?" Nao asked.

Shikamaru shook his head, "I've got the strangest feeling . . . like we're being watched."

"Who could be watching us?" Nao asked.

"That's what I'm about to find out." Shikamaru whispered, he knelt down and began to focus.

"What are you doing?" Yomiko asked.

"Preparing a Jutsu, be quiet." Shikamaru replied as he slowly began to build the chakra he needed.

"Kind of a useless Jutsu, I mean if I were spying on you I'd have run away by now." Yomiko said.

"It hasn't failed me yet." Shikamaru replied.

"Cant you sense people without all that?"

"I can sense that there _is_ an enemy without Jutsu. This Jutsu allows me to perfectly pinpoint an enemy's location even if they're using most common stealth techniques." Shikamaru explained. He didn't bother to add that higher forms of stealth could beat the Sense, but then if someone capable of hiding themselves from his Sense Jutsu were following them they were pretty screwed anyway.

He clasped his hands together and nodded, "All right, we're fine." He lied.

"We're what?"

He'd sensed them. Three shinobi, he couldn't tell what village they were from, but the Chakra Sense Jutsu had revealed three very well refined chakra sources. Only a shinobi of Chuunin level or better would emit a refined chakra source.

Of course things like trees, plants and animals could distort the Sense Jutsu; there could be more ninja out there.

"All right then," Shikamaru said, "All's clear so let's continue on our merry way."

"Merry way?" Nao raised an eyebrow.

Shikamaru smirked, "Trust me." He said.

"Eh?" Kotaro raised his eyebrows now.

"Just c'mon." Shikamaru said.

They started again, and Shikamaru made it a point to act normally.

That is, until he came to a rather long leap. He jumped, and purposely missed his footing. He was beginning his Jutsu even before he started to fall back.

He slammed into tree branches, was lost from view for a second and completed his Jutsu.

He remained in the branches; his perfect flesh and blood clone got up and apologized to the Genin. "Sorry about that. I guess I over jumped."

"Over jumped? Sensei you missed the branch by a mile, you under jumped big time!" Kotaro laughed.

"Such a lazy klutz!" Yomiko scoffed.

Shikamaru stayed put as he heard them advance.

He began the Chakra Sense Jutsu again.

The refined Jutsus were moving. There were three, no doubt of that now. They were definitely following the Genin.

Shikamaru swore. They probably weren't friendly.

Man this was going to be troublesome.

'Well . . . better get on with it.' He thought as the chakra signatures came close to him he took a tag from his pouch and gently wrapped it around the handle.

He placed the kunai in his equipment pouch and then waited.

He felt a slight vibration as one, then another then the third each in turn landed on and left the branch above him.

He then leapt out of the leaves onto the branch himself and noticed a flash of white.

An explosive tag.

Not bad.

He leapt away from the tree as the tag exploded, and grabbed onto a nearby branch. He swung on it and landed on a lower limb of an adjacent tree, he kept his eyes and ears open, and didn't have long to wait before the attack came.

But why? Who was doing this? This close between the border of Konoha and Suna it should be damn difficult for enemy shinobi to infiltrate.

The enemy Shinobi came at him and he stopped them in their tracks, hurling a pair of shuriken that struck the ninja in the shoulder and chest, he tumbled over and became a log which Shikamaru had to leap over.

Troublesome substitution Jutsu.

Shikamaru reached into his pouch and produced a few flash pellets, with his other hand he reached for that special kunai.

Two shuriken came sailing towards him. He smiled and threw his kunai at the nearest, then threw the flash pellets onto the branch he sat on, dropping down out of the tree at the same time.

He caught a lower branch with his hands and swung himself to a nearby tree as he heard the explosion from his kunai shake the entire forest, and silence the sound he'd made when he hit that branch and swung to his current position.

He regained his footing and leapt up towards the tree one of the shuriken had originated from, he leapt up through the leaves to the branch where the shuriken had come from, as he'd fully expected the ninja was no longer there, he'd left once the flash went off no doubt.

Shikamaru however could see from this position where his mark had gone.

He didn't trust it once he did; the enemy shinobi was running on the forest floor out in the open.

Shikamaru knew that if their positions were switched he'd want to make an obvious target appear so that his opponent would attack it.

And so he did.

"Damn this is troublesome!" He shouted loudly.

He'd had enough.

He leapt down into the open and kicked the obvious clone out of existence, then used a special Jutsu of his and wrapped his shadow around himself, as if he were walking on a shadowy disk.

An enemy Shinobi appeared behind him and stepped into the shadow, Shikamaru turned-so did his opponent.

The Shinobi wore his forehead protector sideways, Shikamaru couldn't see the village symbol and didn't have want to make his control over his opponent obvious by forcing him to turn his head. The man wore a skin tight green suit just like Rock Lee's, his spiky black hair however reminded Shikamaru more of Naruto. Shikamaru couldn't see his face but he could see from his neck that he wore a mask like Kotaro's.

For some reason the ninja didn't say anything, usually people exclaimed when Shikamaru caught them. Shikamaru just grinned wickedly and rapidly performed another Jutsu.

'Shadow Puppet Jutsu!' He thought with a smirk.

And he pulled the strings.

The enemy shinobi drew a kunai, spun around and stabbed Shikamaru in the heart with it. He fell back dead as a doornail.

Or so it seemed.

Obviously Shikamaru wasn't stupid enough to do that.

His eyes remained open and his fingers gently twitched in death as he controlled his shadow puppet. He was not Kankuro, who could control a puppet with a single finger, for Shikamaru two was his limit and that was impossible to do from a lying down position.

But one. He could do that, even while he was faking his own death.

He couldn't see the Shinobi who'd thought to lure him out with an obvious trap. What a moron though. He had to be feeling like a fool for having his trap reversed on him. Well he wouldn't have to live with it for long.

Another Shinobi, one who looked a little singed emerged from the trees, "Great job!" She said. "He looks like a Jounin. Konoha filth." She spat on Shikamaru's "corpse"

He was guessing that she'd been rather close to that explosion when it went off.

She frowned when she looked at him though, "H-hey Kai you stabbed him so why isn't there a wound?"

That's when Kai leapt on her and pinned her. "Wh-what are you doing? Are you insane?" The woman cried.

Shikamaru smirked and stood up, he twitched his finger and Kai grasped his female companion's face and turned her to look at Shikamaru so he could see her headband.

Mostly thought it was so she could see that he was alive, and that her friend had changed sides.

"So you're from Ame huh? What brings you to Konoha?" Shikamaru smirked.

"You scum!" She screamed, "I'll kill you!"

"I don't have time for empty threats. I've got another party to get to, so you can either tell me or Kai will slit your throat." Shikamaru warned the woman.  
"He'd never hurt me, I'm his sister!" The kunoichi cried.

"He hasn't got much say in what he does, and I told you I'm in a hurry." Shikamaru said warningly.  
"It doesn't matter. Kill me. Our leader is probably killing your precious Genin right now."

"Oh don't be silly, I left them in capable hands . . . mine. Now . . . if you please?" Shikamaru waited.

The woman was probably frowning, Shikamaru had a hard time telling since her face was covered by a mask like Kotaro's, and she wore goggles over her eyes. In fact almost her entire body was covered in a lavender suit-not skin tight like Rock Lee's but a similar one piece uniform that went with her violet hair rather nicely. With a Chuunin vest and rather heavy looking Taijutsu specialist gloves. "We were just on patrol, that's all. We got lost, we were scouting deep in your territory, we've been trying to get back ever since."

"Why were you stalking my team?"

"Target of opportunity, we were going to wait until you were asleep but when we realized you'd made us we knew we had to attack right away."

"How did you know I'd noticed you?"

"Kai has a good sense of hearing, as we came close he heard you breathing and left that explosive seal."

"Very nice." Shikamaru shrugged. "All right then let's get this unpleasant business over with."

"You're going to kill me." The woman spat.

"Another time." Shikamaru said. He used another Jutsu; this one caused vines to shoot out of the forest and wrap themselves tightly around Kai and his sister, binding them to a nearby tree. "If you're still here when we finish our mission I'll collect you and maybe your village will want to pay your ransom. Of course maybe I'll die on my mission and nobody will ever know you're here." He smiled, "Pray for my safety then, those vines are a strong as steel you're not getting free."

The woman glared. "Don't you know who I am?"

"No."

"Well then shall I tell you?" The laughed bitterly.

"I don't see how it could matter any less." Shikamaru said, waved and just left the nameless woman and her brother-recovering from being a puppet-tied to a tree.

He had to catch up with team ten . . . just in case his shadow clone wasn't enough to stop the third Rain Chuunin.

He really hoped he didn't have to do anything though, he was so not in the mood, this day was troublesome enough already.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **_This chapter was finished a_ day _before Shikamaru actually used his shadow puppet thingy on Hidan, and the week before that event me and a friend decided it'd be cool to give Shikamaru a Jutsu like this. That Kishimoto thought the same thing (likely thinking of it long before we did of course) was so cool it's beyond belief; I just had to gush for a quick second. Of course we were not the first to think of a Jutsu like this, a lot of Shika-fans have I am sure. Anyway the Jutsus aren't identical as in mine Shikamaru has shadow strings, but they're otherwise basically the same thing. I chose not to change the story to make them identical, I will just say this is an evolved form of the Jutsu Shikamaru is using in the manga._


	12. The Day We Die!

**Chapter Twelve**

_Being Followed_

Hanabi wasn't going to panic, even if she couldn't move anything below her waist.

It was clear to her then that she was being spared, the golem could have just solidified through her, instead of around her and cut her in half that way, she was being spared.

Why?

Tetsuo emerged from a shadow in the corner of the ceiling, he propelled himself towards her and landed on the golem, it began to let him sink in, but he seemed unaffected.

"Kill them!" The unscarred Jounin shouted.

"Take my hand!" Tetsuo said to her.

"Can you do it with a tag along?" Hanabi asked.

"I've done all kinds of things that nobody thought was possible!" Tetsuo said, snatching her hand before she could offer it.

Suddenly everything went black.

And not because she was dead.

She wanted to scream, wanted to tell him that she was blind, she couldn't see but she couldn't seem to speak either.

It lasted more than a minute, and even that amount of time was like an eternity to Hanabi, it was as if every single one of her senses had been cut off at once, all she could do was hear and think, there was no mobility in her body, for all she knew no body!

But when it ended she gasped in surprise.

She was in the woods . . . near a fire.

"Sora!" Tetsuo cried.

Hanabi's eyes widened at the carnage around her, she looked and saw a pair of blond women. One of whom she recognized as a legitimate Konoha Jounin, the other was a member of Tetsuo's entourage, or so she assumed given that the woman wore the cloud village forehead protector.

"Hyuuga-sama?" The Jounin said, differing to Hanabi's clan even though the older woman had probably been a Jounin longer than Hanabi had and was therefore senior.

"What's going on?" Hanabi demanded.

"You tell me, you Konoha murderer!" The cloud kunoichi, Sora said.

"What?" Tetsuo demanded.

"Garma! Garma's dead! He was murdered by leaf ninjas, a big one with a sword!"

"Yeah, we met him." Tetsuo said darkly.

"He's no leaf ninja!" Hanabi snapped.

"He's from Iwa; at least his equipment suggests it." The Jounin said, holding up a dart.

"His fighting style and those of his comrades does as well, but then again I suppose they didn't expect us to survive so they held nothing back." Tetsuo laughed. "They're supposed to be our allies. But I don't think they came here for you, Hanabi-chan."

"What are you doing here?" Hanabi demanded of the Konoha woman.

"I was pursuing a Shinobi, or group of Shinobi that had attacked and killed my Genin squad, and annihilated an entire border village."

"Sounds like the party we just left." Tetsuo said. "All right lets get moving."

"What?" Sora demanded.

"We'll lead them on a merry old chase. Tetsuo is their target, they want him dead." Hanabi said, guessing her lover's intentions, "If he runs they'll follow."

"Excellent," The Konoha Kunoichi said, "Because I've already got an ambush waiting for them at Black Monument."

"Two days away!" Sora snapped.

"One and a half if we don't sleep." Tetsuo said, "And if they do pursue us sleep is not a wise choice."

"Why don't we fight now?" Sora asked. "Four to six, you three are Jounin!"

"Four to five, I'm certain I killed that Anbu." Hanabi said. "Well he wasn't really an Anbu, they're in disguise. I'd guess he was around Chuunin level."

"The point is we can take 'em!" Sora said.

"I'm sure we can." Tetsuo said, "But I'd rather fight on a field of my own choosing, and if there's an ambush waiting up ahead there's no point taking unnecessary risks."

* * *

"Hey sensei!" Yomiko said as their trek continued, "What was she like?"

"Hmm?" Shikamaru-sensei looked over his shoulder at Yomiko, "What?"

"You know. The woman you almost married. What'd she look like? What kind of person was she?"

"I think I already told you." Shikamaru said.

"No you didn't. You just said that she was strong. We know she was a blonde with a cute smile. But was she nice?" Yomiko asked.

"I bet she was fat." Kotaro said. "That's why Sensei didn't want to marry her."

"He said the war stopped them." Yomiko said.

"Yeah but I mean can you imagine a total babe with sensei?" Kotaro laughed.

"Good point." Nao agreed.

"Hey!" Shikamaru-sensei protested.

"So was she nice? Was she fat?" Yomiko pressed.

"She wasn't fat." Shikamaru said, "I mean . . . well she . . . look she wasn't fat." Shikamaru said firmly.

"Was she nice?" Yomiko asked.

"What?" Shikamaru gulped.

"Was she nice?" Yomiko insisted.

"She's nice." Shikamaru said. There was a slightly mournful tone to his voice.

He'd also said "She's" meaning "she is" instead of "she was" so that meant she definitely wasn't dead.

So what was the deal, Yomiko wondered. If both were interested in each other why couldn't they get married? Her mother had never mentioned anything to her about Shinobi not being able to get married in war time. In fact her mother often said that the strongest bonds of love could be forged in times of war.

"Sensei, you said she was talented, why did you also say that we wouldn't know her? I mean we know every talented ninja in the village, they're heroes!"

"Because she's-" Shikamaru sensei was saying and suddenly he stumbled forward, an acupuncture needle narrowly missing him.

"Everyone down!" Sensei commanded, and Yomiko got down.

"No, to the ground!" Shikamaru clarified, and Yomiko saw that the boys had already leapt down through the tree branches to the ground below.

"But sensei what's-"

"Do it!" Shikamaru said, leaping through the leaves and making rapid hand seals.

Yomiko hesitated. Where had the attack come from? She leapt off the branch just in time to see a pair of senbon slam into the tree where she'd been.

The surprise nearly threw her off balance, almost caused her to fall onto the ground instead of comfortably land.

As it was her landing was rather botched, she felt the shock run through her whole body and she was lucky not to break anything.

She felt a sharp pain shoot through her as she got up, it would seem she'd spoken too soon.

This was _so_ not good!

Shikamaru-sensei finished his Jutsu once she landed. A trio of identical ninjas leapt down through the trees towards them, each hurling a flurry of senbon, but Shikamaru's Jutsu completed and . . . nothing happened!

Yomiko screamed as the senbon came towards them like a hellish rain, but suddenly she was spinning away, she found herself unable to control her own body and to her surprise she spotted a black line from herself to her sensei.

Was this some kind of puppetry Jutsu? How had he . . .?

Nao had been taken too and shoved out of the way of the senbon, Kotaro had simply disappeared and Shikamaru sensei had . . .

Shikamaru sensei had not moved. He'd remained where he stood so he could save Naomasa and Yomiko . . .

And he'd gotten himself filled full of senbon needles for it.

Yomiko felt tears burning down her cheeks, she didn't necessarily like Shikamaru-sensei that much, but he'd gotten hurt for her sake. He might even . . .

He fell forward, dead, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Yomiko couldn't believe it . . . Shikamaru-Sensei was . . .

And she and Naomasa were alone. Who the heck knew where that jerk Taro had gone to.

Well Yomiko wasn't defenseless, "Ishida, draw their fire away from me, I'm going to use my Jutsu!"

"Don't advertise it!" Nao said, but obediently he leapt into the air and hurled kunai at two of the three ninjas.

One disappeared in a puff of smoke, but the other deflected the knife.

The third and middle ninja Nao had hurtled himself at, he head butted the illusion and it too disappeared, Yomiko therefore knew whom to use her Jutsu on as the third remaining ninja unleashed another needle assault on Nao.

Yomiko had to finish her hand signs before Nao died, she couldn't let another comrade die like this, not on her first real mission.

But Nao seemed pretty nimble, he dodged and avoided the needles rather well using the trees as a shield. The enemy Shinobi landed on the ground and Yomiko finished her Jutsu.

The shinobi's eyes probably widened, Yomiko couldn't tell since he wore a mask and goggles, but what he was seeing was probably enough to make him wet himself.

A huge dragon emerged from the trees. Long and serpentine it opened its jaws, the enemy Shinobi threw his needles and they went right through the illusionary beast.

Yomiko clapped her hands together, her dragon exploded in a brilliant flash.

It was genjutsu, it wasn't real, but the enemy ninja believed that it was. Nao wouldn't be affected by it but the enemy was. Yomiko took her chance to attack, lunging forward and ignoring the pain that shot through her she threw as many shuriken as she could and filled him full of cold steel.

He clutched his eyes screaming, then when her shuriken struck . . . they passed through him and slammed into a tree.

He'd been another clone . . . where was the real-Yomiko screamed as she felt herself suddenly pulled underground.

The head hunter Jutsu? But why would Kotaro-

Yomiko looked up and saw the enemy ninja's leg in the air where she'd been, she'd focused everything on the target in front of her instead of worrying about what might have been behind her!

She owed Kotaro her life if she survived . . . but she'd never admit it.

She'd just keep her mouth shut next time she thought of something to tease him about.

But just once.

Kotaro emerged from the ground, grabbing the enemy ninja's leg, but instead of pulling the ninja into the ground Kotaro pulled himself out. As soon as his legs were free he flipped in midair and brought them to the enemy ninja's face, breaking his nose most likely.

He turned into a stinking log!

There was a rustle in the trees and the ninja hurtled towards Kotaro, Yomiko shouted a warning but couldn't do much else, trapped as she was up to her waist in the ground.

Damn Kotaro . . .

The ninja was preparing to send out another senbon assault, but a pair of kunai sailed towards him and very neatly slammed into his shoulders, this attack preceded Naomasa himself shooting in like a bolt and kicking the man in the face!

The ninja slammed into a tree, no log, no substitution Jutsu they'd really done it!

But he got up and tore both kunai from his shoulder and hurled them at Nao and Kotaro!

Kotaro sidestepped and caught the kunai, he threw it right back and the enemy ninja dodged, letting it slam into a tree.

Yomiko had followed the kunai coming at Kotaro because it had looked like it was coming at her-Kotaro was standing near her-but she'd ignored the one coming at Nao.

When she heard the pained grunt her head snapped in Nao's direction, he'd taken the kunai in the stomach, he was doubled over holding his chest and groaning.

The enemy ninja laughed and turned on Kotaro and Yomiko. "That's two down." He said coldly.

Yomiko was shaking, Kotaro however yanked her out of the ground, "Do your Jutsu again Miko!"

"Y-yeah!" Yomiko said, but she noticed something in the corner of her eye.

Nao grinned and straightened up, he hurled the kunai at the enemy Chuunin, who'd turned his back on him.

So he'd caught the knife too and only pretended to be hurt. Yomiko supposed there was some hope for him after all, but kunai were pretty easy to catch.

Yomiko lost the focus she needed for her Jutsu watching Nao. She tore her gaze away from him, not wanting to give him away or accidentally make him the target of her genjutsu, but she'd stared too long, the ninja knew something was up. He dropped down and the kunai sailed safely over his head.

It didn't matter though, as Yomiko's illusionary dragon burst out of the trees and attacked all three Genin sprang for him!

Yomiko raised her leg to drop kick him, Kotaro prepared a punch and Naomasa prepared a roundhouse kick.

All three connected at once . . . with a log!

"Nice try!" The ninja said. Yomiko looked up and there he was!

He came down, both hands found one of the boys' heads, he slammed them into the ground, forcing them to eat dirt. He was smiling at Yomiko, somehow she could just tell even though his face was covered by a mask. "It's over little girl," He said darkly.

Yomiko gulped and suddenly the ninja struck!

While still holding the boy's faced to the ground he brought his legs out from under him and slammed them into Yomiko's chest! She flew at least ten feet into a tree, she screamed in pain as she slammed into it, she guessed more bones had broken.

How the heck were three Genin supposed to overcome a seasoned ninja? What had they done? Why had they decided to do this? Why had they? What was wrong with them? "We were out of our minds . . ." She whispered.

Now they were going to die.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	13. Not Our Enemies?

**Chapter Thirteen**

_Not Enemies . . ._

Yomiko felt strong hands grab her from behind; she was held fast by a pretty young woman, another enemy Shinobi.

"Where's Kai?" The Shinobi holding Nao and Taro demanded.

"The Jounin got him." The woman said, "But don't worry, I took care of him."

The man nodded, "Very well. Let's finish off these brats then."

"Sorry . . . not going to happen." The woman said.

Yomiko blinked as the woman released her and rose to her feet.

Her companion mimicked her perfectly.

"Wh-what is this?"

"Just a trick of the Nara clan . . ." The woman said, her features melting away to reveal none other than Shikamaru-sensei!

"Wh-what?" The rain nin gagged.

"You made three mistakes." Shikamaru-sensei explained, "First, you decided to kill us just because you thought you could. That's really rude. Second . . . two Chuunin for a Jounin? Idiotic, even for Ame nins. Finally you and your team have no kind of identification code or anything. So any old ninja with any kind of skill in transformation can just 'poof' his way into your team, and use any old justsu, say Shadow Possession on you and you're helpless."

"Blast!" The Rain Village Chuunin gasped.

"Yomiko, Kotaro, Naomasa, you're all still breathing right?" Shikamaru asked

Yomiko nodded, "Y-yes sensei!"

"Good." He said. "Tie this guy to a tree."

"Wait sensei," Yomiko said, "You sure you want to do that?"

"Hmm?"

"Well it's just . . . he would have killed all of us!" Yomiko screamed, "Look at us, he nearly did!"

Shikamaru nodded, "Yes he wanted to. And if the three of you hadn't been so capable he would have." The Laze smirked, "But you're okay. And we can question him later."

As the team moved out, Nao suddenly asked "But he might escape while we're gone. He can come after us, aren't we at war?" Nao asked.

"Not really. The war is really just being waged by the Great Nations, the minor countries have been kind enough to back off and let the larger countries fight it out. Most likely they hope that the great countries will be weak in the end. The smaller villages have mostly sided with the Alliance: Stone, Cloud and Mist. Grass and Waterfall have declared their support for Stone, granting the Earth Country a buffer zone against Fire Country invasions.

"But Rain," Sensei continued, "is wedged in between Stone, Sand and Leaf. They've decided to remain fairly neutral. They allow Suna and Konoha troops to move through their borders on attacks on Iwa, somewhat nullifying the buffer that Stone tried to create. They know that if Sand and Leaf needed to get at Stone their easiest point to combine forces would be cutting right through Ame, so their Daimyo has wisely maintained an alleged neutrality.

"Of course this doesn't mean that Rain doesn't launch raids on us, nor does it mean that they don't charge us an arm and a leg to move through their borders. By ransoming these three back to their village, we can try to make some of that money back."

Yomiko nodded. "Okay . . . but if they're not our enemies why did they want to kill us?"

Shikamaru-sensei shrugged. "Might just be jerks." He shook his head, "Could be they only planned to kill most of us and force a sole survivor to help them get home, they are far away from their village and headed in the wrong direction. It's really a testament of how severely weakened the Leaf Village has become that these three have infiltrated us so deeply."

"Yeah, I remember my dad saying there's barely even two hundred ninja left counting us Genin." Kotaro said.

"Hey, look lets get going." Shikamaru said, "We're discussing sensitive information in front of the enemy, say any more and we won't be able to let them live."

"But sensei, I saw you killed!" Yomiko pressed. "You said they should have a pass word, well maybe we need one too! Tell us something about us that only you would know!"

"You're an overconfident brat." Shikamaru-sensei said.

"Yeah but everyone knows that," Nao said, "tell us something nobody knows about her!"

"Hey!" Yomiko protested.

"Your hobby is chakra control and practicing Genjutsu." Shikamaru shrugged. "Your goal, Hatake, is to master a thousand Jutsus, like your father did. And you Ishida, want to become a great Shinobi so that you don't hold your teammates back. Satisfied?"

"Yeah, I guess." Yomiko pouted. "But that doesn't explain why you didn't die."

"I did." Shikamaru-sensei said as they set off on their journey again. "That was my shadow clone. I had hoped to get more mileage out of him though. When he "died" all his knowledge returned to me, I knew where you were, I knew who was attacking you and I even had a measure of how he fought-not that I needed it since I'd already decided on how I'd handle him by committing his comrade's appearance to memory after I defeated her."

"I understand." Kotaro said. "That's why there was just one. I mean ninjas usually travel in three to four man cells. So you dealt with the other two on your own, Sensei?"

"Yeah. Then I came to help you out. Really I'm surprised you're all okay though." Shikamaru said. "My clone should have been enough to stop this guy. Lesson for you all, hesitation means death. If I give an order I need you to follow it. I'll do whatever I can to make sure you don't get killed, but I'd like to avoid dying myself, okay?"

Yomiko slumped. "Yes sensei." She mumbled.

It had been her fault right? After all she'd hesitated.

"And it wasn't your fault." Shikamaru said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Huh?" Yomiko blinked.

"You didn't understand the order. When an order is given and not understood it is the officer's fault, not the subordinate's. All three of you handled yourselves well against a superior opponent. That was an upper level Chuunin, a squad leader no less and you held your own against him."

"We nearly died." Nao pointed out.

"None the less it's impressive for ninja who've only been Genin for a few days." Shikamaru-sensei said. "Even so . . . I'm going to explain my plans very carefully from here on out, once the _real _fighting starts there can be no mistakes. I won't let a single one of you die, and so long as you follow my instructions there should be no danger of it."

"Yes sir!" Yomiko said. But inside she was still asking herself why she'd come along. Why any of them had come along. Shikamaru-sensei was a Jounin, an elite ninja of the leaf village.

She was, as he'd pointed out, a Genin who'd only been at it for a few days.

And she'd failed every test Shikamaru-sensei had put to her, she'd screwed up the thing with the deer, and she'd not only failed to catch Tombugiri, she'd sabotaged one of her own teammate's chances at it as well.

"M-maybe we should turn back?" Yomiko asked, and was surprised that her voice emerged as a squeak.

"Too late. I told you there'd be no turning back once we got going." Sensei said. "Don't worry. I told you, I won't let any of you die."

"I-I don't want to do this!" Yomiko cried.

"And I don't want you to." Shikamaru said, "But I cant turn back, and we're past the point where I can safely send you three back, the fact that we ran into a Rain village scouting patrol proves that. You're just going to have to trust me Sarutobi, if there's a chance to send you home safely before we reach Black Monument we'll take it."

"Y-yes sir." Yomiko whispered.

She kept her eyes on the path before her. Didn't want to look at Kotaro or Naomasa, didn't want to make eye contact with them.

She was a Sarutobi, her father had been an elite Jounin, her grandfather had been Hokage . . . she wasn't supposed to be a coward.

* * *

Keiji shook his head and said "Their trail is obvious enough, they _want _to be followed."

"Looks like they've been reinforced too." Toshiie said. "So we're dealing with the two Jounin from before, that Chuunin we spared, and a fourth ninja."

"At our present strength we'd be about equal." Keiji said, "So let's go after them. Our target is the cloud ninja with black eyes, once he's dead we can withdraw."

Toshiie smirked, "This is going to be fun." He said.

Keiji shook his head and backhanded his brother. "Fool! This is no time for fun! We have a mission. _Kill_ them, understand? No play, no nonsense, once we catch them the mark dies, so does anyone who gets in our way! Hohiro got killed because he got careless, none of you are getting careless on me, got it?"

Toshiie's smirk didn't even diminish, "Yes sir!" He said, "This blade of mine won't rest until it's coated in blood! And I won't be careless at all!"

"No mercy for the traitors, no mercy for the leaf." Jiro, the team's medic said, "But what about this little inn?"

Keiji looked at the inn that the two had been using for their secret meetings, there had to be several animals who resembled people living in the area.

"They think we're Konoha ninja, so it doesn't matter. The mission is more important."

"I don't like leaving them alive." Jiro said.

"You'll like it even less if those Cloud ninja escape and the Raikage ends our alliance. Let's move out!" Keiji roared.

And the five remaining ninja moved out.

True, Hohiro, one of their own may have fallen victim to the Hyuga clan's gentle fist . . . but Keiji would make sure that next time that milky eyed nuisance was the first one to die if she got in their way.

* * *

The sun was setting, Temari stared up at the soon-to-be night sky. Clouds changed color in the coming darkness and she wondered if he was looking at them.

Not likely, he was almost certainly focused on his mission.

She closed her eyes. It had been nearly eighteen months since she'd seen him with her eyes, there simply was no way she'd take the risk of him getting killed on some mission.

Sure he'd probably been on scores of missions in the time they'd been apart, and his life had probably been in danger a dozen times or more in that time, but Temari had gotten through all that with the knowledge that there was nothing she could do, and faith in his abilities.

While the latter had not changed the former had. This time she was capable of helping him out.

She'd do whatever it took.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	14. Three Years

**Chapter Fourteen**

_Three Years_

Shikamaru stood in the clearing and whistled loudly.

"What's up sensei?" Yomiko asked, panting. "Are we going to rest?"

"Yeah." Shikamaru said. "This is a good spot. We're only five hours away from the Monument."

"Wait-wait-wait. If we're just a few hours away why don't we just get there and then rest?" Naomasa asked.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "Five hours to get to Black Monument. I'd rather take nine, four of those hours can be better spent sleeping, you're growing kids."

"But the fighting could have already started." Kotaro pointed out.

"And you'd be useless in said fighting if you weren't capable of performing at your optimum, so get some rest." Shikamaru told him.

The boys nodded and Yomiko said "Are you going to teach us the fabled "Instant Nap Jutsu?" It seems like the kind of Jutsu you'd know, sensei."

"Ha. Very funny. And yes." Shikamaru said in a bored voice, "My "Instant Nap Jutsu" involves me taking a big stick and hitting you on the head until you feel sleepy. Want me to demonstrate?"

"Naw, that's okay sensei." Kotaro chuckled, "I think we can guess the proper hand seals and stuff."

Shikamaru looked up at the sky.

It was funny . . . he'd never felt so far away from Temari. Staring up at the sky, remembering all the times they'd lain together in his favorite spot and stared at the clouds.

They might have been doing that right now if not for this blasted war.

Heck they'd be _married _if not for the war. They might even have children by this point.

He could remember the night they'd come to agree on the fact that they should _get_ married. It was about _three years_ ago, shortly before the war started. Just a few weeks before really.

Shikamaru had wanted to ask her, and he'd had a perfect opportunity one weekend. She was in Konoha because Gaara and Tsunade-sama were having some kind of meeting, Shikamaru didn't know then that they were discussing just how solid the alliance was, since the other villages were planning to invade Konoha.

Heck he didn't even know the other villages wanted to invade Konoha. He didn't know that the ultimatum had already been given. All he knew then was that her brother was seeing the Hokage, she was in town for the weekend. He saw it as a perfect opportunity to run the idea by her, then get the Kazekage's permission to either snatch one of his talented Jounins away, or sign on with Suna himself to be with her.

Unfortunately, though Temari agreed to marry him, Gaara refused to allow the marriage. He'd said that Suna was going to need Temari in the months to come, and that Konoha, and especially Naruto would need Shikamaru.

Shikamaru, despite his smarts hadn't known then what the blazes Gaara was talking about. Then the announcement came.

Uzumaki Naruto, the "monster" who contained the final tailed demon, the nine tailed fox, had been found out by the other villages. No one knew who'd betrayed Naruto's secret, Shikamaru would have suspected Sasuke if the Uchiha boy hadn't grudgingly returned to Konoha and resumed his odd mixture of friendship and rivalry with Naruto.

The great nations demanded the "monster" be put to death and the nine tailed demon with him. Kyuubi, they claimed, gave Konoha an unfair advantage when clients sought out a ninja village. Now that no one else could create a human being with a tailed demon trapped inside them, Naruto was just a super weapon that no one could hope to match. It was an unfair balance.

So they'd claimed when the war started.

But as if Tsunade would surrender Naruto. As if Shikamaru would let her. Chouji was his _best _friend, but Naruto was still a good one, he wouldn't surrender him to the other villages.

None of the Shinobi who knew Naruto or his secret were willing to let him die that way, Naruto himself might never have been told that _that _was what the war was being fought over, he just saw it as a chance to prove that he was serious about protecting the people, and he'd done so, splendidly.

Shikamaru smirked, that idiot Naruto would probably sacrifice himself for everyone if he thought it might end the war. And some people probably would have sold him out too if they thought it might end the war, which was why Tsunade-sama made sure no one spoke of the demon inside Naruto. There'd been some concern that the enemy might spread the rumor, and the fear hadn't been unfounded. However the older generation who knew it as truth had come to trust Naruto, and the younger generations just couldn't believe it.

Now Naruto was a hero. He'd been well known before but now he was the war hero, the Whirlwind, the living legend and Konoha's greatest weapon.

And it was obvious now that this war wasn't about the leaf village being too strong. Especially since Konoha was running neck and neck with Suna for the title of "Weakest Great Village". The war wasn't about making the Great Villages equal. It was about land. The great nations wanted more land, more wealth. The Lightning Country had already cleaved a large portion of the Fire Country away. The Water country had expanded so that it owned all of what had once been the land of waves, and most of the shores of Fire and even some of Wind's.

Stone hadn't expanded their land into fire, but they had absorbed Bird Country and swallowed up a large portion of Wind. They were definitely becoming the most powerful village. Shikamaru had heard that at the Stone Village's last Chuunin exam over two hundred Genin entered. It was unlikely, but even if it were half true a hundred Genin ready for the Chuunin exams was a freakishly large number. Konoha had come close to those numbers in its prime, but to think that a village constantly engaged in war could do it.

Likely the only reason the Country of Wind hadn't joined in the war against the Land of Fire was because Gaara refused to allow it. No Suna Shinobi would perform _any _mission against Konoha, such was the strength of the alliance, and the loyalty of Kazekage Gaara to the man who'd helped save him from a lifetime of torment and loneliness. Though Wind paid for it with loss of land, and the loss of many good Shinobi, Gaara was resolute. Sunagakure would not back down from its support of Konohagakure.

For three years the war had raged. Every day someone died and it wasn't even just ninja anymore. Peasant regiments headed up by ancient Samurai families were marching constantly. Even though a good sized group of Ninja could annihilate a battalion of Samurai the fact was the ninja were spread so thin these days that inferior armies were proving surprisingly useful in taking and holding new lands.

And for all these reasons Shikamaru and Temari had been told their marriage would have to wait a few weeks . . . months . . . years.

He hadn't seen her in the last _eighteen months_. There'd been letters, short ones written in such a fashion that Shikamaru barely understood what she was telling him or what he was telling her. It was all in a bizarre code, no major information could be sent, they could not even refer to each other by name. They used nicknames, hers was Fanny, his was Crybaby. So desperate were they both to let the other know they were still alive that they resorted to sending short, nonsensical notes back and forth, but they were unable to talk about how the war was going for their country or even how their personal day had gone.

Shikamaru stared at the sky and sighed. He wondered what it'd be like to marry Temari at last. To have kids with her some day.

First a girl, then a boy.

He'd been so close to seeing her again.

Letters weren't enough, he wanted to see her with his eyes. "Sensei?" Yomiko spoke up.

"Hmm?"

"Well . . . uh . . . what are we going to do once the fighting starts?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked.

"How can we be useful? I mean we don't know any really powerful Jutsu and you don't have time to teach us. What are we going to do?"

"Exactly as I tell you, remember?" Shikamaru shrugged. "Don't worry, I've got several plans. I'll decide on one while you're all asleep."

"I can't sleep, tell us the plans!" Yomiko cried.

"I won't cloud your minds with useless plans, I'll tell you my plan when I have it, by the time you're awake I should know for certain what we'll be doing."

"So this is a real battle?" Naomasa asked, "We'll be fighting against Shinobi from rival villages, right?"

"That's right." Shikamaru said. He was a little distracted with thoughts of Temari, but his incredible mind was also thinking of ways to make these three useful.

Kotaro's Jutsu might be useful, Yomiko's genjutsu might not have any use against Chuunin level Shinobi. And Naomasa likely knew nothing aside from basic Jutsus.

Of course Shikamaru had no idea what sort of numbers they'd be facing, or what level the ninja they would face would be at. It could be an elite squad of Jounin, or a Chuunin patrol, might even be a four man Jounin-Genin squad though that was unlikely.

He might begin the battle with a trio of Shadow Clones, one for each of the kids, each clone would then use shadow puppetry to keep the kids out of danger.

But that would cut his own strength into quarters and it'd be difficult for the clones to perform the puppetry Jutsu for any extended period of time. Shikamaru himself could conceivably use all three Genin as puppets himself to keep them out of proper danger. However it would mean he'd have to focus entirely on them, divide his attention three ways and still waste a great deal of his chakra.

The best idea was to trust Kotaro and Yomiko to their own devices, Nao might be able to act as a diversion.

However it would require more thought over the course of the night.

It was with some reluctance that Shikamaru forced all thoughts of Temari out of his mind.

He'd see her soon enough.

* * *

Kotaro nudged Nao with his elbow. "You asleep?"

"Well it'd be pretty pointless of me to say 'yes' now that you've jabbed be so much, wouldn't it?"

"Good. I say you and I keep going by ourselves, we head out to Black Monument and ascertain the situation."

"You're kidding." Nao scoffed. "Without Sensei?"

"That would be what I meant when I said 'by ourselves', yes." The masked boy said.

"What's Sensei going to say about that?" Nao asked.

"Nothing. He's distracted, so use your Clone Jutsu and we'll sneak off. Once we're far enough away our clones will disappear, but it should give us some time."

"Why are we going?" Nao asked.

"To get information on the situation, to better understand what's going on and bring that information back to Sensei. Sensei will be able to formulate a better plan and lay a better trap because of the information that we'll be bringing him."

"No I mean why do you want me to go? Why not Yomiko?" Nao asked.

"I dunno. I just figured you had guts. Never mind though, I'll go by myself, no sweat."

"H-hey I've got guts!" Nao protested, "I'll go!"

"Good. Let's get out of here." Kotaro said.

"Sensei's not going to just let us go." Nao whispered.

"He isn't watching us, no worries. But be quiet." Kotaro assured him.

So Nao performed a clone Jutsu and then the pair of them snuck off into the night towards Black Monument.

* * *

Yomiko watched the boys go. Clearly she wasn't invited. Boy's night out or whatever. Jerks.

Still she meant to distract Sensei on their behalf, but he seemed pretty distracted already. Instead she just closed her eyes and hoped they didn't get killed.

It would be hard being a member of a one woman squad.

* * *

Ino and the others ran, they'd reach Black Monument in another half a day or so. They couldn't stop to rest of course, not with their enemies closing in on them.

Somehow the Iwa team was closing the gap between them. Ino meant to find out how.

"Just make sure to catch my body." Ino said. Her Twin Mind Jutsu made body catching unnecessary, however running at high speed through the woods it had been decided that having her eyes closed would be a bad idea, however seeing the world through two sets of different eyes looking at different things could be nauseating. Ino had decided that Tetsuo, Hanabi's Cloud village contact would just have to carry her along.

She possessed a bird and took to the air, leaving her body with Tetsuo, Hanabi and Sora.

And she sought out their determined enemies.

It didn't take her long to find them either. She dispelled the Jutsu not five minutes after using it, she opened her own eyes and shoved away from Tetsuo.

"They're on horseback!" She said.

"Where'd they get horses?" Hanabi demanded.

"They're made out of stones, golems." Ino said.

"How can we fail to outrun stone horses?" Sora scoffed.

"Ask them when they catch us." Tetsuo barked.

"Maybe I'll catch them." Sora said darkly.

"Not yet." Tetsuo said. He turned to Ino, "is there any way we can reach the monument before they catch us?"

"Not a chance." Ino said. "It took me five minutes to find them with the bird's eyes, they could catch up to us in ten. We're still twelve hours away from the monument at best, it's not going to happen."

"Then we need a diversion," Sora said, "Let me stay behind, I might be able to kill one of them and make it easier on the rest of you."

"We need to get rid of their horses." Hanabi said, "I'll bet the one who made them is the same one who made the golem from before. _I'll _deal with him."

"What?" Ino yelped.

"You two go on to the monument," Hanabi explained, "Ino needs to go so the Konoha teams there don't slaughter Tetsuo, and Tetsuo needs to go so that the stone ninjas will keep following you." Hanabi smiled, "Sora and I will attack their group, while she distracts them I'll kill the Jounin who's summoning up these stone ponies and then we make a break for that inn we left."

"They'll kill you, there's too many of them." Ino said.

"No, because they'll keep following Tetsuo."

Ino frowned, "Then let me go."

Hanabi frowned too, "With due respect, Yamanaka-sempai, while you are the senior I am the more skilled in combat."

Ino scoffed, "Let me do it. You're a Hyuuga, if those stone ninja get your body they can unlock the secrets of Byakugan, you need to take Tetsuo to the monument. With my Jutsu I can easily handle the assassination. I've faced worse than them in my career."

Tetsuo nodded, "Trust her Hanabi. You stay with me."

The Hyuuga looked closely at Ino, "Very well. But be careful."

Ino nodded, "No worries there. With all due respect, Hyuuga-sama, I don't know your contact well enough to die for him."

**To Be Continued . . .**


	15. Stoppable Vixens

**Chapter Fifteen**

_Stoppable Vixens_

"You understand the plan?" Ino asked.

"Yeah." Sora said, "But won't your Jutsu time out?"

"No, it should be fine as long as you don't take my body too far away." Ino assured the cloud ninja. "I'm trusting you." She added, more admitting it to herself.

She was trusting her life in the hands of this woman who'd tried to kill her when they first met.

"As long as you leave the swordsman _for_ me to kill, you've got nothing to worry about _from_ me." Sora assured her.

"Here they come." Ino whispered.

She leapt down from the tree into the path that the horses would take.

She saw them advancing, the two bald Shinobi riding at the forefront.

Ino began her Jutsu.

* * *

Keiji saw the Konoha Jounin leap down, but a glance at his tracker, Jiro, told him that they hadn't caught the target yet.

"Ride her down, she's nothing." Keiji roared.

Toshiie whooped and rode ahead, his huge steed barreling for the Konoha ninja.

She was rather pretty, but that wouldn't stay Toshiie's hand.

She fainted, falling to the ground, Keiji chuckled.

The four-eyed cloud ninja they'd spared before fell from the trees and grabbed the Jounin's body, then threw herself to the side, into the bushes.

"Ignore them, they're not the target." Jiro suggested.

But Keiji had a gut instinct that told him ignoring them wouldn't be wise. He motioned to his other two Chuunin, "Take her." He ordered.

They fell backwards, from their horses and dashed into the bushes where the cloud woman had fled, their mounts melted back into the earth, Keiji slowed his own steed and said "Wait for them."

Toshiie seemed a little shaken, he rode up close to Keiji, "I . . . I can't believe I let that one get away from me." He said.

"Then go after her." Keiji offered.

"N-no I . . . I think I should stay with you." Toshiie said, drawing his sword, "There might be another ambush."

"They're gone," Jiro said, "I can't smell the Hattori. Not here."

Keiji's eyes narrowed. Toshiie wasn't the sort to refuse to kill something. Why it took a supreme effort to convince his brother not to kill anything, it never took more than a suggestion to get Toshiie to actually kill something.

So when Toshiie's sword suddenly arced in for his own head, Keiji was hardly surprised.

* * *

With her stolen body, Ino struck out at the Jounin Hanabi had described to her, the blade cut cleanly through a boulder that had suddenly appeared in place of the Jounin.

Substitution Jutsu . . . and with a bloody boulder.

Ino threw herself off of the horse as she felt her stolen body beginning to sink down into it, she brought the sword up to deflect a shuriken thrown from the false Anbu.

Though this was not her body and damage it sustained would be inflicted on her own body as well.

She scanned the trees for any sign of her quarry, but she wasn't fighting a leaf ninja.

She was fighting a stone ninja, he irrupted from the ground and grabbed her in a crushing bear hug.

"I don't know who you are, but you're not Toshiie." He said darkly, "Tell me what you've done with him or you die here and now!"

Ino couldn't swing the sword at the Jounin because he held her arms. However she could-and did-swing the blade around. It cut through the earth and came up underhanded, she raised it a bit and tried to stab the Jounin.

It would have been an awkward stab but it was better than nothing.

She felt him squeeze her just a bit, and she coughed and tried in vain to breathe. He released her and melted back into the earth before she could do anything else to him.

But as she fell to her knees she knew she'd escaped immediate death at least. She threw herself into the air, and spun the blade in her hands, "C'mon!" She shouted, "Show yourself!"

The Anbu rushed at her from below, stealing her attention as the Jounin came at her from above!

From the trees!

She felt something sharp pierce her, or rather her stolen body.

But it would be having much the same effect on her own body.

She swung her hands around and grabbed the bald Jounin in a headlock, he stabbed her again, and then again as they plummeted to the ground.

They slammed into that ground, the bald Jounin melted into the earth but Ino didn't know how to do that.

She lay there, stunned and dying as the Anbu stood over her. "Should I kill him?"

"Find out what he's done with Toshiie." The officer said.

The Anbu nodded and grabbed Toshiie-Ino by the neck. "Tell us where you've hidden Toshiie-sama."

Ino smirked, "I _am _Toshiie."

"Impossible." The Anbu said. "You look like Toshiie, you smell like Toshiie, but you don't fight like Toshiie, and he doesn't know any way other than . . . well the way that he does."

The bald Jounin stood over Toshiie-Ino. "Come now. Do you really want to die? Transform into your true self, tell me where my comrade is and we'll fix you up."

"I am an expert medical ninja." The Anbu nodded. "You don't need to die."

Ino laughed. "Oh . . . I wont."

"Damn you tell me where Toshiie is!" The Jounin roared, throwing himself at Ino and punching her in the face.

Well . . . punching Toshiie in the face.

But Ino smirked and threw her head forward, biting the man on the nose, he roared in pain as Ino pulled with all her stolen body's might and ripped the nose clean off of the man's face.

At least she tried to, it would have been cool if she'd succeeded, but she didn't.

It just wasn't that easy to rip someone's nose off, especially in a body that had been losing a lot of blood over the last minute.

But she still injured the Jounin, he fell back with a scream, holding his nose.

Ino picked herself up and sprang for him, she raised the sword and brought it down on the Jounin's head!

With one stroke she ensured the escape of Hanabi and Tetsuo!

With one swift stroke she accomplished the mission, assassinated an enemy Jounin.

With one swift, rock splitting stroke . . . she cut a log in half.

Substitution Jutsu . . .

She felt the kunai press against the back of her head. "All right. That's enough of that." The Anbu said.

Ino smirked. Maybe she couldn't do anything about their speed.

Her blade shot up and buried itself in the Anbu's chest, but the sound she heard was not of a sword piercing flesh.

A glance upwards showed her that once again the Substitution Jutsu had bested her.

She dropped the sword and rose to her feet.

How annoying.

"What is wrong with you Iwa-cowards?" Ino scoffed, "Is Substitution your only trick?"

"Of course not." The Anbu's voice rang from the trees. "But why play an ace if a two will do?"

And suddenly the ground irrupted beneath Ino, stalagmite spikes rose up, she leapt into the air to avoid them, and spun, expecting an attack from above her.

She heard the ground irrupt beneath her, she turned her head and saw the Jounin coming at her from the earth itself!

She twisted in the air again to strike him, taking a kunai from her stolen figure's thigh holster.

She took aim and threw. She felt someone, probably the Anbu's leg slam into the small of her back, and she fell.

She fell, but she saw the kunai burry itself in the eye of the enemy Jounin.

He couldn't survive that.

He held his face, screaming in agony.

Ino wouldn't take any chances, she took two handfuls of shuriken and threw them! The Anbu hit her in the back again, speeding her down towards the spikes.

She threw the shuriken forward, so that as the Jounin rose and she rapidly fell they struck him.

Then, millimeters away from the spikes she shouted "Release!"

* * *

Sora leapt from tree to tree, though carrying this woman made it hard.

"How can someone so skinny weigh so much?" Sora wondered aloud.

She wanted to stop and fight those two Anbu. She was willing to bet she could take them! She wanted to take them! Wanted to kill them, make them pay!

But she had to get this Ino woman to safety.

"Uck!" Ino gasped, Sora glanced over her shoulder as Ino shoved her away and tried to run on her own.

She failed and fell forward, gasping for air.

Sora stopped and knelt down next to her. "Get up! Get up, we've got to run!"

"I . . . cant." Ino whispered. "The mission was a success. Just leave me here, I can't run anymore."

Sora scoffed, "I have done all the running until now. Fine then. I hope you didn't think I'd try to argue with you." She said, standing and turning away from the woman, "You leaf Shinobi are still my enemies."

"Yeah . . . fine. Now go." Ino said as she began a medical Jutsu for herself.

Sora scoffed, "What?"

"Go."

"You're not the boss of me. Why should I?" Sora asked.

"You're staying here?" Ino demanded, sounding a little better as the bleeding on her side stopped.

"'Course. They killed my husband, I want a piece of them. The fact that I just happen to be standing near you means nothing. It's not like I'm _protecting_ you or anything." Sora winked. "Besides, maybe you'll distract them. You think you can take one if I take the other?"

Ino shook her head, "I can't do much more than stall them so you can get away!"

"Then I guess I'll take 'em both." Sora shrugged.

"Don't do this! You're throwing your life away!"

"My life ended a while ago. Back when _his _life ended, I don't want to live without Garma." Sora said softly, glaring into the woods, knowing the false Anbu would be coming up on her at any minute.

The shuriken sailed out of the trees, Sora threw herself back and rolled, coming to her feet and finding the first Anbu rushing for her.

She thrust her palms forward, "Twin Twister Jutsu!" She screamed, unleashing her greatest quick-use Jutsu.

It wasn't the most destructive, but it blew the enemy Anbu back and spun him about a bit as twin tornadoes emerged from Sora's palms.

The second Anbu descended from the trees with more speed then Sora could've imagined, she raised her head in time to see him coming and even raised her left hand to throw a tornado at him.

The clone disappeared in a shower of pebbles, and she felt something bite into her side!

She gasped, her arm fell and hit something protruding from her side. With a sharp pain that made her scream she accidentally tore the Kunai that had pierced her left lung free, she fell to her knees.

"Damn." She whispered. "Thought . . . I'd put up . . . more of a fight." She said, a little surprised.

The other Anbu emerged from the trees to her left, "I figured you'd have some problems seeing on your left side, what with those broken lenses and all." He smirked.

Sora grinned, "Yeah . . . so . . . get it over with." She turned her head away from him, spotted the kunai covered in her own blood. She made a gentle motion with her hand, a gentle breeze brought the blade towards her slowly.

He laughed and kicked her in the head. He got on top of her and drew a kunai knife. "We were going to spare you. We were under orders to spare at least one Kumo ninja. But now . . . you can die here, alone in the woods. What do you think of that?"

"I think . . . you're right . . . 'bout one thing . . . I'm dead. But . . . I'm not dying . . . alone!" Sora gasped and brought the discarded kunai closer to her, she twisted her hips and took it blade up between her knees.

She then raised her legs hard and fast, slamming the kunai into the Anbu's back just below and between his shoulder blades!

He fell forward, on top of her, the jerk from her kicking the kunai into his back shoved his own hands forward, plunging the blade into her stomach.

Her vision began to turn red, she glanced over to where she'd left Ino.

The Konoha Jounin and the other false Anbu were gone, Sora didn't know where they'd disappeared too, she assumed they'd taken their fight elsewhere.

Well she'd taken one down . . . so surely the Konoha Jounin could take the other right? And in any event she'd made sure Tetsuo-kun and his girlfriend would have one less enemy to fight.

_Hope I helped_ she thought, and then joined her husband in death.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	16. Bring Them To It

**Chapter Sixteen**

_Bring Them To It_

Shikamaru yawned, feeling a little drowsy.

He glanced at the kids, they were all fast asleep.

Wait . . . no they weren't.

He glared at the two empty bedrolls and said one word. "Troublesome." He counted to ten, to calm his nerves, then roused Yomiko, "Get up. Where'd your boyfriends go?"

"What's that sensei?" Yomiko asked innocently, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Shikamaru glared at her, "Didn't you _learn _anything yesterday? How long have they been gone, Yomiko?"

Yomiko looked at the boy's bedrolls and gasped in surprise. She was _almost _convincing but she hammed it up a little when she threw a hand over her head and cried "Sensei! They're gone! Where did they go? Oh my, why I had no idea! We should begin a search now, oh I had no idea, I thought they were right next to me, sleeping peacefully!"

Shikamaru grabbed her arm and dragged her along, "Enough, we've got to go!"

"Wh-what? But what about the camp?"

"Leave it!" Shikamaru said, "We have to catch those boys before they do something _stupid_!"

"But sensei they left like five hours ago, they might _be _there already."

Shikamaru shook his head, "For all we know the _enemy _could be there too!"

"Oh . . ." Yomiko looked surprised. "But . . ."

"Just c'mon!" Shikamaru snapped, "You Genin are troublesome, bothersome and in all ways a total drag!"

* * *

"Whoa!" Nao gasped when he saw Black Monument. "It's so cool!"

"Yeah." Kotaro agreed, looking it over.

It was a huge black obelisk. The symbols of several villages were carved into it along with hundreds, maybe even thousands of names.

Kotaro whistled, "Man . . . it's awesome. To think that many ninja died fighting just one small band."

"I don't think it all happened in one battle." Nao said.

"No, but these rebels must have known their stuff." Kotaro shook his head, and sat down on the ground, leaning against the obelisk. "I'm glad they're dead."

Nao's eyes widened, "What?" He gagged, "They died fighting against evil, they died so you--"

"I mean the bag guys." Kotaro clarified, "I'm glad they're dead. They almost killed _my _parents y'know? My dad faced 'em a few times."

"Oh." Nao said, sitting down next to Kotaro. "So . . . your dad's like a legend, right?"

"He's one of the village's toughest ninja." Kotaro nodded, "You ever hear of Hatake Kakashi? He's my dad."

"Yeah . . . you look like him." Nao said.

"Who's your dad?" Taro asked.

"Nobody." Nao said. "Just a rich merchant."

"Huh. Then I guess it wouldn't prove much to bet that my dad can kick your dad's butt."

"Not really, but my dad could probably _hire_ someone to kick your dad's butt." Nao smirked. He sighed and looked up at the monument, "Are you sure it's okay to just sit here? Out in the open? Aren't we supposed to be scouting?"

"Sure. But we ran a long way, I'm tired." Taro shrugged. "We're just taking a quick breather."

Nao nodded. He was all for that. "Yeah . . . my mom used to say 'don't overexert yourself, that's what the servants are for." He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah . . . well my mom's words of wisdom are "run with the scissors, if you can't avoid injury you'll never be a ninja!'" I guess they haven't got much in common, but I always think of that when I run for a long time."

Nao stared at Taro . . . was he serious? And here he'd thought _his _parents were messed up.

"Your mom sounds scary." He sighed.

Taro didn't answer with words. But Nao did hear him snoring softly.

Naomasa sighed again and looked up at the sky. Well . . . maybe they could sleep for a little while. He _was _tired.

* * *

The Anbu held Ino by the scalp and threw her on the ground.

"Wh-what happened here?" The Anbu gagged.

"Just report!" The medic-nin from before commanded.

"Y-yeah. The other one's dead, I checked her and took what equipment I could salvage from her. Killed Hitoshi too, I took what gear I could from him then used an earth jutsu to hide the body." The Anbu reported.

The one Ino had possessed, Toshiie glared at her as the other Anbu treated his rather serious injuries. "That _bitch_!" He roared, getting up to attack Ino.

The medic-nin tried to hold him back and only got a first in the face for his efforts.

But another ninja stood between Ino and Toshiie. "Stand down, Toshiie."

"Look what's she's done Keij! She made me take your eye! Your _eye_!"

"It's a fact Keiji-sama, you're lucky to be alive." The medic said as he examined the cracked mask that had once covered his face. "A bit deeper and that kunai would have pierced your brain. You'd be dead."

Keiji grinned at Ino, he held her face and forced her to look into his. To look at the bloody hole she'd left with his comrade's kunai. "Yeah . . . surprised that we know it was you?" He asked.

'Well my disguise _was _pretty good." Ino forced a grin.

Keiji slapped her and laughed, "Cocky whore. Oh we know you, seeing you face to face makes it all clear Yamanaka Ino. Oh yeah, we know you. You're a tiny entry in the bingo book, but after this? I'll suggest you for an entire page."

"So you gonna kill me?" Ino scoffed.

"Nah. Not yet." Keiji said. He reached for her neck, grabbed her and slammed her into the ground!

He lifted her and slammed her into the earth again, then again, then again! Ino was dumbfounded, she thought he said he wasn't going to kill her!

He slammed her head into the ground five times more, then released her. "So you caught yourself a Jounin, Yoshi?"

"Yes sir."

Keiji grinned, "Good job. One of the Konoha Twelve no less. If I were a bounty hunter I could retire early, even with the puny bounty on _your _head, Yamanaka."

"You'd better kill me now." Ino warned. "If you give me half a chance, I'll pay you back for killing my Genin."

Toshiie broke out into laughter, "Keij! Keij this is too good! It was _her _team! Jiro and I killed _her _team! The stupid woman came after us!"

"Did you think that you could possibly take us?" Keiji laughed, kicking Ino in the face.

Needless to say it really hurt, Ino spat blood and what she hoped wasn't a tooth out on the ground.

"So now that's two men down." Jiro, the Medic said. Ino made the connection from his stalagmite jutsu.

"Is there any way Jiro could save Hitoshi?" Keiji barked to Yoshi.

The Anbu shook his head, "No, Hitoshi was long dead. We got split up Keiji-sama, I'm sorry. I thought he was fine, so I went after the Jounin. I mean he had the Kumo-nin on the ground with a kunai in her chest."

"So how'd he die?" Toshiie demanded.

"Doesn't matter. We've lost enough time waiting around." Keiji said.

"Keiji-sama, I need more time with Toshiie, and I really think you should let me treat _your _wounds." Jiro said. "It won't do us any good to catch up to the target and be half dead."

"He'll be half dead from exhaustion." Keiji retorted.

"We can't take that risk. Let us camp for the night, we can easily catch him before he reaches Kumo."

Keiji grabbed Ino again, she braced herself for more pain but surprisingly he picked her up off the ground gently and stood her up. "Where's he going?"

"To Kumo I guess." Ino whispered.

Keiji smiled, "Do you like it when I hit you?"

"Well it's okay. Not like I'm into that kind of thing." Ino said simply, feeling along her teeth with her tongue to see if any were missing.

"You realize how hard I'll hit you if you lie to me again?" He asked her.

"I guess I'd be lying if I said 'yes.' I didn't know you could hit _hard_ you sissy." Ino scoffed.

She had to put on an act, yeah she _wanted _them to go to Black Monument and get attacked by the ambush she had waiting there, but if she told them outright they might suspect something.

Even so she didn't know _where _this bravado was coming from. Inside her brain she was screaming "Shut up! Tell them what they want to know! Offer them money, information, _whatever_ just don't let them kill you!"

But she didn't. She just smiled kind of stupidly as Keiji's fist flew out and struck her-hard-in the face.

"Where's he going?" He demanded again.

"I don't know, really . . ." Ino said.

Keiji sighed. "All right Toshiie . . . she's yours."

Toshiie cracked his knuckles, Jiro let out an exasperated sigh, "I need more time, don't exert yourself just yet, you suffered massive blood loss, as well as damage to you kidney Toshiie-sama! Your internal organs are injured, does that mean nothing to you?"

But Toshiie came over to Ino, and drew a wicked looking dagger. He grinned, "Don't worry sweetie. I won't _hit _you. But . . . y'see this? You tell me everything you know or you and this dagger . . . are gonna get _real _close. Y'know what I mean?" He placed it against her neck, "I may have lost some blood, but I bet I'll perk right up if I spill a bit of yours."

Ino forced tears to come to her eyes, and put on a bit of an act. "No! Please!" She begged, "Don't!"

"See Keij? You just need to know how to treat women." Toshiie grinned. He pressed the blade closer to Ino's neck, "Tell me. Now."

"They're . . . they're going to Black Monument . . . they're going to split up there, then Hyuga-sama is going to Konoha to rally some Anbu black-ops to hunt you down. The Kumo-nin was going to make a break for the border." Ino lied.

She wanted them to go to Black Monument . . . and she hoped that there was an ambush waiting for them there.

The group looked at Jiro, who sniffed the air and nodded, "Scent's headed in that direction."

Toshiie grinned. "See? So can I kill her now?"

"You know the answer to that. You wouldn't have asked me if you didn't already know you couldn't." Keiji laughed. "You'd just have done it."

"What do we need her for?" Yoshi asked. "I mean she's just a danger to us."

"Wrong. She's a medic." Keiji said, "And she's gonna set right the trouble she's caused us. With her help Toshiie and I will be healed up in half the time."

Jiro nodded, "Fine. Am I to work on her injuries too?"

"Stabilize her, but don't waste too much chakra." Keiji said.

Jiro looked Ino over and said "Well she shouldn't be too much of a problem, seems she's done most of the work herself."

"I don't care. We have work to do too." Keiji said.

"You're continuing after the target?" Toshiie asked.

"No." Keiji said. "We know where he's going now . . . we'll beat him there."

Ino hid her elation with a look of feigned horror, "N-no!"

Keiji slammed his fist into the ground and a quartet of stone horses emerged from the ground. "Toshiie, the prisoner rides with you."

"Sure, Keij." Toshiie nodded.

Jiro grinned at her, and aside from the fact that Ino wanted him to die a violent death, she might have thought he was good looking. He said "Do a good job as my assistant and you might just be offered a chance to join the Medic-corps of Iwa, we Medic-nins don't grow on trees. You know the pay is better for ninja on the _winning _side of the war."

Ino smiled a false, forced smile, "Th-thank you. I'll d-do my best."

Toshiie shoved her towards the horse. "Prisoners don't speak."

Keiji leapt upon one of the horses, "Let's ride, we'll reach the Black Monument in about five hours. Plenty of time to set a trap and have our injuries healed."

"I think you're mistaking my skills for magical beans that restore you completely or something. Those don't exist."

"Given what you saw of the target can you get us ready to face him?" Keiji demanded.

"Oh yes. I think so. Especially if he walks into our trap. But . . . I don't think I can get you to full strength. And I'd like to do something about that eye."

"Oh you will." Keiji grinned, "When we have the target . . . I'd like one of his."

Jiro grinned, "Heh-heh. Only you could turn a near crippling injury into a stroke of good fortune, Keiji-sama."

**To Be Continued . . .**


	17. Rescue or Something Like It

**Chapter Seventeen**

_Rescue! Or . . . Something Like It . . ._

Temari opened her eyes slowly as the sun rose into the sky, attacking her closed eyes.

She frowned. She'd had a fitful sleep, and she'd be surprised if she'd had any more than a few hours.

She just couldn't stop thinking about Shikamaru. She closed her eyes, but not to sleep.

She envisioned him. How dare he do this to her, make her worry like this.

She had so much to tell him about their time apart. She'd been looking forward to having a chance to tell him everything . . . there was so much he'd want to know . . . a couple little details he _needed _to know.

She yawned and stood up, and opened up her fan. She did a quick check for rips or tares in the powerful weapon.

It wasn't technically the same fan she'd used back in her youthful days. It looked the same, but it was maybe the fourth fan she'd ever used.

It served her just as well as the first, and second . . . a little better than the third.

She smiled. She'd love to use this fan to make certain that her Shikamaru came back to her safe. Sometimes a Kunouichi just couldn't have things all her own way.

"See you soon, Shika-kun." She thought out loud. "You'd better not let them kill you, whoever they are."

* * *

Naomasa's eyes snapped open as he felt the earth shaking beneath him, he turned to Kotaro who was already getting up.

"What's that noise?" Nao asked.

"I don't know . . . sound's like horses. Fat ones." Kotaro yawned.

"Wh-what?" Nao blinked, "Kotaro . . . Sensei and Yomiko weren't riding horses."

"Yeah, so?"

"So? So if we don't know who they are we should be hiding!"

"Probably." Kotaro yawned again.

"So . . . why are we standing here?"

Kotaro blinked a few times. "Who're you?" He asked.

Nao groaned and grabbed the other boy's wrist and pulled him. They ran into the bushes and hid. Nao slapped Kotaro to wake him and peered out.

A huge gray horse erupted from the trees after a few moments.

It dissipated into the ground and its rider strode a few paces before coming to a stop.

Two more emerged and dissipated, two more riders dismounted.

The two were Anbu, the one at the front was grotesquely injured Konoha Jounin.

He had a bloody wound where his right eye should have been, his arms and chest were covered in bloodied bandages.

One of the Anbu came over and started treating his injuries right away, "I _told _you it was a bad idea to just-"

"Shut up." The Jounin snapped.

Nao sighed in relief. They might look creepy, but they were Konoha ninja. He was about to reveal himself to him but Kotaro held him back.

"Not a good idea, Nao." Kotaro whispered.

Another horse emerged, a man who looked rather similar to the bald Jounin, strode forward after his horse dissipated. A woman who'd been riding with him just sort of fell in a heap.

She struggled to her feet, she was badly injured.

She was a Konoha Jounin too, but none of the others seemed at all concerned with her injuries.

In fact one of the Anbu grabbed her and shoved her roughly towards the one eyed Jounin and the medic-Anbu. "Get over there Yamanaka, help the captain!"

"Yamanaka . . ." Kotaro grumbled.

"You know her?"

"My dad mentioned her name once. When I told him I was on team ten with Shikamaru-sensei. Mom said to him 'isn't Nara Shikamaru that kid who used to run around with that Akimichi boy and the Yamanaka girl?' and dad said 'yeah'."

"You remember all that?" Nao blinked.

"I've got a really good memory." Kotaro said.

"You didn't even know who I was when you woke up!" Nao hissed.

"Well . . . I'm not good with faces right when I wake up." Kotaro admitted.

The woman coughed and stood up, her beautiful long hair was a little messy but it was blond. "Hey . . . didn't Shikamaru-sensei say his old girlfriend was a blond ninja he knew when he was a kid?" Nao asked.

"Yeah."

"And . . . if this woman used to be on his team . . . and she's obviously a Shinobi . . ." Nao blinked, "I'll bet that's the woman Sensei was going to marry!"

Kotaro blinked, "Really? I have trouble seeing Sensei hitting _that_. I mean take away the dried blood and caked on mud and she's a total centerfold. She's the kind of girl I'd buy magazines for."

Nao stared at Kotaro. "Uh-huh . . ." He said at length, "Anyway I'm sure we can trust these guys."

"She's a prisoner." Kotaro said flatly.

"What? But they're all Konoha ninjas." Nao whispered.

"Nope. They're not from our village. Their vests are green, and their headbands are blue but look at 'em. Their cloths aren't Konoha style, and do you see any tattoos on those Anbu?"

"Maybe they just weren't tattooed yet." Nao whispered.

"Anbu get branded right off the bat." Kotaro shook his head. "These guys aren't our friends."

"Then we've gotta save Sensei's girl." Naomasa said.

Sensei seemed so bored and depressed normally, Nao didn't want to imagine how bored and depressed he'd get if his would-be-wife were killed by alien ninjas.

Kotaro looked at the enemy group and nodded, "Okay . . . it's risky. Judging by the stone horses I'd guess they're from Hidden in Stone . . . so they probably know my Jutsu. Luckily I'm pretty sharp . . . I'll think of something."

"Hurry." Nao said. "They might find us."

"True." Kotaro said thoughtfully. He looked at the enemy position while Nao tried himself to figure out how they might rescue the woman just incase Kotaro came up blank.

But no such misfortune, Kotaro clapped his hands together quietly and said "All right, here's what we do . . . I hope you've gotten a good rest because you're going to have to run, and fast."

"Gotcha." Nao nodded.

"So you any good at transforming?" Taro asked.

* * *

Ino did her best not to mistreat the injuries of her patient. She wasn't a doctor, just a field medic. Her medical Jutsu was passable, above average but she wasn't Sakura, she wasn't Hokage-sama, heck, she wasn't even Shizune . . . not that Shizune wasn't rather good.

Though she took her work seriously it was tempting to use her medical Jutsu to just do a surface patch, and let this guy suffer from internal bleeding.

But Jiro was watching her too closely.

"Got any scents Jiro?"

"Something faint, I don't recognize it." He said. "It's not the target, we passed him a while ago."

"Hold up!" Yoshi shouted, "Someone's coming."

Ino looked over to the road that led to Konoha.

Walking slowly down said road, hands in his pockets was . . .

"Shikamaru!" Ino screamed.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "What's this? What happened to you?"

Ino shook her head, Shikamaru was dead. There was no way he'd take these guys alone. "Run!" She shouted, "Run Shikamaru, get help!"

"Help?" Naruto laughed, emerging from the bushes, "Like me, Yamanaka?"

"Or us?" Another pair emerged. Neji and Hinata . . .

"Four Konoha Jounin . . . a-and the Konoha Whirlwind!" Yoshi stammered, "Th-that's Uzumaki Naruto, you _know _the stories about him! He's a de-"

Keiji cut him off with a bark, "Shaddap! Get ready!"

Toshiie grabbed her by the neck, "You led us into a trap!" He roared.

Well . . . yeah. But Ino hadn't been expecting one _this_ good. She just grinned, "You guys are dead."

"Let her go!" Shikamaru shouted, "If you hurt her I'll-"

Neji, Hinata, and Naruto all stood next to Shikamaru, "Stand down! Release your prisoner slowly and you can go about your business." Naruto said.

"Don't listen to them." Jiro said, continuing to tend Keiji's wounds. "They're not real."

"What?" Ino yelped.

"Doppelgangers." Jiro said, "They don't have any scent."

"So four Jounin are using doppelgangers, that's no reason not to be worried! I hear Uzumakai can summon a million shadow clones!" Yoshi yelped.

"They aren't shadow clones. They're just illusionary doppelgangers. Probably under the transformation Jutsu too, they all have the same scent, but it's weak. They're not the real deal, no way."

Keiji laughed, "You have the scent on of any Konoha ninjas then?"

"Well I didn't recognize it at first, but now that I've got a sniff of these clones? Yeah. Two of 'em, I thought they were wild animals they were so scared when we came. I don't know where the other one is, but one of 'em's in the woods over there." He pointed.

Yoshi gulped when Keiji said "So go on. Get over there, investigate."

However the doppelgangers they ignored charged! Toshiie leapt forward with an excited shout, "All right, you don't know when to drop the illusion do you? Here goes!" He drew his sword,

"Gah!" Yoshi screamed and fell backwards, a kunai protruding from each knee.

Keiji rushed over to the woods.

Ino was alone with Jiro as Keiji and Yoshi waged war with a Kiba and Tenten, who were both very careful about getting hit when Tenten got struck by Keiji and disappeared.

They were clones too.

Suddenly something erupted from the ground, a small hand, armed with a kunai struck, slamming the blade deep into the back of Jiro's knee.

He fell forward screaming, the hands grabbed Ino and pulled her underground.

"Wh-what's this?" Ino cried when she saw what looked like a twelve year old Kakashi-sensei.

"Just come with me!" He said, pulling Ino along a narrow tunnel.

It was lucky she cared so much about being skinny.

They came out in the woods, another Genin pulled them out of the hole, "C'mon, I'm running out of clones!"

"Wh-what? Who are you?" Ino demanded.

"I think that can wait until we're safe, don't you?" The second boy asked, pointing to the form of Keiji, who was rushing towards them.

Ino nodded and each boy grabbed one of her hands.

And they ran.

They ran as fast as their six legs would carry them.

Ino hoped they weren't being followed. If they were those stone horses would make this the shortest lived escape attempt ever.

"C'mon, we need to go this way!" The mini-Kakashi said.

* * *

Keiji scowled when he heard Toshiie's outraged shout. He turned to see Yamanaka and the two kids running off down the road the four clones had stood on, and saw them run off into the woods in front of him as well.

One set was obviously fake, he turned to Jiro and saw yet another trio fleeing off down the road that Hattori and Hyuga were supposed to come down.

"Jiro! Jiro which one's are the real deal?"

Jiro however was lying on the ground pulling a kunai from his leg, and bleeding everywhere. When Keiji demanded information Jiro just sort of gave him an annoyed look.

Keiji turned back to his targets, but to his outrage they were gone.

Yamanaka had gotten away. With a roar that would have broken glass Keiji stomped on the ground, the earth split all around him.

He turned back to his team. Now Yoshi was injured, and their medic was down too. This was _not _good.

"You're not going to just let them get away are you?" Toshiie demanded.

"Why not?" Keiji scoffed. "Let them go. Our target is the only thing that matters, let Yamanaka go. If she wants to flee for help she is welcome to do so, there's no way she can summon help from Konoha in time."

"Keij it was _her _that told us to come here. She might have reinforcements already, I mean she _did _just get rescued if you didn't notice!" Toshiie roared, slamming his sword into a boulder and splitting it in half.

Keiji just shrugged. "You assume that Yamanaka is the only one who has reinforcements and reserves. How sad, brother." Keiji jabbed a finger into one of his earlier wounds, reopening it and taking forth some blood.

He then spread it across a scroll and summoned up a large and powerful bird.

The bird, easily the size of a man glared at him. "You'm even _uglier _dan you'm was before, humun." The bird said.

"We are in position to ambush the target. Our location is the Black Monument, fly out and find our allies. Summon them." Keiji instructed the bird.

It puffed out its feathers, "You'm isn't me boss of me. Me'm not knowing you'm. What does'm get'n for dis?" It demanded.

"The gratitude of the Village Hidden in Stone! You're a servant of Tsuchikage, are you not?"

"You'm 'sum much." The bird scoffed.

Keiji scoffed. The scroll had been given to him by the Tsuchikage, there was no reason to believe the bird would not listen to his order. Why would the Tsuchikage give him a useless scroll?

"I'm fly. I'm tell'a allies you'm here, but maybe-like I'm not going so fast." The bird squawked and flew off.

Keiji spat on the ground.

"Why not use the bird to find Yamanaka?" Jiro demanded.

"Because I'd rather use it to call on our reserves." Keiji shrugged, "Besides if Yamanaka is leading us into a trap we'll want greater numbers. We're too weak now. We might handle the target, but if more Konoha ninjas show up we'd be in trouble without allies."

"Allies? We _have _allies Keij?" Toshiie demanded. "I didn't know there were any other teams out here."

"They're not from Iwa." Keiji said simply.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	18. Enter Shiroi

**Chapter Eighteen **

_Enter Shiroi_

"So . . . not that I'm not grateful for your help," Ino said, "but just who the blazes are you?"

"Hatake Kotaro, Konoha Genin, team ten under Nara Shikamaru." The first boy said said. She'd known he must have been related to Kakashi.

"Ishida Naomasa, Konoha . . . well what he said." The other boy said.

"Shikamaru?" Ino chuckled, "So he got my letter. And he's got a team? I don't believe Tsunade-sama finally got him to accept leadership." Ino sighed.

"Sounds like you know him pretty well." Naomasa said, glancing slyly at Kotaro.

Ino raised an eyebrow, "Uh . . . yes. We grew up together."

"Haha! I _told _you!" Naomasa cried.

"Whatever man, you wouldn't even know _who _she was if I hadn't remembered her name." Kotaro shrugged.

"Uh . . . where's Shikamaru?" Ino asked, not sure what these kids were talking about, "Did he send you to find me?"

"What? Uh well no. He didn't. We were . . . scouting." Naomasa said evasively.

"But when we saw you we had to help you out." Kotaro added.

"And it was impressive." Ino admitted, "I really can't believe you two managed that. Those were ninja either at or near the Jounin level, and you played them all like a harp."

"You tell that to sensei, tell him how impressive we are." Kotaro said.

"Yeah. Then when this is all over you guys can get married and we can be promoted right?" Naomasa asked.

"Well actually to be promoted to Chuunin you need to pass the--whoa, whoa, wait a second . . . married? You don't mean me and Shikamaru do you?" Ino gawked as they jogged through the woods towards what she hoped was the reinforcements she'd asked for.

"Oh yeah, that's right, he said you guys couldn't get married." Naomasa nodded.

"What? Shikamaru said that about me? Are you sure?" Ino asked.

"Well he wouldn't name names," Naomasa said, "but he pretty much described you."

"Not really. He was vague, he said a blond he'd known from when he was a kid." Kotaro pointed out.

Ino laughed. "I'm sorry to disappoint, but that's not me. I mean I'm blond and I _have _known Shikamaru since we were kids. But we've never been a _serious _couple."

"Oh . . . well then who was he talking about?" Naomasa asked.

"I'll let him tell you." Ino said with a chuckle.

"Well since you're clearly not sensei's girlfriend, I guess it's okay for me to ask you," Kotaro said. "Have you ever been on the cover of a magazine?"

"Oh yeah!" Ino said, surprised that Kakashi's son would recognize her, "My dad and I were on the cover of Konoha Flower Garden."

"Uck, your dad? Gross!" Kotaro groaned, missing his next step and stumbling.

"What? It's perfectly normal for men to have an interest in flowers!" Ino cried.

"Oh y'mean _actual _flowers? Well okay I guess that's not gross." Kotaro said.

"A little weird though." Naomasa pointed out.

"There's nothing weird about it. My mother got interviewed for this article on good house plants. Dad and I got to pose for a picture. We got put on the front cover, since were both Shinobi. The photographer wanted to make flower arrangement seem more appealing, make it look cool so the big slogan was "even ninja like flowers" and I got to lord it over Sakura-chan for a whole month!" Ino laughed.

"Wow. That's so very interesting." Kotaro said. "But have you ever . . . y'know . . . _posed _for other magazines?"

"No." Ino said flatly, catching on to what sort of magazines Kakashi's kid was talking about.

So perversion was hereditary. At least Kakashi had kept his addiction private. Ino might have to have a talk with Kakashi about his son's choice of reading material . . . no, Kakashi was just as bad with those books of his.

She'd tell the boy's mother then.

The three of them rushed down the road at a steady pace, Ino doubted they were being followed, they'd have been killed already if they were.

They weren't traveling on the road itself either, but in the treeline near the road.

"H-hey! Hey it's them!" Someone shouted.

Ino blinked and looked up, there was a little girl she recognized leaping down from a tree.

"Ino-san?" Asuma-sensei's daughter cried in surprise.

"Yomiko-chan!" Ino staggered back in shock, noticing the girl's headband, "You're a ninja now?"

Shikamaru appeared next. He gave Ino a slightly betrayed look. "She remembers _you_?"

"Well I wasn't as lazy as you, I actually _visited_ Kurenai-san from time to time."

Shikamaru shrugged. "So then . . . you . . . look good." Shikamaru said.

"Oh shut up." Ino grumbled.

"No, the whole 'haven't bathed in months' look works for you. We'd better lock Chouji up, he wont be able to keep his hands off you."

"What the-you too Shikamaru?" Ino stomped her foot, "You should know better than anyone else, Chouji and I are not--"

"Hey, I just call it like I see it." Shikamaru smirked.

How many times did she have to tell _everyone _that there was _nothing_ going on between her and Chouji?

Even if they did spend all their off time together . . . it was just because they were such close friends was all. Chouji was like a brother to her . . . yeah. Like Shikamaru only . . . different.

He'd probably be a lot better looking than Shikamaru if he'd just commit to losing all that weight . . . not that she paid attention to that sort of thing. No way.

Anyway . . .

"So what're we up against, Ino? Judging by your look I'd say you've met them." Shikamaru said seriously.

"There's four left, two Jounin. There's two disguised as Anbu, I didn't get the full measure of one of them but their medic ninja is probably around upper Chuunin level, Specialist Jounin at best." Ino said. "They're all injured right now, we might be able to take 'em."

"Where's your team?" Shikamaru asked.

Ino felt her throat dry up. "Uh . . . didn't I tell you in my letter? I mean you got the letter right?"

Shikamaru frowned. He understood.

"You were . . . kind of vague. I just thought maybe . . . look I'm sorry Ino." Shikamaru said, shifting uncomfortably.

"You didn't kill them." Ino said darkly. "But with your help I'm sure we can make the people who did pay for it."

Shikamaru gave her a hard, calculating look. "You sure?" He asked.

"Yeah." Ino said. "They're all injured in some way or another, with one of your brilliant strategies, and my knowledge of how they fight we can take 'em."

"Ino, you said yourself that you don't know the fighting style of one of them, and you look really beat up, even if we go you should probably stay behind."

"Forget it, I'm not staying behind." Ino said. "I'm going. They killed my team, I need to pay them back."

"Wh-wait, they killed a team?" Yomiko whimpered.

Ino blinked, was Yomiko scared?

Of course she must have just become a ninja-she'd just entered the academy last time Ino saw her-this must be her first dangerous mission.

Shikamaru said "Hopefuly backup is on its way. Ino I might be able to come up with a plan but you're beat up and neither one of us is really a brawler like Lee, or Kiba."

"Hyuga Hanabi will be reaching Black Monument in . . . about four more hours, along with a . . . contact from the village hidden in Clouds. Is she enough of a brawler for you?"

Shikamaru frowned, "I'll see what I can do. Explain their fighting patterns to me, tell me everything."

Ino grinned, with Shikamaru's brain and Hanabi's brawn her revenge was practically already a success.

* * *

"Man . . . this place is lame." Ryu sighed.

"Don't say that." Kyoko said, sipping her tea.

"Fine I'll spell it. L. A. I. M. E." Ryu sneered.

Yukio didn't bother to correct him because he knew Ryu was just joking about the spelling, he just tried not to show any amusement at Kyoko's irritation.

"Well it's a nice vacation, and it's not as hot as back home." Kyoko said.

"Yeah but it's humid." Yukio scoffed. He stole one of Kyoko's sweet rolls while she rolled her eyes at him.

She shot him a venomous glare, but he didn't return the bread. Instead he took a great big bite.

"I spat on all of 'em you know." Kyoko said, "Just 'cause I knew you'd take 'em. Temari-sensei told me to spit on my food."

Yukio looked at the roll, considered the possibility of it being covered in Kyoko's spit . . . and took another bite. "Tastes fine." He said.

Kyoko smirked, "Well how romantic of you, Yukio."

"Hmm?" Yukio blinked.

"Well I mean eating a roll covered in my spit is kind of like an indirect form of kissing, so you're kissing me in front of all these-"

Yukio spat the bread out onto Ryu's laughing face and threw the roll at Kyoko, hitting her right between the eyes, "Uck! Uck! Stupid Temari-sensei teaching you all kinds of crap to make my life miserable! It's a woman conspiracy, it's not fair! Kenji-sensei never played favorites!"

"Temari-sensei just finds me easier to relate to, she had to grow up with two little brothers too."

"We're not your brothers." Ryu pointed out.

"Yeah, but you sure are immature enough to be my little brothers." Kyoko said, sipping her tea in what Yukio guessed was supposed to look like a dignified way.

Then he realized . . . they were being laughed at.

Just a little ways away, sitting at a table of their own were some older kids, Konoha ninja by the look of 'em.

One was a guy with short black hair and pale skin. His clothes were typical Konoha attire-lots of bandages wrapped around his arms and legs, with some dorky shorts. He didn't wear any shirt but he did have a black vest .

He also had weird metal knuckles attached to his bandaged hands. Around his neck, slithering slowly was a long, lavender snake.

The next guy had long hair tied in a pony tail in the back. He wore black glasses over his face and a heavy looking trench coat. He wasn't joining in his companion's laughter, but he was watching the sand trio through those dark lenses of his.

The third, and the one laughing the loudest, was a girl. She had long dark brown hair and wore her forehead protector on her forehead like a normal ninja would and unlike her two companions who both wore it on their necks.

Her attire sure wasn't normal thought. She wore a sleeveless fishnet suit, and then an accompanying skirt and vest covered her just enough to keep from getting arrested for indecent exposure.

Yukio had to force himself to look away from her cleavage, and remind himself that these jerks were laughing at them.

They looked a bit older, like fifteen or so, like that Akimichi team. "What's so funny?" Ryu demanded.

"Shut up Ryu, they're probably not laughing at us." Kyoko whispered.

"Uh, yeah we are." The girl said with a sneer, "you're exactly what we're laughing at."

Kyoko set her tea down rather hard, "Oh? And just why's that? Something funny to you?"

"Yeah, Sandbox." The girl said, rolling out of her chair and advancing towards them, her blank white eyes were the oddest thing Yukio had ever seen.

She looked blind, yet she clearly had no problem seeing as she came over to the table, swiped one of Kyoko's rolls and tossed it to her friend with the snake. "I just think it's funny that a trio of snot nosed Genin from the village hidden in sand are sitting here, on my turf without my permission, making a ruckus and disturbing the peace."

"Well we're _so _sorry, we'll try to keep it down." Kyoko said sharply.

"Splendid. Now, since we're having these charming negotiations," The white eyed girl grinned, "We can start talking about the toll."

"Well you just stole my last roll, is that enough?"

"Look Sandbox, a toll is a toll, and a roll is a roll. If we don't get a toll, you can't have a roll." The older girl sneered. "Now let's see, you snot nosed sandbox brats come on _my _turf without my permission and you disturbed me and my team . . . hmm . . ." She grinned at her friends, "What should we do to 'em?"

"Hmm . . ." The boy with the snake on his shoulder said, "I say we tie 'em up and hang 'em on a line."

"Or, since we're supposed to be meeting Sensei soon," The boy with glasses said in a soft yet somehow audible voice, "We could just leave them alone and make them pay double next time."

"Now you see Saizo's idea is a good one, but we haven't got any rope. Your plan sucks though, Kurai, I'm so tired of you underestimating me." The girl glared at them, "You know I can be finished with all three of 'em before it's time to meet Sensei."

"Look," Yukio said, standing up and placing himself between the stranger and his team, "If you've got a problem let's take it outside the shop. Your whole issue with us is that we're causing a commotion, but you're the one coming over here and trying to pick a fight, not knowing who we are or what we're capable of."

"That's what makes a fight interesting." The girl smirked.

"No, that's what gets a ninja _killed_." Yukio corrected, "Your sensei probably told you that, you must have forgotten it. Y'know like how you forgot your clothes when you woke up this morning and went out to play with your team?"

"Ooh!" The snake boy, Saizo laughed, "You've been verbally slapped, Shiroi!"

"Shaddap." Shiroi said sweetly to her comrade, then turned to Yukio and said "Tell you what kid . . . you got guts talking to me that way. I'll let you off the hook." She held out her hand, "Put 'er there, kid."

Well Yukio didn't see the harm in that, he extended his hand to take hers.

She moved like lightning, her hand flew out and struck his stomach. It was a soft, almost gentle open handed strike but it sent Yukio to his knees, he wretched all over the ground.

"Lightweight. You like that?" Shiroi chuckled, "Wanna see what else I can do to you?"

Yukio glared at her, he glanced at his team, Kyoko and Ryu were already standing besides him, the boy with glasses stood up but Shiroi held out a hand--apparently not having to look over her shoulder to know he was standing--and said "Cool it Kurai, I got this."

"You're going to take too long, we have to meet Sensei. If we've got to do this let's at least do it quickly." Kurai said.

"Don't deprive me my pleasure." Shiroi said, cracking her knuckles.

Oddly enough Yukio found himself mumbling, "Stupid women . . . I wish Temari-sensei were here."

**To Be Continued . . .**


	19. Team Uchiha

**Chapter Nineteen**

_Team Uchiha_

Yukio forced himself to his feet and glared at the white eyed girl, "Well come on then. Is that sucker punch the best you got? I barely felt it, you hit like a girl!"

Shiroi laughed, her friends laughed.

"Well since it's obvious we can't behave like civilized Shinobi let's take this outside, shall we?" Kyoko said.

Yukio knew she just wanted to go outside so she'd have more room to move. Kyoko aimed to emulate Temari-sensei in every way, including to a slight degree, her appearance, mimicking the Jounin's heavy use of violets and lavenders, Kyoko even tied her fiery red hair into four pigtails, as their sensei did.

But she also took their sensei's fighting style, and so her best Jutsus were long range.

"I'll fight you anywhere." Shiroi shrugged. "Losers first."

Kyoko rolled her eyes and was headed for the door.

But . . . Yukio was having a little trouble accepting Shiroi's sucker punch, and against his better judgment he rushed forward and tried to kick her in the stomach.

"Yukio, don't!" Ryu shouted, but it was too late, the attack was on.

A strong hand seemed to appear out of thin air and stop Yukio, it gripped his ankle firmly and so hard that he felt like it might break.

But Shiroi suffered a worse fate, the man who'd interrupted the fight dealt her a sharp blow between the eyes that sent her to her knees holding her forehead, "Ahh-hah-hah that hurts! Sensei you gotta stop doing that! I'm a girl, _we break_!"

"You, a girl? Well I must admit, sometimes I forget. Besides, your skull's too thick to permanently damage." Her sensei said darkly.

He was a tall guy, he had shoulder length black hair, a little spiky towards the top. He wore a blue shirt with a red and white fan symbol on the back, which allowed even Yukio, born and raised in Sunagakure, to recognize him as an Uchiha.

Well . . . _the _Uchiha might work too since there was just one member of the famous ninja clan left in the world.

So this one had to be _the _Uchiha Sasuke, a legend of Konoha.

"Your little break is finished," Sasuke said to his team, they rallied to him, the boys helped pull Shiroi up off the ground. "I don't want to hear how it started. I don't want to hear who was at fault. There is no valid reason to pick a fight with, or respond with violence towards weaklings. Fighting the weak gains you _nothing_, you can't become stronger if you go around challenging weak opponents."

"But I thought all three of them might be a bit of sport." Shiroi said.

"No you didn't, you just wanted to blow off steam." Sasuke scoffed, "I know you. Your friend isn't here so you run around picking fights. The boys want to impress you so they go along with it."

"Uh, Sasuke-sensei, I thought our rule was 'scold in private' can you not do this? People are staring and I for one want to come back here some day." Kurai spoke up.

"You should have thought of that before you three made fools of yourselves, picking on weak children like a pack of snot nosed school yard bullies." Their sensei scoffed. "But fine. If you've absorbed enough lecture we can get on to your punishment. Get moving, Genin."

The three older kids trudged out. Shiroi turned as she came to the door and blew a kiss at Kyoko and said, "Kill ya later missy!" Her sensei slapped the back of her head, "I was just kidding!" Shiroi cried.

Yukio shook his head, "Well . . . that was stupid!" He said.

"You're just saying that because you got beat up by a girl." Ryu sneered.

"I let her do that!" Yukio snapped, "I totally let her do that, I don't hit girls!"

"You were gonna kick her." Kyoko pointed out.

"Y'know what, you two can just . . . just shut up, because I could have taken her down at any time!" Yukio cried, storming out of the tea shop.

"You know there's nothing wrong with it, Yukio!" Ryu called after him, "Lots of older kids can kick our butts, we're new to the whole ninja thing, they've just been at it longer than us!"

Yukio ignored him.

He was outraged, some freak had just picked a fight with him and beaten him with one blow, a light blow no less.

"Hey, you losers!" He shouted at the retreating forms, "One week, I challenge you to a fight in one week, so write out your wills because I'm going to kill you!"

"You're not serious." Kurai sighed without even turning to face Yukio. "Kid, let it go. I'm sorry for Shiroi's behavior but you're not going to impress anyone picking a fight with us, we're too far above you."

"Don't apologize for me, Kurai!" Shiroi snapped, shoving her comrade aside, "Anyway if you want to fight me I'll accept!"

"On one condition." Her sensei said suddenly, stepping in front of her. "How long have you been a Shinobi, boy?"

"A year." Yukio said. "But I'm the best in my squad."

Sasuke gave him a hard stare, "You're not strong enough yet. Become stronger and I'll let you fight Shiroi."

"So in a week then, I'll challenge her in a week!" Yukio said.

"I have something a little different in mind." Uchiha said with a smirk, "You're from Sunagakure? Who's your Jounin instructor?"

"Temari, sister of the fifth Kazekage, daughter of the fourth!" Kyoko answered from behind him. He glanced and saw that she and Ryu were standing on either side of him, backing him up like good teammates would.

Of course they might just have come to drag his body away after he got beaten, but this was a matter of pride.

"I know Temari. Not as well as I might, but we have met." Uchiha nodded. "I'll talk to her about this and see what she thinks. Consider your challenge of Shiroi postponed until further notice. But you _will _fight her, I'll see to that."

"Well . . . that's nice of you." Ryu said.

"Oh he's not doing it to be nice." Saizo chuckled. The three older Genin left with their sensei, "So how're we gonna get punished Sensei?" Saizo was asking.

"Survival training." Uchiha answered.

"How long?" Shiroi asked.

"As long as you can last . . . against me."

"Ah crap! Thank's Shiroi!" Saizo scoffed.

"Oh shaddap! It'll make us _stronger_!" The girl laughed.

He needed to find his sensei, he needed to train, never mind taking time off, he'd seen all of Konoha's sights that he wanted to see.

For once he _wanted_ to see Temari-sensei.

So where the heck was she?

* * *

fShikamaru nodded to Ino, "The plan's ready, you all understand it?"

"Y-yes." Yomiko said.

"Execute it properly and none of us should be in any danger." Shikamaru said, "If we've timed it properly we should reach them about the same time as Hanabi and her contact."  
"Yeah. I just hope they kept on going and didn't decide to take another route." Ino said.

"I just hope they haven't moved too far from the Monument."

"They know their target is headed there," Ino said, they don't know that I called for help though."

"Are you really sure this will work?" Naomasa asked. "Ino-sensei used up almost all her chakra healing her own wounds, she probably can't be much help to us if we get seriously hurt."

"So don't get seriously hurt." Kotaro said calmly.

"But it's two Jounin and three Genin against two Jounin and two Chuunin."

"They're all injured," Ino said, "and their medic is probably wiped out. We've got a chance, and if Hanabi shows up it'll be four Jounin and three Genin against two Jounin and two Chuunin."

"If we win, do we get promoted to Chuunin?" Nao asked. "I mean we'd be proving that we're as good as a Chuunin if we can beat them, right?"

"Wrong. Being promoted is not affected by your performance in the field, if that were true Uzumaki-sensei would have been a Chuunin by age twelve!" Yomiko scoffed.

"That's true, but don't let that keep you from performing your best." Shikamaru said. "You three already held your own against a Chuunin, there's no need to worry."

"We almost died that time." Yomiko scoffed.

"True enough." Nao admitted.

Shikamaru smiled, "I'll look out for you."

"I'm not letting any more Genin die on my watch." Ino agreed.

Shikamaru nodded to them, "All right. Let's move out. We should arrive just as Hanabi gets there, we'll out number them. If Hanabi and her contact _are _there, then you kids stay hidden, don't get involved in the real fight, support as you can."

"But the plan," Yomiko began.

"Won't be necessary if Hyuga and her friend are there." Shikamaru assured the kids. "You might not even have to fight. Everyone ready? This is what you've trained for, you're ninja . . . let's move out."

**To Be Continued . . .**


	20. Opening Hostilities

**Chapter Twenty**

_Opening Hostilities_

Shikamaru nodded to Ino. The clearing around Black Monument was completely empty, devoid of life.

But the stone ninjas had had sufficient time to plant traps and prepare their ambush.

The Obelisk stood high in the sky, a great pillar against the sun creating a small field filled with shadow encompassing a portion of the circular clearing, meeting with the shadows of the trees.

Shikamaru took a deep breath, "Go." He whispered.

"I know." His clone grumbled.

The shadow clone stepped out, walking in the shadow of the monument.

Meanwhile Kotaro was getting into position. Shikamaru had reservations about Kotaro using the same Jutsu, but it was necessary that he negate the traps the stone ninjas had set by placing a few of his own.

His clone had disguised himself as Hyuga Hanabi. Ino had so little chakra that Shikamaru decided not to risk her running out by creating a clone.

She stood next to him waiting patiently, and Nao, who knew the fewest number of Jutsus would be catching Ino, since Shikamaru wouldn't be able to spare the focus or time caring for Ino's unconscious form.

Chouji wasn't with them. It struck him odd that that should suddenly bother him. They hadn't worked as a proper team for years-certainly they spent a lot of time together as a group, but they hadn't been reunited for a mission for quite some time.

Still . . . if Chouji were here the old Ino-Shika-Cho formation would have been doable.

But no, they were left with the unfortunate Ino-Shika-Genin formation.

It'd just have to do. He wasn't sure if they could really count on Hanabi and her friend to show up.

He'd have loved to have some help for this mission.

He kind of wished Chouji would show up just now.

But he didn't.

"Ready Ino?"

"Ready."

Shikamaru felt his heart pounding in his chest as the battle began.

An observer would think nothing was happening. Shikamaru's clone was standing out in the open alone.

But the battle had already begun.

Someone was going to die today.

Shikamaru just hoped it wouldn't be anyone he knew.

His clone relaxed and leaned forward against the monument, tracing his fingers over a name and pretending to be caught up in sorrowful thoughts.

Shikamaru waited patiently, watched.

The rocks rose up from the earth; Shikamaru shuddered as a golem struck out at his clone.

The clone leapt back, dodging the strike, and yet another golem rose up out of the ground.

"How many golems can he make?" Ino grumbled.

"Who knows? It's got to be similar to puppetry Jutsu though, and Sakura-san once fought a ninja who could control a hundred of those."

"Well let's hope we're not fighting his equal." Ino grumbled.

Shikamaru laughed.

He wasn't amused, but the slowly growing look of horror on Nao's face made him feel like he should give the kid the illusion that this was nothing out of the ordinary.

Even though so far it had all the makings of a B-Rank mission at least.

But if Ino's estimation of the enemy's skills had been accurate then it was far more likely that this was an A rank mission.

Shikamaru's clone dodged swipe after swipe from the clones, then used the shadow puppetry Jutsu on them, and had them destroy each other.

He smirked, and Shikamaru smirked too at his own clone's bravado.

It was hard to make the "I'd never be that cocky" argument since technically _he_ was being that cocky, and yet at the same time he thought to himself, 'I'd never be that cocky.'

The Shika-Clone laughed and leaned against the obelisk, "All right, show yourself."

A pair of arms extended _out _of the obelisk and grabbed him!

The clone struggled forward, pulling the masked Anbu from the black stone obelisk. The clone began and completed his Jutsu, shadow puppetry was successful.

Another form emerged from the ground, a swordsman.

He thrust his blade forward for Shika-Clone's heart, but Kotaro's Head Hunter Jutsu dragged the clone underground up to his waist, the thrust sword buried itself instead in the heart of the Anbu.

The mimicry didn't really require the Anbu to be alive, though there might have been some life left in him. He reached into his shuriken holsters and threw a pair of kunai into the swordsman's chest.

"Two down!" Ino grinned.

But the swordsman disappeared, replaced by a log.

Substitution.

"They're good at that." Ino said darkly.

"The Anbu probably would have substituted too, or done something to get away from the sword blade if the clone hadn't held him in place with the Shadow Puppetry Jutsu." Shikamaru said.

"Why didn't she use it on the swordsman?"

Shikamaru scoffed, "_He_ did." He said, feeling a little defensive of his clone's gender. After all it was a perfect clone of himself, it was only disguised as Hanabi. "But _he's _only got thirty percent of my chakra, I guess _he_ couldn't hold him. Was that the medic?"

"No." Ino said. "At least I don't think so. He is wearing a _mask_, y'know."

The clone sprang from the ground, so did Kotaro, it would be suicide to stay underground now that the stone ninjas knew he was there.

They were lucky surprise had worked in their favor this time.

The Shika-clone suddenly took Kotaro by the hand and threw him into the air as the ground around them erupted into stalagmites.

The clone himself rolled into the hole he'd just left to avoid the stalagmites.

The stalagmites suddenly fused together to form six mounted samurai who raised spears to catch the descending Kotaro.

Shikamaru scowled and activated his Shadow Puppetry himself. He hadn't wanted to do so until after the enemy showed themselves, but by confining the "strings" to the shadows of the obelisk and trees he kept from revealing himself.

He had one horseman extend his spear and twist it so that Kotaro could land safely and run down its length and leap off.

Shikamaru had the stone spearmen then skewer one another, crumbling them to the earth. Shikamaru smirked, even if this summoner could make golems left and right, could he afford to keep spending the chakra to make new ones?

Not that wrestling control of them away had been easy, which was why Shikamaru had destroyed them so quickly, he didn't want to lose control of them again.

Just seizing them for two seconds had been a bit of a challenge.

He waited for the enemy's next move, though his was already planned, he began the hand motions for his next jutsu. Shadow Tendrils shot throughout the forests, seeking any living thing.

Once they found one the thousands of them converged to begin shadow possession.

Shikamaru however found nothing; these stone ninjas weren't hiding in the woods, at least not on the floor. Even animals were gone. They might be in the trees, but given how thin and weak most of the branches around the monument were that was unlikely.

His clone and Kotaro stood battle ready, even a thirty percent clone was enough to fare rather well and keep Kotaro alive so far.

But he needed to find the main enemy Jounin if Ino was going to use her possession, and he needed a real target if Yomiko, hiding high in the trees, was to make herself useful as well.

It was pretty even so far. The enemy could keep bringing up clones, and Shikamaru could keep destroying them. He wasn't sure how much chakra his clone had left though, and he didn't want to make a new one until he absolutely had to.

He wasn't Naruto, capable of pumping out shadow clones left and right.

He was Shikamaru, capable of outthinking his enemies; outsmarting them and making them feel like the idiots they were before they died.

Well okay, maybe he didn't take things that far. But he _could_ and since these bastards had killed Ino's team, three girls Shikamaru had watched Ino take from talent-less Genin to Chuunin level ninja, he _would_.

He wanted their captain to know how incredibly stupid he'd been to cross that border and enter Fire Country territory.

He watched closely and a monstrosity emerged from the woods, a large stone bear!

Shikamaru's clone used shadow possession on it, but as he did so the swordsman leapt out of the ground and cut him down the middle!

Shikamaru smirked. So he'd shown himself.

"I hate the way they pop out of the ground." Shikamaru said as his shadow sped towards the swordsman, hidden perfectly in the shadow of the obelisk.

The swordsman turned on Kotaro and raised his blade to attack, Kotaro backed off.

The ground beneath him irrupted into stalagmites, but he leapt back twice to avoid them, how the kid knew it was about to happen was a mystery to Shikamaru.

Perhaps the ground trembled before it happened. Maybe he had an abnormally strong earth affinity.

But he leapt back into a different shadow, the shadow of an enemy Anbu, the medic, Shikamaru presumed. The enemy ninja stabbed for Kotaro with his kunai, but the youth heard Naomasa shout a warning and he leapt up into the air, coming down behind the Anbu.

Shikamaru didn't have to tell Ino, but for Nao's benefit he shouted, "Move!"

Ino grabbed Nao's wrist and pulled him along as she ran off through the woods, Shikamaru himself leapt out of the woods into the shadow of the obelisk as a stone golem appeared where they'd been so well hidden until Nao shouted.

As he ran his captured enemy ninja ran as well. The swordsman roared profanities since Shikamaru hadn't expelled the extra chakra to shut him up.

He didn't care if the man's comrades knew he was trapped, he _wanted _them to know it in fact.

He drew out his chakra daggers as the golem bear barreled out of the woods. The first one, the one that his clone had held with shadow possession until he was so cleanly cut in half charged towards him as well. His eyes were no longer on Kotaro; the boy would have to fend for himself.

He quickly used his shadow puppet jutsu on the two bears and had them charge for one another, as long as he remained in the obelisk's shadow it was impossible for the enemy to know what he was doing _unless _they recognized him, and he doubted that.

Naruto had been the attention seeker, the one out to make a name for himself. Shikamaru had a nickname, he was the Legendary Laze of Konoha, and nobody ever expected him to be _capable_.

Forcing control of the bears was a little harder this time, maybe the summoner was using more chakra to control larger golems, or perhaps he was trying to keep these ones from falling under Shikamaru's control.

It didn't work, and Shikamaru forced the bears to destroy one another.

Given their pattern of attack Shikamaru also leapt high into the air, landing on the obelisk and focusing some chakra to his feet to keep from falling. He spotted a stone swordsman that would have killed him if he'd moved even a second latter.

His own flesh and blood swordsmen was still caught in the shadow possession jutsu, he jumped too and wiped out on the ground. Now Shikamaru calculated some distances and ran forward down the obelisk. The swordsman ran forward as well, charging for the golem.

Shikamaru swept his hand out and the swordsman did as well, the sword cut through the stone and the golem was destroyed.

But Shikamaru couldn't keep using chakra like this. He might be able to outthink the summoner, but the summoner clearly had a wealth of energy.

He tapped his daggers together now and grinned, he shouted out as loudly as he could in case his enemy was under ground, "Is that all you've got? We can play this game all day, you make 'em and I break 'em!"

Then he felt the hands reach out of the obelisk, the summoner was revealed.

Shikamaru quickly killed the chakra feed to his feet and fell from the obelisk, as he did he forced his shadow up the black rock to where he'd felt the hands. He was careful not to lose control of the swordsman, but it was getting tricky, he was fighting viciously against his control-especially when Shikamaru moved-and Shikamaru was wasting more chakra than he liked just holding him!

"Ino!" He shouted, standing deadly still and hoping the summoner was doing the same, properly caught in his Jutsu, "If you've got a clean shot at him do it now, woman!"

But he saw a pair of stone swordsmen emerge from the ground, he'd failed to catch the summoner with his Jutsu.

He swore. This was such a blasted bother.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	21. And We Die

**Chapter Twenty One**

_And We Die . . ._

Kotaro grunted as he landed behind the enemy Chuunin, he struck out with a kunai for the adult ninja's back, but the Chuunin spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick to his head.

Yomiko leapt out of the trees, coming down where he'd been kicked, she was performing the hand seals for her genjutsu even as she descended. When she hit the ground she used it.

The Chuunin paused for a second before shrugging off whatever illusion he was seeing, but Kotaro used this as an opportunity to throw a kunai at the enemy ninja!

He aimed for the back of the man's head.

And he connected, his kunai sank into the Chuunin's head . . . and kept right on going, man that was an awesome throw . . .

The Chuunin disappeared in a puff of smoke, and Kotaro scowled, "Clone!"

"Man!" Yomiko shrieked, "No wonder my Genjutsu didn't work!"

Actually her Genjutsu probably hadn't worked because she was a Genin trying to use illusions on a Chuunin. Kotaro was more impressed with the convincing way the illusionary clone had stumbled during the Genjutsu, it'd totally fooled him.

But now he came to the problem that he was kneeling on the ground and his opponent was capable of bringing up stalagmites all around him.

He kicked off and leapt several feet into air, the stalagmites erupted, predictably.

Kotaro glanced at Yomiko, who'd used the substitution Jutsu to avoid being impaled on the spikes. He didn't know where she was now.

Just as well. She could handle herself, he kept his focus on the ground.

He couldn't fly, and those spikes weren't going anywhere.

He started to come down, what was he going to do?

He tried to angle himself to land between, rather than on top of the stalagmites, but when he did they began to shift to follow him.

He gulped. He was so dead.

A kunai suddenly struck the tail of his long coat and he soared through the air.

He didn't really fly very far, in fact he didn't fly. He just sort of went from falling straight down, to falling about two feet away from where he would have landed anyway.

But it changed his course enough to clear the stalagmites, even though they followed him they did so too slowly.

He grinned as he tore an oddly shaped kunai from his coat. I had something of a basket hilt, which had kept it from penetrating all the way through his jacket he supposed.

How had Yomiko rigged all of that so quickly?

Yomiko _had _said she was exceptional with projectiles, he guessed he wouldn't argue that point now.

Yomiko herself had decided not to risk being seen, having just exposed her position by throwing the kunai that saved him.

She landed on the ground near him, and passed him something. "What's this?" He asked.

"It's a tag, just put it on him if you get a chance. But if you don't, then I want it back!"

"Is it explosive?"

"No, but just do it!"

"Where'd you get this?"

"My mom, just do it!" Yomiko cried.

The girl may have saved his life, but she sure was bossy.

Still Kotaro pocketed the note as both he and Yomiko used the substitution jutsu to avoid the next wave of stalagmites.

The idea that his opponent might run out of chakra didn't occur to Kotaro, being a Genin he assumed a ninja of Chuunin level would have an unlimited supply of energy.

So he had little hope that the spikes would stop.

He stood in the trees and waited, watching for any sign of his quarry.

* * *

Nao scowled, this was his fault, he'd opened his big mouth and ruined the position Shikamaru-sensei had been using.

The least he could do was redeem himself by helping out Kotaro as he faced down the enemy Anbu.

But Yamanaka held him back, "Don't you dare!" She warned.

"B-but I've got to help."

"You _will _help, once I use my Jutsu it's your responsibility to take care of my body, if anything happens to it I'll be holding you responsible."

"Yeah, well it's a really nice body but I've got to help my friend!" Nao protested as Kotaro leapt up into the air to avoid the stalagmites.

"You don't get it," Ino said, "I just need a clean line of sight at their boss, then you need to guard my body for sixty seconds. Do that and we'll be much closer to victory."

Nao frowned, "But couldn't you help them? You're a Jounin."

"Killing the enemy squad leader _will_ help them. This is a ninja battle, one wrong move and it's all over. Shikamaru ordered you to take care of me, and promised not to let you or your friends get hurt. I trust him with my life, you can too."

"Wh-wait, what's that?" Nao gasped, hearing Shikamaru sensei shout something.

"Didn't hear him." Ino said. She glared, "Where the blazes is Hanabi-san?"

Nao's eyes narrowed as a pair of arms began to retract back into the obelisk.

"This might be stupid but . . ." He grumbled.

"If it's stupid don't do-" Ino tried but Nao threw a kunai with all the strength and skill he possessed.

It slammed into one of the retreating hands, and an enemy Jounin fell from the obelisk, slamming into the ground.

He quickly struggled to his knees, Shikamaru-sensei spun around and leapt backwards through a pair of stone golems which swiped each other and fell apart, Shikamaru smirked and suddenly the enemy Jounin rose to his feet and took up the same position as Shikamaru!

"There we go!" Ino said.

Ino-sensi didn't hesitate, she completed her jutsu and slumped forward, it was all Nao could do to catch her in time.

"So . . . this means we're winning, right?" Nao wondered, then the ground began to tremble.

He shuddered, the enemy Anbu must have seen him throw the kunai . . .

* * *

Toshiie saw Keiji suddenly stumble. "Excellent Keiji! Kill him!" Toshiie cried, "Kill him so I can get free!"

"Oh . . . no. No I'd rather not." Keiji said.

The Konoha Jounin tossed Keiji a small box.

Keiji opened it up, "What the blazes is going on?" Toshiie demanded.

"This battle is over." The Jounin said darkly.

Toshiie laughed, "Not likely, I'll kill you all myself! You think this . . . whatever it is can hold me forever?"

"Oh no. Actually it should run out in a few more seconds." The Jounin said with a smirk.

"And that's when you'll die."

"Maybe. But when that happens there'll only be two of you." Keiji said as he removed a pair of explosive tags from the small box and placed them on his own head, he smiled at Toshiie, "This is for the girls you murdered!"

Toshiie's eyes widened, "No!" He cried in denial as Keiji suddenly slumped forward. "Keij, your face, quick!"

Keiji's eyes went wide with horror, he reached for the tags . . .

It was too late.

* * *

Shikamaru nodded grimly as the tags went off.

It might have been a bit much, but it was the best way to ensure that the Jounin died in one swift attack given the limited resources the team had. Ino's equipment had been stolen and Shikamaru hadn't come out expecting to fight two battles in just two days.

Now with the enemy leader gone Shikamaru could focus on the one remaining Jounin.

The swordsman stared at the remains of his comrade, then tightened his grip on his sword. "You slime. I'll kill you all."

"Brave words for a man trapped in my Jutsu." Shikamaru said, though the fact that the Jounin could so easily tighten his grip wasn't the greatest of signs.

"Don't believe it? Then just you watch!" The enemy ninja roared.

The Jounin surged forward suddenly and Shikamaru's hold over him was brought to an all too swift end.

Shocked, Shikamaru barely managed to leap back in time, the sword missed him by less than an inch.

Or had it? Shikamaru looked down at his flak vest and was quite surprised to find it sliced cleanly through the middle.

He glared, their plan had relied on this one being killed outright, in the event that he could not be Shikamaru was to detain him until Ino had ensured the death of their leader.

After that Ino would pull the same trick on him if she could, and if she couldn't she'd come out of hiding and kill him in a more mundane way.

But Shikamaru always had plans to backup his plans, always had contingency plans.

He hadn't let go off his chakra knives, now he used them to deflect attack after attack from the much larger sword.

It was all just to stall the Jounin, to get his attention while Shikamaru moved deeper into the obelisk's shadows.

The Jounin roared in rage and swept his blade to the side, the chakra knives were knocked from Shikamaru's hands.

He gasped and leapt back again, tripping over the hole that Kotaro had dug when he saved Ino.

Shikamaru's leg fell down the hole, he slammed his hands on the ground and pulled himself out.

Then threw himself against the monument.

The Jounin surged forward, stopping in front of the hole, his feet near where Shikamaru's hands had been. Shikamaru looked at him in horror and ducked as the sword cut a line right through the monument.

"Now you die, Konoha worm!"

"Yeah . . . now you look down."

The Jounin looked down as a pair of black vines emerged from the ground and wrapped around his legs.

"Secret technique of the Nara clan, Konoha Shadow Seed Jutsu. Those vines will wrap you up completely, and drain your chakra dry." Shikamaru smirked, "Then you can come with us . . . for questioning."

But the Jounin laughed, he cut the shadowy vines and tore free of them himself.

Or rather he tried to. They weren't severed, the vines continued to grow on him, but this didn't stop him from surging forward all the same, and Shikamaru was caught off guard.

He didn't leap back in time, the blade cut him, he recognized now the wind element coursing through the blade, giving it an extra few millimeters of range, and a sharp edge that explained the ease with which it cut through stone and Genin.

Shikamaru fell back, cut but not badly.

"Just a scratch," The Iwa Jounin laughed, "But I'll do worse to you. I'll kill you, then I'll kill those Genin! No! No even better I'll let you live, I'll let you live and watch as I kill them! I'll do it in the most painful ways I know, then when I'm done I'll cut your arms and legs off and leave you out here to die slowly."

"Cutting off my arms and legs would probably kill me." Shikamaru smirked.

"Maybe. Let's find out!" The Jounin raised his sword.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	22. The Final Blows

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

_The Final Blows_

Kotaro heard the blast, he looked and saw Sensei standing near the remains of an enemy ninja.

He tuned away. The sight was gruesome and all, but what caused him to look away was the fact that his own fight wasn't over. Where was that enemy ninja?

Yomiko suddenly leapt onto the ground and began some kind of Jutsu, Kotaro watched as she went through the motions of hand seals, but the ground spiked up beneath her.

He watched in surprise as she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

A clone.

Now another Yomiko leapt onto the ground, it spiked up again, another clone.

A third Yomiko, and another spike.

Kotaro stared, how was this helping? Yomiko was exhausting her own chakra making clones, and this wasn't revealing the enemy. Yes he was wasting his chakra too, but being a Chuunin or higher level ninja his reserves had to be much higher than Yomiko's.

He could probably do this all day.

And yet the fourth clone came and he did not.

The ground remained still.

The Yomiko clone began its Jutsu.

Stalagmites erupted _again_ and this time the clone leapt into the air to avoid it!

No, not a clone, it was the real Yomiko, Kotaro was sure of it. A clone would have just taken the stalagmites.

Yomiko leapt into the air, Kotaro spotted a sudden swarm of shuriken flying towards her.

He unleashed his own projectiles at the point from which the shuriken had been fired but it was too late, the enemy Anbu leapt out of the trees as the shuriken passed through Yomiko.

Who disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Another clone?

The real Yomiko (maybe anyway, Kotaro just wasn't sure anymore) leapt out of the trees, and another leapt out of the ground, a third came from another bunch of trees, three clones of the Sarutobi Genin all hit the enemy Anbu at once, all three puffed out of existence.

The Anbu looked wildly about and Kotaro made his move.

Leaping from the trees himself he hurtled every kunai and shuriken he had, the smoke from all those clones should have kept the Anbu from seeing them coming, and Kotaro had thrown everything he had hoping that though he couldn't see his target and his aim wasn't the greatest anyway, something might still hit.

But a swarm of shuriken sailed out of the smoke and deflected his own. In fact quite a few more shuriken were thrown by his enemy than by Kotaro. Kotaro felt something bite into his shoulder, and his thigh.

He grunted and stumbled when he hit the ground, he fell face forward, driving the shuriken deeper into him. He screamed in pain and looked in horror at his attacker, who stood over him.

"What a rookie move. Do you really think that I could fall for that? I'm no moron Genin, and as far as Chuunin go I'm no push over. What worthless trash the leaf village puts out these days." He smirked and raised a kunai, "Well, nice knowing you." He threw the knife at Kotaro's face.

It was deflected.

"Hah! I did it!" Nao cried, standing in front of the tree line.

"Yeah, great, now instead of patting yourself on the back," Kotaro began, wanting to tell Nao to . . . y'know, throw something else or something. But the Chuunin acted while Kotaro was still talking, he charged for Nao, throwing a pair of shuriken that passed through him, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Okay, so all Kotaro's teammates loved their stupid clone Jutsus.

The Chuunin looked up as Nao, maybe the real Nao leapt down towards him from the trees above.

"Just a fake!" He roared as he looked forward to see a second Nao leaping at him from the woods.

He threw more shurken, one slamming into the young Genin's stomach and Nao fell back bleeding.

The Nao leaping from the trees above _was _a fake. The enemy Chuunin was right about that.

But it wasn't a clone.

The disguise dropped and Ino-sensei slammed into the Chuunin, her kunai knife plunging deep into his chest as they both fell to the ground.

She of course landed, crouching on him and holding the kunai that had ended his life.

She rolled off of the body and went over to the bleeding Naomasa, quickly she began a medical Jutsu, Kotaro limped over but Ino looked over her shoulder, "Stay there, I'll be right with you."

"Pft. Boys." Yomiko scoffed. "Looks like you two got pretty beat up."

Kotaro scoffed, "You didn't do anything, Miko."

"Yeah I did, I'm the one who deflected that Kunai."

"It's true." Nao admitted, "I just took credit for it to get his attention. I thought Yomiko had something else planned though."

"I did have a plan, it just wasn't working." Yomiko huffed.

Ino nodded to Naomasa, "That better?"

"Yeah." He grumbled, feeling the bloody stain over his stomach.

"Well obviously it's us women who do all the work." Yomiko smirked.

"No way! I had to guard Ino-sensei's body!" Nao said.

"From what?" Yomiko laughed, "Kotaro and I were doing all the fighting, you just stood back. But it's okay, it's not like anyone expected much from _you_."

Nao's expression darkened for a moment, but then he smirked and said "Actually I had to carry her when I leapt into a tree. Do you have any idea how hard that was? She's skinny but she sure was heavy!"

"What?" Ino demanded.

"Uh, what I mean is-" Nao was saying, but Ino ignored him and began to treat Kotaro's wounds.

"Well I can't believe we did it." Yomiko sighed.

"No we didn't, wasn't there still a Jounin left?" Naomasa asked.

"Yeah . . . but I just figured we've been standing here chatting all this time, he'd have killed us by now if he could." Yomiko said.

"Yeah, you know standing around like this in the middle of a battle is not acceptable." Ino said.

"Well you didn't tell us to stop so . . . y'know, we thought it was okay. Besides, you're not fighting."

"Battle's over." Ino said. "You said it yourself, we're all sitting here chatting. Besides, I knew Shikamaru could handle them."

"Uh . . . where _is_ sensei?" Kotaro asked.

"Him?" Ino frowned, "Well see for yourself." She made a motion with her head that suggested Kotaro look towards the Obelisk.

"Oh my gosh!" Yomiko cried.

* * *

Shikamaru closed his eyes as he waited for the deathblow to come.

He wasn't actually closing them out of fear, just closing them because of the flash pellet he hurled at the ground as the sword cam down for him.

He rolled out of the way and retrieved his chakra knives as he opened his eyes. He brought them together to block the downward sword thrust , and though his arms were fully extended when the three blades met, the sword was just millimeters from his head, its wind extension cut into Shikamaru's forehead, he felt the trickle of blood come down between his eyes.

The swordsman hadn't closed his eyes, he was temporarily blinded, but that it seemed hadn't impaired him very much.

In fact it had only been helpful, for the flash had dispelled the Shadow Seed Jutsu.

Now Shikamaru stood on one knee matching strength against a man who was many, many times stronger than he was.

He closed his eyes now as his own blood impaired his vision.

So this was the end.

Suddenly he heard a pained grunt, the pressure on his hands disappeared and they shot outward, slicing thin air.

Nothing sliced into him.

He wiped the blood from his eyes and opened them quickly.

There stood the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

Both because she'd rescued him, and because he loved her.

"Temari?" He whispered.

The Suna Jounin stood, fan slung over her shoulder like a club, or a bat, which was probably how she'd used it on the blinded Jounin who lay about ten feet away, recovering quickly.

Temari didn't even look at him as she asked "Is this the guy who messed up Ino-san's team?"

"That's him." Shikamaru said. He smirked, "Thanks for the rescue . . . again."

"Rescue?" The woman scoffed, unfolding her fan, "I just saw you guys partying down here and didn't want to be left out. I didn't even know it was _you _getting your butt kicked like a whiney Genin."

"A Genin? No way. I was whining like a Chuunin at the worst."

"Whining like a little girl in any event." Temari shot at him.

"You're a girl, you got yourself with that." He pointed out.

"I'm no girl, I'm a _woman_. And a hell of a woman at that." She said, and reached over and cut one of her fingers on one of his chakra knives.

"Yeah right." Shikamaru said, standing next to her as she smeared some of her own blood on the fan.

She shoved him behind her instead, and said "I'm _always _right. That's marriage."

"We're not married _yet_." He told her.

She smiled at him, he loved her smile and even though it was coming in the middle of a battle he couldn't help wanting to reach out and kiss her.

He didn't though. She turned her head to the enemy and shouted "Hey, Q-ball! I am Temari of the Desert, this is my _fiancé, _Nara Shikamaru, and if you _ever _lay another finger on him I'll kill you! Now given that our countries are at war I realize it's your _duty_ to try to lay fingers, hands, fists, and even swords on him, so I'll spare you the trouble of making promises you can't and don't intend to keep, and just _kill _you!"

"Y'know you could just _do _it, you don't have to be so dramatic." Shikamaru pointed out.

"Did I ask you? Shut up!" Temari roared as she swept her fan out towards the enemy Jounin, "Tell me if this reminds you of anything!" She laughed insanely as the massive gust of wind caused by her fan tore through the forest around the blinded Jounin.

Shikamaru caught a glimpse of Kamatari.

He relaxed as the trees collapsed, smashing the corpse of the Iwa-Jounin as Temari's Whirlwind Dance decimated the entire area.

She looked over her shoulder at him, "Well? Familiar?"

"Doesn't ring any bells." Shikamaru lied.

"You lying son of a-" Temari began, but Shikamaru reached out and pulled her into a kiss.

"Oh my gosh!" Yomiko screamed, "Sensei, we've been over here fighting for our lives and you're over there trying to get lucky?" She rushed over, rolling up her sleeves, "I'm going to tell Hokage-sama on you, and . . . hey . . . where'd she come from!"

"I hide her in my pockets." Shikamaru said, unable to hide his smile as he held Temari close.

* * *

Yomiko stared a bit blankly at the blond woman standing next to her sensei. He had his arm around her waist so they were pretty familiar, she guessed.

But . . . the Suna headband on her forehead . . .

The woman pinched Shikamaru-sensei's shoulder, he yelped and let go of her.

But she seemed to think twice and grabbed his arm, putting it around her waist again before saying "Actually I've followed you guys. That is I flew out from Konoha just after Chouji left, beat him here in no time."

"How long have you known where we were?" Shikamaru asked.

"Just now. I actually just came out to the monument, since I knew that was where you'd be. Finding your actual trail would have been impossible up in the air. You know, I had to sleep on a tree branch, Nara Shikamaru." She folded her arms and huffed.

"Yes, well it sucks to be you." Shikamaru sensei said, clapping his hands together and taking a step away from her, but Yomiko raised her hand.

"Who is this? Why is a sand ninja following us?" The twelve year old girl demanded.

"She's-" Her sensei began.

"I'm Temari of the desert, pleased to meet you, I guess. As for what I'm doing following you, well I'm not going to let my future husband get _killed_ by some rock ninja am I?"

"How about a Cloud Ninja?" A rough voice asked.

Temari and Shikamaru spun around, there, standing near the tree line were no less than twenty Shinobi dressed in the sort of clothes that Yomiko had learned were common in Kumogakure, their flack jackets--those of them that wore them--were the color of Hidden in Cloud's flak jackets, and their headbands confirmed them as enemies of the leaf village.

Yomiko felt her legs begin to shake, the six of them stood together, a large white weasel bounded out of the woods and leapt onto Temari's shoulder.

Temari smiled, "How many can you kids take?" She asked.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	23. Let There Be Peace

**Chapter Twenty Three**

_Let There Be Peace_

Shikamaru always had plans, but sometimes things just didn't go according to plan.

Temari showing up was a good example of how unexpected things could be _good._

The twenty Cloud ninja were a prime example of how things went bad.

"Okay . . . how'd you do it?" Shikamaru asked with a smirk.

"Do what?" Their leader, a bearded ninja with jet black eyes demanded.

"How'd twenty Cloud Ninja infiltrate this far into the Fire Country?" Shikamaru asked. "You're far too large a force to just sneak in."

"We are the Hattori clan of Shinobi," The bearded ninja said, "I am Hattori Hanzo, and these, my clansmen. The shadows are our realm, we can infiltrate _any_ border."

Shikamaru nodded. Of course they could. What kept them from infiltrating the leaf village itself of course was a mixture of protective Jutsus and the fact that the Hyuuga clan could tell a Hattori shadow from a regular one. Probably the Uchiha too, but Konoha only had one of those.

Not to mention the fact that no Hattori could travel all that great of a distance while hiding in their shadow, it was absolutely inconceivable for them to use that maneuver to actually get into the village.

But the surrounding countryside, that was a different matter.

Still Shikamaru had trouble accepting that such a large force had made it this far. Three ninja was a nuisance, six was a problem, but twenty was a small army.

But then again their clan's main claim to fame was the ability to step into other people's shadows, travel _through _shadow.

Shadow in and of itself was Shikamaru's weapon, he wondered how the Nara clan might measure up to the Hattori clan. He smiled grimly, knowing that he was about to find out.

Even though he was just about out of chakra. His guess was the rest of his team was running low too, Ino must have been completely out by now.

Temari was in the best shape out of all of them, but she wasn't going to win this battle by herself.

"Wait!" Ino cried, "We-I am Yamanaka Ino, we're friends of Hattori Tetsuo! He's on his way here, he'll verify that!"

"For all we know all that's on its way here are more leaf ninjas." The bearded ninja said.

"But if you _do _know anything about Tetsuo, you'll tell us now!" One of the lesser Hattori ninjas called out.

Shikamaru scoffed and thought of how annoying it was that after finally being reunited with Temari they were going to die.

At least they'd die together.

But then, from the trees emerged a pair of figures, one was a Cloud ninja, the other was Hanabi.

"Oh just on time!" Ino cried, "Hattori-san, I beg you, tell your clansmen to stand down!"

The young man, whom Shikamaru guessed was Tetsuo, stood in front of them all, "Wait, stop!"

"Stand aside Tetsuo, they're our enemies." Hanzo growled.

Tetsuo shook his head, "Not anymore! The Konoha Shinobi no longer need to be our enemies. Father," Tetsuo said pleadingly to the one called Hanzo, "We do not _have _to do this!"

"Idiot boy. Your lust for your natural enemy has blinded you to the truth." Hanzo scoffed.

"Love for her has forced my eyes open, father! Do you know what I see every time I visit her?"

"A naked Hyuuga?" A girl who looked like a younger, more feminine version of Tetsuo asked.

"Not always--I mean **no**, Kasumi! Stay out of this!" Tetsuo turned to his father, "Father, Hanabi and I have had feelings for each other for some time now. Ever since we were kids. We are going to get married."

Shikamaru noticed Temari give him a slightly icy look just then. "What?" He whispered.

"_They're_ getting married." Temari whispered, squeezing his hand a little too hard.

Shikamaru frowned at her, he wasn't sure what she expected him to say just then. They were about to be killed if Tetsuo didn't say something convincing, besides it wasn't like he'd been the one to decide they wouldn't get married for three blasted years, that had been Gaara.

What was he supposed to do? Ignore the word of her brother and ruler and just whisk her away to Konoha where they could grow fat and old together.

Well he'd considered it from time to time.

"You can't marry the enemy." Hanzo laughed, "Did you really think we'd let you?"

"I'm not asking for permission father, or your blessing." Tetsuo said. "But I am asking you to spare these Konoha ninja."

"Ninja we allow to get away live only to fight another day." Hanzo said, "They are our enemies."

"No. They don't have to be." Tetsuo said.

"An alliance then? How ridiculous." Hanzo scoffed.

"Father it's not ridiculous, I've spoken to lord Raikage, who agreed with me. This war is pointless. The land of Lightning has expanded its boarder twice what was expected. Stone sent assassins after me, after _me,_ their ally, they're not worthy of our friendship. But these Konoha ninja, almost all of whom don't even know me, and none of whom know me well, fought them off and won. It wasn't their fight, but they fought it."

Shikamaru glanced at Ino, who shook her head.

Don't mention that it _had _been their fight. Let Tetsuo say whatever it took to get them away from this with their lives.

"The Raikage agrees with your beliefs? My son . . . who do you think ordered your assassination?" Hanzo shook his head, "Who do you think sent the entire Hattori clan into enemy territory to ensure your death? The Raikage wants you out of the picture, you're ruining everything. That's why the Iwa-nins were given Konoha Anbu masks and Forehead protectors, to pose as Konoha ninja so that your death could be blamed on Konoha. The entire clan was sent out to witness your dead body, and, if you had not been killed I was under orders to remedy that. "

"Y-you said we were just bringing him back home." Kasumi said. "You didn't say we had to kill him! Dad that's _Tetsuo_, he's one of us, have you gone mad?" Kasumi threw herself at her father.

Hanzo shoved her aside into one of her cousins who held her back, "Shut up you fool girl. I know who he is, he's my son! But the Raikage-"

"Is weaker than me!" Tetsuo said quickly, "That's what this is about. I've got most of the ninja convinced that we should end the war, Raikage knows I'm the stronger in a fight, so the fool has ordered my death at the hands of alien ninja! I'll kill the Raikage, and I'll become head of the village. Then we'll ally with the leaf!"

"Fool. You're not stronger than Raikage-sama. You're just a thorn in the Raikage's side! Your preaching of alliance with Leaf _is _gaining the ear of many of the village's ninja, and the Raikage does _not _want that. We cannot be divided in time of war."

"Then . . . let it come to a vote." Hanabi said. "Why not take a consensus from all the ninja in the land of lightning. See who believes that Tetsuo is right, and who believes that the Raikage is right. The war has been beneficial for the Land of Lightning so far, but a war that lasts too long benefits no one."

"Ninja are tools of war." Hanzo said.

"But we are expensive tools of war. Now that the Samurai are gaining power again and peasant mobs are being trained into armies, we ninja may very well find ourselves a small and weak player in a large game if we continue to eradicate one another." Hanabi shook her head, "Even your mighty clan would suffer if we fought now. There is no way you would kill every ninja here without losing some of your clansmen in the process. Your own Raikage has asked you to kill one of your most promising members, does that not bother you?"

Hanabi shook her head again and now stomped her foot, "Maybe Tetsuo isn't on the Raikage's level yet, but he _is _widely acknowledged as the second best ninja your country has, eventually he'd be able to defeat the Raikage, and then a Hattori would be Raikage, wouldn't that bring your clan honor? Don't you _want _to see Tetsuo succeed?"

Hanzo scoffed. "I am a ninja. Tetsuo is a ninja. If he is capable of becoming Raikage someday, he should be well capable of defeating his entire clan now."

"Someday, not today." Hanabi pleaded, "Today, to fight would be a foolish waste. Just return to Kumo and see what the masses believe should be done. I would go with you, a gesture from the Leaf to the Cloud."

"That . . . would be _some _gesture." Hanzo admitted.

"Why is that such a grand gesture?" Nao whispered.

Shikamaru took his focus off of Hanabi and whispered back, "If the Kumogakure's leader, Raikage, refuses to ally with the leaf they can kill Hanabi. From her body they can learn the secrets of Byakugan, perhaps even a way to replicate it, or trick it. Besides that she can always be interrogated. In offering herself to go with the Hattori clan, Hanabi-san is taking a serious risk not only to herself, but to her clan and Konohagakure in general."

"But she knows what she's doing right?" Nao asked.

Shikamaru smiled weakly. He wasn't so sure.

Hanzo however shook his head. "I . . . admit I had hoped that Tetsuo would one day become Raikage. After he grew out of his foolishness of course."

"Then you agree to let us leave," Ino said, "and to consider peace with Konoha?"

"We'll consider nothing, it's the Raikage who'll have to decide. A vote would be lovely, but this is a military force, not a democracy. But we will let you leave. And we will let Tetsuo live as well. Lady Hyuuga, you understand that we cannot guarantee your safety . . . and Kumogakure _has _been after the secrets of Byakugan for some time."

"Yes. You even tried to kidnap my older sister to get them." Hanabi said, "But answer me this: Which would be less trouble? Killing me, risking some of your ninja in the process, and having a slim chance of understanding the Byakugan from my dead body, or allowing me to marry into your clan and join your village, thereby _giving _it to you?"

Hanzo laughed, but it was without humor, he sounded sort of irritated, "I consider myself to be a man of relatively open mind, though I must admit the idea of calling a Hyuga my daughter-in-law does not sit well with me. I will however give you the benefit of the doubt. Though the Raikage would no doubt hope that you would be the start of a Byakugan wielding branch of the Hattori, I can myself say that I hope the Kagegan proves to be the more dominant gene in your children."

Shikamaru frowned. All of this just seemed too easy.

Hattori was just going to roll over and let them go? He was just going to let Hanabi and Tetsuo be together?

He didn't like it, it seemed too easy. But if it got him, Temari, Ino and the kids away safely he'd accept it.

Their lives were his first priority, as Hanabi said the chances of Kumogakure getting Byakugan from her corpse were slim to none. So if Hanabi was walking to her death, so be it. She wasn't his problem.

Yomiko, Kotaro and Naomasa were. Temari and Ino, though not necessarily his problem, were his fiancée and friend respectively-and Hanabi technically was neither-and he'd get them back safely as well.

"So we can leave?" Shikamaru spoke up.

Hanzo looked closely at him and said "Yes. Yes you may. The Suna Jounin too, call it an act of good will."

"How kind." Temari said with a restrained level of sarcasm.

"So . . . this was a successful mission then?" Yomiko asked.

"I think so." Shikamaru nodded as he led the group away from the monument, the Hattori leaving in the other direction.

"So . . . then that means our first mission was a success!" Yomiko cried, she jumped up and down, doing a "V" for victory on both hands as the proceeded down the road. "And nobody _died_!"

Shikamaru noted a slightly pained expression on Ino's face when Yomiko said that. But she forced a smile and said "You all did very well for Genin. Why, do a few more missions and I would recommend you for the Chuunin exam myself if Shikamaru doesn't."

Shikamaru laughed weakly, "Well I don't know. This mission wasn't assigned to us officially, and they've literally failed every other mission they've been assigned."

"What? No way!" Yomiko cried, "No fair sensei, we didn't fail anything!"

"You didn't clean the market-" Shikamaru began, but Yomiko cut him off.

"Uh-huh! It was your deer that didn't clean the market, _you _failed the mission, sensei."

"She's got you there, sensei." Nao pointed out.

"And we didn't meet the Suna team." Shikamaru added.

"They met us!" Yomiko said, pointing to Temari, "See? She's right there sensei."

"She's got a point, I _am _right here." Temari said, nodding and walking a little closer alongside Shikamaru, taking his arm.

"Uh, yeah. Okay, but that just doesn't change the fact that so far we've never actually finished a mission."

"That's your fault Sensei, you slept during our first and ran off during our second. Whatever subtle manipulations may have gone into tricking us into cleaning your side of the market, or following you on a suicide mission," Kotaro was saying.

"Suicide mission? You're all alive!" Shikamaru protested, "And manipulations? I _told _you not to follow me!"

"Yeah, and we're twelve, obviously we're going to do the opposite of what you say." Kotaro nodded.

"Oh just face it, Shikamaru . . . you're not a very good ninja." Temari said, squeezing his arm.

Shikamaru scoffed. "I could argue with that, I even feel like I should. But I won't."

"Too troublesome?" Ino asked.

"Yeah, exactly." Shikamaru nodded.

They walked down the road for a while, Shikamaru felt . . . at peace.

He had Temari with him, his team had just done the impossible and survived what he'd definitely consider an A rank mission at best, B rank at least, and there was even a possibility that the war on at least one front would end.

Life was pretty sweet right now.

He just watched the clouds drift by as they walked together back towards Konoha, probably a two day trip.

Suddenly Temari let him go and threw herself to the side, Shikamaru's gaze snapped downward and something huge slammed into him.

"Shikamaru!" Chouji cried, "You're alive!"

"What about me?" Ino demanded, "I'm alive too!"

"You just want him tackling you, don't you, Ino?" Shikamaru smirked at her.

"What? No! It's just what am I, chopped liver?" The bloodied blond asked.

Chouji blinked as he got off Shikamaru, "Ino, is that you?"

"Who did you think it was?" Ino demanded, grabbing Chouji by the collar.

"N-nobody, nobody! You uh . . . look good?" Chouji offered.

Ino dropped him, "Whatever." She grumbled.

"And here we came to rescue you." Chouji laughed, helping Shikamaru up. "Better late than never, right Shikamaru?"

"Well technically this qualifies as 'never' since our mission is already over." Kotaro pointed out.

"Well okay, but how did you get here Temari?" Chouji asked.

"I flew." Temari shrugged. "What, did you really think I'd leave Shika-kun to fend for himself? We both know he's too weak for that."

"Heh. Shika-kun huh?" Tomoko sneered, "Oh Shika-kun, you're so dreamy!" She said, imitating Temari's voice and falling into Kyusaku's arms.

He dropped her.

"Sorry, I'm too weak of a ninja to hold you, Temari-chan." Kyusaku said and Tomoko punched him in the gut.

"And just _who _are _you_?" Daisuke said, swooping in on Yomiko.

"What? Uh, I'm Yomiko. Sarutobi Yomiko." Yomiko said, sounding more confused than charmed.

"Oh for the love of all ninja arts, Dai-kun!" Tomoko cried.

"Are you flirting with _another _little girl?" Shikamaru asked him.

"Ah, don't say it like that sensei! It sounds _creepy _when you say it like that!" Daisuke protested.

"You kind of _are _creepy." Yomiko said.

"Don't worry, he's really harmless. He just doesn't realize that chivalry is dead, buried and unmourned." Tomoko said.

"_You're_ unmourned!" Daisuke cried, "Chivalry will _never _die!"

Shikamaru laughed. Ino, Chouji and Temari. The most important people in his life were with him, it just didn't get much better than this. It made his chest feel tight and warm. Maybe he was happy, or maybe Chouji had broken one of his ribs when he tackled him, and he was bleeding internally. Hef wasn't sure. But right now life was pretty good.

He'd just have to wait and see what tomorrow held.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	24. Time Off

**New Blood**

**Second Scroll: Alliances**

**Chapter Twenty Four**

_**Time Off**_

He stood on weak legs before his leader, the Tsuchikage.

"Take your time." One of Tsuchikage's assistants said.

Leaning against his long sword for support he made his report. "J-Juukei Toshiie reporting." He managed. "My mission was a failure." He managed without pausing, though the pain in his chest begged him to take a breath in between each word.

He refused to do so, or show any signs of weakness that he could avoid showing in front of his Tsuchikage. "Task force annihilated. Complete loss. Target escaped."

"You escaped as well. How?" Tsuchikage asked.

Toshiie smiled weakly, "The enemy though to crush me to death. I used earth style Jutsu to sink into the ground before the trees could fall on me, and I made my way back here . . ." He closed his eyes, he was so tired.

He felt like he had no chakra left at all.

"You are quite an impressive specimen." Tsuchikage said, leaning forward in his char, "The mission had a very low success rate. That you have returned alone suggests an even lower survival rate than we anticipated. Go then, Juukei. See our medics and rest. You have done your duty. When you are healed I will reassign you."

"N-no. No." Toshiie said.

"No?" One of Tsuchikage's assistants blinked.

"Tsuchikage-sama . . . if I might make a request . . ." Toshiie said.

"Very well." The Tsuchikage said.

Toshiie glared up, into the eyes of his village's greatest ninja, "Before I return to regular duty, let me take revenge for my brother and my squad. Let me _kill_ the ninjas named Nara Shikamaru, and Temari of the Desert."

The Tsuchikage smiled. "Temari of the desert? What if I offered you all of Sunagakure?"

* * *

Shikamaru yawned as he stared at the early morning sun climbing in the sky.

It _might _be a bit early for he and Temari to be out at his favorite spot, but the slight chill of the morning air made her cuddle in close to him, and he was all for that.

"What's the plan today?" She asked him.

"What plan?" He scoffed. "I figure I'd stay here with you all day."

"All day huh?" She asked.

"All day." Shikamaru confirmed, holding her close.

They'd been separated for well over a year thanks to the war, they had a lot of catching up to do.

For the past three days since they'd gotten back to Konoha they'd barely left each other's side. Their time together was not purely sexual-though a great deal of it was, there was no point denying that-but also full of moments like this where they simply enjoyed being in one another's presence.

Shikamaru hadn't told her half the things he'd wanted to, and he was sure she hadn't told him everything either.

It didn't really help that he wasn't the most talkative ninja in the world, but talk was troublesome.

She sighed, "We can't just hide in our little world forever, Shikamaru." Temari said at length, "Especially now that we have kids."

Shikamaru laughed. That was an odd way to put it, but yes, they did have responsibilities to the teams they had been placed in charge of.

Their Genin squads depended on them. Shikamaru needed to train his, and Temari had to get hers home to their families. They couldn't selfishly stay with each other twenty four seven for the rest of their lives as much as he wished they could.

"Well I guess I am prone to being late. Do you think they'll notice if I'm three days late four our next little mission?"

"No way. You're so pathetic, I'm sure they don't expect anything from you."

"Look who's talking." Shikamaru scoffed.

"Now _I'm _the pathetic one?" Temari laughed. "I saved your butt on that last mission, that Iwa-nin would have turned you into cold cuts without me." Temari poked one of his injuries from the last mission.

He groaned, "That wasn't necessary."

"I think you like it." She said, poking him again, harder. "Anyway we can't just stay here all day. I kind of told Sasuke I'd meet him."

"Oh fine then." Shikamaru yawned.

"What? No jealousy? I'm going to go meet Sasuke, we might . . . you know. Fool around or something."

"If you didn't sleep with someone else in the eighteen months we were apart I don't see why you'd do it now that we're together." Shikamaru said.

"Well Sasuke wasn't in Suna." Temari pointed out.

Shikamaru just yawned. He knew Temari wouldn't get anywhere with Sasuke, Sakura was _still _barking up that tree and getting no real reaction. Though he'd come back to Konoha, though whatever issue he'd had with whomever he'd had it had apparently been resolved, Sasuke was still determined to become more and more powerful, his goal now was to surpass Naruto.

"So what's Sasuke want?" Shikamaru asked.

"Something about my Genin trying to pick a fight with his. Probably has something to do with why Yukio keeps asking me to teach him an instant kill Jutsu."

Shikamaru laughed softly, "Yeah . . . and I guess there's a Jutsu I told my kids I'd teach them."

Temari frowned. "I'm going back to Suna tonight . . . but before I do there's something really important I need to tell you."

"How important could it be if you haven't already told me?" Shikamaru asked.

"Don't screw with me you weakling," Temari warned him, poking his injury again, "I said it's important, so it's important."

"Yeah, yeah." Shikamaru yawned.

"Shika-kun . . . promise you won't let me leave without telling you." Temari said.

"What?"

"I told you to promise you won't let me leave without telling you!" Temari said again, this time pinching his wounded side.

"Ouch! Yeah, I promise." Shikamaru said.

"Alright, got to go then. Can't miss my date with Sasuke."

"Yeah right. Just keep telling yourself it's a date." Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

Temari shook her head and said "No wonder we're not married yet. Did you even try to argue with Gaara about it?"

Shikamaru scoffed. "You know how I am with arguments. They're troublesome."

It wasn't true, actually he'd very subtly threatened the Kazekage when he refused to let him marry Temari.

He hadn't threatened Gaara's life, no. That would be stupid on more levels than Shikamaru could count. But he _had_ hinted that he'd sneak Temari away and they'd run away together, which incidentally had been the plan if their marriage request was rejected.

But with the war they'd agreed there were simply matters bigger than themselves. Of course the war hadn't really begun until the day they'd planned their little runaway, talk about bad timing.

Temari frowned at him and said, "Sometimes I don't know why I bother loving a weak, lazy loser like yourself. I guess we really can't choose in life."

"And I never thought I'd love a scary, obnoxious, bossy woman." Shikamaru said, "We just can't pick 'em, you're right."

"Yeah. You'd have picked a scary, obnoxious, bossy _man_." Temari said, then ran off.

Shikamaru sighed.

Fine, she'd had the last word this time, but he'd think of an insult so profound-without being _too _insulting-that's she'd be leaving Konoha speechless. Then they'd see who had the last laugh.

He yawned. He really should get to those Genin . . . but why bother exerting himself this early in the morning?

* * *

Ryu fell out of his bed and shouted.

Where was he? What was he-he glared at Kyoko, "Stop waking me up that way!"

The girl had a habit of just yanking the sheets off of him. Unfortunately that never worked so instead she yanked the sheets from _under _him and that usually took him out of the bed too.

It made it impossible to pretend he was still sleeping afterwards.

"I'm gonna do it today!" Kyoko said.

"Do what now?" Ryu frowned.

"This is our last day in Konoha . . . so I'm gonna talk to him."

"Him?" Ryu frowned. "Who the heck are you talking about? That Oedo guy?"

"No, forget _him_. He's a player, I saw him flirting with that twelve year old from Temari-sensei's boyfriend's team!" Kyoko declared.

Ryu scratched his head. "Then who're you gonna talk to? We haven't really met anyone else, 'side from those bullies. You got a crush on one of them?"

"Of course not!" Kyoko said. "But . . . you remember that boy on Shikamaru-sensei's team?"

"Which one?" Ryu groaned.

"The cute one."

Ryu stared at her. That didn't help him remember which guy it was, he didn't think other guys were cute so Kyoko saying that was meaningless for him.

But he kept his mouth shut, not wanting to prompt her to describe the boy since he didn't care. He just wanted to go back to sleep. "Well it's great Kyoko. I hope you two get married and have lots of babies and what not . . . so can I go back to sleep?"

"No, I need you to go with me."

"Oh heck." Ryu groaned.

"Please?" Kyoko pleaded, "I'll help you master the Summoning Jutsu!"

Hmm . . . that was tempting. But sleep was more tempting. "Can't you ask Yukio to go? I'm sure he'd . . . y'know . . . give more of a damn."

"I cant, I don't know where he is!" Kyoko said.

Ryu frowned and looked at Yukio's empty bed. "Darn." He grumbled. "And the reason you can't go alone?"

"We've never spoken before!" Kyoko cried, "He could be a weirdo! I need you to like . . . swoop in and pretend to be my boyfriend if it goes bad."

"Man, I'm thirteen, I don't need this kind of stress."

"You're a ninja! This is your mission! C'mon, don't you want to master the summoning jutsu?"

"Yeah I guess. Can I sleep a little longer?"

"No! Love waits for no one!" Kyoko cried.

"Well I'm not the one in love." Ryu pointed out and curled up on the floor to try to get a little more sleep.

"You're gonna help me . . . or I'll spit in your ear!"

"What is with you and spitting?" Ryu demanded, but now he was wide awake.

* * *

"Just look at them." Daisuke grumbled to Kurai, "Doesn't it make you sick?"

"Actually I hope they kiss. That'd be hot." Saizo said.

"They're not going to kiss. They never have, they never will." Kyusaku grumbled dejectedly.

"Good. Girls shouldn't kiss girls anyway, they should kiss young men . . . like us." Daisuke grumbled.

"You're just jealous because you like Shiroi." Saizo said flatly.

"You do too!" Daisuke cried, "And anyway, no I don't! I just think it's disgusting the way they display their affection so publicly."

"They do it to annoy you." Kurai said calmly, sipping tea at the same place that Sasuke-Sensei had dragged them out of just a few days ago.

It was hard to show his face here after being so humiliated, but then again since the tea was on team Akimichi and since he had no other breakfast plans he'd come along.

Besides, he rather liked being in Shiroi's company when she wasn't being overly aggressive, or looking to start a fight.

Which was only when Daisuke's sister was around. The pretty young Oedo outcast seemed to be the one person that Shiroi really connected with. Maybe because, as a member of the Hyuuga branch family, Shiroi felt like an outcast herself.

But whatever the reason there was a notable difference between the Shiroi that usually enjoyed following Saizo's lead and tormenting others, and the Shiroi who . . . just acted like a typical girl whenever her girlfriend was around. Kurai wasn't sure if the two really were romantically involved, or if they were just trying to mess with the three horny guys on their combined teams--Kurai didn't count himself with Saizo, Daisuke and Kyusaku--but he was glad _someone _could keep Shiroi from being a menace to society.

Kurai also noted that in Tomoko's presence, Shiroi seemed comfortable enough to move her forehead protector from her forehead to her neck, exposing the seal on her forehead that marked her as a member of the Hyuga branch family.

A lesser being who lived and died only to serve the main family. It sickened Kurai because even when she was being a troublemaker he saw in Shiroi an individual with good and bad qualities, and a mind of her own who deserved better than the life of a caged bird. It made him glad that Aburame had not yet developed a need for a branch family. Then again the clan was extremely small, especially in comparison to Hyuuga.

These sort of character speculations on Kurai's part were useless of course, and he kept them to himself.

He spotted a familiar face, and tensed a bit. It was that kid from Suna.

He strode boldly up to Shiroi and slammed his fist down on the table.

"Oh hi . . . um . . . Yukio, right?" Tomoko said.

"Yeah that's right." Yukio said darkly.

"You know this kid, Tomo-chan?" Shiroi asked.

"That doesn't matter." Yukio snapped, "I'm challenging you."

Shiroi looked sheepish, "You already did that."

Kurai smirked, his expression hidden by the collar of his jacket and the thick black lenses over his eyes. "Yeah but my team is leaving today, and my lazy-ass sensei hasn't worked out the fight arrangements with yours yet, so I gotta do it myself. So get your half-naked butt outside so I can kick it!"

"You keep pointing out that I'm half naked, even though I'm dressed within acceptable parameters. Are you checking me out or something?" Shiroi blinked.

Tomoko stood up, "Don't threaten my friend that way. And don't insult Temari-sensei. Maybe her _boyfriend _is lazy but _she _isn't. If she hasn't worked out the details for your fight she probably has a good reason. Namely the fact that Shiroi would _kill _you without breaking a sweat. You're lucky to have her as your sensei, so shut your mouth, open your mind and learn."

Yukio looked annoyed, but Shiroi reached up and pulled Tomoko back into her seat, "That's so sweet of you, Tomo-chan," Shiroi said, batting her eyelashes, "but I can fight my own battles."

She stood up and repositioned her forehead protector. Kurai noted that this seemed to symbolize the transition between sweet, nice Shiroi, and the vicious, blood thirsty Shiroi. Another characteristic observation that he'd never bother to share with anyone, after all they should take the time to notice for themselves.

Those Hyuga eyes throbbed as the Byakugan activated, "Alright brat, you want some of this? Come and get it." Shiroi taunted.

**To Be Continued . . . **


	25. Three Way Split

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

_Three Way Split_

Yomiko frowned as she and her fellows, Kotaro and Naomasa sat in the shade of the park.

The fact that their sensei had pretty much slacked off over the past three days had, she supposed, hurt them in the long run. But it had been a pleasant three days, over which Yomiko had recounted time and time again her epic adventure to her mother, whether or not she asked to hear it.

She might have . . . embellished a bit more each time she told it. But she was still a twelve year old girl, she could get away with things like that.

And over the three days the three of them had mastered the whole no-hands tree climbing thing, maybe today their lazy sensei would teach them to walk on water. He'd mentioned it before but he hadn't actually taught it to them.

But whatever the case Shikamaru sensei had ordered them all to the park today for the continuation of their training.

And he was late.

Of course now Yomiko knew why. Because his _girlfriend _was in town.

Since Yomiko was a bit of a romantic at heart, she'd forgive her sensei this once. But just this once.

When he finally showed up he greeted them warmly enough, "Good morning you troublesome little miscreants."

"It's practically afternoon. Can we have lunch?" Kotaro asked.

"Don't know, don't care." Shikmaru said, "I'll only take up a bit of your time, Hatake, then you can do as you will."

"Okay . . ." Kotaro said.

"But aren't you going to train us?" Nao asked.

"No. Isn't that great?" Shikamaru sensei smiled.

"Uh . . . do you want the honest answer?" Yomiko asked.

Shikamaru shook his head, "I told you once if you became proficient with clones that I would teach you the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Well on our last mission you all displayed excellent clone proficiency so it's time for me to live up to my end of the bargain."

Shikamaru cracked his knuckles, "This is a Jounin level technique, few Genin can learn it, and to my knowledge only one person ever mastered it overnight, so don't expect to manage that yourselves. Further mastery, being able to make a clone at a certain percentage of your chakra instead of the full on perfect split requires even more time, but if Naruto can do it you can too."

Yomiko squirmed in her proverbial seat, she couldn't believe it. She was going to know a _Jounin _level Jutsu!? She'd make all the other Genin in her class jealous.

Except Taro and Nao of course, they'd be learning it too.

But _she'd _master it first. She'd show them all how awesome the Sarutobi clan was.

"But . . . you said that you wouldn't train us." Nao said.

"Allow me to explain that, Ishida. I said I wouldn't train _you._ And I won't Not today. Tomorrow I'll be going over it with you, but today I wanted to ease you all into the technique. I can't stress enough that this isn't kid's stuff, it's going to be hard. It could take you forever to learn it as a group. So to give you all the best chance of learning it I've decided that one on one sessions would be best. Unfortunately I've got someplace to be tonight, and we can't neglect our missions forever. I cant take the time out to train each of you in a one on one setting. So . . . I've decided to share the troublesome burden with my esteemed associates here."

Shikamaru indicated a nearby tree and a middle-aged man emerged from behind it.

He had one eye covered, his hair was stark white, though that might be due to age. It stuck up in a way that defied gravity. He wore a mask like Taro's, in fact he rather looked like Taro. He was probably in his early to mid forties. "Good afternoon." He said.

Out of the tree fell a flash of orange and gold, standing before them was _the _Uzumaki Naruto, best ninja in the village aside from Hokage-sama.

Yomiko nearly died of happiness. Serious training from a serious sensei, this was too good.

"Is that okay? I mean having Uzumaki Naruto teach us a technique? Aren't we _your _Genin? We're _your_ problem." Nao said. Yomiko covered his mouth.

"Quiet! Don't you want to learn from the best?" She demanded.

"Actually it's perfectly all right for Jounin to swap Genin from time to time," Shikamaru said, "It's perfectly all right for other Jounin to give someone else's Genin tips and such. I helped train team Akimichi and team Yamanaka."

Team Akimichi Yomiko had met. They were all older and a little weird, but she hadn't met team Yamanaka. Unfortunately Ino-sensei's team had been wiped out just around the time that Yomiko had first been assigned to team ten, not all that long ago.

Ino-sensei was likely still recovering from the loss. Yomiko hadn't seen too much of her these past three days.

"So," Shikamaru-sensei said, "I'm splitting you up into teams, Hatake Kotaro you're going with your father, he'll run you through the basics."

"All right." Kotaro nodded.

"You know," Kakashi-sensei said to Shikamaru-sensei, "there's a _reason_ I never taught him this Jutsu. We didn't want multiples of him running around. I'm just warning you, his mother is going to be mad at you."

"There's no way she's scarier than Temari, I can handle angry women." Shikamaru-sensei grinned, and Kakashi-sensei laughed.

"Don't bet on that." He said and he led Kotaro away.

So that left Yomiko to train with the awesome Naruto, and Naomasa to train with sensei. "All right! Now let's train!"

"Hold on." Shikamaru-sensei said. "Ishida Naomasa, you're going with Uzumaki Naruto."

Nao stared blankly at Shikamaru-sensei. "What?" He asked.

"Yeah, what?" Yomiko demanded.

"You're with me." Naruto said, "Don't worry kid, I'll have you popping out clones like it's nobody's business by the end of the day, believe it!"

Yomiko was crushed.

Somehow, deep down inside she knew it'd be this way.

Shikamaru-sensei hated her, he wanted her to be trained by the worst teacher out of the three: himself. Nao, the worst student should have gotten the worst teacher, not the best.

It wasn't fair.

As a star struck Nao and Naruto-sensei left Shikamaru's smirk taunted Yomiko. "You're not happy with the arrangement, are you, Sarutobi?"

"No duh!" Yomiko exploded, "It's not fair!"

"Why not?" Shikamaru asked.

"Well I get Taro going with his dad, I mean that makes sense," Yomiko said.

"Uh-huh." Shikamaru nodded.

"But why does Nao get a cool teacher like Naruto-sensei, and I get stuck with _you_?"

Shikmaru shrugged, "You still think I'm a loser, huh?"

"Look sesnsei, maybe you beat up a couple of Stone Jounin, but they were half dead, and Uzumaki-sensei could have done it too, only better."

"Okay, I'll give you that. But why shouldn't Nao learn the basics from Naruto? In the end I'll be the one teaching all three of you. But just for today we're going to go over it in pairs so that everyone can move at their own speed."

"Yeah but the best student should have the best teacher!" Yomiko said.

"You think you're the best student?" Shikamaru asked her.

Yomiko deflated a bit. Well maybe she wasn't. She _had _failed every test her sensei had given her up to this point. Still, she was a Sarutobi, she wouldn't just let him look down at her even if she had failed a few of his stupid tests. "I think so." She said. "Anyway, if I'm not the best, Taro is. Nao is definitely dead last!"

"I agree." Shikamaru-sensei said simply.

"Don't try to argue with me, I know I'm right I--wait, you what?" Yomiko gapped.

"I agree. Ishida is dead last." Shikamaru-sensei said, "He doesn't know any Jutsu other than what you all learned at the academy, his shuriken skill is wanting, his Taijutsu is passable but not impressive. He's the lowest rung on the group ladder and even though he's trying he just can't compare to you and Taro."

"That's kind of a mean thing to say, sensei." Yomiko pointed out.

"Maybe." Shikmaru-sensei said, "But it's true. Luckily for Ishida he's got the will and determination to do better, and given the fact that he, unlike you and Hatake, hasn't been at this his whole life, wasn't born into a ninja family, hasn't even been a Genin for very long yet, I think he shows great promise. You're all exceptionally talented actually. But Ishida needs someone to help him step up his game and get him onto the same level as the rest of you, and Naruto can do that."

Yomiko pouted, "So you're going to make Taro and me look bad by making Nao better than us."

Shikamaru sighed, "No, Sarutobi, I'm not. A single day of training under Naruto is not going to make Ishida suddenly a Jounin. Naruto is just better at teaching this Jutsu from scratch since it was the first he ever learned. Kakashi-sensei can train his own son better than I can, we're still a pretty newly acquainted team you know. You're already into practicing chakra control which will make this easier on you than anyone else, even if you're being taught by a lazy loser like myself.

"To put it simply; if you and Hatake both need to learn three difficult steps to this Jutsu, Ishida needs to learn four. The best way for him to learn those four in the time it takes you to learn those three is to have Naruto teach him. You'll all be more or less equal by tomorrow when we being training as a team, I assure you."

Yomiko pouted, but nodded. "Fine sensei. Then let's get cracking, I don't wan t to be worse than Nao at this Jutsu."

"You just don't listen. I told you you're all going to be _equal_."

"Yeah, sure, whatever. I just don't want to be _less _equal than Nao." Yomiko said.

Shikamaru shook his head. "Troublesome girl."

"Troublesome sensei! Start training me!" Yomiko demanded.

"Yeah, yeah. All right, let's get started." Shikamaru sensei said.

* * *

Yukio glared at Shiroi, she was standing across from him in a field of honor.

Well really it was kind of a barren little patch by a little lake. "This suit you, Sandbox?" Shiroi asked.

"It'll do fine." Yukio scoffed and lowered himself into a fighting position.

Shiroi's freaky eyes just watched him.

He cracked his knuckles and reached into his pouch, he'd gotten a lot of sand for this mission.

He took a bit of it and infused it with his chakra. It hardened into a Shuriken, and he unleashed it on the Hyuuga girl.

Shiroi scoffed and easily sidestepped, the shuriken slamming into the tree behind her.

Yukio threw a dozen more, one rapidly after the other, Shiroi easily dodged each and each slammed into the same tree behind her.

"Is that all you got? I thought you'd be a workout at least. Here kid, go get your little friends to help you."

"I don't need them." Yukio snapped, and held his hands out.

He called the sand back.

The shurikens flew from the tree towards him . . . but Shiroi was in their way.

They'd have to go through her to reach him, and her gaze was focused on _him_.

Or so he thought. Shiroi suddenly ducked at the last moment, leaning into a crouch.

Yukio dispelled the shuriken swarm, causing them to explode and litter the ground with their sand as Shiroi sprang from her crouch and came towards him so fast that for a split second she literally disappeared from view.

And then she struck him lightly in the stomach. She spun and nailed him again in the shoulder.

She struck him at high speed, her hands were blurs to him, but he felt her gentle taps as she struck him about fifteen, or sixteen times.

"Don't be too hard on him, Shiroi!" Tomoko shouted.

"There will be complications if you kill him!" Saizo laughed and Tomoko hit him.

Yukio glared, how dare that shirtless snake-lover laugh at _him_! He raised his hands again as Shiroi backed off.

She was standing in the sand that had once been his shuriken.

He had meant to use it to trip her up as she ran at him, as he suspected she would, but he had no idea how quickly she'd manage to reach him. He hadn't had time to command the sand.

He really wished he could use it for attack and defense, like the Kazekage. Or even control as much of it as the Kazekage. But he could just get it to harden into weapons, and return to him at his call.

But he _had _learned to get the sand to form things even if he wasn't holding it provided it had recently been infused with his chakra. He could make weapons . . . or snares.

So the sand around Shiroi suddenly turned into a pair of hands that reached up and gripped her ankles.

She disappeared, a log fell down and slammed into his sand.

Yukio swore and reached into his two back pouches for more sand, ripping a pair of sand knives forth and holding them in a defensive position, he felt Shiroi tap him on the shoulder and spun around to face her.

And then she kicked him in the back.

She was just too fast . . .

He brought his sand swords around to try to swipe at her, but she was already gone.

For some reason he had an urge to look up, expecting her to attack him from above next.

He looked up and saw nothing.

Suddenly his legs were swept out from under him, Shiroi lunged for him.

Her hands glowing with an odd white glow, Yukio groaned, knowing he was going to be made sorry he'd done this.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	26. Training Day

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

_Training Day_

Kotaro scratched his cheek as his dad dispelled his clone, "You see?" Kakashi asked his son.

"No." Kotaro said flatly.

"Okay, let's try this again . . ."

"What exactly are the practical uses of this Jutsu?" Kotaro asked.

'Hmm?"

"Well it's just I get that Shikamaru-sensei is trying to help us learn something strong, it's Jounin level and all . . . but if I've got to learn a Jounin level technique why can't I learn your Chidori, dad?" Kotaro asked.

"Well for starters," Kakashi said, "it wouldn't do you any good just to know it. Even if you could gather up the chakra to use it, the Jutsu has a serious flaw."

"What's that?" Kotaro asked.

"The speed at which you need to perform Chidori leaves you vulnerable because your eyes can't keep up if your opponent counters." Kakashi explained. "Your eyes would never be able to follow Chidori."

Kotaro slumped. His dad's Sharingan eye was surgically implanted, and it had been a gift to him from a member of the Uchiha clan before the clan went near extinct. There weren't any more to be had.

Because it wasn't part of Kakashi's original genetics he hadn't been able to pass it down to Kotaro.

And his mom wasn't an Uchiha either.

"So . . . the Shadow Clone is the best I can learn?"

"It will be an asset at your age. Few will expect solid clones from you, and you'll never lack for a sparring partner. It will also help you become popular with the ladies."

Kotaro knew his dad was lying about that last part just to motivate him. He didn't see how clones could help him be popular with women . . . but he couldn't take the chance of passing it up if it was true.

"Fine, show it to me again." Kotaro said.

But he still wanted to use the Chidori.

He'd find a way to _make _Lightning Blade work for him . . . even if his eyes couldn't keep up with it.

"Hmm . . . what's this?" Kakashi said.

Kotaro raised an eyebrow and spotted a girl watching him from a bit of a distance off.

She was kind of cute, probably about his age. She wore a lavender tunic with violet trim and a black sash. Her headband was down over her neck, he couldn't see the symbol because half of her body was hidden behind a tree, but her fiery red hair and striking green eyes certainly kept his attention on her.

She seemed frozen for about a minute before she slowly, shyly slid the rest of the way behind the tree. A kid sitting nearby with messy blond hair shook his head and said "What the heck was all that about just now, Kyoko? You said you'd help me practice the summoning Jutsu and you're just staring at some guy!"

Kotaro raised an eyebrow at his father.

"I think she likes you." He said.

"She's creepy." Kotaro said a little louder than he meant to.

There was a faint sob from behind the tree, followed by the laughter of her male companion.

"Well I'm glad you feel that way," His father said with a slight grin in his eyes, "that means she shouldn't be a distraction to you."

Kotaro shifted uneasily, "Yeah." He said. "I guess not. Let's get to work."

* * *

Shiroi's hands were glowing white as she lunged for him, Yukio was on the ground and unable to move out of the way in time.

Suddenly Shiroi stopped, there was Temari-sensei holding the younger woman firmly by the ear.

"That's a killing move, girl." Temari-sensei said, anger plain on her face, "He's a cocky little punk, I know. But he's _my _cocky little punk, and you don't want _me_ paying you back for killing one of my Genin."

Yukio was assaulted by mixed emotions. He was glad Temari-sensei had just saved him.

And yet he _hated _her for saving him. Who the blazes did she think she was? He clenched his fists and fought back the urge to attack _her_.

"Let me go!" Shiroi commanded, "I was just playing with the kid, I swear! Ouch! Okay, maybe I _did _get a little carried away, but--oh no." The girl groaned when _her_ Sensei appeared in front of her.

He jabbed her in the forehead again, she fell back whining again.

"Ah! Sensei I think you broke my forehead protector! What the heck, are you trying to activate the seal or something? Why do you always hit me there?" Shiroi complained.

"I told you the fight would commence when I gave you permission, not before." Sasuke said coldly.

"Yeah but it didn't seem like you were doing it. Besides he challenged me _again_ and I had to show off my skills!" Shiroi said.

"To who?" Sasuke demanded. "No one's here but your teammates and our rivals. You think it wise to show off your skills to your chief rivals with the Chuunin exams only two months away?"

". . . yes?" Shiroi mumbled and Sasuke held his forehead and sighed.

"Temari . . . we have an agreement. From what I've seen already the boy hasn't got as far to go as I thought. It'll be good for Shiroi too."

"Yeah." Temari said. "But if she tries to use that Jutsu again . . ." Temari let her words hang in the air as she glared at Shiroi.

"I'll be sure that she doesn't." Sasuke said.

"Then in two months we'll let them sort things out."

"Two months?" Yukio blinked, "Didn't he say that that was when the Chuunin exams would . . . sensei are you going to let us take the Chuunin exams?" Yukio demanded.

Temari-sensei's expression softened-but not by much-as she reached down and pulled him up off the ground. She put a hand over his shoulder and led him away from the older kids, most of whom were now being scolded by Uchiha. "It was always my intention to put you into the exams this year." Temari said. "I think you're ready."

Yukio slouched. "But I just got my butt kicked." He said, making sure the others were out of earshot before he actually said it.

"I watched the whole thing. That Hyuuga girl . . . either she really _was_ just playing with you, or she hasn't got much. That last move worried me, but mostly she just took advantage of your ignorance."

"I'm not ignorant." Yukio snapped.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah you are." Temari-sensei said. "For one you didn't know that those eyes allow her to see what ever is behind her too. Your little trick with the shuriken was nice, and it might have worked on a normal opponent. But she saw it coming."

"Okay . . ."

"Next, you obviously don't know that the Hyuuga can see chakra points. You clearly didn't notice that she was sealing yours. Your twin blade technique failed for lack of chakra, you didn't release it."

Yukio frowned, he hadn't even realized his sand blades had dissipated, he'd been too busy getting his butt kicked. Now he asked, "How can they see . . . oh, their freaky eyes?"

"Yeah. But don't let them hear you call them 'freaky'." Temari-sensei said.

"So . . . you're going to train me to beat her, right?"

"That's right." Temari said.

"Why?" Yukio asked. "Why are you going along with this?"

"You're my student, if you get beat it reflects poorly on my teaching skills."

"No, really." Yukio pressed.

"Because Uchiha-senesi asked me to." Temari said evasively.

"And he wants a tough opponent for his prized student." Yukio reasoned.

"Not quite. It's a little different than that, but you shouldn't have to worry about it. I'll explain it _after_ you've beaten her."

Yukio shoved his fists into his pockets and scowled, "I don't know if I can wait two months."

"Well we won't be here for the next two months." Temari said, "She'll be out of sight, out of mind. But Don't neglect your training."

Yukio scowled over his shoulder, but team Uchiha was gone, and team Akimichi were gathered together discussing something, he turned to his sensei, "What about Ryu and Kyoko . . . Shiroi picked on them too, you'll train them to beat her too right?"

"Kyoko can't beat Shiroi, she's the wrong type of ninja." Temari said.

"But you stopped Shiroi in her tacks and Kyoko's the same as you, just weaker." Yukio said.

"No, Kyoko dresses like me, tries to act like me, even learned some of my wind Jutsus. But her real talent is summoning. Not many thirteen year olds _can_ summon, and she's the only one I've ever known who can summon multiple creatures at once. Eventually she'll stop trying to play to my strengths and start playing her own. But in the time it'd take her to summon her first guardians Shiroi could very well have sealed off all her chakra points."

"Okay, so Ryu."

"Ryu moves slower than either you or Kyoko. He's going to be an amazing medic someday, but he isn't cut out for strict fighting. Against an opponent like Shiroi he'd stand no chance. You're the best one in the group for fighting Shiroi. If you can learn the proper defensive Jutsus that is. If you can do that you'd be the best for fighting _any _Hyuuga." Temari-sensei said.

"Don't misunderstand, this doesn't make you _better _than either of your teammates. There are simply times when a ninja faces an opponent who is their absolute worst match. For example my wind Jutsus can nullify most shuriken attacks. That doesn't mean the person using them isn't a master ninja, or a Jounin on a higher tier than me. Though Shiroi fights at Chuunin level, you can too. Especially if we work continuously for the next two months."

"What about missions?" Yukio asked.

"I won't be available for missions outside the village for a while so neither will you guys. Gives us time to train."

Yukio nodded. "Fine then. You know Temari-sensei . . . I don't like you very much. But sometimes you're not so bad."

Temari-sensei shoved him aside and he fell into the lake, "What was that for?" The boy demanded.

"Just my way of telling you that I don't like you either." Temari-sensei smiled.

"But _I _said you weren't so bad, so I like you sometimes!" Yukio protested.

"Well I shoved you into the water didn't I? If I _really _didn't like you I'd shove you onto something jagged." Temari-sensei said, helping him out of the water.

He tried to pull her in, but she was stronger than him, she just shoved him back into the water and walked off. "C'mon you brat, we've got to get ready to head home."

"Are we going to train on the way?" Yukio asked.

"We'll see." The Jounin said thoughtfully.

* * *

"Release!" Naruto said.

Nao released his chakra, his clone appeared before him . . . his perfect double.

"Whoa!" He said, "I . . . I did it! Uzumaki-sensei, I did it!" Nao marveled.  
"Good job." Naruto said, scratching the back of his head, "But you know . . . there's more to it."

"Like what?" Nao asked.

"Well for starters becoming familiar enough with it that it doesn't take you ten minutes or more to focus your chakra for the maneuver. You might be thinking too much, focusing too hard."

Nao nodded. "Okay. What else?"

"Quantity of course. One is great, but why don't you try to make two at a time? Or three?"

"I uh . . . I don't know if I can." Nao said.

"Don't worry about it, make a few more attempts, you and your clone, try to speed up the process."

Both Nao and his clone nodded and they began the shadow clone Jutsu again, as Naruto had taught them.

It was hard to gather the chakra he needed, especially now that he already had a clone running around. But he focused through the exhaustion and cried out, much earlier this time, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Nothing happened this time.

"Okay," Naruto said, "That was a good try. Now release your clone."

Nao nodded and the clone disappeared.

"Let's take a little break." Naruto said, "You're doing pretty well, and it's about dinner time anyway. You like ramen?"

"No." Nao said flatly. "But I feel like I could eat anything right now."

"Yeah, well training can do that to you." Naruto said. "Don't worry. It's rare, but I do sometimes eat things other than ramen. Follow me." Naruto said.

And Nao did so, following his substitute sensei from their training ground just outside the village and heading over to the restaurant district.

"This place, I'm surprised Shikamaru didn't bring you here after your first successful mission." Naruto said.

Nao looked up at the old barbecue place, "Oh . . . why?"

"Just an old team ten tradition. I know Chouji still upholds it." Naruto said, "Well never mind. Let's go in."

"O-kay." Nao said, following Naruto in.

"Finally, a customer!" A teenage girl said.

Nao almost didn't recognize her in the waitress' uniform, but it was Tomoko.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her.

"Workin'." The girl said, whipping out a pencil and a pad, "What'll it be?"

"Beef . . . ten slices I guess? I dunno, how much can you eat?" Naruto asked.

Nao shrugged, "Uh . . . I don't know. I've never been here before."

"Okay we'll try ten for now and if we need more later we'll let you know." Naruto said.

"Ten slices of beef?" Tomoko yawned, "Sure, why not. We've got nothing better to do. I think you're the only customers this place has had all day."

"But aren't you a ninja?" Naomasa asked.

"What's that got to do with customers?" Tomoko asked. "You tryin' to say I'm scarin' them off or something? Because if you are . . . say it softer." She whispered.

"No it's just why do you work here? You're a ninja, right?"

"Well yeah by day. But by night, missions and training permitting, I work here." Tomoko said.

"But why? Isn't it less fun than being a ninja?" Nao scratched his head.

"It pays the bills." Tomoko said flatly, she indicated a booth, "Sit here please, sirs."

Naruto sat and yawned, Naomasa sat across from him. "So how do you know Shikamaru sensei?"

"Hmm? Oh we were in the academy together. We didn't really hit it off until our first Chuunin exam though." Naruto said. "I guess you could say we've been buddies ever since."

Nao frowned, "So there's an exam for becoming a Chuunin?" He knew that much, he'd heard it mentioned before, but this would be a good chance to get details from Uzumaki-sensei.

"Yeah. Don't worry too much about it though, even if your sensei threw you into the very first one it's months away, you've got plenty of time to prepare. And even if you don't pass, no biggie. Hardly anyone ever passes it their first time. Come to think of it, my first time I entered there were probably well over a hundred Genin hopefuls and only _one_ ended up becoming a Chuunin. But I'll bet you'd do well your first time. Maybe you'd even pass."

Nao laughed, "Me pass? No way. We're not all as talented as you, sensei."

"Me? No way. Actually it was Shikamaru who passed the exam first time around." Naruto said, "He was the first of our class to get promoted to Chuunin, and he did it in his first try. Didn't even technically win in the third exam either. But never mind that." Naruto said, "Chuunin exams are a while away, and you probably won't be entered into the first one. But then again maybe that's why Shikamaru wants you all to learn Shadow Clone jutsu. Speed things up for you."

Nao shrugged, "Well a Jounin technique would be useful I guess."

"Not really." Tomoko said, arriving with their food, "The real beauty of shadow clones is that your clones experiences and such become part of you when it's dispelled. Or if it dies. If you say, spar with your own shadow clone you'd learn where your own weak spots are and hopefully learn ways to correct them. Isn't that right, Uzumaki-sensei?"

"True." Naruto said. "But it's best not to over do it. It may be faster than normal training, but it can also be a lot more taxing on your body."

"Yeah, so I've heard." Tomoko said, leaning across the table, "But you do it all the time, right?" She asked in a conspirator's whisper.

"No." Naruto said. "Not all the time. Often enough when I need to though."

Tomoko nodded. "It doesn't work too well for me." She said.

"Why not?" Nao asked.

"Well I get hurt whenever I try to improve my Taijutsu." Tomoko said, pulling back one of her sleeves to display a bruised forearm. "Try explaining to the doctors how you've broken _your own_ arm. Half the staff at the hospital thinks I'm in an abusive relationship. 'She's so young for that' they keep saying." Tomoko winked and left.

"Yeah . . . I really do heal faster than most others," Naruto admitted, "It's not the most effective training method for other people. I don't recommend you do it."

"But she does it." Nao said.

"She hasn't got much choice." Naruto said. "And I didn't know when I taught her the Jutsu that she'd get beat up so much. She's pretty . . . enthusiastic when she trains against her clones. Me, I just heal up faster than anyone else so I guess I never noticed."

"Is that like a bloodline trait?" Nao asked.

"Yeah, something like that." Naruto said, sounding a little distracted.

Nao nodded slowly.

Sure, Naruto was _saying_ that the Shadow Clones were not an effective technique . . . but . . . well Nao didn't see why they wouldn't be. After all, Naruto was the greatest ninja in the village and if this was one of the attributes to his greatness then it'd probably be enough to help Nao close the gap between himself and Kotaro and Yomiko.

Or . . . even surpass them. And then Yomiko wouldn't be able to call him a "nothing" or a "nobody" ever again.

His mood brightened quite a bit and he rushed through dinner, "All right sensei" He said when it was through, "Let's get back to training!"

**To Be Continued . . .**


	27. Temari's Secret

**Chapter Twenty-Seven**

_Temari's Secret_

The Daimyo of the Land of Wind smiled at the man in front of him, "Good day." He said, taking a seat behind his desk. The samurai took a seat after the Wind Lord nodded to it. "Hirate Akira, was it?"

"That is correct, my lord." The samurai nodded. His long black hair was restrained to a tight topknot, and though he did not wear a samurai's armor he was dressed in the typical kimono of the samurai caste. He had a terrible scar going over his left cheek, and a patch covered his right eye.

"I understand that you have had quite a bit of success on the field against the nation of Iwa lately."

"That is correct, my lord." The samurai repeated.

"You have faced Shinobi?"

"Some, lord."

"And your opinion of them?"

"Hard to kill. But there are times when we _do _manage it."

"I understand you once aimed to become a ninja." The Daimyo said.

"That is correct, my lord." The man said a third time, his voice completely devoid of emotion.

"Why?" The Daimyo pressed.

"Because they are the ultimate weapon now, so much so that for a time Samurai were no longer necessary. To my shame I attempted to become a servant of the Village Hidden in Sands, and to my even greater shame I was deemed unworthy of the title."

The Daimyo nodded. He knew that as a boy Hirate Akira had been expelled form the ninja academy of Suna because he had lacked the ability to shape chakra and thereby use Genjutsu or Ninjutsu. At any other time that might have been overlooked, but at Hirate's time Suna had been cracking down and training only the cream of their prospective crops.

And so Hirate had returned to his ancient and honored family and been one of the first to answer the call to arms. He had since displayed a brilliance on the battlefield that surpassed any the lord of the land of wind had seen before.

He smiled at the man and said "I do hope your rejection has not left any feelings of bitterness."

"Not at all. I afford ninja as much respect as they deserve. I recognize their usefulness and I acknowledge that they are quite capable of acting with honor, or without it as the situation dictates. I could not have lived a life without honor, it was fortunate that I was not allowed to become a ninja."

The lord of the land of wind nodded. "Well that does set my mind at ease somewhat. Now . . . the Land of Wind is going to be gathering together a massive force. We have recruited for months, and now we are going to begin conscripting from the populace. The army is estimated to be roughly ten thousand soldiers strong once it is completed and trained."

"I have heard rumors of the army's formation." Hirate nodded.

"Have you heard the rumors of who I wish to lead the army?" The Daimyo asked.

"Certainly my lord wishes to lead the grand force himself." Hirate said.

"Ah yes." The Daimyo chuckled, "In a way I do. The army is mine and I will be leading the main force of it," heavily aided by advisors of course, "But I have been preparing another force. One a tenth the size of the main force. I ask you, Hirate . . . how large is the force you command now."

"One hundred men sir." Hirate said.

"Ah . . . well then I suppose that means you need only to recruit and train nine hundred more within the next six months."

"Six months sir?"

"That is when we will need you for your mission of course. This second force's objective is a single task, but a daunting one to be sure."

Hirate bowed, "I am honored my lord. What is my task?"

"The annihilation of a Hidden Village." The Lord of the Land of Wind said. "At least the defeat of the ninja. You will be accompanied by ninja as well of course. Do you feel yourself capable of the task?"

"Which hidden village would we be attacking? Iwagakure, or Amegakure?"

"The village in question will be kept secret until the mission launches, but rest assured _Taisho_, it will end the war."

Hirate stood up and bowed, "Then it would be my honor to lead this force. I will assign each of my men to assist in the training of the conscripts, so that they may all learn from the experienced the best ways to survive, and defeat ninja."

The Daimyo smiled and nodded vigorously, "Yes! Yes that would be most excellent." He nodded as the Saumrai general left.

He glanced out the window of his palace at the beautiful land of wind.

Yes it was time for this land to become his again. No more invading enemies. As his main army fought with the intentions of liberating the lands that had once belonged to them, the special regiment under Taisho Harate Akira would fight to make sure that those lands _remained _part of the Land of Wind. They would make sure that the invasion finally stopped.

The Daimyo sipped a cup of tea . . . it had been some time since the view from his window looked _this _good.

* * *

Kotaro slumped against a tree. "Can't we take a break? I skipped lunch you know." He told his father.

"Yeah . . . I guess so." Kakashi said.

Kotaro nodded and leaned back against a tree.

"Are you hungry?" A female voice asked.

Oh . . . it was _that _tree.

"Would you leave them alone, Kyoko? It's like you're a stalker." The boy grumbled.

"Be quiet or I won't help you with your summoning Jutsus anymore!" Kyoko warned.

"I'm still waiting for you to _start _helping me! You've been staring at him all day!"

She crept over and sat on the ground near him, but not exactly next to him. She averted her gaze and offered him some dumplings.

Kotaro took the food she offered him, for some reason she felt it important to point out, "I didn't spit on it or anything."

Kotaro frowned, well now he just didn't trust it. He held on to it, sort of hesitating.

"Well you stay here and enjoy your little picnic, son." His dad said, "I think I'll go get some ramen."

"I'll go with you!" Kotaro offered but his dad shook his head.

"You know better than to turn down a free meal with a pretty girl!" Kakashi said, sounding amused.

Kotaro glared daggers at his father's back.

It wasn't that this girl wasn't pretty, because she was. But she was also_ creepy_.

Though this did give him a good chance to check out what village she was from now that the majority of her body wasn't hidden behind a tree. He knew she wasn't from Konoha because he'd never seen her before.

He looked closely at the hourglass symbol, on the headband which she wore loosely around her neck. She squeaked and moved her hands to cover up her already adequately covered up chest and turned away from him.

"Wh-I was just looking at the symbol on your headband!" Kotaro told her, and she relaxed a bit. "You're from Suna. You must be here with Temari, right?"

"Yes!" The girl said, excitedly.

Kotaro became very afraid then that his attempt to convince her he wasn't really a pervert-well he was, but at the time in question he had not been doing anything perverted-he had inadvertently triggered a conversation.

But her teammate saved the day, "Kyoko, is there anything _else_ here that you didn't spit on, and when is Yukio going to get here?"

"He's probably playing with those older kids." Kyoko said. "But I _am _wondering where Sensei is, she said she'd have dinner with us here in the park. It's getting late, it's almost time to go."

"Go? you're leaving?" Kotaro asked, feeling relieved.

"Yes." Kyoko said, slumping a bit. "But . . . you'll visit me when you're in Suna, right?" She asked.

_Why would I do that? I don't really even _know_ you. I just know your name and that you give away free food that you may or may not have spat on._ Kotaro thought. But he smiled through his mask and said "Sure, a cute girl like you? Of course I would!"

Kyoko squeaked again, but this time it was a pleased squeak, rather than a panicked one.

But Kotaro didn't sweat it. He'd never _be _in Sunagakure, his dad told him Shikamaru hardly ever left the Land of Fire, his sensei was just not the sort to expel the energy to travel outside of the country.

It was too bad, Kyoko really was a cute girl, but her creepy nearly-stalker routine had made a terrible first impression on Kotaro, even though he was normally willing to accept relatively creepy girls.

He just wasn't interested in this squeaky little Suna Genin. Maybe Shikamaru-sensei was into long distance relationships, but Kotaro wasn't

And, oh yeah, he was _twelve. _He didn't need a girlfriend. And when he wanted one he wouldn't pick one from another country because from his prized magazine collection he'd learned that girls couldn't be trusted once they got to be too far from their boyfriends because that's when they called magazine people over to take pictures of them.

* * *

Shikamaru watched Yomiko struggle to create her first shadow clone.

She understood the basics, she'd done everything right, the clone should have been made.

She focused her chakra, Shikamaru could feel it.

She was getting close, she had divided her chakra like an ameba about to split, now all she needed to do was . . . split.

"All right Yomiko . . . release!"

The girl did it, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" She cried, and with a poof there was another of her.

"Oh great. Now I have to deal with two of you." Shikamaru laughed.

The look on the girl's face was _almost _worth all the troublesome teaching. "I did it!" She cried. "Haha! So sensei ,we don't even need to keep working on it tomorrow!"

"Yes we do." Shikamaru said.

"Yeah," Naruto said, coming up behind Yomiko with Nao, "You've got to learn to do it faster. And you should be able to make more than one, even if you find yourself never _using_ more than one."

"Of course none of you may ever be able to make an army of them, like Naruto can." Kakashi said, "But you never know."

"Though it's important to remember that these clones aren't copies of your power, but pieces of your power. If you make one hundred clone each one is only working with one percent of your actual chakra. Keep that in mind whenever you use a shadow clone." Naruto said.

"How did they do?" Shikamaru asked.

"Kotaro got it rather slowly," Kakashi said, "He was too distracted by a cute little redhead."

"I _was not_!" Kotaro protested as Nao and both Yomiko and her clone laughed.

"But he _did _get it." Kakashi said, patting his son on the shoulder.

Shikamaru nodded, "And Ishida?"

"He managed it." Naruto smirked, which suggested that Naruto felt Naomassa had done better than Shikamaru had told Naruto he would.

Which was good, but it might piss off Yomiko.

"Alright! Looks like we're not late for the show!" Naruto said suddenly.

Shikamaru tilted his head to the side, then he felt her hands on his cheeks.

They weren't the world's softest hands, she wasn't a soft woman. But they were softer than he remembered, softer than one might expect. Maybe she'd taken a page from his book and started slacking off a bit more.

She turned him to face her, and kissed him.

He smiled, "So you're leaving now?"

"Yeah." She said. She nodded to her Genin and the three headed out down the road. The girl glanced over her shoulder at Kotaro, but he just pretended he couldn't see her while Kakashi chuckled.

Shikamaru watched Temari, burning her features into his mind. She looked different every time he saw her because there were months in between each time he saw her, this time it had been more than a year, she looked more different than ever before.

But she was still Temari, still beautiful, he still loved her.

She kissed him again and whispered, "I'd better see you soon."

"Yeah, yeah. We'll see." Shikamaru said with a grin. "But what about that thing you wanted me to tell you about?"

Temari blushed, "Well . . . I don't know, maybe you'd be happier not knowing. I mean, after all how important can it be if I haven't told you yet?"

Shikamaru scoffed, "Fine then, don't tell me."

"You lazy slime, I told you not to let me go without telling you!" Temari said.

"Well then I guess that means you can't go." Shikamaru said, holding her close.

"I have to." She said with a frown, "But you're going to come visit me very soon."

"We'll see." Shikamaru said. "It all depends on the missions, y'know. If it were up to me I'd see you every day."

"Stop lying to me." Temari glared, "You didn't see me for a year and a half."

"I couldn't." Shikamaru said. "There's a war going on, I go where and when I'm sent and I was never sent to Suna."

Temari glared. "Well you'd better find a way now. I've got to go but . . ." She leaned in close and whispered something in Shikamaru's ear.

He smiled, "Very funny." He said.

"Not a joke." She said.

"Well now you can't go! I mean-"

"Oh what, are you going to start crying, crybaby?" Temari scoffed. "Look, just come see us in Sunagakure. I'll explain everything then, I promise."

Shikamaru was at a loss for words.

And though he had thought up the perfect insult for her, he just couldn't manage to say it now.

So he stood there staring dumbly as she left.

"Whoa . . . she must have had one heck of a line to shut him up like that." Naruto said.

"What did she say, sensei?" Yomiko-or maybe her clone-asked.

Shikamaru stared at the dark road, Temari was gone from sight.

He had to get to Suna.

He started off down the road, Naruto tackled him, "Whoa! Hold on Shikamaru, what the heck did she say to you?"

Shikamaru stared at Naruto for a second. He absorbed the words Temari had said so that he might be able to repeat them, and shook his head.

Naruto shook him a little too roughly, "What the heck did she say?"

"Did she break up with you sensei?" Kotaro asked.

"No way! She wouldn't do that!" Yomiko said, dispelling her clone to limit confusion. "Would she, sensei?"

Shikamaru shook his head.

"So what did she say?" Naruto asked.

"I've got to go to Suna." Shikamaru said dumbly. "Got to . . . tell Tsunade-sama I won't take 'no' for an answer."

"That's what she said?" Naruto scoffed.

"No."

"Well if you don't drop the suspense and tell me what's got you acting as dumb as me, I'll send you to Sunagakure in a matchbox!" Naruto warned.

Shikamaru stared at him again. "Naruto . . . I've got a daughter."

**To Be Continued . . .**


	28. A New Mission

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

_A New Mission_

Naruto stared at Shikamaru. He wasn't alone either, everyone was staring at Shikamaru.

Then Naruto laughed, he slapped Shikamaru on the back. "Ha ha! Good one, Shikamaru! But seriously, what'd she tell you? I promise I wont use it on you, I just want to use it on Sasuke."

Shikamaru shook his head, "I'm not joking!" He fell back and laid on the ground staring up into the night sky. "She said she's got a daughter. _My _daughter."

"How can you have a child and not know it, sensei?" Yomiko scoffed. "I thought you were just lazy before, but this is _despicable_! And worse you're not even married to her!"

"He _tried _to marry her." Nao pointed out helpfully.

Shikamaru shook his head. Why had he told Naruto again?

Now Sakura was going to know, which meant Sasuke was going to know. Hinata would probably know which meant Neji, Kiba and Shino were going to know, then Chouji and Ino were going to be pissed because no one told them.

"Y'know I thought she was starting to get fat that year and a half ago." Naruto said. "I didn't want to say anything . . . I figured you guys were going out to eat too often."

"You're very lucky." Kakashi said, "You missed the worst parts of the pregnancy, namely all of it. And you have a daughter. You always said you wanted a girl first. Congratulations, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru's head was swimming, "Congratulations? I have an illegitimate daughter I've never met before, I don't even know her name . . ." Yomiko was right, he _was _despicable.

But he wouldn't admit it out loud.

Well Temari was despicable too, how could she not mention that over the past few days they'd spent together? Especially during the two day trek back to Konoha after their mission to save Ino and avenge her team?

"Well . . . uh . . . I guess there's some people who're going to want to know that you're a father." Naruto said.

"I don't want this becoming common knowledge!" Shikamaru protested, "At-at least not until I know what the girl's _name _is."

"Well . . . we _should _go see the Hokage." Yomiko pointed out.

"What for?" Kotaro asked.

"Shikamaru-sensei needs to go to Suna as soon as possible, and he's taking us with him so we can see his baby . . . unless Naruto-sensei can train us all!" Yomiko said, suddenly looking torn between seeing a baby and being trained by Naruto.

"I cant." Naruto said, "Hokage-sama is assigning me a mission . . . if you wanted to, Shikamaru, you could go to Suna alone and maybe Ino could manage the kids for a while."

"Ino might not be in the right place emotionally to train a new team." Shikamaru admitted. Actually he'd considered permanently dumping team ten off on her for about a day but she'd sort of burst out into tears and called him a jerk. Oh well, he was getting used to these kids anyway. "Kakashi, I don't suppose you could just keep an eye on them for a few days?"

"I would. But Anko and I have a mission." Kakashi said.

Naruto shrugged, "So maybe just take the Genin with you." He suggested. "I used to take mine with me everywhere, even for a while after they became Chuunin."

"Yeah! If I'm not going to improve my training I might as well see this baby!" Yomiko said.

"I guess it could be fun." Naomasa said.

"Wait . . . I've got to go to Suna?" Kotaro demanded.

"You can see your girlfriend." His father suggested.

Kotaro groaned. "That's what I'm afraid of!"

Shikamaru shook his head, "Tsunade-sama won't just let me go."

"I'll back you up." Naruto said. "Besides you were just going to train your team for a week anyway. Spend that week seeing Temari. Tsunade will understand if you tell her about the kid."

Shikamaru groaned. He _really _didn't want this to be common knowledge.

But the Hokage was the Hokage. "All right . . . but should we really see her right now? She might be getting ready to call it a night." Shikamaru said.

"Yes!" Yomiko screamed, "We'll go _now_! And take me with you, with a Sarutobi alongside you to plead your case the Hokage won't dare to refuse you!"

"Well . . . okay." Shikamaru said, scratching his head. "I guess we see Tsunade."

* * *

"Wake up, sister!" A loud voice screamed in Hanabi's ear.

No way was that Hinata, Hinata was never so loud.

Hanabi shifted and rolled out of bed . . . she looked at the girl standing over her.

Long, dark brown hair, jet black eyes and fair skin, Hattori Kasumi was just about the only ninja of the clan other than Tetsuo to accept her into the family.

The non-ninja didn't care, in fact Tetsuo's mother had been thrilled to have Hanabi staying with them. But the ninja saw her as an enemy soldier being given royal treatment.

And technically she was. Sort of.

"What are you doing here?" Hanabi demanded. Though Tetsuo lived in the large Hattori estate with the rest of his clan, Hanabi had been given a guest room rather near the servant's quarters-which were generally empty since the Hattori clan didn't seem to have any servants anymore.

Maybe the clan was falling on hard times. Seemed odd considering the fact that it was a ninja clan in the middle of war time.

Hanabi didn't care.

"You've gotta get up big sister, Raikage wants to see you!" Kasumi said.

Kasumi had gotten into the habit of calling Hanabi her sister. It was kind of grating.

Hanabi supposed she wasn't as comfortable with the rest of the clan as she was with Tetsuo. "What do you want?"

"I just told you, Raikage wants to see you." Kasumi said.

"Oh yeah." Hanabi yawned.

"Not a morning person, big sister?" Kasumi asked.

"Guess not." Hanabi said. Actually she was, she just hadn't slept at all last night.

It was her fourth night in Kumogakure, she wasn't completely comfortable.

"Well Tetsuo's gonna go too, and I'll escort you guys. It's about an hour before I need to show up for training with my team."

"Uh-huh . . ." Hanabi rubbed sleep from her eyes. "Okay . . . let's go."

"One thing . . . uh . . ." Kasumi scratched the back of her head, "Can you do me a favor?"

"What?" Hanabi asked.

"I uh . . . when you're with Raikage, if you get a chance . . . recommend Team C for a super mission, okay? A good one 'cause we're getting sick of dog work. I keep asking Tetsuo, but you know how brothers are."

No, actually Hanabi didn't know how brothers were. She didn't have any.

Well there was Neji, but he really didn't totally count.

But she nodded. "I'll recommend team C for a good mission then."

"Good! A-plus, sister! Now get ready, let's go see Raikage!"

"Yes . . ." Hanabi said. It was time to bring peace to Konoha. She took a deep breath . . . she could do this.

* * *

"Lets see . . . team ten under Nara Shikamaru . . ." Tsunade said, "Ah yes. Two D-Rank missions, one success and one failure, and a successful B rank mission."

"B rank?" Yomiko cried, "That was an A rank mission easy!"

"You Genin wouldn't all be alive if it were an A rank mission." Sakura said gently. "You're lucky we awarded you credit for a mission at all, since technically it was never assigned and your client, Ino couldn't have afforded to pay for a B-rank mission, let alone A-rank."

Shikamaru put a hand on Yomiko's shoulder, "Relax, that doesn't matter."

"But it goes down on my record!" Yomiko cried.

"Nobody ever looks at those." Shikamaru told her.

"You lie!" Yomiko cried.

"Do you want to see the baby or not?" Nao asked her.

And amazingly Yomiko shut up.

Shikamaru would have to remember that one.

"What baby?" Sakura asked.

"You don't know?" Naruto sneered his 'I'm an intelligent person' sneer. "Shikamaru knocked up Temari!"

"Smooth, Naruto. Real smooth." Shikamaru sighed.

"Oh my." Shizune frowned. "Uh, I mean that's uh . . . wonderful, right?"

"I haven't decided yet." Shikamaru admitted. Sure he wanted to have children with Temari . . . but normally a guy got nine months to get used to the idea of being a father. Temari just sort of dropped the news on him, then ran off so he'd have to follow her.

It was unnerving to say the least.

"What a crude way to say it, Naruto." Sakura scoffed.

"What?" Naruto demanded, "Fine, he procreated with her, he planted his manly seed in her womanly garden, he inseminated her and-"

"There are children in the room, you idiot!" Sakura roared.

"What? They already knew!" Naruto cried.

"Yeah . . . we know all about that kind of thing." Kotaro said. "We're twelve, not two."

Shikamaru raised his hand, "That's not important. What is important, Tsunade-sama, is that I _really_ need to go to Sunagakure."

Tsunade nodded, "Well Shikamaru . . . team Akimichi has just been assigned a mission that will take them to Sunagakure . . ." Tsunade glanced at Sakura, "Given the delicate nature of the mission, do you suppose a second team might be necessary?"

"Oh yes." Sakura nodded. "Absolutely Tsunade-sama. This is a most dangerous mission."

"What's the mission? Is it A-ranked?" Yomiko asked eagerly.

"Actually no. But it _is_ C-ranked." Tsunade said. "The Ame ninja you four captured before . . . we're going to exchange them for a Suna prisoner that the village hidden in rain has been keeping. Given the fact that you are escorting three Chuunin a single Genin team might not be enough. Even one as advanced as team Akimichi."

Shikamaru nodded, "All right then. I'll help Chouji out with this . . . and then I get to go to Suna?"

"You'll escort the freed prisoner there, yes." Sakura nodded.

"Why is this a C-Rank mission? It sounds like a milk run." Yomiko said.

"Because there's the chance that Ame might try to free the prisoners themselves by attacking you on your way there. Your prisoners are three Chuunin level ninja as well, there _is _a chance that they will somehow free themselves and attack you. Unfortunately our only available teams are our Genin teams right now. Team Uchiha is the most qualified. However they're being sent on a B-rank mission instead leaving Team Akimichi the most qualified." Shizune explained.

"But they could use help." Sakura added, nodding to Shikamaru, "Ino said your Genin fight above the Genin level."

"We didn't really do anything amazing." Nao spoke up. "Without Shikamaru-sensei's strategy we couldn't have survived that mission. That enemy Chuunin we helped defeat would have killed us all if Yamanaka-sensei hadn't come up with a trick at the last minute. The fact that our enemies were tired and injured helped too, in a real fight against Chuunin level ninja or better I don't think we'd last very long."

Shikamaru nodded. The fact that Sasuke's Genin were being sent on a B rank mission, the sort of mission Jounin and upper tier Chuunin embarked on told just how stretched hidden leaf's man power was. And it was true that his team might be in trouble if there was another fight . . . he wanted to see Temari and their child but how would he live with himself if Yomiko, Naomasa or Kotaro were injured or worse during the mission?

"Well then it's up to you, isn't it, Shikamaru? Are you willing to risk your inexperienced team for a chance to go to Suna?" Tsunade asked.

"No." Shikamaru said.

But his answer was drowned out by Naruto's "Of course he is! Don't worry kids, Sakura-chan wouldn't even _think _of offering Shikamaru this mission if it were _that _dangerous! Besides team Akimichi will have your backs!"

"Very well then. Talk to Chouji and tell him you're sharing his mission, he'll give you the details. You'll be moving out the day after tomorrow." Sakura said.

"Then let's do it!" Yomiko cried, "Sensei, is it too late to name the baby Yomiko?"

Shikamaru blinked, but Kotaro answered "Duh, uh-huh! She had the baby like a year ago, I _think _she's named her by now!"

"Duh, I know that! I meant as like a middle name!" Yomiko said.

"Would you two calm down? We're in the presence of the Hokage!" Shikamaru scolded them, but Tsunade just shook her head and smiled.

"Young love." Tsunade said with a wink.

Kotaro and Yomiko suddenly had nothing to say to each other.

"Shikamaru . . . just one thing." Tsunade said before he could leave.

"What's that?" Shikamaru asked.

"Whatever you decide, while in Suna . . . I will support you." Tsunade said. "You've served Konoha with distinction and brought honor to the Nara clan beyond what anyone expected. Ever since I promoted you to the rank of Jounin you've continued to impress me with your skills as a strategist and a leader. So whatever you decide, you have my approval and my gratitude."

"What's she mean, sensei?" Nao asked.

Shikamaru didn't answer.

But it sounded like Tsunade had just given him permission to resign from Konoha and join Suna.

He nodded to Tsunade, "We'll see what happens." He'd much rather bring two new members of the Nara clan home to Konoha . . . but he'd just have to see.

First a milk run mission, then the real challenge began . . . facing fatherhood.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	29. Enter Hikaru

**Chapter Twenty-Nine**

_Enter, Hikaru_

Hanabi frowned at Tetsuo, who laughed at her. "What's so funny?" She demanded.

"Nothing. You look good." Tetsuo said. "You might be uh . . . a little _overdressed_ though."

"I helped her get ready." Kasumi pointed out, sounding concerned.

"Ah. That explains why she looks like a geisha." Tetsuo nodded, Hanabi punched him in the stomach.

"What's wrong with looking like a Geisha? It's a respectable profession isn't it? Or should I ask what _kind _of Geishas _you've _been seeing, hmm? Anyway I may look like a geisha girl, but I'm still a ninja." She told him.

"Right, of course you are." He wheezed. Kasumi snickered. "Well it wouldn't be smart to keep Raikage waiting." Tetsuo said, straightening up.

"I didn't even hit you that hard." Hanabi scoffed.

"Yeah, but you're a Hyuuga, so you don't have to hit people hard." Kasumi pointed out.

"Oh I wasn't using the gentle fist." Hanabi scoffed.

This seemed to surprise Kasumi, "You can turn it off?"

"What? Y-yeah of course."

"Hey-hey! Lets not keep Raikage waiting." Tetsuo repeated.

"All right, let's go." Kasumi said.

"Don't you have to meet up with your team?"

"No, she's escorting us." Hanabi said.

"I don't need to see Kimiko-sensei for a whole half hour, and even then she wanted us to meet outside the Raikage's offices anyway so we're headed in the same direction."

"Whatever." Tetsuo grumbled. "Let's go."

Hanabi walked with the two Hattori ninja through the near empty streets of early morning Kumo.

She noted the reaction of the people on the streets was not what she had expected. She had thought that people would glare, throw things at her, hate her for representing their enemy.

Instead they either ignored her, or smiled and waved.

"They're curious." Tetsuo explained as if he'd read her mind. "The war hasn't reached us as it has Konoha. The people dislike you because you're our enemy, but they don't hate you. Konoha hasn't inflicted enough damage on Kumo to earn our hatred yet."

Hanabi bristled. Konoha would if they could. Kumo was just joining in on the gang bang three of the four other nations were inflicting upon the land of fire, it didn't make _her_ homeland the inferior one. But she smiled, "Well if there's no strong hatred, making peace shouldn't be impossible."

"Not impossible. But it won't be easy if the Raikage really was the one who sent those assassins after me."

"Speaking of assassins," Kasumi said, "we might get ambushed on the way there. Big sister will have to show off her Jutsus for us!"

"We won't be ambushed in the middle of Kumogakure, if they wanted to kill us they'd have done it while we were in the compound." Tetsuo said.

But Hanabi kept her exceptional eyes peeled.

Who knew what could happen? Tetsuo had been wrong before . . .

* * *

Nao shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of the older ninja. "You're rich, aren't you?" Daisuke asked.

"No." Nao said.

"Well not you personally of course, but the Ishida merchant clan is very wealthy." Daisuke said.

"Yeah I guess. What's that got to do with anything?" Nao asked.

"Well we're strapped for cash just now. You mind picking up the bill?" Daisuke smiled.

Nao thought about that, but Tomoko slapped both her teammates on the back of their heads.

"What'd _I _do?" Kyusaku whined.

"Oedo!" The manager shouted.

"Sorry!" She cried, "What's your order? And don't pay for anything Naomasa, you haven't seen Kyusaku and Chouji-sensei eat!"

Nao glanced at the two enormous ninja . . . "Yeah . . . okay." He could imagine how large the bill was going to be."

"I'll be covering the bill." Shikamaru grumbled.

"There's a pal!" Chouji chuckled, "Okay Tomoko, that'll be . . ." He counted the heads around the table, "sixty beef slices. Big ones."

Sixty? Nao and Naruto-sensei had split an order of ten and even then they'd barely managed to finish _that_.

"Right on, sensei." Tomoko said. "Drinks?"

"A beer for starters!" Kyusaku cried.

"Ha ha, nice try." Tomoko scoffed.

"Red bean soup, water, and oolong tea." Chouji said.

"Wait, what kind of tea was it you brought Naruto-sensei and I last time?" Nao asked.

Tomoko tapped a pencil to her chin, "Mint." She decided.

"Okay, some of that." Chouji nodded.

"Do you have anything that isn't made of meat?" Kotaro asked and Tomoko stared at him. "Never mind." He sighed.

"So now we've got company on our mission?" Kyusaku grumbled.

"Yes. Lucky for us to have such lovely company." Daisuke said, patting Yomiko's hand.

"Can you not do that?" Yomiko asked, jerking her hand away. Kotaro snickered.

"What's the matter, Yomiko? Don't want your boyfriend getting clingy in public?" Kotaro asked.

"What was your dad saying about you having a girlfriend, Kotaro?" Shikamaru-sensei spoke up.

Nao smirked as Kotaro abruptly changed the subject "So you guys gather here for every mission?"

"Nah. Chouji-sensei likes to come here and have a big meal before long missions." Tomoko said.

"Do you really have to work now?" Daisuke whined at his far from identical twin, "It's embarrassing."

"Hey we don't leave until Chouji-sensei is ready, I might as well get _paid _for being here, moron!" Tomoko snapped. "Uh, that is . . . honored customer." She said, glancing at the manager.

Daisuke shook his head, "How embarrassing. Shameful really. A serving girl."

"There are much worse things a girl could do for money, Daisuke. This is honest work, and it pays the bills better than a Genin's wage." Tomoko said evenly.

"That'll change when you become a Chuunin." Chouji assured her.

"So we've got to wait for her to become a Chuunin before she'll stop shaming herself in this place." Dasiuke whispered loudly to Nao and the other members of team ten.

"Why don't _you_ get a job?" Kotaro scoffed. "Help your sister with those bills."

Daisuke laughed, "Because I don't _need _one, I haven't got any bills to pay yet! Oh I say, servant girl, bring me some wine."

"You're not getting wine." Chouji chuckled. "And there's nothing wrong with bringing food to people, it's a noble work! Thank you for serving us, and tolerating your teammate's attitudes today, Tomoko."

"Thank _you_, sensei." Tomoko said, and stuck her tongue out at her brother.

Nao scratched his chin, "So this mission should be no sweat, right?"

"No sweat." Daisuke agreed. "We just escort some prisoners to the border and then we go to Suna."

Chouji-sensei shook his head, "I can't believe it, Shikamaru. A daughter?"

"That's what she said. She could just be lying to get me to go to Suna." Shikamaru nodded.

"Gotta find out for sure eh?" Chouji nodded. "Well I'm glad for the support. Sasuke was supposed to get this job, but his team got reassigned with Naruto's old squad."

"They're still a squad?" Nao asked. "I thought ninja teams were broken up after everyone got to be Chuunin."

"They are, but when you're sent on a mission during wartime you'll often be sent with ninja you work well with, and Naruto's team woks well together." Shikamaru said. "You three will probably be kept with me for about a year even if you passed the Chuunin exams."

Nao nodded, "So when do we get to leave?"

"The prisoners are prepped to go any time," Chouji said. "So about the time we finish our breakfast."

"This'll take forever to finish." Yomiko said at the mountain of food.

"Yeah Tomoko is right, you _really _haven't seen Chouji-sensei and Kyusaku eat." Daisuke laughed.

* * *

"Sensei, weren't we supposed to meet up with another team?" Shiroi complained.

Sasuke scoffed. "Two teams. Team Hara is headed there from the border of the Water country, they were spying on the Great Naruto bridge and the supply movements going through." Sasuke smirked, "The second team is a group of conscripts led by a samurai, Obata. They should already be at the staging point."

"So wait, why're we going to rendezvous with samurai?" Shiroi demanded.

"Our mission today takes us right into the thick of the war, Shiroi. We're going to attack a village on the border of grass country. It's time to remind the village hidden in grass who saved them during their little spat with Hidden in Stone."

"Sir, why're we attacking a village?" Kurai asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "It's not the village we're after. Kirigakure has dispatched a shipment of gold to Iwagakure. It's taking the Great Naruto Bridge and then it's traveling on a land route through the territory conquered by the land of lightning until it reaches Kusagakure's territory. This is our chance to nab it. Kusa supports Iwa in the war but they won't allow Iwa ninjas to take up residence in their land, and they won't put up with Kumo ninja either so during the attack it'll only be Kusa ninjas."

Sasuke looked at his team, "You're all Genin who fight on a Chuunin level. You're the best of your year, the best Genin in Konoha. Your _fighting skill _isn't what's holding any of you back from being Chuunin. Team Hara has said they can't manage this mission without another team for backup, we're that team. In just one day we'll be at the border . . . you three be ready to fight, it'll be to the death."

"It's not like we've never killed anyone before." Saizo said with a smirk, his snake wrapping itself around his arm.

Shiroi tightened the band on her forehead protector-which was over her forehead today, Sasuke noted. She was a very indecisive girl. "Yeah, sensei, they'll drop like flies!" She said.

* * *

"They dropped like flies." Minoru Hikaru said distastefully as he looked at the corpse of the fire country Samurai. He'd heard Samurai were supposed to be elite warriors, worthy of challenging a ninja. This one had died so fast Hikaru _still _hoped it had all been a trick and there was life left in him.

Obata, the banner had read. The Elite Legions of Obata.

More like the weak, pathetic morons of Obata. The half starved spear wielding peasants of Obata.

The Cloud ninja glanced at his teammates, "Ami? Kaori? How'd you do?" He asked his two companions.

Both were gorgeous women, dressed identically in the standard Kumogakure Jounin suit and flak jacket. Ina Ami had just short of shoulder length blue hair, while Yurei Kaori's silver locks went all the way down to her waist. Ami's often smiling face and pretty blue eyes looked innocent and pure, hiding the expert killer she really was. Kaori's mask hid the beautiful face that her enemies never got to see, but not the expressive green eyes that reached out to you, told you she wanted to be your friend, told you that you could be _very_ good friends with this woman.

And then she'd kill you.

"I got ten." Ami said brightly.

"Twelve." Kaori said, using one of the banners to wipe the blood off of her hand.

"Ugh, she beat me!" Ami scowled, sweeping her bangs back from her eyes. "Cheat." She spat and stuck out her tongue.

Kaori made an impolite hand gesture, and Hikaru shook his head. "Keep your tongue in your mouth or I'll rip it out, Ami. And Kaori, I'll snap that finger off if you show it off again. I killed twenty three, that means all together we've killed forty five."

"Sweet, we got 'em all!" Ami said.

"Idiot." Kaori sighed. "Did you forget that we _counted_ them before we killed them?"

"And there were forty five when we counted!" Ami snapped, "Don't call me an idiot you cheap-"

"Forty five not counting the leader. He's right here." Hikaru interrupted the girls before they could start trying to kill each other.

They'd just killed a combined half of the conscript platoon and they still had enough fight left in them to want to take each other on.

He supposed that was what he loved about them. "Someone got away. I won't have that. Hunt him down girls, whoever he is."

"Kill him?" Ami asked eagerly.

Hikaru laughed, "You have to ask? You know the drill. Don't wander too far into Fire Country territory, a platoon this size could have been built for a purpose. If it was, and that purpose is important enough there'll be ninja support nearby."

"How long before we meet back here if we don't find him?" Kaori asked.

"I give it . . . one day. Find him or not get back here by this time tomorrow, that should give us plenty of time to regroup with the convoy before we hand 'em over to the grass ninjas. And _don't_ stray too far. I can replace either one of you, but it'd take up more of my valuable time than I'm happy with."

The two female Jounin nodded. Ami leapt into the sky and didn't come back down, Kaori sank into the earth and disappeared from view.

Hikaru sat in the tent of the samurai on the dead man's seat and examined the map the samurai had been looking at before he met his end. The map and the markings on it suggested that the samurai had been planning on attacking the very convoy that Hikaru and his team were supposed to be protecting. So in deserting their posts to terrorize the Fire Country a little bit they'd actually been doing their job.

He smiled and rolled up the map, a ready made excuse for his little excursion. And in the end they'd done the right thing slaughtering this band, they might have ravaged that little border village. Who knows what they might have done to the people living there just so they could steal the gold Kiri was sending to Iwa.

Selfish Konoha slime.

But an army this size meaning to attack a Kusa village? Either they really were supported by ninja or more soldiers were set to arrive soon. Hikaru frowned, maybe he should have had Kaori burry the bodies before she left, it might be a good idea to wait for whomever was coming to come.

Ami and Kaori would find the enemy soldier that had escaped. They'd kill him. Hikaru could sit back over the next few hours and just ambush any late comers.

Hikaru smiled, "Today's a pretty good day so far." He decided.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	30. Team Chiwa?

**Chapter Thirty**

_Team Chiwa_

Kyusaku sang as the troop progressed down the road;

_Oh I got no love for Ame-nin_

_They smell real bad and they're ulgy as sin_

_If I ever lived in rain country_

_ I'd beg you all to please kill me _

_I got no love for Hidden Rain's nin_

_ They smell real bad any they're ugly as sin_!

"Okay, we get it, shut up!" Tomoko shouted from somewhere in the trees.

"You know song makes a long road shorter." Kyusaku said.

"It also gives away our position." Yomiko pointed out. These kids were older, but they weren't very good ninja.

Probably because Shikamaru-sensei had helped train them, but Yomiko was willing to suspect that their own sensei was responsible as well. Not that she had anything against Chouji-sensei, he seemed a very nice guy. But a real sensei was talented and hard, strict and demanding so that her team was the best. A commander could _not _be a best friend.

"It _does _give away our position Kyusaku." Chouji-sensei pointed out in a soothing way. That might be the problem. Yomiko's mother would have just snapped "shut up before you get us killed" or something like that, but Chouji-sensei seemed more concerned with his Genin's feelings.

It wasn't _wrong_ or anything, it just felt kind of strange to Yomiko. Being raised by a mother like hers who always assured her that her future Jounin mentor would be even stricter had left her expecting it to be so. The fact that Chouji-sensei and Shikamaru-sensei didn't seem all that strict left Yomiko feeling like maybe they weren't quite right for the role of sensei . . . just maybe.

"Alright sensei, I'll stop." Kyusaku said.

And then he began to whistle.

"Kyusaku," Daisuke said, "uh . . . really that's not any different."

"Oh I don't know," The female rain ninja said, "I like a man who can sing. Tell you what boy, untie these hands of mine and I'll give you a standing ovation."

"Uh, sorry but I kind of already have a girl I like, and I'm not into older women." Kyusaku said.

"Just what exactly do you think an ovation is?" Yomiko demanded.

"Means I'll _clap _for ya, kid." The woman clarified. "I don't know what you're thinking it means, maybe I don't _want _to know, but that's what an ovation is. Loud and long applauds."

"Nobody said you could talk, prisoner." Kotaro said.

"Nobody said I couldn't!" She snapped.

"I'm saying it now." Shikamaru-sensei said, his weird looking knife at her throat as he walked alongside her, "Your hands stay behind your back, they stay tied. Another word out of you and we'll be handing _two _prisoners over to Amegakure."

The masked woman said nothing more, but began to kick the dirt as she walked, Yomiko noted that she deliberately kicked a rock into the back of her companion's heel so that it ricocheted off and nearly struck Shikamaru-sensei in the groin.

This made her companion stumble forward, and Shikamaru sidestepped to avoid the rock.

Yomiko laughed, both because the companion who'd stumbled was the one who nearly killed them all, and because it was funny to see Shikamaru-sensei nearly get hit by a rock projected at him by an unarmed woman.

"Do that again and we'll tie your legs too. Then you can _hop _back home." Chouji-sensei warned her.

Yomiko kept a sharp eye on the prisoners, like she was supposed to. Not surprisingly of course only the girls were doing any actual work. Tomoko was scouting ahead in the trees to make sure the path was clear, everyone else was meant to keep their focus on the prisoners, though only Yomiko really was.

They weren't very long away from Konohagakure, and already the prisoners were starting to be, as Shikamaru-sensei had said, "troublesome."

"Can I sing?" Kyusaku asked at length, "I've got a really great song made up."

"Please don't say 'yes' sensei!" Tomoko called back.

But Chouji-sensei smirked and ruffled the chubby boy's hair, "Later, Kyusaku."

Daisuke whipped out a pencil and what looked like the pad his sister used to take orders at the restaurant and said "Here Kyusaku, tell me the words. I'll write them down so we don't forget them. But be quiet so we don't give away our location."

"Oh man, are they going to sing all night once we set up camp, sensei?" Kotaro complained.

"Probably." Shikamaru said.

"Wanna join us?" Daisuke asked.

"Sure, why not? After all if you can't beat 'em . . ." Kotaro grumbled.

Yomiko shook her head. "Boys are so stupid." She grumbled.

The only boy who hadn't joined into the now quietly practicing singing group was Naomasa. He was so below Yomiko that she'd _almost _forgotten about him. But he was there, walking alongside the marching line of bound rain ninjas dutifully keeping his eyes on them.

But he looked like he _wanted _to join the other boys, and that made him just as dumb.

Shikamaru-sensei and Chouji-sensei seemed to be keeping their minds on the business at hand. Together they could probably take on and beat all three of the Chuunin prisoners.

This should be an easy mission, no big deal and at the end she'd get to see Shikamaru-sensei's baby.

Mostly she wanted to see it because Temari-sensei was so pretty she needed to see proof that a pretty and smart woman would have a child on accident with, of all people, Shikamaru-sensei.

But also Yomiko really liked babies, she never got to have any brothers or sisters and it'd been a long time since she'd been able to play with a baby since generally random people in the park were creaped out when a twelve year old girl asked if she could make silly faces at their baby.

She blinked and forced herself out of the stupor she realized she'd been walking in and refocused her attention on the prisoners.

Thoughts of mission first, thoughts of baby later.

* * *

"There they are, Chiwa-sensei." Maeda said softly.

"I see them too." Masunari said, "One right over there. A girl."

"I'll take care of her, sensei." Mayumi offered.

"Be observant of your surroundings. There are three identical girls in the trees, each of you will take one, strike simultaneously in exactly three minutes." Chiwa said calmly, moving herself into position to attack any one of the three her Genin squad might miss.

Eliminate the scout and then look for a good opportunity to ambush the rest of the group, free the Chuunin and get out.

Chiwa waited for her Genin to all get into position, the mental count in her head was perfect, her mental math never failed . . .

And at the same moment each of her Genin struck.

* * *

Tomoko leapt from branch to branch at a slow, leisurely pace.

She was hearing a lot of rustling in the branches above her but she couldn't see anything.

And then it happened, a kunai sailed out of the branches and buried itself in her throat, she fell from the trees and disappeared in a puff of smoke before she ever hit the ground.

No . . . no she hadn't . . .

But her shadow clone had.

Her other had somehow suddenly slipped and had her throat slit as well.

The sudden onrush of new information caused Tomoko to stumble and miss her footing on the next branch so that she fell off and onto the ground many meters below.

It hurt like heck, but it probably saved her life.

She focused and ported back to her sensei.

* * *

"We've got company. All my kage-bunshin were killed." Tomoko said, suddenly appearing right in front of Yomiko."

"Killed? Wait a minute, _killed_?" Nao demanded.

"Yeah, and whoever it is they're really good at stealth. I didn't even sense them!" Tomoko said. "I'm _never _caught off guard!"

"You were today." Daisuke said with a glower, "Don't get careless, Tomoko."

Yomiko shuddered, "Whoever they are they seem pretty okay with just killing Genin."

"Shikamaru . . ." Chouji-sensei said.

"Already on it." Shikamaru-sensei nodded, kneeling down and beginning his Sense Jutsu. "And . . . we're surrounded." He grumbled.

* * *

Chiwa scowled, they'd made her.

She threw her kunai, a signal to her Genin to attack.

The knife flew and landed handle first in the grip of one of the Chuunin, who immediately used it to cut his ropes, then struck out cutting the ropes of his female companion who walked in the middle of the single file formation.

"Not so fast!" The kneeling Jounin snapped, and suddenly all three Chuunin stumbled forward into an identical kneeling position. "You saw where that Kunai came from, Chouji!"

"On it, Shikamaru!" The fat ninja said.

But he wasn't moving.

Chiwa stared in confusion, they must know where she was after that strike so . . .

Suddenly the tree she was perched on shook, she turned around to see a massive giant version of the fat Konoha Jounin standing behind her. He was as tall as the trees.

He reached out and grabbed for her, Chiwa used the substitution Jutsu and avoided a too quick death.

Her Genin had all seen her signal to attack and they were doing so magnificently.

Senbon rained down from every direction and it should have been enough to incapacitate the enemy ninja--as well as the Chuunin they meant to rescue, but the Senbon weren't likely to prove fatal--but the second fat ninja, or rather the original one had forced his hands to grow to a grotesque size, he shielded the entire group with those mammoth hands, though they were being thoroughly filled with Senbon.

Chiwa swore and lunged out of the trees, meaning to kill the fat ninja since he was obviously the leader.

One of the Genin, the girl who'd been the scout stood out from the protection of her sensei's mammoth hands and thrust her hands towards Chiwa. From her oversized sleeves emerged two streaks of lightning.

No, not lightning, though they sure struck Chiwa like lightning bolts. They were chains with metal claws at the ends, claws that had gripped Chiwa.

And now those claws retracted into the Genin's sleeves again, Chiwa prepared a kunai to stab the girl as soon as she reached the end of her rapid journey, but the iron claws suddenly released her. Chiwa stared in confusion as the claws retracted back to their owner's sleeves but their shadows remained.

And she came to wonder why she too was now kneeling.

* * *

"Got another one." Shikamaru said. "Take out the others _fast, _Chouji, holding onto these four is a real pain."

His friend laughed uneasily, "You're in pain? My hands are being filled with needles! I don't know how much longer I can do this."

"How many more needles can they have?" Kotaro asked.

"Now they've thrown an umbrella." Tomoko grumbled.

"Tomoko get back!" Daisuke shouted, grabbing his sister by the belt and pulling her back under their sensei's oversized hands as the new wave of needles fell from the sky.

"Ahh!" Shikamaru groaned as Senbon suddenly began to penetrate Chouji's hands and strike him.

Nobody else seemed to be faring any better, Chouji retracted his hands and they began to shrink though the storm of needles had not ended.

"Don't give up your shadow possession!" Kyusaku cried as the second and quite giant Chouji threw himself forward and covered the ground with his body.

The senbon shower caused the shadow clone Chouji to disappear in a puff of smoke.

But it was over. The needles stopped raining.

Shikamaru stood up and nodded to his Genin, who had all suffered somewhat from the needles.

"Tie the prisoners, Nao tie the woman over there!"

"Find the people throwing those needles and break _their _hands!" Chouji told his Genin.

"I'm on it sensei, I'll demolish those trees and everything!" Kyusaku cried, turning himself into a giant boulder.

Shikamaru blinked, he didn't know Kyusaku had learned to do that. Must be something new Chouji had taught him, Shikamaru had thought only the Akimichi clan could expand like that.

Kyusaku started rolling and rolled right into the trees.

There was a yelp and one of Tomoko's iron claws flew out and dragged a teenage kid in a mask back, Shikamaru extended his shadow, "Nao, tie him too! Legs and hands!"

"Legs and hands for these ones too?" Kotaro asked.

"Yeah." Shikamaru said, straightening up so that the prisoners would stand with their legs closer together.

As Daisuke used his medical Jutsu on Chouji's bloodied hands Chouji said "If those other two Genin have any brains they've high tailed. I think we fought off this one, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru nodded.

"They're gonna have to give us _extra _for these two new prisoners, right?" Kotaro asked.

"No point getting greedy." Shikamaru said. "We'll hand these two over along with the others." Shikamaru withdrew his Jutsu as Nao tied the last of the prisoners, the Genin.

"How's your chakra, Shikamaru?" Chouji asked. "Can you use puppetry to get them the rest of the way there?"

"No chance." Shikamaru said, "At my best I can only effectively control two people with that Jutsu, we've got five prisoners."

"Six!" Tomoko snapped, whipping her claw out again and grabbing a Genin from the trees.

"If I split myself into three I can probably control all of them, but not for long." Shikamaru said. "Better just tie them all together and keep an even sharper eye out for trouble."

"I don't get it!" Yomiko snapped, "Why are they attacking us? They're in _our _territory, and we're bringing their ninja _back_ to them!"

"Be that as it may it's better to kill the guards and free their prisoners then to give up your own prisoners in exchange. We'd have done the same thing in their shoes."

Yomiko glared at the six prisoners, "I hope we catch the last one, that'll show 'em."

Shikamaru ignored her. He glanced at the Ninja who seemed to lead the Genin. "You're not a Jounin."

"Yes I am!" She said.

"No you're not. The ease with which we caught you signifies that. I have trouble buying that you're even a Special Jounin."

The woman shrugged, "So what?"

"So either you're a bunch of brats acting without orders because you think you can be heroes, or this really _is_ just a pathetic token force they're sending after us. A trio of Genin and a Chuunin captain." Chouji grumbled.

"Not every village can afford to give a Jounin sensei to _every _Genin squad." The Rain woman grumbled.

Shikamaru shook his head. "Well nice try you troublesome woman, but _we're _real Jounin."

Shikamaru wasn't usually one to brag to strangers, but he'd wanted to see if letting his guard down to boast would urge the final Genin to come out.

It didn't.

"That was a waste of our time." Tomoko said, cracking her knuckles.

Her brother ripped a senbon from her shoulder roughly, causing an annoyed a rather profane shout from her, "Show off." He grumbled.

"Man this mission's a milk run!" Kotaro laughed.

"Yeah right . . . say where's Kyusaku?" Daisuke asked.

Chouji's eyes narrowed.

A Meat Tank tended to make a lot of noise, especially as it tore through forest. There was no noise.

The Chuunin smirked, "Mayumi is _very _talented."

Daisuke and Tomoko both swore and ran off into the small path their friend's impersonation of a rolling boulder had made.

Shikamaru glanced at Chouji, and Chouji shook his head. "I can't perform any hand seals with my hands like this," he told Shikamaru, "And I can't have my Genin running off alone."

Shikamaru nodded. "I'll go after them." He dusted himself off and ran off into the woods after the twins. "What a drag." He grumbled.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	31. The Survivor

**Chapter Thirty-One**

Obata Taku was just seventeen years old, he'd never wanted to be a warrior.

He'd wanted to be a veterinarian. He wanted to heal animals, not kill people.

But his father was . . . well _had been _a Samurai, which made him a Samurai as well. When the call to arms rang out the Obata household had answered with all of its able bodied men. Unfortunately Taku was able bodied.

Strong enough to hold a spear (which he'd dropped as he ran for his life from the battle) made him strong enough to be conscripted into the Daimyo's army.

Taku had run for hours without looking back. He'd lost track of how far he'd run, all he knew was that he'd run out of breath.

He stumbled and fell into a little stream. Gasping for breath he noticed that running for hours on end was thirsty work and though he still feared for his life he began to drink.

The stream water was crystal clear and to the dehydrated soldier it tasted sweeter than anything he'd ever tasted before. He took a few more breaths and relaxed.

They weren't following him.

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, "I thought you'd _never _stop running." A soft voice said behind him.

He threw himself forward, and rolled onto his back to look at the tall, shapely woman with long, flowing silver hair.

"Don't be startled," She said, "I mean you no harm."

He looked into her green eyes and gulped. "Y-you and your comrades killed my father, killed everyone!" Taku said.

The woman shook her head, "I'm so sorry." She said, and she _sounded_ sincere. "I had to. The others would have killed me too if I hadn't. But I'm _your _friend. If I weren't I could have killed you while you were running, or just now before making myself known to you."

Well . . . that made sense, Taku supposed.

"I am a spy for Konoha." The silvery haired woman explained. "Tell me your mission, I'll help you carry it out. I can atone for my part in the murder of our soldiers and you can be a hero and make your father proud. So tell me everything, wont you?" She asked.

Taku scowled and drew a knife from his belt, "You lie! You just want to know our mission! Get back, don't come any closer!"

The woman frowned-though her face was masked he could see the frown in her amazing green eyes-and sank into the ground, disappearing into the river.

She emerged behind him and put her hands on his shoulders, massaging them. "You're stressed. I understand, you've been through a lot. Let me help you relax."

Taku slashed back with his knife, slitting her throat! He wouldn't be fooled by this enemy kunoichi, she and her band had murdered his comrades, murdered his _father_!

But the blade passed right through her without leaving so much as a scratch. He turned to face her and stared in horror at the bloodless blade.

There was no problem with his depth perception, the blade had traveled _through _her neck, he was sure of it.

But she was no illusion, her soft but strong hands on his shoulders proved that . . .

"Don't be frightened," The ghostly woman whispered, "I want to help you. Tell me your mission. Tell me _everything,_ my love . . . and I'll reward you. Don't you want my reward? Don't you want _me_?"

Well . . . she _was _very pretty.

Healing sick animals wasn't the only thing Taku wanted out of life, he _was _seventeen after all.

One of her hands remained on his shoulder, the other retreated to her flak jacket which she slowly began to undo, "Tell me _everything_ dear boy, and I'll help you relax. I'll use my body to reward you, you'd like that wouldn't you?"

Taku gulped, this seemed way too bizarre. He just _happened _to be rescued by a Konoha spy who just couldn't resist the manly charms the rather plain looking boy had never known he possessed?

She wasn't being honest, she just wanted to get information from him.

Well . . . maybe he could use _her _instead. Take what he wanted from her and keep the information for himself!

He stared at her impressive chest as she moved a hand over his not so impressive chest. Gently tracing circles over his heart, "Tell me what the mission was. Let me help you complete it."

Taku smirked, "First reward me."

"Don't be stupid." She said. "Tell me the plan, and then I'll reward you. I'll think of a way for the two of us to pull it off while you're getting your reward."

"Really?" Taku asked, praying she was telling the truth.

"I do my best thinking when I reward people." The woman said with a wink.

Taku nodded slowly. "All right . . . that sounds good. Okay so the plan is to attack a village in the grass country, and steal a huge shipment of gold from the Land of Water to the Land of Stone. My father said the gold was going to be used to hire mercenaries for a major offensive on Iwa."

The woman nodded, "Brilliant, the Hokage is a wise woman. But just forty five soldiers? Is that really enough? Come on now, you can tell me."

"No, we were just going to carry back the gold. The real attack force is made up of two Ninja teams, they should arrive here soon."

"Ninja?" The woman sighed.

"Yeah, but don't worry, I'll tell them you're on our side."

"How thoughtful of you!" She giggled and moved her lips slowly across his neck before whispering, "But do you know what skill level they are?"

"Eh?"

"Jounin? Genin? Chuunin?"

"That first one I think." Taku said. "At least that's what I remember my father saying about one team. Led by a newly appointed Jounin. That sounds familiar. We don't know anything about the other team though. The first team was shadowing the convoy, keeping tabs on it until it was time to take it."

"My, my," The masked beauty said, eyes smiling, "You _do _sing like a bird, don't you?"

"What, is that bad?" Taku asked.

"Oh no, of course not. This information will be very useful to me. I know exactly how to proceed now."

"Okay . . . so what about that reward?" Taku asked, turning to face his dream girl properly and trying to sound suave and seductive.

"Very well." The woman said with a lusty smile.

Suddenly her hand moved through his shirt, through his _skin_ into his chest!

_Into _his chest!

Her beautiful green eyes were hard now, and when Taku coughed he saw spots of red blood fall into the stream water.

"That's my . . . reward?" He asked.

"I told you I'd reward you with my body." She said calmly. "What ever did you _think _I meant?"

Well certainly not this. "What . . . what're you . . . doing?"

"Killing you." She said in a very businesslike manner.

"It . . . it hurts!" He said in alarm, more to himself than to her. He coughed more blood.

"Indeed I imagine it _would_. After all I've ripped open one of your lungs already. Now I'm squeezing the life out of your heart. I can feel it throbbing in my grip, beating frantically as you cough up all its hard work. I'm surprised you have so much blood to bleed with so much of it in your pants." The Kumo ninja said, though Taku barely heard her over his own agonized screams.

Could it really end this way? What about his dreams and ambitions? _"_Who'll . . . take care of . . . the animals now?" He rasped pathetically.

"I'm sure I couldn't care less." The kunoichi said coldly.

Taku stared into her beautiful green eyes and somehow found some odd comfort in them. He didn't understand it, couldn't explain it but somehow those beautiful eyes made him . . . happy.

He felt all the strength leaving him. She didn't release her grip on his heart as he fell back into the water, instead the organ somehow came free of his chest.

Obata Taku was dead before he landed in the blood stained stream water.

* * *

Kaori knelt down over the dead boy. 

He was just a child.

But he'd been an enemy, he'd been one of the Konoha soldiers. Worse he'd told her all about his mission, including information about one of the ninja teams that would allow her to have them ambushed and killed with relative ease.

If they were shadowing the convoy all the convoy needed to do was feign some kind of trouble and stop moving so that Kumo ninja could seek out and kill the Konoha spies.

The other team was irrelevant, they could probably be trapped where the soldiers had gathered.

Kaori frowned and placed the boy's heart on his chest. It wasn't like she needed it.

She then reached out and closed his still open eyes.

She didn't need to feel sorry for him. No. He was a traitor to his people, and all at the mere _implication _that she might offer him physical gratification. Death was the least he deserved.

But it always had an effect on her, killing someone so up close and personal. Hearing the confusion in his voice as he asked her what she was doing to him, the look in those now lifeless eyes as she explained _how _she was killing him.

Oh well. Never mind any of that. She was a Jounin, she was doing her duty.

But . . . well maybe she could burry the kid or something. Say a word or two, a quick little eulogy? She didn't really know anything about him but . . . well he seemed to be a good runner, maybe she could say that.

She heard a twig snap, and turned to see four people standing on the shore of the steam. "Don't move." One of them said, "There's no way you're fast enough to escape me."

Kaori smiled. So that was the other team.

* * *

Sasuke glared at the bloodied woman kneeling in the stream over the fallen Konoha soldier. 

"How long have you been there? Did you just stand there and _watch _him die?" The woman asked.

Actually Sasuke was rather surprised there was anyone here.

"You're from Kumogakure, aren't you? Stand up and put your hands in the air." Kurai said.

The woman complied, standing up straight and putting her hands in the air. "Four Chuunin?"

"That's none of your business." Shiroi scowled.

The woman laughed, "You're Genin, aren't you? It's so hard to tell, you Konoha ninjas are so lax on uniforms. So that would make you," She said, locking eyes with Sasuke, "Their Jounin mentor, yes? I've always wanted to be a mentor. To teach a team of my own. It's all I live for. You wouldn't take that dream away from me . . . you wouldn't hurt me . . . would you?"

"You're trying to trick me with those beautiful eyes of yours," Sasuke smirked, "You're as hypnotic as a snake. But unfortunately for you I've got experience staring down snakes, and _my _eyes are a lot stronger than yours."

The woman's eyes smiled, "Please don't hurt me. I'll give you whatever you want . . . I'm out of chakra, I can't escape . . . I'll do anything you want me to do if you let me live. _Anything_."

"Oh gosh, how do you live with yourself when you make offers like that? What kind of woman are you?" Shiroi scoffed.

"The kind that doesn't plan to die in a meaningless ninja skirmish." She answered. "Please let me go?"

"Maybe we should let her go, sensei. She's right, this is pointless." Saizo said.

"Don't look into her eyes!" Sasuke snapped at him without taking his own eyes away from the female Jounin.

"I can close them if it makes you more comfortable." She said.

Sasuke frowned. Maybe it wasn't her eyes . . . maybe it was her voice that charmed her victims, and he certainly was feeling charmed.

Best not to fret about it, he'd just go into her mind and take what information he needed from her with his Sharingan.

He activated it and her eyes snapped shut. "Uchiha. That's interesting." She said. "It's also all I need to know."

"Then I'll kill you right now!" Shiroi snapped, throwing a kunai at the woman.

It went right through her, and the woman herself sank into the stream, disappearing beneath the water.

Sasuke's sharingan worked frantically.

That hadn't been any water or earth style Jutsu he knew, and he hadn't been able to properly copy it either.

It wasn't a Genjutsu, it wasn't a water or earth jutsu. An unknown kekkei genkai perhaps?

Kurai, who'd rushed over to the corpse said "His heart's been ripped out."

"Impossible, there's no hole in his chest! Don't be stupid, Kurai, it's someone else's!" Saizo scoffed.

"All right." Sasuke said to his Genin, "Move out, head for the rendezvous point . . . if this soldier is any indication of we're in for I don't think we'll like what we see there."

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Author's Note: **I felt an urge, after completing this chapter, to remind my dear readers that there will **never** be a descriptive lemon scene in my story. Like it or not I simply will not write it, it doesn't feel necessary.

There's flirting as you've probably noticed, and it'll get more "creative" as our Genin get older. Of course there's bound to be a suggestive exchange between Shikamaru and Temari every now and again. Generally I try to keep it fairly toned down since this isn't _that_ kind of story.

But you can expect a lot of rather indecent comments and actions from the girls of Minoru Hikaru's team. Hikaru himself is more subtle, but pretty perverse as well. Never-the-less the Cloud Trio _does_ _not_ signify a change in the story's direction, it isn't going to become more sexuality based, this particular team is just a little . . . focused on the wrong things. It is how I wanted to write them, it is how they are.

As ever thanks for the reviews and suggestions and support, keep reading and I will keep writing.


	32. A 'Hole' Lot of Trouble

**Chapter Thirty-two**

Shikamaru ran down the path of destruction the human boulder, Kyusaku had left.

Logic dictated that he'd find Kyusaku at the end of it, unless the boy had stopped the Jutsu and wandered off. Or been stopped, and dragged away.

It was possible he'd gotten lost and wanted to find his way back, there was no reason to assume that his absence was due to foul play.

But the risk simply couldn't be taken.

Though Shikamaru had to admit if he were in the place of this enemy Shinobi this would be a pretty sweet strategic set up.

The weaker Genin were guarding a large number of prisoners alongside a severely handicapped Jounin, all things considered the strongest ninja had gone off in search of this solo enemy.

Send weak expendable ninja out first then attack with a second wave, free the prisoners, kill the Genin who'd stayed behind while the stronger and more able bodied ninja searched the woods for a fallen comrade.

That's what Shikamaru would have done.

That's why he'd sent a shadow clone to wait hidden at the tree line to see if and other shinobi showed up.

* * *

Mayumi licked her lips as she stared out of the trees at the enemy. 

Only four left, the others were chasing after that fat oaf.

She swept stark white locks from her fiery red eyes and took out her second umbrella.

If her aim was correct-and it would be-the senbon shower would rain down on the enemy ninja, she'd use the cover of her own senbon storm to disguise her self thrown needles she would free her sensei first, then the Chuunin, her brothers would come last as they were the least useful.

They kill the four Konoha ninja and escape.

"Easy as pie." She whispered.

* * *

Tomoko shook her head when the path of destruction suddenly ended. There was a hole in the ground, easily twenty feet deep. She glanced at her brother who stood besides her, "You think?" 

"He wouldn't be _that _careless." Daisuke said without conviction.

"Is that you guys?" A voice from the hole asked.

"Never mind." Daisuke sighed.

"That you, Kyusaku?" Tomoko called down into the pit.

"Who else would it be?"

"A blind man? A moron? A-" Tomoko suggested, but Daisuke held up a hand and shook his head. "Anyway let's get you out of there . . . where are you?"

"I'm right here."

"Can't see ya." Tomoko frowned.

"I'm right _here_!" Kyusaku complained.

"Try jumping up and down!" Daisuke said.

"I can't . . ." Kyusaku said pitifully.

"Eh?" Daisuke scratched his head.

"I'm waist deep in here." Kyusaku sighed.

"Are ya sinking?" Tomoko asked, peering down trying to spot him.

"No, not anymore. But I can't climb out."

"Tomoko, use your claws." Daisuke said.

"Well I have to _find _him first." She frowned.

But then she had an idea, "Anyway I cant get him out by myself, I'd need like ten shadow clones and I can't make more than four without exhausting all my chakra. I'm already running on fumes. There's no way I can pull his fat ass out of that hole."

"What the heck?" Daisuke demanded, "You don't have to be a bitch about it!"

"Fat!?" Kyusaku roared. "I'll show you fat you-you-you . . . _you_!"

"Say you're sorry, Tomoko!" Daisuke cried.

"Ah, there he is." Tomoko nodded, seeing the round, mud covered form of Kyusaku clawing his way free of the muck and ripping handholds in the wall of the pit to pull himself out.

Tomoko formed a shadow clone, one was the best she could manage without putting herself in too dangerous a position with the possibility of an enemy Genin still wandering about.

She nodded to herself and both Tomoko and her clone threw their chains and iron claws into the pit, latching on to Kyusaku. She tried to step backwards and pull him but she was far too tired, he'd have to climb out of the pit himself.

"Okay, climb out!" Tomoko told him.

"No!" Kyusaku cried.

Tomoko blinked. "Y'know holding you isn't easy! Climb out!"

"No! You called me fat. We had an agreement, Tomoko!"

"So I'm sorry." Tomoko rolled her eyes.

"It's not even the first time you've done it either." Kyusaku complained.

"I just did it to make you mad! It worked, now climb the heck out before you rip my arms off!" Tomoko warned him.

"Just tell him you're sorry!" Daisuke said.

"I _did_!" Tomoko protested.

"Say it like you mean it." Daisuke suggested.

"Oh my gosh, we're _so _not doing this!" Tomoko complained, her arms straining, they felt like they'd pop off at any second! "Fine! Kyusaku, I really _am_ sorry. I was just so worried about you since, y'know, there _is _an enemy ninja somewhere around here and we could be attacked at any time. I just thought it important that we get you out _fast_ so I resorted to using that forbidden word. You're right, we had a deal and I violated it. You can call me that thing _I_ don't like being called once you're out of that hole, now _please _climb out."

"Nope."

"Damn it you son of a-" Tomoko screamed, but Daisuke held her mouth shut.

"Don't go _there_." He whispered. "Tell him you'll try talking Shiroi into going out with him."

"Forget that!" Tomoko snapped. "That's like extortion or something, I ain't doin' it!"

"It'll get him out of the hole." Daisuke said.

"We're soldiers in a war zone and you're trying to find ways to-"

"Oh just say it." Shikamaru-sensei said, "This is getting tiresome."

"How long have you been there?" Tomoko's clone asked.

"Since the first apology." Shikamaru yawned. "Just tell him whatever it takes to get him out of the hole so we can get back to the group."

"Fine. Uh, Kyusaku, to show you just how sorry I am, I'll get Shiroi to go on _one _date with you. _One._"

"Three." He called up.

"One." Tomoko insisted.

"Two." He suggested.

"_One."_ Tomoko repeated firmly.

"One and a half?"

"I'm letting the chains go now." Tomoko warned.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming up!" Kyusaku sighed. He took a grip on the chains that were wrapped around him and began to climb up the wall of the pit.

When he reached the top Daisuke helped pull him out. "You're absolutely filthy! It's disgusting!"

"I can't help it, I was up to my waist in that mud. I hope it was mud." Kyusaku said.

"That explains the waist," Tomoko said, "How'd the rest of you get covered.

"Well when I landed I kept rolling for a while, then I stopped and went back to normal and I was face down in the muck."

"Lovely. Make sure you tell Shiroi that story." Tomoko grumbled.

"You don't really have to get me a date with her." Kyusaku said, "I just like that you care enough to offer."

"So you put me through like five minutes of holding you just to see if I cared enough to whore off my girl friend?" Tomoko said with narrow eyes.

"Uh . . . well when you say it like that it sounds kind of bad." Kyusaku grumbled.

Tomoko glared at him. "Doesn't it though?"

"Well it doesn't matter, I don't really _like_ Shiroi anyway." Kyusaku told her.

"Oh so now she's not _good _enough for you?" Tomoko demanded.

"No, I just like someone else more." Kyusaku said.

"That's not relevant right now, is it?" Shikamaru said. "There's one unaccounted for enemy ninja, we're not in a good place right now."

"Gotcha, Shikamaru-sensei." Tomoko nodded. "C'mon you perverts, let's get back to _our _sensei."

* * *

Mayumi prepared her umbrella for the assault, she prepared to throw it up into the sky where it would burst open and spin, dispensing over ten thousand senbon like hellish rain. 

She was just about to throw it when she suddenly dropped it instead and placed her hands together behind her back and jumped out of the tree.

She landed hard, but on her feet on the ground below, and them marched out into the open field.

Besides her stood the Jounin who'd left for the woods. He walked as she walked, step for step. His shadow was joined together with his.

"Is that the last one? Great job sesnsei!" One of the genin, a girl squealed.

"Great work Shikamaru. Did you catch up with my team?" The fat Jounin asked.

Shikamaru shook his head, "Dunno. I thought that with the ease of our capture of their sensei these Genin probably had a plan . . . no way they'd be this stupid. It was a simple divide and conquer, by having their sensei with the ninja we'd already captured they had the best chance of overpowering you while the rest of us were hunting this one down in the woods."

"You left out the way my doppelganger ran your fat boy on a chase through the woods and trapped him in a pit. We would have gotten away with it and killed you all!" Mayumi snarled.

"Yeah. Maybe." Shikamaru said. "You're just unfortunate enough to face two of the Konoha Twelve."

"So what? You turn us over when you turn these guys over." Mayumi scoffed. "We go free and no one's worse for the ware."

"Be that as it may," A second Shikamaru said, emerging from the woods with the Genin, "Ame is only giving us one prisoner for the three we agreed to send. Furthermore you're in Konoha territory, blatant disregard for the border agreement I might add. You also came at us with intent to kill, I don't see why we should let you live."

Mayumi's eyes widened, she glanced at Chiwa who just glared at the second Shikamaru.

"If I weren't tied up," She warned.

"You'd get beaten down and tied up again." Shikamaru nodded.

"So you're going to murder us." Mayumi scoffed.

"Would you have done differently?" The fat Jounin asked.

"No. Not really." Chiwa admitted.

The fat Jounin nodded and tied Mayumi's hands behind her back. "I thought not."

"Keep that in mind Genin. They're not our enemies, but our lives mean less than nothing to them." Shikamaru said.

"So let's kill them." A masked boy said.

"No." Shikamaru said, "Konoha ninja are different. We won't kill ninja who aren't our enemies. That is we won't murder them, if they'd died in the heat of battle that would have been a different matter, but the moment we tied their hands and took them prisoner we accepted the responsibility of keeping them alive until we hand them over. If they were from Iwa we'd never have bothered tying them up, we'd have slit their throats."

Mayumi frowned.

The stone ninja really wouldn't have spared them, she knew because her team hadn't always been jacking their Jounin sensei, her brothers hadn't always been her teammates.

Quite often Stone would harass their village because of it's refusal to commit to the war, but Konoha had not.

Well it didn't really mean that they wouldn't if they could, she decided. After all they were weak compared to the massive Iwa, which was rumored to have over a thousand ninja. Konoha probably just couldn't spare the forces to harass other villages.

But now Mayumi was their prisoner. Her brothers and her friend were their prisoners . . . and they were just going to be turned over, free to return home.

That was why Konoha was losing the war. Their ninja were too soft to do what had to be done. Iwa's ninja would have killed her, her team, and probably the other prisoners at the first sign of trouble.

Mayumi scowled at the Konoha Genin as they forced her into line with the others. But inside she felt kind of sorry for them. Maybe they had a Jounin mentor . . . but he obviously wouldn't teach them to be strong. To do what had to be done in war. They'd die just like everyone else in Konoha.

It could have happened to her too . . . sooner or later the land of earth would finish the land of wind, then Ame and the River Country would be standing between them and Konoha.

And Mayumi couldn't imagine the earth country being satisfied with the conquest of Konoha and Suna. With the lands of Wind and Fire consumed the smaller countries that had littered the borders would no longer find themselves between two larger states, but surrounded on all sides by a massive empire.

Was it really such a good idea to let Iwa win the war?

At least if Konoha came out on top she wouldn't have to worry about being killed every time she screwed up like this.

But again, she was a ninja. Ninja weren't meant to screw up.

As Mayumi and her squad were forced to march back home in bonds she wondered if maybe she might start suggesting Ame choose a side in the war. The side that _didn't _launch harassing attacks.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	33. Prince of Lightning

**Chapter Thirty-Three**

Hanabi bowed before Raikage, who sat behind a see-through curtain alongside a striking young man dressed in very expensive looking clothes and wearing more jewelry than Hanabi and her sister Hinata owned put together. "You know I am not really qualified to speak for Konoha, all I can do is plead on the behalf of its people in an unofficial manner."

"Be that as it may," Raikage said in a soothing voice, "I am curious as to why a Hyuga would sacrifice herself to us. Understand I would have seen you sooner but even more pressing matters took my focus. Do not take your survival to this point as a _good _sign. You live because of that curiosity."

"Of course, lord Raikage." Hanabi said.

"Hattori Tetsuo. I am glad to see you alive. I suppose those words seem dishonest coming from me, but I do mean them." The ancient ninja said. Tetsuo remained silent.

"Lord Raikage, I will come straight to the point." Hanabi said, but Raikage interrupted her.

"You do not wish to see continued hostilities against Konohagakure by Kumogakure, yes? I know. I have thought on this matter. As I am sure you know Tetsuo, news has circulated about my failed attempt to end you. The entire village is split between those who feel as you do, that the war has lasted long enough, and those who feel that the land of Lightning must press on. The land of fire is dying, soon there will be nothing left. Soon they will have no allies."

Hanabi frowned. Was that supposed to be a comment about the dire straits of Sunagakure?

"Raikage-sama . . . let there be a vote cast by every ninja in the land. Let every ninja decide whether or not this war should continue. There was nothing wrong with life before the war, and a war that lasts too long, as this one has, only costs the lives of more and more ninja every day. My team, my _entire _team was killed in Konoha by Shinobi they _thought _were their allies. If they knew that it was you who ordered their deaths . . ." Tetsuo shook his head.

Raikage nodded slowly. "Would you believe, Tetsuo, that I agree? I do not believe the war should continue in the way that it has. But there are those among us who do. One of them just happens to be the Daimyo of the land of Lightning."

The young man sitting besides the Raikage spoke up now, "My father believes that the only way to keep from seeming an appealing target to the Earth Country when your Land of Fire is destroyed is to consume that land whole. I see things differently."

"This is the son of our Daimyo." Raikage said, gesturing to the young man. "He has an interesting offer for you, Hyuga Hanabi."

Hanabi blinked. "H-he does?"

The prince of Lightning smiled, "Madam Hyuga, I would like you to kill my father. Do so and I will become the Daimyo. I will end Kumogakure's support of Iwagakure. Better still I will lend the military might of my country to yours, we will aid you in your war to stop the Lands of Earth and Water."

Hanabi frowned, this didn't feel right. Perhaps because this man was asking her to murder his father. "Why do you offer this?"

"You and I are in the same boat, Hyuga-san. You see I have long fostered deep feelings of love for the Princess of the Land of Fire. I would have her as my wife, not my slave. For that purpose I will join with you, and the land of fire. I will end the war . . . what do you say?"

"You would also have me kill your father." Hanabi said.

"Yes indeed." The prince said. "The man is a butcher. It was _he _who pressured the Raikage into silencing the dissident quarters of the ninja village, thus the assassination attempt on Hattori-san here. He sees the land of Fire as a place to be conquered, but there was nothing wrong with having five equal nations. All things were balanced then. Now if Earth consumes Wind they will be too strong for us, even if we consume all that remains of Fire ourselves. Our best chance lies in striking at Earth now, alongside the Fire and Wind counties and forcing equality once more. If I were Daimyo I would not only return to the Fire Country the lands they lost to us in the war, but lend my own legions in the reclamation of the lands lost to them by the Water country, and restore the sovereignty of the Land of Waves. This is my offer to you, and I make it entirely for the sake of love."

Hanabi frowned. She found it hard to believe this man's words. "What if I refuse?"

"We kill you, take out your eyes and see what makes them work the way they do. The land of Lightning then continues to ravage the Land of Fire, perhaps now with Byakugan wielding ninja." Raikage said flatly.

Well if you put it that way . . .

But the Prince's words simply sounded _too _good. It was so much more than she could have ever hoped for she simply could not trust it.

But Tetsuo seemed convinced, and if he was convinced . . . she'd trust this man.

What other choice did she have at this point?

"Then I will accept the mission on one condition." Hanabi said.

"Condition?" Raikage snorted. "You _dare_ make a condition?"

"Name it." The prince said, un-phased by the Raikage's disdainful attitude.

Hanabi glanced at Tetsuo, "I must be allowed to perform this mission as a ninja of the village hidden in Clouds."

Tetsuo smiled, but Hanabi hadn't made that move to please him.

If she were caught and killed the Leaf Village could be blamed for the assassination attempt. If the prince wanted his little _coup_ Hanabi wouldn't leave her homeland in danger of being blamed for the actions she was about to take.

Raikage nodded slowly, "It would be my honor to accept you, Hyuga Hanabi into the ranks of Kumogakure's ninja as a Chuunin. Accomplish this mission and your rank of Jounin will be restored as well. Is that suitable?"

"Certainly." Hanabi said. Rank meant nothing to her anyway.

"Then Tetsuo, I leave it to you to uniform our newest addition to the ranks." Raikage said.

"Yes Raikage-sama." Tetsuo nodded.

"I will send a scroll to your quarters, it will contain all the information you should need to accomplish the assassination. One small thing though . . ." The prince said, he averted his gaze, "Though the man is a tyrant and a butcher he is still my father. I would prefer he not suffer in death. If you could perhaps handle the matter swiftly and painlessly I would be most appreciative."

Which might just be another way of saying 'make sure you do it in one stroke so there's no chance he survives' but Hanabi would continue to give this man the benefit of the doubt.

He was her greatest hope for peace between the lands of Lightning and Fire.

"There is just one more minor detail," Hanabi said, "There is the small matter of Team C . . . they wish a more challenging mission."

"Then consider them your support on your mission, Chuunin Hyuga Hanabi. Use them as you see fit."

Hanabi frowned. That really wasn't what she'd been expecting.

"What about their Jounin sensei?" Tetsuo asked. "If Hanabi is a Chuunin she won't be able to carry out the mission as she sees fit."

"Hanabi is in command during this mission. Tosa Kimiko will be assigned a different mission." Raikage said.

Hanabi shuddered. A whole Genin squad to worry about while she murdered a daimyo . . . this wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

Hikaru smirked when Ami showed up, "Took you long enough." He said. 

"Yeah, I didn't find him though." Ami siad.

"Kaori found him. She interrogated him, and then she killed him."

"Cheat!" Ami complained, "Where is she?"

"Sleeping." Hikaru nodded towards the tent.

Ami's eyes narrowed. "Oh? And _why_ is she sleeping? What exactly did you two do while I was gone?"

Hikaru laughed, "You know how much chakra her Jutsu takes. She was at her limit. She and I couldn't have done anything even if we'd wanted to."

Ami brightened, "Oh. Okay then! So let's leave her here and go back to Kumo ourselves. She can catch up and we can--" Ami said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively but Hikaru held up a hand to shut her up.

"Two ninja squads are coming in on this position. One is made op of three Genin and a Jounin, the other is made up of at least one Jounin and an unknown number of others, likely Chuunin."

Ami giggled, "So we're gonna kill them too?"

Hikaru nodded. "The Genin squad isn't far away, and they're led by Uchiha Sasuke, one of the Konoha Twelve and the last of the Uchiha clan."

"Wow . . ." Ami said, sounding impressed. "Hikaru-kun, if we kill him will we be famous?"

Hikaru scowled at her, "I told you, when we're in the field you'll refer to me as Captain Mizumo."

"Sorry." Ami flinched.

"And to answer your question, no. No we won't be famous. Because we're not going to talk about it. If we have to, we tell Raikage-sama and no one else. Ninja are not supposed to boast about their skills or take the public eye like that fool Hattori Tetsuo. They keep their power a private matter. That is why we do not advertise our strength, _remember_?"

"Y-yes, I'm sorry Captain." Ami said.

Hikaru slapped Ami on the shoulder lightly, "Never mind. I know how easily you get excited. Go wake Kaori up and we'll begin making preparations to meet Uchiha and his band."

"Yes Cap'n!" Ami saluted and rushed off into the tent. "Wake up you two-bit tramp! Stop dreaming of the captain and wake up before I kick your face in!"

Hikaru shook his head. If those two didn't kill each other at some point, _he _might have to do it.

Whoever said having two girlfriends was worth it needed to _die _for telling such a half truth.

* * *

Hinabi was assaulted by Kasumi right away, "Did you do it? Did you tell him? Are we getting a mission?" 

"Kasumi!" A rather young looking Jounin barked. She had long well combed black hair and eyes that seemed just somehow _too _blue. She wore the flak jacket, but the rest of her outfit was strictly nonstandard, including a skirt that went down to her knees-terribly ineffective in combat-and a frilly sleeved white shirt.

Next were the two team members Hanabi hadn't met. One was a boy with dark brown hair and eyes that matched. He was wrapped up in layers upon layers of clothing as if he were freezing to death. A cloak, of all things with a hood stood out the most and he wore his forehead protector on his forehead and a scarf around his neck.

He waved at Hanabi, who nodded back to him. The third member ignored her presence all together.

She was a rather cute girl, tall with long silvery-white hair that, despite being tied in a high pony tail, still managed to reach her waist. Her bangs came down the sides of her face hiding her ears from view and over her forehead, partially obscuring the Cloud Village symbol on her forehead protector, but failing to take focus away from her hypnotic green eyes.

Hanabi raised a hand in greeting, "Hello there. Team C I take it?"

"That's right." The Jounin said with a nod.

"Then you're with me." Hanabi said.

"Excuse me?" The Joinin demanded.

"Raikage-sama has placed your team under her command, Tosa. You'll be getting a solo mission, it's something important that only you can be trusted with."

Tosa frowned. "Well . . . all right then . . . I guess." She turned to her Genin, "You behave yourselves or so help me I'll let all your parents know it was you who burned down those booths at the last fair."

"Understood, Kimiko-sensei . . . and I said I was sorry about that." The unnamed girl said.

"Can't I just go with you?" The boy grumbled, but his sensei shook her head and walked off, shoving past Hanabi as she went.

"Don't worry about a thing!" Kasumi said to her sensei as she left. "Okay big sister, I guess I gotta introduce you. This is Yurei Yuu," Kasumi said, indicating the silvery haired girl, "And this is Hibiki Masaru," Kasumi said, labeling the boy.

"Nice to meet you." Hanabi nodded.

Yuu nodded curtly, and Masaru shrugged.

"Do we call you 'sensei?" Masaru asked.

"No, not if you don't want to." Hanabi said.

"Good, because I don't." Masaru said.

"Masa . . ." Yuu whispered.

"Not that I mean any disrespect." Masaru said quickly, averting his gaze from Yuu. "I just don't really want to go on a mission with the enemy."

"Don't worry." Hanabi said, "I'm a Kumo ninja now, so I'm only your enemy once a month. But then you must know all about that, being on a team with three women."

Yuu's eyes widened and then narrowed very rapidly, she folded her arms and scoffed. Masaru broke out into loud, uncontrolled laughter!

Hanabi frowned, but before she could grow too puzzled at Yuu's reaction Kasumi tugged on her sleeve and whispered into her ear, "Uh, big sister . . . Yuu is--"

"I'm a _boy_!" Yuu said angrily.

"Oh . . ." Hanabi frowned. "Sorry. You just look so . . . pretty."

Masaru was still laughing-now he was on the ground holding his side. But the silvery haired _boy _just kept _his _arms folded and went back to ignoring Hanabi.

"Well uh . . . I can tell this mission's off to a _wonderful _start." Hanabi sighed.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note:** The short version of national ninja power would be to say that Stone Village's one thousand Shinobi is only a rumor. I havent made any final decisions on the strength of each village, but right now I am thinking Stone really has more like four hundred or less. Leaf has around two hundred ninja while Sand has around one hundred and fifty give or take a dozen. Cloud is more than three hundred Shinobi strong, while Mist is around the same size as Leaf.

I hadn't decided on the smaller villages yet, but I'm thinking they all have more than fifty but less than one hundred shinobi.

If the numbers seem too small I blame it on the fact that the war has raged for three years and many people have died, Jounin are hard to replace after all and Chuunin exams have a grossly low success rate. If they seem too large I blame it on the fact that the war has raged for three years and as displayed in the beginning of the story the ninja villages are lowering their standards for active duty Genin.


	34. Meet Syako!

**Chapter Thirty-Four**

Kotaro scratched his head as he looked at the prisoner from Sunagakure.

"Just one?" He asked. "That doesn't seem fair, sensei."

"Hokage-sama probably had a good reason for agreeing to trade three prisoners for this one, and these other four are worthless anyway. They wouldn't have been sent after us if there weren't expendable. There's little harm in returning them to their village, to take them all the way back to Konoha would be far too troublesome." Shikamaru explained.

Kotaro shook his head, "I don't know about you, but I think it stinks."

"It _does _stink. But it'd be troublesome to argue about it." Shikamaru said.

"She's pretty good looking though." Kotaro said.

"Yeah I guess." Shikamaru-sensei said. "Is that the right one?" He asked Chouji-sensei, who stood in front of him examining a picture.

"That's the woman we're here for." Chouji said. "Are you all right?" Chouji-sensei asked her as she approached them.

The young woman, whose short red hair stopped about an inch above her shoulders nodded. "I'm okay."

"They didn't abuse you in any way?" Shikamaru-sensei asked.

"Well considering what they _fed _me, I think that should count as a form of abuse." The woman said with a frown. "But I'm eager to get back to Suna."

"Then let's get moving." Shikamaru said.

Kotaro watched the line of Ame ninja retreat back into their own territory. "There's gotta be like two teams not counting the ones we just gave them. You don't think they might try something to get their prisoner back?"

"They're not our enemies, they have no reason to risk the lives of their ninja in an attempt to take us. " Shikamaru-sensei said. "Besides that a grand total of four teams would be a major loss for Ame if they failed to kill or capture us. Two Genin squads aren't that big a deal to Konoha."

Kotaro frowned, "So, who're you?" He asked the Suna woman.

"I'm Syako!" She said cheerfully.

"Uh-huh . . . I mean what's so great about you?" Kotaro asked.

Syako frowned, "Uh . . . what?"

"Well I mean are you some kind of ninja celebrity, or a princess, or a porn star-"

"Wouldn't that fall under 'celebrity'?" Tomoko piped in, but Kotaro ignored her.

"I mean why're you worth seven prisoners?" The boy pressed.

Syako shrugged. "I'unno." She said. "I've been in prison for a long time. Ten years they told me, but I haven't gotten that much older, so I don't think it really was ten years. They kidnapped me in the night and took me away."

"Kidnapped you in the night?" Kotaro gawked, "What kind of ninja are you?"

Syako didn't answer for a long time, then finally she said, "What, who, _me_?"

"Yeah. And . . . _duh_." Yomiko spoke up.

"Oh I'm no ninja." Syako said.

Now Kotaro was annoyed. "Okay, why the _blazes _did we just risk our lives to rescue _her_ if she's not even a ninja?"

"I'unno." Syako shrugged.

"I wasn't asking _you_!" Kotaro snapped at the redhead.

"Because the Hokage _told _us to. Obviously Tsunade-sama feels that Syako here is important enough to trade Ame's ninjas for." Shikamaru-sensei said.

"Are you like a doctor or something?" Tomoko asked.

"Or a scientist?" Nao threw in.

Kotaro glared at him. "You think _she _could be a scientist?"

"Hatake . . ." Shikamaru said in a warning tone.

"Oh I'm none of that. I don't know why I was kidnapped in the first place. It's not like I'm super rich or anything. I'm nobody famous . . . I'm not even a ninja." She scratched her cheek. "Well . . . at least I don't think I'm a ninja. Maybe I was? Do you think I was?"

Kotaro stared at her. "You're crazy." He decided.

"Uh-huh, I think so." Syako nodded. "Let me have one of your knives, maybe I'll remember what kind of ninja I was!" She said excitedly.

"Whoa, no way! Somebody get the crazy woman off me!" Kotaro cried as Syako lunged for one of his kunai. As she did so, her nicely sized chest rubbed against his face and he decided this wasn't so bad. "Never mind, I'll hold her off myself." He said.

"Yeah right." Shikamaru-sensei said, pulling the woman off of Kotaro, who sighed wistfully.

"Okay, I probably wasn't a fighting ninja. Let me try and see if I can make healing happen then."

"Healing happen?" Nao scratched his chin.

"Well that little boy with the mask has a rather bad nose bleed." Syako said, "Let me see if I can help him."

"Oh my." Daisuke groaned and began to use a healing jutsu on Kotaro, who hadn't even realized he'd been bleeding. "Well if you hadn't shoved your breasts in his face this might not have happened."

"Jealous, Daisuke?" Tomoko jeered.

Kotaro was a little surprised Syako could tell through his mask that he was bleeding. Maybe she _had _been a medic. Or maybe she'd done it intentionally, just for fun.

Either way he liked her a little more now.

* * *

Yukio spat blood on the ground and glared at his sensei, "You don't have to hit _that _hard!" 

"Tell it to the enemy when they _murder _you!" Temari spat.

"Shiroi never hits that hard!" He protested.

"This defense cant be just for her," Temari said, "You've got to make it work no matter who's attacking you or it's a waste of time to learn it. Anyway don't assume that just because she favors the Gentle Fist she can't get rough on you. Her sensei'san Uchiha. "

"You said we were ready for the Chuunin exams." Ryu said. "Why train like this?"

"I was just being nice." Temari clarified and Yukio scowled at her.

"Well can't we take it slow? You're going way too hard on me." Yukio said.

Temari scoffed, "I've hit you harder than this!"

"Yeah but never so many times in a row!" Yukio protested.

"Buck up, be a man. Your real enemies won't hesitate to hit you as much as it takes to kill you."

"Hey, you're the Jounin here, I'm not even a Chuunin yet!" Yukio protested.

Temari shook her head, "Fine, take ten. But when you're done catching your breath, my poor little Genin, I want you back here ready to work! Ryu, stop laughing at Yukio and get down here, it's your turn!"

"What? Sensei I cant even control sand like Yukio!"

"I know that, now get down here." Temari-sensei sighed. "You kids, I swear it's like you think we adults haven't got a clue about what we're doing."

"Sensei, what _are _you doing?" Kyoko asked.

"Search me. Haven't got a clue." Temari winked. Yukio gawked at her.

She'd better be joking, his honor was on the line!

"All right Ryu, I want you to try using your Taijutsu on me." Temari-sensei said.

"Why?" Ryu asked.

"Why not?" Temari demanded.

"I don't want to die." Ryu said.

"Y'know you might think you're being funny, but you're not. You're not scouts at camp, you're soldiers. Young soldiers, but soldiers none-the-less. You're going to fight in this war, and if you don't take it _and_ your training seriously you're going to _die _in this war. You want to cry about some scraped knees and bruised tummies you can go home right now and _do not _come back."

"I don't just have a bruised tum-er stomach, you _broke _it, sensei!" Yukio said.

"Good, more rations for the rest of us!" Kyoko snapped, shoving Yukio aside, "I'm tired of you always trying to be a wise guy and disrespecting sensei! She's trying to help you win the feud _you _had to get yourself into! This Hyuga girl's got two years seniority over you and the benefit of a Bloodline Trait, if Sensei tells you to take a hit then take the hit, Yukio!"

"Oh shut up you wannabe. You just don't want her to start on _your_ faults so you suck up to her like a leech!" Yukio scowled. He was _not_ a wise guy, he just understood the importance of keeping the mood light in the squad, and he hadn't really even told a joke that time.

Kyoko shook her head, "You'd be dead now if it weren't for her."

"Who told you about that?" Yuko scowled.

"Both of you shut up!" Temari commanded, "Ryu come at me with your best Taijutsu, don't worry about being fast or slow, just do your best."

Ryu grumbled and launched his attack.

Yukio couldn't help but think that Ryu did move rather slowly.

He glanced over at the still angry Kyoko and shook his head. Even if he didn't like Temari-sensei all the time she _was _right most of the time and this time was no exception. They were not kids at play. Technically they weren't even kids anymore, they'd left their childhood behind when they accepted their forehead protectors, and the life of the Shinobi. This was his team and neither of them could defeat Shiroi, he had the best chance of it and he could _only _do it if he mastered this defense Temari-sensei was trying to teach him.

He supposed it wouldn't kill him to cut her a little slack . . . but she still wasn't as good as Kenji-sensei. He hated the way everyone told him she was good. She wasn't good. She was a specialist ninja, specialist ninja shouldn't be able to teach ninja that didn't specialize the same way they did.

He folded his arms. He'd _try _to listen to her and not make jokes. But he couldn't guarantee anything.

* * *

"So . . . like how far away is Sunagakure?" Syako asked. 

"Like ten minutes closer than it was the last time you like asked?" Yomiko offered.

"Yeah but like . . . are we like there yet?" Syako asked.

"Like, I'm so like totally sure that we'll be there like, when we get there?" Yomiko assured her.

"Alright, if I hear one more 'like' out of either of you-" Shikamaru-sensei was saying but Kotaro shook his head and held up a hand.

"Please sensei. They're conversing in their 'dumb woman' dialect, it is best if we do not disturb them."

"I'm _not_ dumb!" Syako cried.

"You like, forgot to say like." Yomiko teased. "And anyway Kotaro I was just making fun of her, I don't really talk that way."

"You like make fun of like _everyone_ don't you?" Nao asked and Kotaro laughed.

Yomiko glared at both of them, "Why's it funny when _he_ does it?"

"It _isn't._" Shikamaru-sensei said, "Everyone drop it. Syako-san is our honored guest, she's been through a lot and she is _not _stupid. Act like mature Genin or I'll turn this team around right now and we'll all go back to Konohagakure."

"Well you've got to see your girlfriend and her baby, we're just along for the ride. That'll hurt you more than us, sesnei." Kotaro pointed out.

Yomiko scowled, "No it won't! Now shut up Taro, we're going to Sunagakure and we're going to see that baby!"

"Ooh a baby?" Syako cried, "Can I see it too?"

Shikamaru-sensei held his forehead.

"I wanna get in on that too." Daisuke said, "I gotta see this spawn of Shikamaru for myself."

"You know there might not even _be _a baby. Maybe it's all a plot, maybe Temari just wants to get me to Sunagakure." Shikamaru-sensei said.

"Oh _Temari's_ baby? It's okay then, I can already see her whenever I want." Syako said.

"Really?" Yomiko asked.

"Yeah." The busty red head said with a shrug.

"Is she cute? Does she look like her mommy?" Yomiko squealed.

"I'm not telling you." Syako said.

"What? Why not?"

"You were like teasing me and stuff." Syako shrugged.

"Oh grow up!" Yomiko cried, "I'm sorry! Now tell me about the baby!"

"Just like, have your own and you'll know all about them." Syako shook her head.

"I'm twelve!" Yomiko cried.

"So? I didn't mean _today_." Syako said. "Now who's the stupid one?"

"I'm still leaning towards it being you." Yomiko grumbled.

"Last warning." Shikamaru-sensei said, "If you cant get along with Syako-san we're going back right now."

"Okay sensei . . . I'm sorry Syako-sama." Yomiko bowed.

"So if we just make fun of her some more we can go home?" Kotaro asked.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "If Yomiko makes fun of her we go home. If you guys make fun of her we force you to take the night watch and she'll stay up and talk to you to keep you company." Shikamaru said.

"That's cruel and unusual punishment sensei!" Naomasa protested.

Everyone walked in silence for a moment, then Shikamaru-sensei of all people said "So . . . this baby . . . is she cute?"

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note:** I had not planned on putting a chapter up sunday, but since the story has gotten over 100 reviews, I do this by way of celebration.

As ever thanks for your support, all!


	35. Pitch Black

**Chapter Thirty-Five**

Kurai frowned. He'd managed to sneak a bug onto the strange woman while she'd been talking to Sasuke-sensei, but when she'd disappeared into the river the bug had been left behind in the water.

That'd never happened before, that type of bug was supposed to latch on and stay attached no matter what, then he could have tracked the woman over a one mile radius. Not much, but enough to keep from losing her as she fled to wherever she was fleeing to.

Sasuke-sensei seemed on edge, and with good reason. He and Saizo had summoned up a few snakes to prowl around the woods but so far none had reported back with anything substantial.

Some of the snakes could smell blood in the air though and so the team was headed off in the diredction that the smell was coming from the strongest.

It wasn't a happy sign when Sasuke-sensei commented that that was the direction of the rendezvous point.

Kurai kept glancing at Sasuke-sensei. They'd been in sticky situations and always it'd been Sasuke-sensei that had gotten them out of it.

They might be capable of fighting on a Chuunin level but Sasuke-sensei was an amazing Ninja, above any other ninja Kurai had ever seen.

Even Naruto, Kurai thought.

He'd trust his sensei, his sensei would get them through this.

But boy did he have a bad feeling about it.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he said "We're getting close to the rendezvous point now. Be prepared."

"Shouldn't there be blood in the air? I don't smell anything." Shiroi said.

"I noticed." Sasuke said, "But we _are _almost there."

"Actually," A voice said, "You don't need to worry about it. We got tired of waiting for you, Uchiha. These must be your kids . . . they sure look like spirited little tykes." A striking young man said, appearing from behind a tree.

Sasuke-sensei went into a fighting position, Kurai quickly dispatched a few bugs for the Kumo Jounin.

The Jounin smiled, "Uchiha Sasuke, you're quite a famous man. Why with all the trouble you caused your own village at one point I almost don't want to kill you. But this is business, not personal. Shame really."

"You think you can even stand up to Sasuke-sensei?" Shiroi laughed.

"I do." The Jounin said. "But I don't have to." He glanced up.

Suddenly Kurai looked up and saw another Joinin descending from the sky, shooting down like an arrow!

But Shiroi shouted "Sensei, look down!"

The silvery haired woman emerged from the ground, kunai in hand right behind Sasuke!

Sasuke threw himself backwards, grabbing her shoulders and flipping so that he stood behind her instead and brought his knee out to slam it into her spine!

His grip on her shoulders suddenly failed and his knee passed all the way through her body without seeming to actually bother her.

In fact she grabbed it and pulled sensei _through _her whole body so that he fell on the ground in front of her as the second woman slammed into the ground and into him!

But Sasuke-sensei was too fast for that, as soon as he hit the ground he became a substitution log, and appeared behind the blue haired kunoichi who'd fallen from the sky.

She smiled brightly at Sasuke-sensei, "Wanna play with me?" She asked.

Sasuke didn't answer, Shiroi had already launched an attack on the other woman-who seemed threatened enough to be dodging the strikes, suggesting that her ability to let things pass through her was not automatic or unlimited or she would have just let Shiroi strike her.

Saizo was summoning something, and Kurai turned his attention on the other Jounin, who just stood there smiling.

He had a bug on him now, a female whose pheromones would ensure that wherever the Jounin went Kurai's other insects would follow. So he sent them forth en-mass!

The Jounin didn't seem to realize what was happening and just whipped something out of his side pouch and smiled, "Oh this is a good one." He looked up from the odd item-it looked like a playing card-and said "You kids aren't afraid of the dark are you?"

And in a flash-or perhaps a reverse flash-there was no light.

Kurai knelt down and began to focus his chakra on sending out more bugs hoping that they would locate and destroy the Jounin who'd summoned up the darkness.

Suddenly he felt something grab him by the throat and lift him up, he was kicked in the stomach.

He looked around wildly but couldn't see who was attacking him, it was pitch black!

"This bug of yours, don't put crap like that on me." The Jounin's voice cut through the darkness.

Kurai gulped and willed his bugs to descend down the arm that held him, that arm just disappeared, the bugs that had covered it disappeared too, hopefully following it.

Kurai sent flying insects out now, his intention to figure out if the darkness had a limit, if he could escape from it somehow. The bugs would fly until the darkness lifted then come back and report to him.

He heard Saizo scream and immediately leapt in the direction of the shout.

_A true ninja does not need his eyes to fight. _Kurai told himself. _If I truly am worthy of being a Chuunin this should not be a problem._

Suddenly something big slammed into him and knocked him back into a tree!

He felt this large thing and found it to be one of Sasuke-sensei's summoned snakes. One about as big around as a man.

He tried to shove the thing off of himself, but he was pinned.

Fine, he'd use his insects to seek out and destroy any enemies they could, he dispensed every bug in his body, they flowed from their escape holes like a river of blood.

* * *

Hanabi frowned as she looked at the establishment.

It was clean, it smelled rather nice and the glasses didn't have so much as a smudge.

None the less, "This is a bar." She said.

"Uh-huh." Masaru said.

"Your sensei really takes you to _a bar_ before every mission?" Hanabi asked, not at all convinced.

"Sure." Kasumi nodded.

Hanabi glanced at the bar tender, a young man with tanned skin and blond hair. "Really?"

"I don't know about _every _mission." He said. "But they do come here a lot. They're some of my best customers. They never mess the place up."

"And this place is much more than a bar, right Takumi?" Yuu asked.

"Absolutely." Takumi the bar tender nodded to Yuu. "We're a restaurant and an inn too."

"The sing says "Konjo's Bar" though." Hanabi said. "There's an illustration on your sign of two men stabbing each other in the heart while downing bottles."

"Yeah well that sign is a relic, and there's a really funny story behind that picture." The blond bar tender winked, "But I've been meaning to get it changed. The sign I mean. I'm just too busy these days."

Hanabi nodded, "Okay . . . so how's this work? What's your sensei do when she brings you here?"

"For starters you let us order whatever we want and you cover the bill." Masaru said.

"Really?" Hanabi raised another unconvinced eyebrow at him.

"That's how Kimiko-sensei does it, yeah." Masaru said.

"Don't listen to him." Takumi sighed, "Generally they get a round of drinks before a mission, and a big dinner after."

"Okay so this is 'before' what are you guys going to drink?"

"Just water." Yuu sighed.

"That fizzy stuff you gave us last time." Kasumi decided.

"The best sake in town!" Masaru cried.

"Ha and Ha. I doubt your new sensei wants you kids plastered." Takumi grinned.

"Hey man, I am _fourteen _years old. I'm a veteran of _sixteen _successful missions, one of 'em C rank! You telling me I can fight for this village, put my life on the line for this vilalge, but I cant get a drink?"

"Damn straight." Takumi said with a smirk.

"Fine. Just . . . dandelion tea then. That stuff was okay."

"And for the temporary sensei?" Takumi asked.

Hanabi frowned, "Let's try this fizzy stuff Kasumi likes."

"Haha! See, big sister and I like the same things, we've got like this mental connection!" Kasumi said.

"Does that mean _you're_ in love with your brother too?" Masaru asked. "Because _she _is."

Kasumi choked on her tongue and backhanded Masaru, "No it does _not _mean that! There's limits to the mental connection's capabilities, you know!"

Hanabi smiled lightly and noticed that though Kasumi had apparently hit quite hard, Masaru was not moved by it. He did not even seem to have felt it.

"While we're here in this relaxed setting, "Hanabi said, "Maybe you can tell me about your capabilities. That way when I get the full information for our mission I'll know how best to utalize you."

"Okay . . . but only if you cover the bill for these drinks." Masaru said.

"Isn't that what a sensei does?" Hanabi asked.

The Cloud Genin all looked at each other in surprise, "Really? That's not what Kimiko-sensei tells us!" Kasumi cried.

"Yeah, I was trying to swindle you before. Isn't it supposed to be a sign of respect for the students to pay for their sensei's many . . . many, _many _drinks?" Masaru demaned.

"I knew that was a screwy code of ethics." Yuu commented. "She played us."

"I feel so used." Masaru sighed. "Well fine, out of revenge, make that _two_ orders of tea, Tak-kun!"

"Yeah, and a second fizzy-whatever-they're called!" Kasumi agreed.

"Just the one water's fine." Yuu noted.

"Why're you taking revenge on _me_ for your sensei's bad habits?" Hanabi asked.

"That's a good question, Masa." Kasumi nodded.

"Because she made us wise to it. Havent you ever heard that ignorance is bliss, Hanabi-senpai?" Masaru cried.

* * *

Sasuke was not hampered by the darkness in the least, but even if he'd wanted to dispel it he couldn't. The blue haired kunoichi kept his hands far too bust as she made strike after strike, all the while giggling insanely in the dark.

Sasuke could hear her movements, could hear her feet beating on the earth as she advanced.

He only wished he'd seen whoever'd performed this Jutsu perform it, it might have come in handy in a future duel with Naruto.

He'd heard Saizo scream and Kurai grunt, he didn't know about Shiroi.

But he couldn't afford to be surrounded by three enemy Jounin in this darkness, he leapt into the air as high as he could, coming to a tree branch which he held onto and then used to propel himself even higher!

Finally he was out! He looked at the ground.

The darkness covered about a twenty meter radius, he shouted down to his Genin "Fall back, out of their spell!"

He didn't know if anyone was alive to hear him.

He soared into the air for a moment more before his opponent emerged from the darkness as well, "Ooh! You lost this battle as soon as you went airborne! You're mine now, Sharingan-Man!" She said with wild, childlike enthusiasm painted on her face as she soared up after him.

Sasuke began to fall down, she met him half way back to the sphere of darkness and kicked him up higher into the air.

Without anything to kick off of she somehow managed to continue to rise and follow him.

He smirked as she kicked him higher into the sky. It wasn't the pain that amused him, but the fact that she seemed quite intent on raising him up and letting him fall to his death.

Well that wasn't going to happen. He began to form a lightning blade in his arm, the chidori came together behind his back and then she kicked him again.

This time he grabbed her leg and pulled on it, bringing the rest of her closer to him as he thrust his hand forward and slammed his Chidori into her stomach!

Her eyes went wide and they began to descend together.

Sasuke would have to think of a way to avoid dying when he hit the ground. He knew he could sprout wings by relying on his cursed seal . . . but he'd greatly prefer not to.

But to his surprise the blue haired kunoichi's horrified expression didn't lead her into death. Instead she said "You _jerk_! That's where babies come from, now I'll never be a mommy!"

"What?" Sasuke blinked.

"I cant ever have kids now 'cause you ruined my body!" The woman clarified.

That wasn't really what Sasuke had meant of course. He didn't give a damn about whether or not this psycho had kids, he just didn't get why she was still alive after a direct Chidori to the stomach!

"You're lucky it didn't hurt or I'd be mad!" She roared, punching him in the face.

He tried to pull his arm away from her bleeding stomach but she gripped his shoulder and held him as they fell towards the ground below and continued punching him in the face. "I'm a woman! You're not supposed to hit women! Didn't your mother ever teach you _anything_? Well since you've robbed me of the capability of child birth I'll just have to mother _you_, won't I? Lesson one, be _nice _to girls!" She roared as they plummeted to the ground.

With one strong punch Sasuke was sent soaring into the air again, his arm ripped clear of the woman's gaping stomach wound.

He flipped in the air and tried to get over the shock as he watched her fall back into the darkness. He hoped the fall killed her, but he doubted it would.

It wasn't like that was the first time someone had survived Chidori . . . but it was the first time in a long time.

Suddenly someone grabbed him from behind. He glared over his shoulder to see the blue haired psycho again! "I was just kidding," She said, "I can still make babies. You wanna make a baby with me right now?" She asked in a lusty voice.

"No." Sasuke said frankly.

"Oh . . . too bad, you're cute. But if _that's _how you wanna be then I guess I don't need you, do I?" She sighed, and Sasuke spotted a kunai knife coming up for his neck.

He reached over his shoulders for her face and snapped her neck!

She went limp, the kunai fell from her hands, Sasuke smirked to himself.

Until she suddenly wrapped her legs around his waist and threw one of her arms around his neck. "A gapping hole in my stomach didn't work you think that's going to do me in? Get real please." She punched Sasuke in the back with her free hand, "You like that? You want more, baby? Tell your _mistress_ you want _more_! Tell her you want to be her _play_ _thing_ and maybe she'll let you live a little while longer!"

"What's it take to kill you?" Sasuke demanded, blasting the woman with Chirdori Nagashi! Lightning coursed through his body, it should have been ripping her to shreds as she held him.

But somehow she held on through the attack.

"I _told_ you this fight was lost once you went airborne." She whispered when he'd finished, "Time now for the landing! You should have made that baby with me, if you were really good at it I'd have let you live so we could make more later on!" She sighed longingly, "But now you've got to die!"

Sasuke growled as she punched him in the back again and again as the ground below them came closer and closer . . .

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Sorry, no baby yet. But we're still at the point of updating every day, so soon. Soon. Thanks for all the reviews and support by the way


	36. The Gift of Eternal Darkness

**Chapter Thirty-Six**

Shiroi's eyes were her greatest asset, she relied on them for just about everything.

She'd never realized before just how terrified she was of being unable to see. The blindness she seemed to be suffering was absolutely the worst thing in the world to her.

She was nullified, she couldn't fight, it was hard to distinguish the sound of her Jounin adversary over the sounds of everyone else fighting, she didn't know where she was, she didn't know where her opponent was, she didn't know where her squad mates were . . .

She heard Sasuke-sensei shout something but she didn't catch it, which surprised her because she was striating so hard to hear _anything_.

Nervously she backed off from the fight, her opponent seemed to have let her go.

Or so she thought, then she bumped into something.

Whatever she'd bumped into suddenly reached out to wrap an arm around her waist, and she felt a knife pressed to her back, "Who's this? A pretty little girl I see . . . and yes, I _can _see you little girl." The sinister voice whispered in her ear, "Should I let you live? No . . . you're far too young for my taste, and I'm not the most patient of men, I'd have no use for you for far too long for you to be worth it. So I suppose I will just have to kill you now . . ."

Shiroi thrust her elbow backwards with all her might while simultaneously lurching forward while sweeping her legs back.

The Jounin's legs were not swept out from beneath him, his grip on her did not loosen and her elbow felt as if it'd struck stone!

She drew her kunai and struck out for his neck, but felt his own blade slowly creeping up her back.

She struck out again and again with the kunai, he laughed and said "You _do _remember when I said that _I _can see you, right? I can see your feeble attempts, and I can dodge them. But you . . . can you see me, my pretty? Can you feel the cold blade caressing you? What am I going to do to you? Will I slit your throat perhaps? Or shall I just impale you? I can just cut you and leave you to die slowly . . . your teammates are dead you know. Your sensei is dying . . . what can I do to make your end as enjoyable for myself as theirs were?"

Shiroi didn't believe for a second that her squad mates were dead. To even consider that Sasuke-sensei might be dying felt like entertaining thoughts of blasphemy too, Sasuke-sensei was invincible!

"I'll kill you!" She warned her unseen opponent as she felt his sword come up to her neck.

"Hmm . . . I know what I'll do to you . . . you're such a beautiful girl I think I'll give you a present."

Shiroi tried the elbow attack again, and again it was like she was striking hard rock. His grip on her waist began to tighten like a vice. When she moved her hands up to her neck to keep the blade from cutting her throat she felt it slice into her fingers, she felt her own blood flowing down her wrists.

"I can tell you like my little darkness Jutsu . . . so your gift is life. Life in eternal darkness. I will cut out your beautiful eyes, little girl. Aren't I generous?" He laughed loudly and yelled in her ear, "Aren't I merciful you poor, _weak _little girl?"

Shiroi had never felt so helpless, so weak, so terrified. Now she felt her skin crawl as if a thousand needles were moving across her body.

The very idea of not seeing again made her struggle all the harder for freedom, she felt the blade bite deeper into her hands as she now held it in place to keep it from her eyes!

For the second time since she'd become a ninja she felt tears coming to her eyes, and for the first time in her life that she could remember, she screamed "Help me!"

**

* * *

**

Ami giggled. Sounded like Hikaru-kun was enjoying himself.

And so was she as the Jounin struggled in her grasp.

"Sasuke Uchiha . . . looks like the only thing about you that's hot is your appearance." She said softly to herself.

She had thought she was safe. Surely by now Kaori and Hikaru had killed off the Genin, the Jounin was her play thing and she was ending his life now. All she could hear in the darkness of Hikaru's genjutsu was the kitch skitch kitch of insects everywhere as if the darkness were driving them mad.

She never considered that those insects might be her enemy, didn't believe for even a moment that they meant her harm, she focused on her Jutsu.

It was a variation of puppetry, save that the "puppet" she animated was infused with chakra allowing it to take Ami's form and speak words which she sent to its mouth telepathically.

Using this Jutsu she could remain still and quiet in a secure, safe location while her avatar fought for her. Uchiha had broken one of her beauties beyond repair when he slashed her stomach with his Jutsu and sent her crashing to the ground.

The current work of art was already sustaining irreversible damage, she'd have to be discarded if she couldn't be fixed. As Uchiha used his weird lightning body Jutsu again the puppet was wracked with damage which softly registered in Ami's brain as data rather than pain allowing her to tell the puppet to intensify its punches.

She felt something crawling up her leg and she ignored it. Generally when she used this Jutsu, Kaori would be nearby to make sure nothing bothered her, but Kaori was dealing with the Genin right now, and she was still running on less chakra than Hikaru had felt comfortable with.

The only thing that could hurt her were the silent Genin but they were busy being dead or fighting for their lives.

She shuddered, hampering her Jutsu for an instant-not long enough for her to lose control-and resisted the urge to sweep the bugs off her legs.

There were so many now crawling onto her, moving over her bare ankles up the legs of her uniform pants-which she might have enjoyed if she weren't in the middle of a fight-over her clothes up over her entire body, she even felt one making its way slowly over her cheek.

She fought hard to keep her focus on the puppet and the killing of the Jounin. She was a Jounin herself, such things like fear of bugs or having crawly things all over her body failed to distract her.

Should have failed anyway, she realized now she _was_ fairly distracted.

But when suddenly every bug on her body bit down the distraction was too much. Her Jutsu was lost, and she gasped in pain.

Knowing her Jutsu was broken she began inflicting vengeance on the insect swarm, but the bugs were just too much!

Worse more were coming for her, she fought them off as best she could, which as it turned out was not very well at all.

What was the matter? She wasn't wearing any purfume that might attract them . . .

She was so confounded by the kitching and the skitching of the insects on her, the biting and the minor yet collective pain that she failed to hear when the snake began to approach her.

She didn't fail to notice when it slowly began to wrap itself around her legs, she began to struggle as it constricted on her, crushing her legs then moving further up to wrap itself around her abdomen . . .

"Sss-now you die . . ." The snake hissed to her.

Ami stabbed it with a kunai as she crushed bugs crawling over her face, the snake made a sound a lot like laughing.

Ami shuddered as the snake began to squeeze her chest. Fine . . . she gave up. "Kuh-kuh-Kaori!" She screamed, "H-help me!"

* * *

Kaori stood just millimeters from the boy with black glasses. She could kill him, she could reach out and take his life slowly, or simply slit his throat. 

She could do so much . . .

But she did nothing.

He looked unconscious, pinned down by a large, dead snake.

He was breathing very shallow breaths, but other than that there were no signs of life in him.

Was he afraid? The girl in his squad screamed for help and his facial expression did not change in the slightest. He did not twitch.

But he was not unconscious, so what held him back?

Was it fear? Did he hope that she did not know he still lived?

She scowled. The coward. The traitor. He'd let that girl _die_ because he was too afraid?

True there was nothing he could do to stop Hikaru . . . but the worthless slime could have _tried_! That girl was his comrade, his teammate, yet he sat there pretending to be dead!

Well Kaori decided she'd help him make a more convincing performance as she drew forth a pair of kunai.

He wasn't worth wasting the chakra to use her technique on him.

She'd just slit his throat.

She moved in and whispered "Game's over little one."

And his head moved in her direction from holes on the side of his face flying insects emerged.

The lifeless snake suddenly became very much alive as its tail lashed out in an attempt to trip Karoi!

She let it phase through her just in time! The monster suddenly somehow sprang for her, freeing the downed Genin who rose to his feet.

He probably didn't see the snake phase right through Kaori's torso, but he likely did hear it slam into the ground behind her.

It sprang for another strike, which Kaori wasn't fast enough to avoid.

She let that phase through her as well, the snake's massive head irrupted from her chest and she slammed both her kunai into its eyes!

It fell to the ground, phasing through her during its trip. She moved out of it so that she could cancel her technique, keeping her eyes on the Genin.

"Very impressive." She said. "You knew I was there the whole time?"

"I have nothing to say to the enemy." The boy told her.

"Very proper. You even sacrificed your squad mate for a chance to kill me. Proper, if somewhat cold." Kaori smiled. She was about to say something else when she heard the panicked cry from Ami!

"Kuh-Kuh-Kaori!" The pale woman's head snapped in the direction of her fellow kunoichi. Ami was covered in insects and a large snake was about to crush the life out of her. Kaori scowled.

She and Ami had their disagreements, they were not really friends. Likely they would not even associate if not for Hikaru. But Ami _was _a Jounin of Kumogakure, she _was _part of Kaori's squad and she _was_ sharing Karoi's lover.

While the latter part might have caused any other woman to hesitate, the disappointment Hikaru might endure if he lost Ami outweighed the pleasure Kaori might feel at her death. The enemy in front of her was instantly forgotten, she activated her technique just in time to avoid another strike from the blinded snake. She ran for Ami, moving as quickly as she could! She sprang for her fallen comrade before she could cry out for help.

As the word "Help" finished leaving Ami's mouth Kaori had already leapt towards her, the woman grabbed her rival and they both phased into the earth leaving behind all the snakes and insects that had been attacking her.

Phasing underground was like swimming submerged in the water. The difference was that Kaori did not have to breathe. Instead of lung capacity chakra capacity came into play, and Kaori was almost completely drained of her chakra.

The Jounin could hear the ground above her but she could not see it. She could move at great speeds, but holding Ami with both hands hampered her. Phasing Ami also drained _more _of Kaori's chakra, and to make matters worse Kaori had to keep in mind that Ami _did _need to breathe soon.

But with any luck she could escape and reach a safe place to continue on foot.

Hikaru was on his own, though he'd no doubt escape as well once it was clear that his support was gone.

If he felt he could finish the Genin though he might be in a dangerous position if Ami had failed to kill the Jounin.

* * *

Sasuke felt the enemy Jounin suddenly go limp after his second Chidori Nagashi. 

He wasn't feelling to hot after all that, but at least she seemed dead.

He shoved her away as he fell. He quickly bit into his left hand-his right was still covered in blood from ripping a hole through the now hopefully dead Jounin-and smeared it on a scroll he kept in one of the pouches of his flak jacket.

High speed Jutsus were Sasuke's specialty. Technically he could even fall from a considerable height and survive it, but he was too far up and falling far too fast to have much hope of that this time.

So when the giant snake emerged from a black summoning mist Sasuke was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

It looked up at him and stuck out its forked tongue.

That tongue was enormous and strong, but also soft enough not to cause Sasuke too much discomfort as he landed on it.

He landed on his feet and then leapt off of the snake's tongue into the cloud of darkness, before he ever hit the ground he'd already used the Jutsu to release it.

It didn't work for some reason.

Sasuke considered that the darkness might not be Genjutsu, and it made sense since his Sharingan couldn't seem to penetrate it.

He heard Shiroi screaming though-he was surprised he hadn't been able to hear her outside of the darkness-and he rushed towards the sound of her voice.

He scowled, he might not be able to see, but he _was_ a Jounin. An elite ninja of the village hidden in the leaves.

He began gathering the chakra for another Chidori, though Shiroi might get in the way of the strike it wouldn't be an issue if things went right.

His foe turned and shoved something in his path, Sasuke put his hand out as Shiroi gasped in surprise.

He shoved her aside and struck out for the enemy ninja with his Chidori!

It was bizarre not being able to see Chidori, the lightning chakra should have given off a faint glow at the very least but in the pitch black of this Jutsu even Chidori was enveloped in darkness.

But Sasuke could feel his opponent, could hear the surprised grunt as his Jutsu tore into the man's chest.

He could hear the pitiful attempt to breathe from a man whose lungs had just been separated from his throat, curtesy of the gapping hole in his chest.

Sasuke smirked as the man fell to the ground dead and the darkness Jutsu began to dissipate.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	37. Team Hara

**Chapter Thirty-Seven**

Sasuke looked around, taking inventory of his Genin and their injuries.

Shiroi was on all fours gasping for breath, her hands were covered in blood and her eyes were wide open, scanning the area the same as Sasuke was though there was a slight look of relief on her face.

Kurai stood looking relatively unharmed with one of the snakes Sasuke had summoned before to aid in the search. The serpent had had kunai run through his eyes, but Sasuke knew the great snake had been blind for years.

Its sense of smell was the reason Sasuke had summoned it, and while it was likely made uncomfortable by the actual loss of its eyes, neither its life nor its usefulness was endangered by it.

Which was just damned lucky.

Saizo's pet snake, Oro-Chi, had taken a Kunai as well, but as the serpent reverted from its empowered state to its much smaller true body the blade fell away harmlessly.

The giant snake hadn't been hurt at all, unless Sasuke had left a bad taste on its tongue.

Saizo was sitting with his back to a tree looking rather annoyed. He was bleeding from the shoulder, which bothered Suske a bit, but far more concerning was the wound in his stomach which looked pretty severe.

Sasuke went over to his Genin and inspected the wounds.

The shoulder injury was bad enough. It seemed to have made Saizo's arm limp, and such wounds completely crippled ninja in the field. Worse he might not regain the use of the limb given how bad the damage looked.

But his stomach wound was bleeding profusely, and _that _made the shoulder wound seem like nothing at all in comparison. At the rate he was loosing blood he'd die.

They had no medic and their supplies would be insufficient to stop the blood flow. Saizo didn't seem totally coherent either, his eyes were rolled back up into his head and though he was breathing, it sounded like hard work.

There was no way around it: Saizo was as good as dead.

Sasuke drew a kunai from his own equipment pouch. The boy could die quickly or the boy could die slowly. It was annoying, Sasuke had thought Saizo a promising student indeed.

But he was a ninja, so was Saizo. Saizo knew the risks involved in the job.

Frankly against three Jounin Sasuke was lucky only one of his Genin had been mortally wounded.

"You did well." He told Saizo, not completely sure that the boy could hear him. And he struck.

A hand stopped him, he glared up at a depressed looking young woman wearing a white jumpsuit with the sleeves and pants cut off just above the elbows and knees. Her exposed arms and legs were wrapped tightly in bandages and her forehead protector, which she wore on her shoulder had had its blue headband removed and replaced with a white one.

Even her heart shaped face was strikingly pale, in fact the only color on her was her amber hair and matching eyes.

She hadn't been able to stop Sasuke's thrust, though she had shoved it off to the side so that it slammed into the tree rather than Saizo's neck. "There's no need for that, Uchiha-senpai." She said, kneeling in front of the boy and rather abruptly shoving Sasuke aside.

Sasuke recognized the woman as a member of Naruto's old team. He was surprised he hadn't sensed her, or her two companions.

He supposed Naruto, who'd learned stealth from Jiraiya and Kakashi-sensei, had taught them well.

He glanced over his shoulder and spotted Naruto's other two brats. The one who'd become a Jounin by age sixteen, Hara Masamune was kneeling next to Shiroi, who seemed shaken.

He had spiky blond hair similar to Naruto's, and wore about as much obnoxious orange as Naruto. He also wore the standard issue flak jacket for Jounins, and six shuriken holsters. One on each thigh, one on each lower leg, and one on each arm just above the elbow.

The third member of the squad was inspecting Kurai for injuries, she was, if Sasuke recalled correctly, named Hijiri Hitomi. Her hands were wrapped loosely in bandages, though her long legs were covered in fishnet. She wore more belts than seemed necessary at her waist. She wore skin tight black shorts and a black tabard that went down to her knees. Her flak jacket covered the design on the back of her tabard, which had been the kanji for "speed" before she became a Chuunin.

Her hair was longer in front and shorter in back, going down over her breast in front but failing to advance past her shoulders in the back. She also wore a pair of goggles with black lenses, Sasuke had never seen the girl remove them for any reason.

Which meant the woman who'd so unceremoniously shoved Sasuke aside to being treating Saizo's wounds was the third member of the group, Yamamoto Miyuki, who'd just been promoted to the rank of Special Jounin for impressive medical skill if Sasuke was not mistaken.

"What are his chances, Yamamoto?" Sasuke demanded.

"Fair. Better if you don't distract to me, senpai." Miyuki answered. Sasuke remembered Miyuki had a rather sweet bedside manner towards her patients, but no patience for distractions while she was working, taking medical jutsu very seriously.

She'd hated being a Genin under Naruto, for whom causing a distraction and forcing people's attention was second nature.

Sasuke stepped away from her, leaving her to do what she could for Saizo as he focused instead on his other students. Kurai seemed fine, he was gathering up his bugs. So Sasuke knelt down by Shiroi, who was now rubbing her eyes vigorously.

"Is something wrong?" Sasuke demanded, remembering how frantically Shiroi had been looking around when the darkness lifted, "Are you having trouble seeing?"

"She can see." Masamune said, "She's just a little teary eyed."

"I _wasn't _crying, just so you know, Sensei!" Shiroi added, "I just got something in my eyes!"

Sasuke smirked and said "Well you're going to stain your face with your own blood." He took one of her hands and looked at the cuts, "These are pretty deep." He said to Shiroi, who tore her hand free and kept rubbing her eyes, "Stop that, nobody cares if you cried."

"I didn't!" She complained.

Sasuke helped her get to her feet and said "Wait by Yamamoto-the woman in white. Don't say anything that might distract her, in fact don't say _anything_. When she's done with Saizo she'll help you, and for pity sake stop rubbing your eyes."

Shiroi complied and Sasuke turned to Masamune, "Good of you to arrive after the battle's over."

"Your Genin there is _lucky _we showed up at all. Anyway it looks like you got 'em all."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

There were three dead bodies in the field.

Two women and a man.

He frowned, both women had fallen from extreme heights. One had a bloody hole punched through her stomach, and the other was covered in electrical burns.

They both should have been the blue haired Jounin Sasuke had fought, that was how he'd dealt with her . . . but now in death they looked very little like her. They were about the same height and build but their faces were different.

They also looked like they'd been dead _before _Sasuke had . . . re-killed them.

The third body wasn't the Jounin who'd summoned the darkness either.

It wasn't even a body, it was a pile of black sludge.

Sasuke scowled. "They _all_ escaped. We'd better get to the rendezvous point as soon as we can move."

"No point, the soldiers are all dead, the place is a wreck." Masamune said. "The mission's a failure, senpai, even if we could take the convoy we couldn't get the gold back to Konoha ourselves."

Sasuke shook his head. "The mission's not over. Soldiers of the Fire Country lost their lives for this raid and if the ones responsible think they've made a clean getaway, it's up to us to prove them wrong. As for getting the gold back to Konoha, we won't have to. I've got a plan, we move as soon as everyone's ready."

* * *

Ami opened her eyes in a field of death! 

Surrounded by the terrifying forms of murdered soldiers of the Land of Fire . . . it was actually quite calming and pleasant, she thought.

Kaori had brought her back to the initial location of combat.

She was sitting over her now, Ami sat up and said "Why'd we stop you lazy tramp?"

Kaori didn't bother to answer her she just took very slow deliberate breaths.

Ami felt something hit her in the head an turned to see Hikaru leaning against a tree with a hand full of rocks. "I knew I'd end up putting these to use when you came to, Ami. And poor Kaori is completely drained, she's got no Chakra, she used the last of it helping _you_ escape."

"How's she even able to sit up if she's running at zero?" Ami asked, unconvinced. Kaori was lying to make it seem like she'd done more when really she'd done almost nothing. That way Hikaru-kun would be impressed with her and like her better!

Well Ami wouldn't have it. She punched Kaori in the shoulder, expecting her fist to go through her.

But the test failed as another rock slammed into her fist, stopping her from punching her companion, "We don't have time for this." Hikaru said, "Stop bullying each other."

Kaori coughed but otherwise didn't respond , Ami nodded to Hikaru, "What's the plan captain?"

"You're going to help Kaori get to the village the convoy is headed for and rest up. I'll meet you there."

"Should I rent a room with one bed or two? I'm thinking two because you know how Kaori is _so _drained of her chakra, she'd really only be a bother to us, so there's no . . ." Ami trailed off, Hikaru was giving her one of his 'I don't care so shut up' looks, which annoyed her. She _wanted _him to care, she wanted him to show some blasted interest in what she had to say once in a while!

Oh well . . . Ami smiled at Kaori.

If she really was weak . . . Ami could get rid of her. Take her out of the picture. Then she'd be the _only _woman for Hikaru to have any interest in. He'd hang on her every word like a devoted slave, it'd be wonderful.

She'd just have to take Kaori to a good alititude and--oops! Just let her slip out of her grip!

She smiled broadly and said, "Let's get you to safety, Karoi-chan."

"If she doesn't make it," Hikaru added suddenly, "I will hold you responsible, and I will _kill _you, Ami."

Oh he probably didn't mean that . . . but it'd be best not to test him. Ami giggled, "You know me too well." She said.

"This is a three man squad," Hikaru said seriously, "It had better still be a three man squad by the time I return to it."

"It will be," Ami said, "I love Kaori! She's like a little sister to me, except she's like ten years older."

"We're . . . the same age . . . you bi-"

"Oh, Cow Face, you can talk!" Ami teased, "Guess you've got a bit of strength left in you after all!

"Shut up and get going." Hikaru yawned. "I'll slow them down and try to lead them to the village. I doubt it'll take much effort since that's where they're headed anyway. You two rest up and get your strength back. You'll need it because the next time you see me, assuming they haven't turned back for Konoha you'll be expected to handle the bulk of the fighting yourselves. I'll be too exhausted after the chase."

"Yes sir!" Ami said.

"And if you have to fight, it'd better not be to the death." He added. "I may not be through with either of you yet, but I swear I'll kill the survivor. "

"We'll try to leave some life in each other." Ami said. "Can I scar her face up?"

"I like her face." Hikaru said.

"You like mine better right?" Ami pressed.

"Look, _any_ scars you leave on each other had better be in places I don't care about." Hikaru scowled. "Now go."

Ami nodded. "I just hope I can lift her fat ass."

Kaori slapped her, but she was so exhausted it didn't hurt. Ami giggled, "Even if I can't drop ya from a hundred feet up I can have fun just calling you names on the way there!" She giggled insanely as Hikaru stalked of into the trees to begin the game of tag or whatever with the leaf Shinobi.

"Should . . . have left . . . you . . . to die." Kaori grumbled.

"Yeah? Well thanks for not doing so." Ami said after Hikaru was out of earshot, "To show my appreciation I'll sing my Cow Song for you on the way to the village to lull you to sleep so you can get all that much desired chakra back."

Kaori didn't say anything, but the look of horror on her face spoke volumes. The pained grunts and groans she made as they made their way to the village even made Ami's raucous singing, a dead giveaway of their location to any enemy Shinboi, worth the risk.

* * *

Shiroi sat especially near to the fire that night. 

Saizo was asleep. He'd live, he was just a little short on blood.

Shiroi shuddered, even though she was warmer than she liked. She had mixed feelings. She wanted to find the enemy and make them pay, rip them to pieces, kill them all.

But what if she messed up? What if she . . . cried again?

She'd only cried one other time since she became a Shinobi, and nobody knew about that time but Tomoko. This time _everyone _knew she'd cried. Her sensei knew, Kurai knew and if Saizo didn't know he'd probably find out. Even this other team knew she'd cried and they didn't even know who she was!

She jabbed the fire with a stick. If Neji found out he might not train her anymore. Sasuke-sensei was a great sensei, Shiroi had learned a lot of Jutsus from him, but without Neji how would she continue to improve in the Hyuga family style of fighting?

Neji didn't like weak students.

"You know . . ." Kurai said suddenly, "we're pretty lucky to be alive. Those were three Jounin level ninja against us." He sat down uninvited next to her. Shiroi stabbed the fire a little more viciously to make it known that she didn't want company, Kurai ignored the warning.

"I mean Saizo's lucky to be breathing." The insect herder said, "Sensei even got more of a hassle than he'd expected but he handled himself. If he hadn't reentered the fight when he did we'd have been toast."

"What's your point?" Shiroi snapped.

"Just that . . . it's not so much fun when _you're_ the helpless inferior one, is it, Shiroi?" Kurai asked.

Shiroi smiled darkly, "Oh, so now I'm the bad guy?"

"No. No one's the bad guy." Kurai said softly. "But you know . . . you could stand to be a better good guy. Especially now that you know how it feels to be on the other end of the bullying."

Shiroi scoffed . . . but Kurai had a point. Maybe. Not that it mattered or anything . . .

"And don't worry too much about what happened," Kurai added, "I've never been more frightened in my life either, not even during our first mission."

"You didn't fall apart." Shiroi muttered.

"No I didn't. But I'm Aburame Kurai. You're Hyuga Shiroi. We're different people." He took her stick away so that she couldn't stab the fire anymore, "I can't know what went through your mind, I couldn't hear what he told you, and in any event I would never judge you."

"Wait how do you know he told me anything if you couldn't hear it?" Shiroi demanded.

" You say you didn't cry so as far as I'm concerned you didn't cry. But the people who love you will love you even if you _had_ cried during one little mission."

"You saying you love me?" Shiroi asked.

Kurai's calm exterior melted away for a moment as he choked and coughed, quickly he said "N-no! No I just . . . I mean Sasuke-sensei . . . he didn't strike your forehead like he usually does when you screw up, so he must not think its that big a deal. These guys here, it's not like they're going to go spreading the word, they don't care enough to do that. And if you don't tell Saizo, he's never going to know, because Sasuke-sensei wouldn't bother telling him, and I'd never tell him."

"Yeah, you just said a whole bunch of stuff and all I heard was 'blah, blah, blah, I love you Shiroi, blah, blah."

Kurai shook his head. "Fine. If you're not going to listen I'll just leave."

Shiroi smiled as Kurai got up to leave, "Thank you." She told him. He didn't say anything, he just walked off. She smiled and found a new stick to poke the fire with.

She heard a soft chuckle from behind her, "I think that's the first time I've seen Kurai blush." Sasuke-sensei said. "Maybe any Aburame for that matter. I'll recommend you to the Hokage for a commendation."

"Yeah sure." Shiroi yawned.

"And also . . . there've been missions where I've cried." Sasuke said.

Shiroi fell back and looked at her sensei. "You liar!" She gasped.

Sasuke-sensei shook his head. "Think that if you want. But you're still a child. Crying doesn't mean you won't become a strong person Shiroi. The ability to cry once in a while shows that you still posses enough heart to be a _balanced_ person. You can be a balanced person who has strength. At least that's what I believe."

_Yeah maybe_. Shiroi thought to herself. _But I wasn't crying for the sake of a comrade or because the sunset was _that _beautiful. I was crying because I was scared. That's nothing but weakness._

**To Be Continued . . . **

**Note: **Nope, no baby yet. Mind you when I was writing all this it did not actually strike me just how long it would take this baby to be introduced, but she _is_ coming. The long delay was only partially intentional. For now it _looks_ as if everyone from team Uchiha is safe and sound.


	38. Sunagakure At Last!

**Chapter Thirty-Eight**

"Sunagakure." Shikamaru sighed. "Finally."

"So, like, we made it?" Syako asked.

"We're _here_, you can _see _it with the eyes in your head," Yomiko cried, "yet you still need to ask if we're here?"

"Well you might be using ninja tricks on me maybe." Syako pouted.

"Now that she's made it, and the mission is successful . . . can I kill her?" Yomiko asked.

"Second that!" Tomoko said suddenly.

"You're both just jealous that Syako is better endowed than you." Kotaro scoffed.

"Mine aren't finished yet!" Tomoko snapped.

"I'm twelve!" Yomiko cried.

Shikamaru sighed again and massaged his temples. "Kids. Why, _oh why _did Temari and I have one?"

"That's a good question." Chouji said.

"Can we go now?" Syako asked. "I want to be there now." She said.

"I _have _always wanted to see Sunagakure." Daisuke said.

"I wonder what kind of food they have." Kyusaku said.

"Oh yeah!" Syako cried, "Food! I'm so hungry! I want to eat too!"

"Why? Don't they store water like a camel's hump?" Tomoko grumbled. Shikamaru stared at her. "What?" She demanded.

Shikamaru shook his head, "That's something I'd expect from Yomiko."

"It's something I should have thought of." Yomiko acknowledged.

"I'm older, my mind works faster." Tomoko said.

"Shame you're wasting it on such sick and unamusing jokes." Shikamaru said.

"You guys shut up!" Syako whined, "You're making my head hurt, I don't understand anything you ninja are saying in your little ninja language!"

"Again, can I kill-"

"No, Yomiko!" Shikamaru said, "She's not safely delivered until we reach the village entrance."

"Then can I-"

"No." Shikamaru sighed.

They walked on towards Sunagakure through the expanse of sand, the gates to the village were wide open, admitting any who wished to enter.

Shikamaru held his breath when he laid eyes upon the two people standing in the village's entrance.

His would be brothers in law.

Gaara stood bedecked in blue and white Kazekage robes.

Kankuro stood dressed as he normally did, in a mostly black outfit, face painted.

How could he stand to wear all black in the desert sun? Shikamaru, who still favored his own all black-save for the flak jacket-look was burning alive.

"Kan-kun!" Syako cried and rushed over, throwing herself at Kankuro.

Kotaro gawked, "What's he got that I haven't got?"

"Experience?" Daisuke offered. "As a ninja I mean. Not . . . you know."

"The sand told me of your approach." the Kazekage said. Though Gaara had lost a portion of his power some time ago he had somehow managed to come back to full strength and go even further, becoming strong enough to sense any movement on or in the sands surrounding the village. The foot steps of Shikamaru and the two squads must have rang out like a bell to him. "I must admit I'm surprised you're here, Nara Shikamaru."

"You honor me, Kazekage-sama." Shikamaru said stiffly.

"Don't be too sure." Kankuro smirked.

"I'll try not to be, _Kan_-_kun_." Shikamaru said.

"Kan-kun! Kan-kun!" Syako cried, kissing him some more.

"Don't call me that!" Kankuro cried, "Not you," He told Syako, "You!" He shouted at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru smirked. Gaara turned to Kankuro and said "Pick yourself up, Kan-kun."

"You too?" Kankuro demanded, but quickly got up and said "I mean uh . . . yes lord Kazekage."

"So . . . some guy's girlfriend is worth seven prisoners?" Kotaro grumbled.

Gaara raised an eyebrow and Shikamaru quickly whispered to Kotaro, "That is Kankuro, not _some guy_, he's theolder _brother _of the Kazekage."

"This young woman," Gaara said, "Is not only engaged to my brother, she is a niece of the Lord of the Land of Winds, who did indeed deem her worth any number of prisoners, especially prisoners captured through the hard work of our allies, rather than our own Shinobi. You have our thanks, Nara Shikamaru."

"Which is why he didn't splatter you." Kankuro added. "You know, for what you did to our sister."

"Don't blame that on me." Shikamaru blurted.

"Are you implying that it's _his _fault you got his sister pregnant?" Yomiko rolled her eyes. "You're so lazy you can't even take responsibility, sensei! Jeez!"

Gaara smiled. "I like her." He said.

Shikamaru shook his head, "So Temari really is . . ."

"What you think I lied?" Syako demanded.

"You think Temari would lie about something like that?" Gaara asked in a curious, not aggressive voice.

But how quickly could Gaara become aggressive? Shikamaru didn't want to find out.

"That's what we came here to determine!" Yomiko said, "Now make with the baby! March the little thing out here right now so I can see her!"

Shikamaru sighed, his head hurt so bad.

Gaara smiled and said "Temari was performing training exercises with her team this morning and they're not expected back until the afternoon. I will have Kankuro come fetch you as soon as she returns. Meanwhile you're all welcome to explore, or take a guided tour of Sunagakure. It is the least we can do for you as thanks for giving up your own prisoners for the sake of our lord's niece."

"She said she wasn't anyone important." Kankuro grumbled.

"We're very tired." Shikamaru said.

"Then Kankuro can conduct you to the place where you'll be staying." Gaara said.

Shikamaru could tell Kankuro wasn't too thrilled with the idea of running around fetching and leading.

It was Genin work, and Kankuro was a Jounin same as Sikamaru. Had technically been a Jounin longer than Shikamaru and as one of the Kazekage's advisors would have outranked Shikamaru had they been from the same village.

Shikamaru shuddered to think that they just might _be_ from the same village soon.

Kankuro led them to a rather nice estate, Shikamaru had stayed here before on the rare occasions where he visited the sand village.

It was like a hotel for nonresidential ninja, and the tab was always covered by that individual's village.

Yomiko sighed, "So what do we do while we wait for your girlfriend?"

"Sleep." Shikamaru suggested.

"Do we all get our own rooms?" Kotaro asked.

"No." Kankuro said. "That is you Genin don't. Gaara had the rooms prepared when the falcon brought word that you'd be coming."

"I thought the sand clued you in." Shikamaru said.

"The falcon from Konoha said that teams would be coming soon, not to kill them, you know, standard affair. The sand just told Gaara that you were here. Anyway there's personal room for each Jounin, and two Genin per room of their own."

"Okay, older boys in one room, younger boys in another and girls to your own." Shikamaru reasoned.

"Never would've figured that one out, sensei." Kotaro yawned.

"So go find your rooms and go to sleep or whatever." Kankuro scoffed, "I've got to go make sure Syako wasn't traumatized."

"She seems pretty hard to phase." Yomiko said.

"Tell me about it." Kankuro grumbled.

* * *

Naomasa stared at the ceiling of the Suna hotel. It had a bizarre design of a squirrel-badger cross-breed or something fighting a fox.

It was kind of creepy.

"So I wonder how long we're staying." Kotaro said. "I mean . . . you know, maybe just like ten minutes right? Shikamaru-sensei sees his baby and pow, we're outta here!"

"Maybe." Nao said. "Seems kind of a shame to come all this way and not look at the place though. Don't you want to see Sunagakure?"

"No." Kotaro said flatly.

There was a knock on the door and Tomoko entered. "Nao, c'mon."

"Eh?" Nao raised an eyebrow at her, "What?"

"You're coming with me, I already got Shikamaru-sensei's permission." The older girl explained.

"We're supposed to be sleeping though." Nao said.

"No, just resting. Five minutes is long enough to rest if you ask me. Now c'mon."

"Where're you two going?" Kotaro yawned.

"On a date." Tomoko shrugged.

Nao nearly swallowed his tongue.

"Dude! That's _so_ not fair!" Kotaro gawked. "Can I come?"

"Uh . . . it's a date?" Tomoko raised an eyebrow at him. "Anyway I only got permission to take Nao."

"Fine. Leave me here alone, Nao, and go out with your hot older girlfriend." Kotaro rolled his eyes.

A **date**? With Tomoko?

"What?" Nao asked dumbly.

"C'mon." Tomoko said, "This'll be good, trust me."

Nao looked at Kotaro, he seemed to know more about women.

"What?" The other boy laughed, "You want _my _permission? I already said to go with her! Maybe you'll get lucky!"

"Ch'yeah, not much chance of that so don't even think about it." Tomoko said frankly.

"Not much of a date then, is it?" Kotaro sneered.

"Well _you'll_ never know. C'mon already, Nao." Tomoko insisted.

Nao followed her out into the hallway of the hotel. Once the door was closed and Kotaro was unable to hear them he said "You know . . . I don't really know how dates work."

"Doesn't matter, this isn't really a date." Tomoko said, "I just said that to screw with your perverted friend."

"Oh good." Nao sighed in relief, but simultaneously with disappointment.

"What do you mean 'oh good'?" Tomoko demanded, playfully shoving him, "I'm not good enough for you? I see how it is. Never mind that, if anyone asks you it _was_ a date, we enjoyed it but if you say that we kissed or anything like that I'll murder you. See if I don't."

"Okay, so we're not going on a date, but we're supposed to tell everyone we did . . . what are we _actually _going to be doing?"

Tomoko grinned, "I'm going to teach you my Jutsu."

**

* * *

**

Yukio scowled as the Jutsu he'd worked so hard to learn failed.

The force of Ryu's blow, though slow moving had been enough to shatter the defense Yukio had been using.

He wished Temari-sensei would teach him the automatic defense the Kazekage was rumored to know so that at least he could continue using sand. It was more familiar to him, he was more at home with it.

She was Kazekage-sama's sister, she could probably get whatever scrolls the Kazekage had learned it from.

But instead Ryu's blow had _shattered_ the defense Temari-sensei _was _teaching him!

"It got through!" Yukio shouted.

"You cushioned it though, and that's progress." Temari-sensei told him.

"If you'd just teach me to use a sand shield instead-"

"It's no good to just trust in your sand, you need more than that if you're going to be a ninja." Temari-sensei told him.

"You know as a specialist you've got no right to talk to me about specializing." Yukio pointed out.

Temari's eyes narrowed, "I can do more than fight with a fan."

"Prove it, sensei!" Yukio said.

Temari smirked, "I don't have to prove _anything _to you."

"Then I don't have to believe you!" Yukio smirked back.

"No. You don't." Temari allowed. "Well that's enough for today anyway."

Yukio shook his head, "No, we keep going."

"That's my line, and it's not in the script right now." Temari said evenly, "Your comrades are exhausted."

"So why should they hold _me_ back?" Yukio demanded.

"Why should your refusal to rest drag _them_ down?" Temari asked.

"You know a snail could train us better than you!" Yukio snapped.

He hadn't meant to say that. He _so _hadn't meant to say that! He'd meant to say a snail could train them _faster _than Temari-sensei . . . but well . . . it was out there now.

"Oh?" Temari sighed.

Well . . . since he'd already told her she sucked he could at least give a good reason _why _she sucked. "Look uh . . . it's just you don't even know about controlling sand, you're a terrible sensei for me. I should be trained by someone who _knows _about my gift, someone like Kenji-sensei, _he _was a good teacher."

Temari shrugged. "I'm sure Kenji-san was an excellent teacher. I'm very sorry about what happened to him but his fate more than anything else should have driven into your skull the fact that we are at war and people _will _die. But he's left me excellent students who learn quickly and execute everything with efficiency. I may not be as good a teacher as he was but I can see where you need to improve and I mean to see that you do."

"Then let me improve my strengths!" Yukio implored, feeling like maybe this slip of words had been exactly what he needed to _really _make Temari-sensei see things his way! "I want to use sand the way the Kazekage does!"

"No one can use it the way Gaara can, and there's a reason for that that you don't even _want _to know about. You can run around controlling sand as if that's all it takes to be a good ninja. But it isn't." Temari folded her arms, "This defense is excellent against the Hyuga, but if you feel you're better off with the sand shield then be my guest, try to learn it. When you find yourself on a field without sand, when your sand supply is gone and you've nothing to defend or attack with you'll find yourself dead. Well at least with one less student I can focus my attention on Ryu and Kyoko instead."

One less student? Yukio laughed, "Yeah right, one less student. The only way that'll happen is if I get a new sensei, because even you know I'm the best! I could train myself!"

"Oh for crying out loud Yukio," Ryu began but Temari shrugged.

"Fine. You're on your own, train yourself." The woman said simply. "Now the rest of us are going back the village. You can stay out here in the desert and train if you want. After all you're your own sensei now, Yukio."

What?

"Temari-sensei, I was just-I didn't-" Yukio protested but she walked off.

"Sorry." Kyoko shrugged and followed Temari. Ryu just shrugged and said nothing.

They left Yukio alone on the training grounds.

He shrugged. This would be passing. It'd been a long hard day and Temari-sensei didn't like to be second guessed in any case, let alone when she was tired and cranky. She would come back and say that she just wanted to show him how much slower things would be without her, he was sure of it.

She wouldn't just abandon him!

Would she?

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note:** Baby next chapter. And no worries, most of the official characters do have at least one original jutsu I have made for them, though Sasuke shares his with one of the original characters, Hitomi. Naruto is one of the characters who doesnt fall in with most of the others, I have got nothing for him, but I've still got plenty of time before I come to the point where he will need to fight.


	39. Super Small and Just as Lazy

**Chapter Thirty-Nine**

Shikamaru lay on the bed staring at the ceiling.

The design of the battle between the One Tailed Tanuki and the Nine Tailed Fox demons. How interesting that the villagers had decided to make such a decorative ceiling.

As Shikamaru lay awake on the hard bed he couldn't help but think about how disgusting that depiction was.

It came from a time when Suna had betrayed their alliance with Konoha and tried to annihilate the leaf village and every living person in it.

It should be a sight forgotten about, not something reveled in.

He couldn't sleep, despite what he'd told the bratty Genin.

He couldn't stop thinking about Temari . . .

This was stupid. He couldn't sleep and she was the reason so he laid in bed thinking about her?

It wasn't like he didn't know where she lived, why was he wasting his time here? Even if she wasn't home she'd _go _home eventually and that's where he'd see her.

Besides falling asleep had always been easier in her bed anyway.

* * *

Kotaro knocked on the door and waited for a response.

He wasn't totally sure why he was doing what he was doing. He just wanted to relieve his boredom he supposed.

"Who is it?" The answer from inside came.

"It's me, Hatake. I've got something important to tell you."

Kyusaku opened the door, "What is it?" He asked.

"Oedo," Kotaro said without wasting any time, "are you aware that your sister is dating my friend, Ishida right now?"

Daisuke stared blankly at Kotaro for about ten seconds. Kotaro expected him to say 'that's outrageous, she's far too old for him!' or something. Instead after he took those ten seconds to consider his course of action he leapt off the bed on which he'd been sitting and shouted at the top of his lungs, "**_YES_**!"

"What?" Kotaro blinked. This wasn't the reaction he'd expected at all.

"Yes!" Daisuke roared, "Haha! Finally! _Finally_!"

"Uh . . . what?" Kyusaku asked.

"Don't you see, Kyusaku? Now it all makes sense! This is why Tomoko always teases me for being nice to younger girls, she's just trying to cover up _her _attraction to younger men! She can't tease me anymore because _I've_ never _dated _any of the girls I'm nice to! _Furthermore _this means Kurai was right and she and Shiroi really _have_ just been pretending to like each other to screw with us which means Shiroi is single and just there for the _taking!_ Since _you _don't want her, Kyusaku and since Saizo probably still thinks she's with Tomoko _I _can swoop in and do the taking! But most importantly if my sister marries Nao she's marrying into freaking _wealth_, baby!"

Kyusaku looked crestfallen, "You think that's best?"

"Maybe you don't know how rich he really is," Daisuke said.

"But I mean do you think Tomoko wants that?" Kyusaku asked.

"She's dating him, isn't she?" Daisuke scoffed.

"Yeah but I mean you're talking about them getting married but it's just one date." Kyusaku said.

"He's got a point." Kotaro put in, though he was still a little confused by all this.

"Besides, why should Tomoko want to marry Ishida just for his money?" Kyusaku asked.

"How _else _is father going to take her back?" Daisuke laughed, he rushed over to the door and grabbed Kyusaku and Kotaro and hugged them both, "My sister's straight!" He cried happily.

"I hope you are too. Please stop hugging me." Kotaro grumbled.

"Oh sorry!" Daisuke grinned and shoved the two other boys away, "Where did they go?" He asked.

"Uh . . . what?" Kotaro blinked.

"Where did they go?" Daisuke asked.

"I don't know!" Kotaro gawked, "They wouldn't let me go with 'em!"

"Good!" Daisuke said, "It wouldn't be a date if you went, and we wouldn't know if you hadn't told us! You did the right thing kid, now let's go get that girlfriend of yours!"  
"Do what now? I don't want to have anything to do with that crazy redhead!" Kotaro cried.

Daisuke looked confused, "The who? No, the cute little raven haired girl on your team, Sarutobi."

"Oh her. She's not my girlfriend, you can have her." Kotaro said.

"Well no matter, just go get her!" Daisuke said eagerly.

"Why?" Kotaro and Kyusaku both asked together.

"Methinks Cupid I shall play." Daisuke said to himself.

"The heck is a Cupid?" Kotaro asked.

"Just get the girl." Daisuke sighed.

* * *

Shikamaru got into Temari's home with ease. Because she wasn't home no one had answered the door, but his shadow could easily slip under the crack of the door and simply open it up from the inside.

No minor lock could stop Nara Shikamaru or his shadow.

He entered the residence and felt his heart pounding so hard he felt like he might have a heart _attack_.

He proceeded down the halls, the house wasn't big--though it was rather large by the standards of Sunagakure, Temari was the daughter of the fourth Kazekage, and sister of the fifth after all--so searching it shouldn't take long.

He came to the door to the room that, if he recalled correctly-and of course he did-belonged to Temari.

It seemed a good place to start looking for an infant.

He opened the door and crept inside.

Nothing.

Well there was Temari's bed. There were scrolls everywhere, littering shelves and the floor, there was a battle fan on her wall with blue spots on a forest green background instead of her usual violet on white.

He frowned, nothing important.

Well the small home did have _another _room, and that seemed a prime place to look.

As he approached the room he suddenly heard the soft cries of a baby.

He gulped.

It all seemed so surreal.

Maybe he really had fallen asleep, maybe he was dreaming this . . .

He crept over to the door, he could hear the sounds of someone inside trying to comfort the child.

It wasn't Temari's voice, it was older and spoke in a tone far softer and far more soothing than any Shikamaru had ever heard Temari use even in their most intimate of moments.

With a shaking hand-and he was rather surprised that his hand _was _shaking-he opened the door and took a step inside.

Temari had definitely decorated this room, the use of purple was overwhelming.

Lavender walls, violet furred stuffed animals, about the only other color was blue, and that was just the trim on the curtains.

There was a wooden cradle in the center of the room, unsurprisingly it too was purple.

Sitting over it, rocking it slowly was a somewhat elderly woman who dressed in yellow as if in defiance of the purple and white room.

"I warn you, if you steal anything you'll be hunted down and the item will be taken back along with a great deal of your blood," The old woman said, "This is the home of the Kazekgage's older sister and-" She glanced over her shoulder at Shikamaru and said, "Oh my."

Shikamaru held his hands up, "I'm not here to steal anything." He said.

The old woman smiled, "I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever have the chance to meet you." She said.

"You know of me?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"No. That is why I wanted to meet you." The old woman clarified.

Fine, be that way. Be troublesome.

Shikamaru took a tentative step towards the cradle, "She uh . . . she doesn't sound too happy."

The old woman shook her head, "No she doesn't. But maybe . . . you could try to calm her down."

"Oh . . . what a drag." Shikamaru said. "Anyway how do you know you can trust me to do that? Maybe I'm an assassin."

The old woman's laughed, "You're a ninja but you're not here as an assassin. I'm surprised you're from Konoha, but I knew you couldn't be from Suna."

"The vest does sort of give me away." Shikamaru admitted.

"I knew it before I saw you just now." The old woman said. "I'm Sagara, the most talented nurse in all Sunagakure when it comes to childcare and I care for Temari-san's daughter when she's not around. I've delivered _almost _every child in this village over the past forty years and I know every person in this village." Sagara smiled, "I can always tell who both a child's parents are just by looking at the child. This one? She looks like her mother, but I wasn't sure about the father, she's had me stumped for a while now. I knew he couldn't be from Sunagakure because the features weren't recognizable to me. But just looking at you I can tell."

"You can?" Shikamaru gulped.

"Does it surprise you that there's some of you in her appearance?" Sagara turned back to the cradle and said "I know children better than anyone else in Sunagakure, aside from perhaps their mothers. Not that fathers are ignorant, dear, though in your case it may be the case. But I know this type of cry. This is the 'I want my mommy' cry. Temari-san isn't here now, you'll have to do." Sagara laughed softly and stepped away from the cradle, "Go on."

Shikamaru gulped and approached the cradle, he looked inside at the crying child within . . .

* * *

Yomiko stared at the boys, "You're not serious." She said.

"We are." Daisuke told her. "So we need you to take us around to all the places a girl might want to go on a date, so that we can track them down."

Yomiko shook her head. Out of all the kids of team Akimichi she'd had the most respect for Tomoko. Tomoko was a girl, like her which counted for a lot, but also she seemed pretty talented.

But if she was dating Nao . . . well that was gross for starters, and furthermore it showed she had really lame taste in men, because Nao was just like . . . a nobody. He wasn't even a very good ninja and maybe he was a little cute but . . . well Yomiko just wasn't sure what had possessed Tomoko to date him.

"So I've got to take you three around to any place that _I _might like to be taken on a date . . . and in the process we're going to magically find your sister and our teammate?"

"Yeah." Daisuke said. "You're our only hope, you're the only one who can think like a girl."

Yomiko shrugged, "Well okay but I can't very well be seen dating all three of you, what would people think? No it's going to have to be me and one of you by ourselves with the other two trailing not so far behind."

"Not going to happen." Kotaro said. "I don't care _that _much, I'm not going to pretend I'm on a date with you, Yomiko."

"Well I guess I can do it, but-" Daisuke was saying but Yomiko held up a hand.

"I didn't ask either of you. Kotaro you're out because sensei already thinks we like each other and that's just sickening. And Daisuke, you're out because frankly you creep me out, no offense."

"None taken I guess." Daisuke said, but he was rubbing his cheek as if he'd been slapped.

"So that leaves you," Yomiko said to Kyusaku, "You're the least creepy guy present so you're taking me out."

"I uh . . . well . . . oh bother." Kyusaku sighed. "As long as it's just pretend." He said.

"My thoughts exactly. No offense." Yomiko nodded.

* * *

She had hair the same color as Shikamaru's, though her eyes were undisputedly Temari's.

Frankly she looked far more like a mix of Shikamaru's mother, Yoshino and Temari than Shikamaru and Temari.

Which was good really because Shikamaru supposed no girl wanted to have the facial features of her father.

He gulped again.

There it was.

He'd just admitted it mentally, this was his daughter.

He knew it just by looking at her, but somehow it still didn't seem real. Like a really convincing genjutsu, this was all just far too bizarre.

He had a daughter.

_He_ had a _daughter_!

He reached into the cradle and gently picked her up. She slowly stopped crying as he raised her up out of her cradle and held her in his arms. He wasn't terribly sure about how to hold an infant but Sagara rushed over to correct him right away, adjusting his hands so that he held her properly.

She wasn't really an infant either, she was pretty big, maybe already a year old. She looked at Shikamaru with those pretty green eyes of her mother and wore the same odd confused look _his _mother sometimes wore when he did something that truly stumped her.

Shikamaru didn't want to read too much into her expression but it was as if the reason she had stopped crying wasn't because she was happy to be held by this stranger who was holding her, but far more because she just didn't know what to make of this stranger who'd so rudely come in and decided to pick her up.

"I'll go now and let you have some privacy." Sagara said, and Shikamaru assumed the old woman meant to leave him alone with his daughter. This made him feel nervous, even a little bit of panic. What if she started crying again? What was he going to do? Had he said or done anything to make the old woman think she wasn't wanted because he'd take it back, just don't leave him alone with this baby! How troublesome!

But he suddenly felt arms wrap themselves around his waist and felt Temari's chin on his shoulder. "Couldn't wait?" She whispered.

Whatever Shikamaru might have said came out as an awed grunt.

Temari laughed and whispered "Sumiko . . . this is your daddy."

This girl gave him a 'yeah so what' look. She reached out for Temari instead.

Temari laughed and squeezed Shikamaru a little tighter, "I never thought in a million years you'd come so quickly. I hope I don't have to get pregnant _every _time I want you to visit me."

Shikamaru shook his head slowly, he _really_ regretted not visiting Temari sooner.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked.

"I wasn't really sure how to. I couldn't say it in the letters, if they'd been intercepted the enemy would have known I was pregnant too. They'd know about Sumiko and they could use her to get at me. They kidnapped Kankuro's girlfriend to get at him too." Temari sighed, "I _wanted_ you to know, I wasn't trying to keep it a secret."

"But why tell me just as you're leaving Konoha? Why not tell me right away?" Shikamaru asked.

"You're the genius, haven't you figured it out? Those days we spent in Konoha were the last we'll ever spend that way. Lazy, lustful, wasting time just wrapped up in ourselves. I enjoyed it but . . . having a baby changes all of that. I wanted just a few days of being the only woman you loved. But the reason I told you as I left was because I wanted you to follow me right off, I wanted you to come back with me."

"I wanted to." Shikamaru whispered. Sumiko seemed to have figured out Temari wasn't going to take her. Instead of crying had gone to sleep instead.

Maybe it was the way Shikamaru was gently rocking her, a motion set by the way Temari gently swayed from side to side as she held onto him.

"But I really hoped," She whispered, "that you'd be here for her first birthday. That's why I demanded that Gaara let me go on that mission to take a note to the Hokage." Temari laughed, "Really it was a lot of nonsense, nothing more than a 'how do you do, your friend the Kazekage continues to support you' kind of letter and I'm sure she scratched her head at it . . . but I think Gaara understood how important it was that I got to go get you."

"I don't believe this." He whispered. "Does she walk yet? What about her first words? Such a drag, I should have been here! What were her first words?"

Temari shook her head, "She hasn't started talking yet. She recognizes some words, we're pretty sure she _can _say a word or two, she just chooses not to. She's lazy, like you."

Shikamaru smirked at his sleeping daughter. "Good girl." He said.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**What's in a name?** The baby wasn't a spur the moment thing, she was planned before chapter one of New Blood was ever written. But she wasn't called Sumiko until about the time I'd posted chapter fourteen or so. Originally she was going to be named Yoshika so I could call her Yoshi, and so that her name would contain the all important "Gentle Deer" Shika. But I was never totally satisfied with this name.

Like _most_ of the character's names I wanted something that had a meaning more relevant to the character herself. The name Sumiko means clear thinking and/or pure child, so I chose that instead, figuring that the "Shika" could be used for their eventual son instead, who unlike his sister hasn't been planned and in fact might not come about during the actual story but just in case, there it is.


	40. Tomoko's Jutsu

**Chapter Forty**

Shikamaru lay on Temari's bed staring at the ceiling, Sumiko fast asleep on his chest.

"Bastard." He said finally to Temari.

Temari scoffed, "Don't use that word around Sumiko again, Shikamaru. I'll kill you and then she really will be one."

"Well _I'm_ not going to say it to her." Shikamaru said. "But everyone else will. Unless you marry me. You know, for her sake." He said "And quick." He added, thought it felt a little odd proposing a second time to a woman who had just threatened his life.

Temari laughed, "We tried that, remember?"

"This time we do it." Shikamaru said firmly. "I'm marrying you. I'm not letting this girl grow up without a father, and I'm not giving anyone any valid reason to use that word on her."

"And we'd live in Konoha." Temari reasoned.

"Living in Suna would be less troublesome. If we move you and Sumiko-chan to Konoha that's two people to move and I'd have to find a new home."

"What's wrong with the one you have now?" Temari asked.

"It won't fit our children." Shikamaru shrugged, and regretted it because it made Sumiko stir.

"Children as opposed to child, hmm? And how many do you see in our future." Temari asked, gently rubbing the girls back so that she calmed.

"Two." Shikamaru stated. It had always been his plan to have a girl and a boy in that order. To be married to a woman who was neither beautiful nor ugly, and retire as soon as his daughter was married and his son was independent.

Well he'd deviated from his plan a bit. Temari was beautiful, but that was okay because she didn't have most of the attitude problems that beautiful women generally had.

"What if we had three?" She asked.

Well . . . Shikamaru supposed that wouldn't bring the world to an end or anything. He looked at Sumiko and smiled, "You know she's kind of chubby."

"It's baby fat." Temari yawned, hugging her pillow.

"She's not a baby anymore, she's almost a year old." Shikamaru said. "You're fat Sumiko-chan, your troublesome mother's been spoiling you."

Sumiko remained asleep, yet even in sleep her face took on a slightly annoyed look as if to say 'shut up, I'm sleeping'

"Leave her alone." Temari smiled, kissing their daughter softly on the forehead, "Stop thinking of mean things to call her."

"I don't mean to." Shikamaru frowned. He glanced at Temari. "Do you think she likes me?"

"I don't know." Temari said watching their daughter, "I doubt it, you keep calling her names."

"She's asleep, she cant hear them." Shikamaru said.

"She can still hear you." Temari said, rubbing Sumiko's back gently, "Anyway I don't think she knows what to make of you. I talk about you to her sometimes . . . but she's still just a baby. I think you need to stick around, let her get used to the idea of having a mommy _and _a daddy."

Shikamaru smiled and laughed.

"What's so funny?" Temari demanded.

"You don't want to know." Shikamaru said.

"You thought of something else to call her?" Temari rolled her eyes.

"No."

"Then what is it?" Temari asked with a sideways glance..

"Whenever you say 'mommy' or 'daddy' it's just so . . . I mean you're so _soft _around her."

"She's a _baby_, I have to be soft." Temari said with a crooked grin, "You ought to try being a bit nicer to her. You know, not calling her fat would be a good start."

Shikamaru smiled at Temari, "Well this is troublesome but . . . I guess it's not really a drag. Having a kid I mean."

"We planned to have children before the war started."

"We planned to be married when that happened." Shikamaru said.

"It really bothers you that we had a child out of wedlock?" Temari asked.

"Not in the way you might think. I'm not mad at you or Sumiko, I don't wish that she'd never been born. Atually I'm really glad that she was because otherwise I wouldn't know something so small could have such an impact on me. But I'm mad at myself for not marrying you earlier."

"Well we were engaged, doesn't that count for anything?" Temari asked.

"An engagement is just an engagement until Gaara lets us get married." Shikamaru said.

Temari was quiet and then she said "What about the Genin?"

"You'll stick with your team and I'll give team ten to Ino." Shikamaru said, "I'll stay here in Suna with you and Sumiko."

"No." Temari said softly. "I don't . . . that is I don't want Sumiko to grow up in Sunagakure. Shikamaru I want you to take Sumiko to Konoha with you when you leave."

Shikamaru stared at Temari, "You what?"

"I have to train these Genin, I cant just turn my back on them. But at least if I can make them Chuunin and give them a chance of surviving this war I can go to Konoha with you and not have any regrets." Temari kissed Sumiko on the forehead again, "I want our baby to be safe, and at least in Konoha she can be looked after by her grand parents whenever you're not around. Don't get me wrong Sagara is a wonderful sitter but she's also in high demand, she has other things to do besides watch Sumiko for me and your mother and father are both retired ninja. Sagara has never so much as lifted a Kunai."

Shikamaru frowned, "And what if your team doesn't pass the Chuunin exams?"

"Then I'll stay here until they do. Once they've passed I'll come to Konoha and we'll be married whether Gaara likes it or not."

Shikamaru was quiet for a moment and considered what Temari was telling him. "Why not raise her together in Suna? You can stay with your team and I can give mine to Ino."

"Because Sunagakure is on borrowed time Shikamaru, I can feel it in my bones. And if anything happened to Suna I don't want to think of what might happen to Sumiko. But all things considered Konoha is the safer of the two villages, and if Konoha were attacked I _know _you'd be clever enough to find a way to keep our daughter safe."

"Maybe she shouldn't live in either village." Shikamaru said softly.

"What do you mean?" Temari asked.

"The daughter of two Jounin at any other time would have been the sort of girl everyone expected great things from. But now she's just in danger. If either village fell and she were caught in the middle she'd be killed just because of who she is."

"I guess we'll just have to work that much harder to be sure neither of our villages falls." Temari whispered.

"Hard work. What a drag." Shikamaru sighed.

"She's worth it." Temari said, looking intently at Sumiko.

"Yeah . . . I guess she is." Shikamaru nodded.

* * *

Tomoko smiled, "It takes a lot out of you, but it's effective." 

Nao and his four clones all nodded. He'd found four was the most he could manage at one time, and it'd taken him about thirty minutes to focus the chakra for them.

Naruto-sensei, for whom shadow clone jutsu was so easy, would be ashamed.

But Nao watched Tomoko as she displayed the hand seals again, and again, taking him slowly through the jutsu.

"Got it!" One of his clones said.

What? Could his clone really figure something out before he did?

"Show me." Tomoko said.

The clone stepped away from Nao and the others and rapidly performed the hand signs identical to the way Tomoko had, save much faster.

He inhaled deeply and shouted "Fire Summoning!"

He exhaled stream of smoke that pathetically tried to take some kind of form.

Nao's clones laughed, Nao grinned but Tomoko nodded, "Not bad for a first try, especially considering how little chakra each of your clones has, Nao."

"Why did you decide to teach _me_ this?" Nao asked.

"Because you remind me of a younger, male version of myself. We've got a lot in common. I know how it feels to be treated like you're weak. I know how much it hurts to feel like you're behind everyone else." The tanned girl cracked her knuckles, "My teammates treat me like I'm a burden just because I'm a girl and because I can't always train during my spare time the way they can. People tell you that long enough and you'll start to believe it. If Naruto-sensei didn't start helping me to train I'd probably still think I was the weakest in my whole team. But now I know I'm just as strong as they are, and no matter what Yomiko-chan might say I can tell you're strong too, Naomasa."

Nao frowned at Tomoko, "Th-thanks." He mumbled, hoping he wasn't blushing he tried changing the subject, "So you made this Jutsu yourself?"

"Naruto-sensei helped me, but yeah." Tomoko said. "The few members of the Oedo clan to become ninja were all proficient with fire jutsus, but then I guess all Oedo are pyromaniacs anyway."

"Your whole clan?"

"The Oedo clan." Tomoko shrugged. "Not really _my _clan anymore."

"Why not?" Nao asked.

"That's not important." Tomoko said, folding her arms.

"You're too young to have been married away to another clan," Naomasa reasoned and hoped, "and they didn't get wiped out, because Daisuke's still alive . . . wait does it have something to do with why you have to have a job and he doesn't?" He asked.

Tomoko's gaze darkened, "I'll tell you all about that if you can master my Jutsu."

Nao nodded and said "Okay, show us the hand signs again."

"Me too, I'll do it too!" The clone who'd nearly managed the Jutsu said.

They showed the hand signs, and Naomasa did his very best to memorize them.

But it was hard work. "Try it now." Tomoko said.

Nao and his four clones inhaled deeply and shouted "Fire Summoning Jutsu!" together and all exhaled streams of smoke at varying degrees of thickness.

Tomoko coughed and waved the smoke out of her face, "Okay, not bad," she choked, "just try to focus your chakra and try again."

Nao nodded and tried to focus his chakra. He tried again.

* * *

Yomiko frowned, after hours of searching they were running out of places to look for their teammates."This place is _okay_." She said, looking at the fancy romantic restaurant. "But Tomoko-chan is a tomboy right?" 

"Yeah I guess." Kyusaku said.

"So she'd want someplace less . . . girly." Yomiko said.

"Well this is all assuming they went to a restaurant." Kyusaku said.

"Why wouldn't they?" Yomiko asked. "It's about lunch time."

"I know. But they could have eaten at the hotel, where it would have been free." The fat kid pointed out.

"Nao's rich, besides girls don't like free. Free is super bad on dates, expensive is good. Women like to be pampered, they want a man who can spend, spend, spend on them!" Yomiko said.

"Are you sure Tomoko-chan is like that?" Kyusaku asked, sounding concerned.

"Yeah. All women are." Yomiko said.

"Okay . . . I'll try to remember that." Kyusaku frowned. "So uh . . . where do you think Tomoko-chan _would _want to go?"

Yomiko smiled, Kyusaku seemed pretty interested in his teammate's romantic life. Daisuke and Kotaro had motivation and an excuse but if Kyusaku was just being dragged along it sure didn't act like it.

"Where would _you _take her if you weren't taking her out?" Yomiko asked with a smirk.

"Well she likes weapons, I'd see if there was a weapons shop anywhere and take her there. I mean I'd scout the place out first and make sure it was good enough to interest her, but that's where we'd go."

"Uh-huh. Sounds like a plan lover boy, let's go." Yomiko grinned.

"L-lover boy? N-no, way kid! Tomoko and I are like brother and sister!"

"No, Tomoko and Daisuke are like brother and sister, you could _so _date her if you wanted." Yomiko said. The fat kid looked panic stricken so Yomiko added, "Not that you want to right? But hey, let's keep going with _your _line of thought. I mean you know her better."

"But you're a girl." Kyusaku said.

"I think I knew that." Yomiko said. "But you've obviously put a bit of thought into this Tomoko dating scenario, I'm just running on what _I'd _like."

The fat Inuzuka blushed and said "Well okay . . . but just because I have some ideas doesn't mean I want to date Tomoko-chan."

"That's true, it doesn't." Yomiko said soothingly, then laughed and said "The fact that you blush whenever you say her name and the word 'date' in the same sentence does!"

"Shh!" Kyusaku grumbled, "Daisuke might hear you."

There was a flash of light and Yomiko covered her eyes, "Ugh! What is that?" She demanded.

"That's Tomoko-chan's special Jutsu!" Kyusaku cried, running off in that direction, "She must be in trouble! We've got to go!"

"Well . . . I guess we know where they are now." Yomiko said to herself and followed Kyusaku.

Too bad they had found them, she was going to have some fun teasing Kyusaku about that crush of his. Oh well, she could do that later.

* * *

Nao dismissed all of his clones, they'd all made astounding progress according to Tomoko, and most of them were now breathing sparks. All of them, Nao included were beginning to complain bout heart burn. 

"Now that you've got the experience from all the clones, try it again." Tomoko urged.

Nao nodded. He was just about out of chakra, but he focused what he could into this jutsu of Tomoko's.

He braced himself and shouted "Fire Summoning!" He inhaled deeply and breathed out bright, hot flame!

A small ball of fire came forth, and thought it was bright he kept his eyes open as Tomoko had instructed.

The flame took the form of a bird and about the size of a canary and soared up into the sky, it flew a few circles around Nao's head.

He stared at it, he'd done it!

He'd used a jutsu!

Sure it was puny, but he'd done it!

It dissipated in a loud crack that lit up the afternoon sky like a signal flare, some people nearby--Tomoko and Nao were training just outside the city's gates--applauded, there were a few whistles and someone who cried "we're under attack!"

Tomoko whistled, "Not bad kid. Not bad." She smiled, "You learned it in one day, it took me and six clones a whole month to make it. Don't fret the size either, you're worn out and even managing a small one like that is amazing. Your flame familiar should be a lot bigger though, and it should be able to stick around a lot longer and fight for you. Yours seemed to just fly off and do its own thing. Never mind that though, that was awesome for a first day, and now that you know the basics you can practice on your own. If you have trouble just let me know, and I'll help you out." Tomoko smiled.

Nao nodded, and tried to take a step . . . but he was so drained of his chakra that he just fell forward.

Tomoko caught him and laughed, "Guess that shouldn't be unexpected. Don't worry, we're done now, you can rest." She helped him walk over to a bench near the city's gate and said "sit down, relax, we'll head back when you're ready."

Nao nodded. "Hey Tomoko?" He asked.

"Hmm?"

"Thanks."

She smiled, "It's not a problem. Hey, this way if I bite it on a mission at least I've passed on my one and only original Jutsu, y'know?" She sat down next to him, "Most of it's just you being a good student, and the shadow clones but maybe someday I should be a sensei. What do you think?"

"Sure." Nao said, leaning against the bench and sighing as he looked up at the sky.

He'd used a Jutsu. He couldn't get over it. Right above his head his fiery phoenix had flown . . .

"Tomoko, you said if I used the Jutsu you'd tell me about your clan."

"I did, didn't I?" Tomoko sighed. "I'd sort of hoped you'd forgotten."

"Well if you don't want to that's okay." Nao said. "But if you did want to . . . I'd really like to hear about it."

"Are you sure?" The older girl asked.

"Yeah. I want to know more about you." Nao shrugged.

Tomoko lowered her gaze. She shook her head, "Not now. Not here . . . when we get back we'll go somewhere private. Then I'll do it."

* * *

Yomiko saw Daisuke wave her over from an alley, "Over here!" He whispered. 

Whispered?

"You found them?" Yomiko asked.

He held a finger to his mouth and shushed her.

Yomiko frowned as she proceeded down the alley with Daisuke and Kotaro and Kyusaku. It stopped near the street, the main gates.

There was a bench and sitting on it were Nao and Tomoko.

They were kind of cute together.

"Hey, why are we all just standing here?" Yomiko asked, "Let's tease them!"

"Shush!" Kotaro hissed.

"What why?" Yomiko asked.

Daisuke watchced his sister, "Spying is more fun than teasing . . ." He said.

Yomiko listened, "When we get back," the older girl said, "we'll go somewhere private. Then I'll do it."

Yomiko grinned lecherously, "Hehehe, wait 'till Sensei hears about _this_, he won't tease me about liking Taro ever again!"

**To Be Continued . . .**


	41. Sandy Days

**Chapter Forty-One**

Tomoko was very quiet for a moment, Daisuke scowled, "You think she's noticed us?" Kyusaku whispered.

"Well if you keep quiet we may not have to find out." Daisuke said.

"Yeah but . . . she's not saying anything so this is kind of a poor spying mission." Kotaro whispered.

"Oh she's said plenty already!" Yomiko giggled, "I'm telling sensei, I'm telling sensei!" The girl sang.

"Cool. What're we telling him?" Tomoko whispered.

Daisuke frowned. "Uh . . ." Daisuke struggled to think of something really good. The Tomoko on the bench suddenly twisted around and thrust her right hand forth, a metal claw shot out for him!

Daisuke dropped to the ground and the claws grabbed Kyusaku instead. The clone grabbed both Kotaro and Yomiko by the scruff of their necks and Daisuke got up feeling like he'd just avoided capture when a second claw snapped out and wrapped itself around his waist.

He sighed as his sister pulled him in.

"Oh hi . . . everyone." Nao frowned, "What are you all doing here?"

"Absolutely nothing!" Daisuke cried, "You two continue with your date, and you young man have my permission to wed my sister by the way!"

"Uh, to do _what_?" Nao gulped, "I'm twelve!"

"Indeed you are, you'll be the first in your class to get hitched!" Daisuke laughed, "You two must have a lot of wedding planning to do, so just let us go and we'll--"

"We're not getting married." Tomoko said flatly.

"Really?" Kyusaku asked.

"We were just hanging out," Tomoko said, withdrawing her claws and having her clone disappear, she grabbed Daisuke by the collar, "and _you_, you sick pervert, should have known better than to-"

"Oh my gosh!" A voice cried, "Hey look they're here! They're here! Hahahaha!"

"Oh . . . cool. I guess."

Daisuke raised an eyebrow, "Oh, hey there Kyoko, Ryu."

"I knew you'd come to see me!" The redhead cried, rushing over.

"Well what can I say? I . . . oh." Daisuke began but stopped when Kyoko threw her arms around Kotaro. "Uh, yeah, anyway I'm not a pervert, I just happen to approve of you two being a couple."

"Couple? We're not a couple!" Tomoko cried, "We're hanging out but that doesn't mean we're a couple!"

"But . . . it doesn't mean you're not either." Daisuke said.

"Uh, yeah, yeah it does." Nao said. "Just hanging out doesn't make anyone a couple. If that were the case our your sensei and mine would be a couple, but the fact that Shikamaru-sensei has had a daughter suggests to me that that isn't the case."

"Just suggests it?" Shikamaru scoffed. "That's it, you're not my favorite anymore."

"I _knew_ he was your favorite." Yomiko scowled.

"Sensei!" Daisuke greeted, "Good to see you. Where's your baby?"

"With her mother." Shikamaru-sensei said, "But I felt like I should make sure my Genin weren't causing trouble. Odd little gathering by the way. You're all discussing my sexual orientation because . . ."

"We weren't," Daisuke assured the Legendary Laze, "It's just my sister was dating your Genin and-"

"And they're gonna do it!" Yomiko blurted, "She said it! She said they were gonna do it!"

"So Nao . . . did you do it?" Shikamaru asked.

"What? Sensei of course not!" Naomasa cried.

"Yes he did. It wasn't the greatest, but he managed it." Tomoko nodded.

Daisuke's jaw dropped.

His sister!

His pure, innocent, virgin . . . okay maybe not pure, innocent, and maybe even not a virgin, but his sister none the less!

"Now you have to marry her!" Daisuke cried, grabbing Nao around the neck, "Haha, the brother-in-law I've always wanted!"

"Wow . . . I can't believe you did it before me." Kotaro grumbled. "Was it fun?"

"What? But we didn't, I mean I didn't," Nao was complaining, but Shikamaru-sensei smiled and nodded his approval.

"Tomoko's a fast teacher, but then again she did learn from Naruto."

"Naruto? Naruto and my sister?!" Daisuke gapped.

"Well when she wasn't with Chouji." Shikamaru shrugged.

"Chouji? Tomoko you . . . you . . . what's _wrong _with you? No, not you, what's wrong with _them_! Naruto and Chouji-sensei, I thought we could trust them! Why would they . . . I mean my sister's a kid and . . . those sick perverts!"

"Daisuke, I don't think you're having the same conversation the rest of us are having." Tomoko said.

"No, actually I think I'm having the same one he is." Kotaro said, trying to ignore Kyoko's loving gaze.

"Me too." Nao admitted.

"I don't know what _anyone's_ talking about." Ryu said.

Yomiko jumped up and down, "So Nao did it with Tomoko-chan, who I guess has pretty low standards! I just can't belive you're not troubled by this sensei!"

"I feel kind of insulted and dirty." Tomoko said. "Should we clarify what it is we're talking about, sensei?"

"Please do." Daisuke sighed.

The Laze shrugged, "I guess if you're feeling uncomfortable with their assumptions, Tomoko. I was having fun misleading them. Anyway when I asked Ishida if he'd done it, I was referring to Tomoko's Fire Summoning Jutsu."

"Oh . . . that makes sense." Naomasa admitted. "Yeah, I did that. Tomoko _is _a fast teacher."

Daisuke felt both relieved and depressed at the same time. "So my sister's purity remains intact." He reasoned aloud.

"That depends. Define 'purity'." Tomoko said.

Daisuke raised an eyebrow, "Y'know I don't even want to know."

"Nor is it your business." Tomoko nodded.

"Though one would think you'd tell one, just to brag, would you not?" Daisuke asked out of sheer sick curiosity. After all, there was no way Tomoko had done 'it' before he had.

"Nobody cares, it's her business not ours. Now come along. It's a drag, but I need you Genin for a little task." Shikamaru said. "It's a surprise."

* * *

Yukio shifted uneasily at his sensei's door. He knocked tentatively and waited for a response. 

Temari-sensei opened the door, she had an odd bag over her shoulder.

Yukio slumped a bit and said, "Sensei, I'm sorry for what I said before. I didn't mean it, you know I joke around a lot. I shouldn't though, and I'm sorry. I don't care if you're a specialist, the Kazekage wouldn't have assigned you to my team if you didn't know something about what you're doing . . . so I'm sorry and want to rejoin your team."

Temari laughed, it was an easy, not at all cold hearted laugh, but still Yukio felt rejection slamming down on him.

She shoved the bag into his hands, "I was just about to see you, you know." She said. "That bag, it's all for you. I've memorized it all so I no longer need it."

Yukio raised an eyebrow and opened up the bag.

There were perhaps a dozen scrolls inside, the first one he opened up was a manual written by the Kazekage on . . .

He stared at Temari-sensei, "You've got all these? You memorized them?"

"Yes." Temari said. "I can't _perform_ any of them, but when Gaara assigned you and the others to me I brushed up on medical jutsus, summoning, and yes I studied sand control. The Jutsu you're learning from me _is _effective against the Hyuga, I know from personal experience. But if you think you're better off learning the sand defense those scrolls should give you everything you need to know to learn it. _Assuming _of course that you're capable of it. Only one of them was written by my brother, many are older texts recorded by very powerful ninja of yesteryear so be very careful with them."

Yukio stared at the satchel full of precious scrolls, he shook his head and handed it back to Temari. "I'd rather have you as my sensei then all this."

Temari-sensei smiled, "Touching. But don't worry. I plan to give Ryu and Kyoko a lot of study material as well. I don't want any of you failing your Chuunin exams. And yes you're still my student. Do you really think I'd _reward _bad behavior by letting you get away from the _punishment _you're going to have to suffer later? Oh no my boy, you're mine until you die or until you get promoted. No quitting option. Earliar I just thought you could do with some alone time to reflect on things . . . and I wanted to see if you'd get scared."

Yukio smiled and nodded. "Understood sensei. I guess I kind of did."

"Happens to the best of us." Temari said, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Now let's round up our team, shall we?"

"Yes ma'am!"

**To Be Continued . . .**


	42. The Birth of Akuma

**Chapter Forty-Two**

Hanabi frowned as the sun began to set.

She looked at the castle of the daimyo of the land of lightning.

The prince had told her when there would be a changing of the guard, not that peasant soldiers could stop her.

"You're sure you can carry Masaru along with you if Yuu fails?" Hananbi asked Kasumi.

"Yeah." Kasumi said, fixing the mask on her face.

They wore masks similar to Konoha's Anbu, or Kiri's Hunters. They were assassins, their faces mustn't be seen.

"Yuu won't fail." Masaru smirked, "It's impossible for him to fail."

Hanabi shrugged. It sounded odd to her, Yuu had refused to give her an exhibition of his talent but according to his comrades he could pass through solid objects.

It sounded fishy to Hanabi, she knew that a ninja or clan of ninja possessing such a talent would have ranked pretty high in the Bingo Book of Konoha's worst enemies, she should have heard of this before.

But sure enough Hanabi watched the third Cloud Genin walk _through _the doors of the castle!

"How did he-" She demanded but Kasumi held a finger to her mouth.

"He told you he could big sister."

Hanabi frowned, "I thought it was an exaggeration." She grumbled. "Had I known he could do that I would have ordered him to simply find the Daimyo himself and kill him."

"He can't sustain it indefinitely, it takes a lot of chakra to phase through things." Masaru said. "Looks likes he's got it."

The doors suddenly opened, Hanabi didn't hesitate.

She took her team and "poofed" to the doors, they rushed in.

There were a pair of dead guards, they'd driven their spears into one another.

"They both attacked the moment they saw me." Yuu said calmly, "I did not so much as raise a finger against them."

"You don't sound terribly troubled by their deaths." Kasumi grumbled.

"It wasn't his fault." Masaru said, "C'mon senpai lets get a move on."

Hanabi nodded. She'd memorized the course they would take and the castle's layout. She waved her hand to the Genin, signaling them to follow her. "No more unnecessary speaking." She reminded them, just in case they'd forgotten.

Tonight she would forge an alliance between the leaf and the cloud. The cost was nothing more than one human life.

Against the alternative of continued warfare, for Hanabi there was no question, no doubt.

* * *

Yuu watched his new captain very closely, something didn't feel right. 

Assassinate a daimyo? This was S class business, the sort of thing Genin should never even know about. Worse assassinate one's own daimyo? It was wrong. Wrong on so many levels it made Yuu feel dirty just participating in it.

He'd killed before. He'd kill again. A thousand times if necessary, he was a ninja.

But weren't there limits?

Were there people he _wouldn't _kill? What sort of monster was he? He was willing to murder his own daimyo in cold blood and all because of orders?

If it was the Daimyo's time to die Yuu would speed his passage. But something was very wrong about the whole affair.

Worse he wondered why there were no ninja.

The daimyo should have had ninja body guards, Jounin or at the very least Special Jounin.

Yuu's eyes narrowed. Where were the ninja?

* * *

The Lord of the Land of Lightning laughed easily as his youngest son tried to steal a sip of his sake. 

The ninja took the cup away from the lad and passed it to the lord, who nodded and drank. "Tell me Okatsu, what brings you here this evening."

"I had hoped to meet with your eldest son. We had business to discuss." The raven haired kunoichi said.

The daimyo nodded, his son seemed to always be speaking to ninja of the Cloud Village. If not Hattori Hanzo, then Okatsu was the one he spoke to most often.

Okatsu was a Jounin who had trained many Jounin, had led squads of ninja many times over her eighteen year career. The Daimyo wondered if his son was attempting to learn some of the way of the ninja.

"I've not seen him." The daimyo said.

"He said he would not be here for some time."

"Then you are early, eh?" The daimyo nodded. "Ever the punctual one, eh little niece."

Okatsu shrugged. "Not so little, uncle." The thirty year old said. "But I was told to come early. Taiko-sama ordered it so."

The daimyo nodded, "Very well, very well. Entertain Shinno then."

"Entertain me. Sing me a song." The little prince commanded.

Okatsu's eyes narrowed, "I do not sing. But if you like I can tell you a story."

"Yes, do!" The prince commanded.

The woman nodded. "Once upon a time there was a king, and he had two sons." She folded her arms, "A brave young prince, and a spoiled little brat."

Anyone other than the niece of the Daimyo would never have been able to say such a thing without being punished. But for Okatsu the daimyo just laughed as his son nodded intently and said "I hate spoiled brats."

Okatsu smiled and led the boy away, "These two princes had a strong father, an emperor of his lands with fine ambitions . . ." and they walked out of earshot.

The Daimyo sighed contently and leaned back in his chair with his sake. Life was good. Things were going swimmingly, his son was ambitious, his younger son was a right little tyke.

His ninja were winning the war against the leaf village, everything was just . . . _good._

One of his body guards appeared, "My lord . . . we have a problem."

The daimyo nodded, "What could be the matter?" He asked. What could be bad?

"The fact that I'm not one of your body guards, and I'm here to kill you." The female Shinobi said, drawing a kunai and putting it to his throat.

* * *

Okatsu smiled at her aunt, as she told her cousin the story prince Taiko had told her to use. "The powerful emperor led a realm of beauty and the people lived easy, comfortable lives." 

"He sounds like a good ruler." Her aunt, the daimyo's wife said with a smile.

Okatsu smiled darkly, "Oh? But his people become weak and lazy. They become elitists and fools, is that really a good thing? People must have fear of war, it must affect them personally or they wage it carelessly. Worse if there is no fear in you then you're not a real person."

The daimyo's wife smiled faintly, "And what do you fear, Oktastu?"

Okatsu laughed, "I fear death more than anything else. To have my life end and face the abyss that surely awaits all ninja in the afterlife." She shook her head. "No . . . that's not true. There is one thing I fear even more than death. And that is a lifetime of helplessness. To be at someone's mercy completely and utterly, to rely on the pity of others. That scares me. And if such a case should arise I would very much choose death over such a life." She smiled. "What is your greatest fear, little cousin?"

The prince shrugged, "I'm kind of scared of tigers. But I guess the thing that really scares me would be if something happened to mother and father."

Okatsu smiled. "But you know that eventually something _must_ happen to them. All things die. All things _should_. Eternity is far too long to live, and know that even in death your mother and father would be with you through your memories and in your heart."

"Yeah." the boy nodded.

"You will remember this?" Okasu asked.

"Yeah." The boy repeated.

"When the time comes you will be strong? You will be a man? You will not be afraid?" Okatsu pressed.

"Yeah." The boy said a third time, sounding irritated.

"And it will be a very long time before he must live without us." The boys mother added.

Okatsu smiled up at her aunt. "No dear auntie. It's not."

The kunai flew.

The woman's eyes went wide.

But beyond that there was no reaction as the kunai buried itself in her throat. She could not even scream as blood coursed down over her white evening gown, as her fair face twisted, as those wide open eyes slowly rolled back up into her skull and closed.

As she fell to the ground in a growing pool of blood.

Her son stared blankly at her for a moment . . . and then he laughed uneasily. "Great Genjutsu, Okatsu-chan . . . you can stop it now, I don't like this illusion."

Okatsu cracked her knuckles, "This is no illusion boy. Your mother is dead, and your father is about to join her."

"No really," Shinno said, worry growing on his face, "No, no stop it. Stop it cousin!"

"I cannot stop, cousin. It is already done." Okatsu said, drawing a second kunai.

The boy looked terrified, "Why?" He wept, "Why did you do this cousin? Why?" He ran for his fallen mother and Okatsu let her kunai fly. It slammed into the ground in front of the boy.

"Don't touch her. Don't belittle her." Okatsu said evenly as she watched the boy weep over the mother that had just been murdered before his eyes.

The boy fell to his knees in front of the blade and wept. "Mother . . ." He whispered. "Why cousin?"

"Because it's time for our people to know the truth of war. War should not be waged carelessly, or for the gain of the daimyo and his family. Ninja _die _in war, but the daimyo, your father suffers nothing. His wife becomes fat while children starve to death in Konoha. You try to steal sake for amusement while other boys your age try to steal rotting fruit just to survive. Don't you see it's all part of the story little prince. The emperor is a bad emperor, or rather our daimyo is a bad daimyo. Your father is going to die soon. Your mother is dead. Your brother will rule and he will do so with compassion, a trait your father lacked."

"But mother!" The boy complained. "Did brother tell you to kill mother?"

Okatsu smiled, "Your brother wanted me to tell you the story little one. So that you would understand his point of view. I was not ordered to kill your mother, I was asked if I would _like _to. I said that I would."

"You _wanted _this?" The little prince hissed.

"Yes." Okatsu nodded. "It was vitally important that I be the one to kill auntie."

"Then you can die too, you _bitch_!" Shinno screamed, ripping the kunai from the ground and charging for Okatsu.

The woman scoffed. She simply struck out and broke his arm, forcing the kunai from his grip with one hand, then backhanded him with the other sending him flying into the far wall.

"No one else would have had the same reverence or respect for her. I killed her quickly, she felt no pain." Okatsu lied with great pleasure.

The daimyo's wife had likely felt quite a great deal of pain. At least Okatsu could hope she had.

She put her hands on her hips and said "Your brother will be daimyo by tomorrow. He is clever, he is fair, he is a great man and you should look up to him."

"He ordered you to kill mother!" The child complained.

"No, he asked me if I would _like_ to." Okatsu clarified, "Your father is soon to die too. The question is little one, do you want to join them? I will give you the chance I never had. Make your choice now; death or death."

"Death or death? They're the same choice!" The boy wept, holding his broken arm and averting his gaze from his murdered mother as tears flooded his face, "You mean to kill me no matter which I choose."

"Wrong." Okasu said evenly. "You see I had a reason for wanting to kill auntie. You are a weapon. You are strong and my master wants you. He wants you very much, but he knows he does not truly need you. Tell me little one, _whose _death do you choose. Do you choose to die now with your parents or do you choose to live? Will you live on, live with the shame of your weakness as I must, will you suffer the knowledge that you forever exist only to defy your fate and survive, will you devote yourself to survival? Will you murder, and thieve for that survival, will you become something darker than your worst nightmare as I have? Will you become everything that you hate in order to destroy those who wronged you?"

The prince shook his head. "No. No I can't! I could never kill my brother, not even with this." He wiped tears from his eyes, "If you have to kill me do it now, but I won't kill my brother. I won't be like you, and become an evil being of darkness. I won't set my heart for vengeance." The boy lowered his eyes. "I cannot know why brother would do this, why Taiko would want to murder our whole family just to seize power that would have been his in time. But I can't kill him either. So kill me. Take my life away."

Okatsu smiled. "I would kill you. If you had told me that you wanted to become my disciple, if you had said that you wanted to become a tool of vengeance and murder I would have struck you down with passion and left you dead with your mother. But your answer is exactly the answer I and my master desired. You will live."

The prince looked at her in confusion, Okatsu leaned forward and took his face, forcing him to look into her eyes, "It would be no fun if you came to me willingly. Breaking you, forcing you to do as my master desires, as _I _desire is the pleasure of it all. I will destroy you boy. Not physically, never physically, but _mentally _I will make you mine. Your name Shinno, forget it. Your name now is Akuma, that dead woman is no longer your mother. You have no mother. You have no father. You are mine, and you always have been, you have no past."

"The Shinobi guards will kill you!" The boy cried.

"The guards that watched me kill your mother? The guards that let the second assassination team reach your father without so much as a token resistance? Those guards?"

"I hate you!" The boy screamed, trying to strike her.

Okatsu caught his hand and moved against him, twisting the arm against his back, "Fight me and I will enjoy it, resist me and you become mine all the same. I'll make you long for my lessons, for the power I can give you. I'll make you yearn for vengeance. And all because my master wants you. Because you'll prove most useful to him. In the end I'll be more of a mother to you than that woman ever was, because I will teach you to fear and I will teach you to cause fear. You will be my finest work of art, my Little Demon, Akuma."

* * *

Hanabi stared at the man standing before her. "With your death," She said, "The war ends. Kumogakure can end its war with Konohagakure and the land of Lightning will join with the land of Fire rather than consume it. When you die thousands will live. Isn't it better for one man to die than for an entire country to suffer more hellish war? Isn't it better for just one man to die and leave his children fatherless, than it is for a thousand children to scream in the night for fathers who will never hear them? Isn't it better?" Hanabi asked. 

"Are you asking for my permission to proceed, Shinobi? Do you think I will give you the satisfaction of justifying your actions now by telling you that it is okay to end my life?" The daimyo asked.

Hanabi wasn't sure _what _she wanted.

"Tell me you that this is the only way to end the war. To keep more innocents from dying for your sake."

The daimyo looked at her and though he could not see her face through the mask she wore she was certain he could see her eyes. Could stare into them. "This will prevent more men and women from dying in_ my _name, Shinobi. But they will die all the same in the names of others, in the names of themselves. I gave my people power and helped them rise against evil so that they could feel strong, so that they could feel pride once again. Was that so wrong?"

"I can't say." Hanabi answered as she thrust her kunai into the man's throat. "I thought I knew . . . but I can't say anything for certain anymore." The young woman said softly.

Not a drop of the lord's blood had touched her, yet she felt terribly unclean.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note:** The arc ends at chapter forty six, the updates slowed down because we are nearing the end of the arc and the long list of prefinished chapters has been depleted for the moment. I only update every day when I have got way too many finished chapters just sitting around not being read. Because I had so many I had not written any of the next arc, only planned it so once this arc is done there are no chapters. That is changing as I am beginning the task of actually writing the next arc, and the pile of finished chapters will very likely build up again soon since as I've said before when I sit down to write one I usually finish three, but until it does I only update twice a week unfortunately.


	43. The Unwanted Good News

**Chapter Forty-Three**

Sasuke felt a chill run up his spine and he began scanning the surrounding area for anything suspicious.

Shiroi was doing the same, in fact she'd been looking at everything as if it presented a danger ever since their encounter with the Jounin. It could prove useful in the field but if Sasuke observed her continuing it once they got back to Konoha he'd have to find a way to "beat" it out of her.

There was a difference between caution and paranoia, and Sasuke wouldn't tolerate any paranoid Genin.

Nevertheless Shiroi's Byakugan was probably even more useful than _his_ eyes when scanning the surrounding area.

* * *

Hikaru watched the Konoha Shinobi trek towards the border village. 

He _could _attack them, but with two, maybe three Jounin and four others the chance of him getting injured was too high to justify an attack simply for the sake of an attack. They were going where he wanted them to go, there was no need to lead them on. Just watch them and be sure that they got there.

He could try to slow them down he supposed, but why bother? They would arrive the same time the convoy arrived, and Kaori, though drained, generally got her Chakra back much faster than anyone he'd ever known. Ami had suffered minimal injuries, his team and the other escorts could protect the convoy just fine.

He watched the group move along and shook his head.

Well if they were going where he wanted them to go there was no need to risk injury or waste chakra getting them there, but he would like to kill one of them just to help even the odds once they arrived.

That woman with the black lenses, she looked like she might be fun to torment. The girl from before, maybe he could make her cry again.

Or the boy with the glasses. He'd really stood out in the last battle, had acted as a Shinobi should act in such a situation as far as Hikaru could tell. He'd spooked Ami and gotten both her and Kaori out of the fight, even though he'd been at Kaori's mercy and could just as easily have been killed at any time prior had she not hesitated.

That boy was the most proper Shinobi of all the Genin, and were he a member of the Cloud village Hikaru might have told him so by way of encouragement.

But he was not of Kumo, he was of Konoha. So instead of encouragement he needed death.

But none of them were the target he really wanted to kill. Uchiha was the only one really worth testing himself against, the others were just chump change his girls could kill off at leisure, Hikaru decided with a smile.

* * *

Ami leaned out the window of her room and watched the grass villagers going about daily chores. 

The room had cost a pretty penny, and they had almost been turned out of the country in general by a group of Taki peasant soldiers.

The peasants had been dissuaded when Ami explained the situation. Suddenly two Jounin were rather welcome guests for the village that had no Shinobi of its own. The Taki Shinobi would not be arriving to accept the shipment until later it seemed.

But the innkeeper had almost turned them away even after Ami promised him several sexual favors which she'd said Kaori would perform. Kaori had responded by making a show of being too tired and calling Ami a liar, and a veritable novel's worth of profanities. It was probably Kaori's refusal to put out just as much as the fact that they were Cloud Ninja that had inspired to innkeeper to charge them an arm and a leg for the small single room with a small, "definitely not big enough for two people let alone three" bed which Kaori now lay in.

Ami hummed her Cow song to herself, wondering if at some point Hikaru would come down the road.

And if not, was there anyone else cute enough for her to play with. She was bored.

She heard a creaking sound and turned around, expecting to see Kaori had gotten out of bed.

But instead what she saw was an annoyingly familiar face standing in the doorway.

"Hattori!" She scowled, "What are you doing here?"

Tetsuo shrugged, "No lock can stop me."

"That's not what I asked! What are you doing here? Don't tell me you've got a Taki whore too!"

"I don-wait how did you know about-never mind, I don't!" Tetsuo scowled, "I came here looking for you actually. Where's Captain Minoru?"

"Hikaru-kun," Ami said, half hoping he pop up all of a sudden and bop her on the head for calling him that in front of his hated rival, "is bravely defending the people of this village by distracting a squadron of Konoha Shinobi."

Tetsuo scoffed. "Bravely? I doubt it." He glanced over to the nearby bed where Kaori slept.

"Don't touch her." Ami warned, "Lay one finger on her and I'll cut it off, she's not bothering you so leave her be."

Tetsuo looked surprised, "I wasn't going to hurt her. I was just wondering if she was okay." He said. "She's barely breathing."

"Are you sure you can tell? I mean y'know, your eyes . . ." Ami trailed off.

"My eyes see just fine." Tetsuo scowled.

"If you say so." Ami shrugged, "Anyway what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you and your captain. I think I said that already. Maybe your _ears_ are what doesn't work."

"They're good." Ami shook her head. "Sexy too, don't my lovely ears just make your head spin, Tetsuo-kun? You want to play with me?" She asked.

"Not interested." Tetsuo said flatly. "Actually I think your ears are kind of big and dopey, which is why it would surprise me if they didn't work."

Ami's blood boiled, how dare he insult her magnificent body! And worse she heard Kaori softly laughing!

"You're awake, and worse you're on _his _side?" Ami demanded.

"Well . . . they _are _a little big." Kaori mumbled.

"Shut up, you're _my _teammate, not his!" Ami screamed at her, "You laugh at _my _jokes in the presence of an enemy!"

"_You're_ my enemy." Kaori grumbled.

"Why'm I your enemy, we're from the same village!" Tetsuo complained.

"Well you're not Hikaru's friend." Ami pointed out.

"I'm not his enemy either." Tetsuo scowled. "He doesn't _want _me as his enemy."

Ami scowled. She longed to laugh in Tetsuo's face, longed to tell him that her beloved was more powerful than he'd ever be, tell him that Hikaru could do things he'd never dreamed of doing in anything he attempted. But part of being a ninja, according to Hikaru-kun was keeping one's full ability a secret from enemies and allies alike.

Ami wasn't completely certain what Hikaru's feelings about Tetsuo were, whether her beloved hated the Hattori scion or not. However she did know Hikaru thought Tetsuo a fool and so that was enough for her to consider Tetsuo a fool and potential enemy.

But nevertheless she held her tongue and just scowled as if Tetsuo was right and Hikaru was weaker than he.

"Anyway I've got news for him that he needs to hear."

Kaori sat up in bed with a groan that made it sound like the simple action required some effort on her part, and caused just a wee bit of pain which made Ami smile. "How did you know where we were?" Kaori demanded.

"The convoy said you'd scouted ahead some days ago so obviously I came to the village to see if I could find you here, as soon as they saw me they assumed I was part of your group and told me what room you were in."

"I tell you, once you tell these grass people something they keep it to themselves don't they? Real sewed lip type, aren't they?" Ami scowled.

"Well nobody better tell them what I've been sent to tell you."

"What's that?" Ami demanded.

* * *

Hikaru arrived at the village running at full speed, he sensed the presence of his women easily enough and rushed into the inn. He grabbed the innkeeper by the collar, "Where are the Kumo Jounin?" He demanded. 

"We're here, Captain." Kaori said softly from behind him.

He shoved the innkeeper away and turned to his team. All present and correct, no scars, no new bruises. In fact they were one man stronger than before. "Hattori!" Hikaru said in surprise, "Good, we'll need the help, the enemy is on their way here."

"No Hikaru, they're not." Ami said with a scowl.

"What?" Hikaru demanded.

"The Raikage! The _stupid _Raikage!" Ami exploded, "The war's over! The war is _over_! Tetsuo here brought us the news, Raikage is withdrawing Kumo's support from the war, and the Lightning country is soon to follow!"

Kaori shook her head, "We can only fight to defend the convoy until it comes into Taki territory, we cannot fight to defend the village."

Hikaru scowled, _Taiko you fool! And you've sent Hattori just to anger me! _"Damn it they've moved too soon!" He hissed.

"What?" Tetsuo blinked.

Hikaru shook his head. "I'm sorry Hattori-san but we never received your message."

"You what?" Tetsuo demanded.

"We never received your message, you weren't able to reach us in time. By the time you got here we'd already engaged the Konoha ninja in combat and killed them, if only you'd been a little sooner." Hikaru said, nodding to his women who followed him out of the inn.

"Damn it Minoru you can't do this! They're our _friends _now!" Tetsuo shouted, "Don't just turn your back on me!"

"I'm sorry Hattori-san, I can't hear you because you're not here yet." Hikaru said. "But if you wanted to be helpful, you could kill one of them and I'd consider you less of a dunce."

"If you raise a hand against the Konoha ninja I'll kill _you_ Hikaru. You'll be defying Raikage-sama's orders!" Tetsuo warned.

Hikaru stopped and spun around, he walked slowly to Hattori Tetsuo and said to the innkeeper without even looking at him, "Old man, if you want to go on living give me a coin."

"Y-yes!" The old innkeeper said, tossing Hikaru a worthless low value coin.

Hikaru pocketed it. "That's that. We've been paid, this mission is accepted. We're _ninja _Tetsuo, we're not samurai. If you feel like you need to kill me then do it, or rather I should say _try _to do it." He glared into Tetsuo's black eyes. "But I won't leave these peasants to fend for themselves, they wouldn't stand a chance against seven ninja."

"Well aren't you just the hero." Tetsuo said darkly, grabbing Hikaru by the collar.

Suddenly Ami had a knife to his throat and Kaori had her hand pressed against his chest just over his heart, her palm already showing the telltale translucency of phasing.

"If you're not with us Hattori, you're against us." Kaori said softly. "Do you really want to let this village burn just because you had to have some Konoha woman? If you won't do the _right _thing, do the _smart_ thing and stay out of our way."

Hikaru grinned at Tetsuo. Maybe having two girlfriends _was _worth it. Two Jounin girlfriends anyway.

Tetsuo glared, "You know better than that, you know they're not going to destroy the village. They just want the gold, you're just lying to justify yourselves."

"So what if we are?" Ami asked. "Fun is fun, and if the war's over we might as well have one last blast. I _really _want to pay back that bug herder. Anyway how do we know _you're_ not lying? Everyone knows your loyalties are questionable."

Tetsuo glared at Hikaru, "Why? Why do you have to fight?"

"Because I've already set my mind to it, I won't let you just stroll in and stop us." Hikaru said. "Besides, their leader is Uchiha. He possesses the Cursed Seal, he's almost as much of a force of evil as the Nine Tail. If we truly have made peace with Konoha this may be my only chance to fight him to the death."

"So just because you've set your mind to it you'll risk your life and theirs? What if your teammates _die, _Hikaru?" Tetsuo asked.

"Then they were weak, weren't they? But no worries, my girls are Jounin aren't they? Did you think they got that on accident?"

Tetsuo glared, "I challenge you then, a duel."

Karoi's hand phased the first digits of her fingers into Tetsuo's chest, and Ami pressed her blade against Tetsuo's throat so closely that a drop of blood was drawn. "Stand down Hattori." Hikaru warned.

"Too weak to fight your own battles Hikaru?" Tetsuo asked.

"You challenge me because your back's to a wall, you wouldn't have enough respect to challenge me to a duel otherwise. Besides I don't have to prove anything to you, if you want to see what I'm capable of, if you _really _want to see what I'm all abut come with us. _Be_ one of us, join us." Minoru Hikaru glared at Hattroi Tetsuo, "Show me you're no fool Tetsuo. Show me that killer instinct, show me you're a _real_ ninja."

* * *

Sasuke looked at the village. "We're here." He whispered. 

"No Shinobi around." Hitomi commented.

"Don't be so sure," Sasuke said, "Shiroi, look."

"She doesn't have to, if Hitomi say's no one's there there's no one there." Miyuki said irritably.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her. True he'd come to the same conclusion but what made the daughter of an unimpressive Chuunin examiner with little or no familial inheritance so sure she could out spot a wielder of Byakugan? "How do you know there's no one there?"

Hitomi tapped her goggles, "These eyes don't miss a thing."

"They've got no Shinobi I can see, but I count seventeen spearmen getting ready for a fight." Shiroi commented.

"If they're smart they'll leave us alone."

"Saizo, you stay with Miyuki, don't leave her side." Sasuke ordered, "Shiroi and Kurai, you stick together as well. Hara and I will do the Jounin work here."

"Miyuki you stay back and out of trouble, Hitomi keep yourself in a position to support either the Genin or Miyuki as needed." Hara nodded.

"Understood sensei." Shiroi said. Kurai nodded.

"As ordered." Miyuki nodded. and Hitomi cracked her knuckles.

Sasuke stode out into the battlefield.

It might have looked like a simple village, but to the Shinobi it had just become a war zone.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note:** The last chapter may have been confusing, it was never my favorite chapter. It introduces two characters who will be important during the Chuunin Exams far too late in the game of things, but at the same time there was no reason for either one to show themselves before then. But one of the biggest issues my beta readers had with it was that Okatsu seemed to have split personalities, which was not totally unintentional, but then again she doesnt explain herself until the Chuunin exams are in full swing so . . . yeah.

Not much else to say but thanks for all the reviews, the hits, and the loyalty to the story.


	44. The Clash!

**Chapter Forty-Four**

Sasuke stood in front of the village. A dozen or so armed peasants stood before him, spears set.

He held up his hands and said "Stand back, we have no interest in you or your village. Our feud is with the Kumogakure Shinobi who're about to pass through here."

"About to?" A familiar voice asked. The psycho blue haired bimbo descended from the sky above, laughing maniacally, "We've _been _here beautiful, you're the one passing through. But don't worry, we'll get you set on your way to the afterlife soon enough."

Sasuke wasn't totally comfortable being called 'beautiful' in the best circumstances, having this woman do it now just made him feel a little sick.

He raised his hand into the air and formed Chidori, "You brave soldiers of Taki can back down, we have no feud with you or your country, all we want is the Kumo convoy. Surrender it to us and you'll live. Fight us and you'll find that my Lightning Blade will cut through each of you in turn."

The blue haired woman laughed and threw a pair of scrolls onto the ground, she nodded to the soldiers as two rather lovely women were summoned.

One had had her throat slit and sewn back together, the other had a bloody stain over her stomach. The first wore civilian clothing, but the second was dressed in the uniform of an Iwa Shinobi.

Both corpses suddenly took on the appearance of the blue haired woman and came to life, one of them blew a kiss to Sasuke, "Hi lover!" She winked.

The other clone turned to the soldiers and waved them away, "We'll take it from here, you'd just get in our way. Go back to your wives and sleep with them and stuff because that's always fun. If you don't have wives girlfriends work equally well, and if you don't have those borrow someone else's. Maybe you want to hook up with other guys, that's hot too, but I don't care, either way just stay in your homes or you're fair game for either side."

Sasuke scowled, "Looking at just one copy of your ugly face is bad enough." He scoffed to the blue haired woman..

"Oh, now I bet you're going to tell me my ears are big too?" The original laughed.

Out of the ground came two more Shinobi, the striking Jounin from before, and the silvery haired woman.

"Uchiha Sasuke." The Jounin said, "I know your name, but allow me to tell you mine. I am Minoru Hikaru. Generally I feel a ninja's name should not be shared with his enemies, but you are no longer our enemy. The Raikage has declared that Kumogakure is withdrawing its ninja from the war. Unfortunate no?"

"Th-that's great!" Shiroi whispered.

"Without Kumogakure . . ." Kurai agreed, sounding surprised.

The Jounin whipped out an odd card, "The three young ladies there are Ina Ami, the mistress of the living-impaired. The young woman here is Yurei Kaori, one of the two survivors of the Yurei clan."

Sasuke scoffed, he'd never heard of the Yurei clan. "And why are you introducing yourselves? Even if w are allies now, we didn't ask for your names." Sasuke said.

"Rude little man." Kaori scoffed.

"My reasoning shall be clear soon Uchiha-san. You see unfortunately for you the orders failed to reach us telling us that the war was over _before _we viciously killed you in defense of this village. In telling you our names we have entered into a sacred pact, we cannot now let you, our enmies live. Kill us, or we will kill you."

Shiroi staggered back, Kurai put a hand on her shoulder and she steadied. Sasuke scoffed, he thrust his hand forward and the Chidori exploded into a bolt of lightning! Strong blue bolts shot forward, but went _through _the Jounin and his silver haired companion, slamming instead into the blue haired girl.

She screamed loudly, the Taki soldiers fled in fear, Sasuke ended his Jutsu and glared.

The two clones reverted to their former bodies, the original held her bleeding chest and gasped for air, "Hikaru-kun it hurts so bad!" She complained.

Hikaru glanced over his shoulder. "So what're you going to do about it, Ami?"

"I uh . . . I think I'm going to die." Ami shrugged.

Sasuke scowled, she was far too calm for someone about to die, had it been another--

"Sensei!" Shiroi screamed, shoving him aside, Sasuke spun around and looked to see the real Ami zooming down out of the sky!

She would kill Shiroi, she was coming down far too fast for the Genin to do anything about it.

But Hitomi was faster, she leapt into the air and tackled the blue haired woman, kunai in hand she stabbed her repeatedly.

"Ahh!" Ami screamed, "You little tramp!" The blue haired woman shoved the Chuunin off of her and kicked her up into the air, "Mess with me in the air? What a blasted fool you are!"

"Nah." Hara laughed, and threw a pair of kunai to Hitomi who caught them and threw them at Ami who was too close to block them.

A green light flashed and suddenly Hara was throwing a swarm of shuriken, each one found its mark: Ami.

The Kumo Jounin screamed at first, then just sort of went limp as more and more knives slammed into her, turning her body into a bloody pincushion.

She slammed into the ground, Sasuke expected the body to revert.

It didn't, Ami remained Ami.

Sasuke grinned, "One down."

* * *

Ami giggled, it was a lot of work to keep a totaled work of art from reverting to its true form but it was worth it.

Sasuke thought her dead, which left her in the perfect position to-

Suddenly the blind girl sprang for her. Ami, hidden in the trees was shocked but not worried.

She leapt back and began to use her taijutsu against the girl, "How'd you know where I was?"

"Like any puppeteer your chakra connects you to your puppets, and any Hyuga can tell the difference between a living body and a corpse!"

Ami giggled, "You think you stand a chance against me?"

"I don't _have_ to stand a chance against you, I've done my job." The teenager grinned and leapt back.

The heck did that mean?

Ami scowled and changed her location. Simple military principal: if your enemy knows where you are, don't be there. She moved to another location of the woods.

There was an odd buzzing sound.

"What the-" Ami whispered.

A swarm of bugs was coming for her! She leapt into the air, her realm where she would be safe.

It exposed her to her enemy, but it was better than having to ask Kaori for help again.

She sneered at the bug tamer, whose eyes were on her. How had he found her?

It didn't matter, his bugs couldn't get her up here!

Or so she thought until she heard the buzzing!

She scowled and turned to see the swarm of bugs flying up from the woods for her! She tried gaining altitude but they gained on her.

Ami raised her hand and began to gather energy for a jutsu, "Fine bugs, you want some fun have some fun!" She screamed and thrust her palm forth, a huge cyclone tore the insects to shreds in the air!

And then the lightning cut into Ami!

She screamed and her Jutsu failed. She'd gotten careless, she hadn't been paying attention to the _other _Shinobi!

The long range lightning tore into her side, burning her, zapping her, she felt pain course through her body.

She used the substitution Jutsu for what good it did her having already taken the hit, and leaned against a tree holding her bleeding side.

She coughed, "Don't be mad at me Hikaru-kun." She mumbled.

She heard that blasted buzzing again. Didn't these bugs ever give up? How did they keep finding her?

She held out her hand pathetically against the swarm, it was covered in her own blood. She smiled, "Losers need wings." She said and blasted them with another razor cyclone!

But crawling insects, ones without wings began to cover her body, apparently she'd picked the wrong tree to lean against.

Ami didn't care. She wouldn't ask for Kaori's help again, she wouldn't give Hikaru-kun any reason to be disappointed with her again.

He'd have more respect for her if she died than he would if she got rescued.

But blast she was crap against bugs.

As they covered and consumed her, sucking her dry of her chakra she screamed on last scream.

* * *

Kaori heard Ami scream in the way that only the dead or dying screamed. She closed her eyes and lowered her head for a moment in difference to Ami.

She'd been a strong ninja, but a fool. Kaori would miss her in some ways, but frankly they'd never been terribly close.

She nodded. It was time to put an end to this fight. She'd kill the bug herder first, then the other Genin, she'd work her way up as Hikaru worked his way down.

The darkness was summoned, a bit late in Kaori's opinion but at least it was summoned.

She teleported to the side of the bug tamer and struck him.

She could see him in the darkness of Hikaru's jutsu, though he couldn't see her.

He exploded, fell apart, crumbled into a pile of bugs.

For the instant that she struck him Kaori had stopped phasing and in that instant scores of bugs had latched onto her and begun to bite her.

She scowled, and held back a startled scream.

She began to phase but for some reason her afflicted arm did not phase along with her! The bugs didn't drop to the ground, they bit deeper into her and sucked out more of her . . .

Hey eyes widened, they were draining her chakra!

She couldn't phase without her chakra, she stopped phasing the rest of her body, it was just a waste if she could get her arm to go along with the action. She began to sweep the insects off of her arm, and did her best not to make any sound.

But it was impossible, the bugs made a lot of noise and the enemy converged on her. The two Jounin and the Chuunin in black sprang for her from three different directions!

Kaori smiled, "Not that easy." She said and crushed the last bug with contempt, she phased and prayed that her arm would follow suit.

It did, and she was safe! The first Jounin, Uchiha slammed his fist forward, the second thrust a kunai into Uchiha on accident, Uchiha's fist slammed into the stomach of the Chuunin.

They all disappeared, shadow clones!

But if they were clones where were the real-it didn't matter, Koari leapt away from the swam of bugs that was slowly spreading out over the radius of the darkness seeking out prey.

This was tricky, there were four ninja unaccounted for and the bugs were more trouble than they were worth. They hardly seemed fair, but then life wasn't fair. She stopped suddenly, strong arms gripped her, Tetsuo whispered into her ear, "Don't phase through me, don't fight me. Just listen."

"Talk fast." Kaori whispered, watching the ever expanding insects come closer and closer to her. She and Tetsuo had always gotten along just fine, his sister and her brother were on the same team so they'd never bothered to be rivals.

"They're not our enemies, this is a waste of time, chakra, and most importantly life. I know you know the value of life, Yurei. Stand down, let's walk away from this and let Hikaru have his fun by himself. If you always support him he'll never respect you anyway."

"I'm not doing this for his respect." She said.

"Then why?" Tetsuo asked. "Why do this? You know they won't harm the people of Taki, you know they won't harm you if you just walk away. This doesn't have to happen."

"Hikaru does have an ulterior motive for challenging Uchiha, and I'll support him in it because it's important to him. He's not the sort to boast of his power, but he doesn't like the idea of there being enemies more powerful than him. Even if Uchiha is our ally today he can become our enemy tomorrow. All that Hikaru aims to do is determine whether he or Uchiha is the stronger, none of the others truly matter."

Tetsuo shook her, "So what you're saying is that your life means less to him than a mere test? You can die just so he can see how he measures up to one of the greatest of the Konoha Twelve when he cannot even accept a challenge from _me_?"

Kaori shook her head and phased through Tetsuo, leaving him alone in the dark, "My life is my own responsibility and my choices are mine to make. Until the captain is satisfied I _choose _to continue."

* * *

Sasuke was thoroughly annoyed. He'd missed his chance to watch the Genjutsu again, and yet again though his Sharingan worked frantically he could not see _through _it.

He could feel Shiroi and Kurai on either side of him waiting quietly and patiently for the darkness to lift even as Kurai's winged sward sought out enemies as well as the darkness's limits.

Because according to Shiroi the enemy could see them even in the darkness they had to remain as well hidden as possible, they'd chosen their hiding place before moving in on the village, Hara had formed Shadow Clones to represent everyone once the darkness began.

So for now this was Hara's show. But Sasuke continued to try to see through the darkness. He could hear just fine and from what he'd heard several shadow clones had been defeated already.

Hara would replace them, his maximum was twenty,

Suddenly he heard Kurai gasp, Shiroi yelped and he reached out for both of them only to feel hands grip his wrists.

"My, my, my. What have we here. You know I hate to be a one trick Shinobi, but the darkness was just so effective on you last time." His voice sneered. "This will all end when you fight me, Uchiha. Win or lose my team will back off once our battle is finished, so come on, show me what you've got."

Sasuke smirked and decided to do just that.

He couldn't perform hand seals, but he had become familiar enough with Chidori Nagashi not to need them. He let the lightning course through his body and felt the hands that gripped him fall away with a scream from the Jounin.

Sasuke got to his feet and heard laughter, "Nice. Very nice. That's some impressive stuff Uchiha. Lucky for me that was just a Shadow Clone. But enough of this idle banter, show me your true strength, show me what the master gave you."

Sasuke frowned, "What master?"

"Our lord Orochimaru. I know he gave you his mark, his blessing. Show me yours and I'll show you mine, Uchiha. Let's see which of us is the stronger."

Sasuke laughed, "That old thing? That's not my _true _power."

"You can lie and tell yourself that. But I know your story. You went to the master who received you with open arms, became his favorite play thing while _I _was left alone to try to hide my curse from Raikage and all the rest. While I grew up never knowing why the master had given me this gift and left me alone _you _learned all there is to know from him, then betrayed him. So let us see witch is better, the rogue who never knew the master's teachings, or the student who helped murder his mentor."

"I couldn't care less about your life story," Sasuke said, "And I don't care about your little Curse Mark Duel, if you want to fight lift the darkness and we'll fight."

"You mean to say you cannot fight an opponent without the use of your eyes, Uchiha? For shame." Minoru scoffed, "Or is it just that you want to see what I've got. Very well then, have it your way. Let there be light."

The darkness cleared away like a receding fog, Sasuke was left to look upon Kurai and Shiroi, both frozen as if they were made of stone. Hara and Hitomi were still in the field, and across from them were a pair of Kumo Jounin, a fourth member that Sasuke didn't recognize and the silvery haired Yurei.

And in front of Sasuke, eyes glowing red was Minoru Hikaru. His skin was covered in black marks that flowed over his face and body as if they were tribal tattoos. Lines flowed over his body in a manner that best resembled a diagram of the human nervous system.

Sasuke scoffed, it was a new mark by him but it looked similar enough to the others.

Sasuke glanced at Kurai and Shiroi, "What did you do to them."

"The same thing I'll do to you if you're not careful." Minoru said with a sneer. "Come on Uchiha, show me what you've got."

"They go free if I defeat you."

"On my honor." Minoru nodded. "And yes, I do have honor."

Sasuke nodded. "Fine." For the sake of his Genin he activated his own curse mark.

It had been so long, the seal throbbed, it burned his skin, it was excruciating.

But he quickly felt relieved, it was like breathing after holding is breath for years! This was who he was, this was his power! How could he have forgotten it? Turned his back on it? What a fool he'd been. The sensation of activating the mark again was greater than any elation he'd ever felt before. He laughed maniacally and glared at Minoru Hikaru.

He'd asked for it.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note:** It has been my intention pretty much since the first request to make sort of ninja index, I am working on it currently it will contain names, brief biographies so that you know who the ninja is, their age as there are some characters whose ages have not been given, and even an odd note behind or about their creation. It will be posted after the current arc ends, and will be posted along with the first chapter of the Chuunin exams so that those who do not need it will not be short changed with the update. If there is any other information anyone is interested in please let me know now while I am still working on it so it can be as comprehensive as it needs to be. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thanks for all the support!


	45. Full Power

**Chapter Forty-Five**

Hikaru's heart was pounding.

Here it was. The proof that he wasn't the inferior one. That Lord Orochimaru hadn't just casually dealt out a cursed mark, that he'd had a reason for afflicting Hikaru with it.

The Jounin sprang for Uchiha, it was high speed combat at its very best, he struck with all the speed of a humming bird flapping its wings, and Uchiha countered with even greater speed.

Hikaru knew the remaining Konoha Shinobi would try to intervene, but with luck Kaori could handle them, and if Tetsuo would join them then there'd be no stopping this duel. This was between him and Uchiha!

Sasuke drew forth a sword, Hikaru scoffed and dodged a strike that would have carved a slower man in half at the waist. Lightning coursed through the blade, and Hikaru had to move even faster to avoid getting zapped.

He saw the black marks on Uchiha, knew that this was the sort of opponent he'd always longed for. It defied his very ideals, his ninja way, to have a vendetta against a single foe but the more he thought on it the more he demanded proof that Sasuke was better than he.

He wanted to see a valid reason that Lord Orochimaru would abandon him and take up with Uchiha instead. Move his camp so that Hikaru could not find him, leave Hikaru to fend for himself amongst the Kumogakure Shinobi who would not understand or trust him if they knew of the mark.

For that purpose he'd invented the Impenetrable Darkness Jutsu, so that he could freely use his gift against unsuspecting foes.

But this once, just this once he didn't care if the whole world knew he was cursed. Because he'd prove that he was greater than Orochimaru's pet. That he should have become the master's apprentice, that the secrets and jutsus of Lord Orochimaru should have been _his _and not Uchiha's!

Hikaru struck repeatedly and reached into his pocket for a Jutsu.

He pulled forth a card and stole a glance at it. One of his abilities was to seal his jutsus into cards for instant use later. No hand seals, no way for the Sharingan to copy them. By using the Jutsu before hand he could spare most of his chakra when using a Jutsu, paying only a small activation cost.

The card he'd drawn forth was his Twin Blade Jutsu. He smirked and held it up, infusing it with chakra, "This will be useful." He taunted Uchiha.

Hikaru leapt back and let the Jutsu take effect. He felt his flak jacket get cut open from the back as two long scythe-like blades erupted from his shoulder blades.

Skeletal arms followed, resulting in a look similar to wings. Hikaru felt flesh grow over the bones and as nerves and blood formed the blade became sharp and strong.

The whole process was excruciatingly painful, but the healing properties of Minoru's curse mark restored him almost instantly. Had he used such a Jutsu without his cursed mark he'd likely have died from the pain.

He now had four arms.

Let Uchiha match his Taijutsu now.

"That's a neat trick." Uchiha smirked, "But you're not the only one who can sprout wings. Let me show you the full extent of what our so-called lord gave me!"

Hikaru scowled and like a fool he stood back to allow Uchiha the time he needed to fully transform.

Huge wings erupted from Uchiha's back. They were more like grotesque, webbed hands with long sharp claws. Uchiha's skin turned to an ashen brown, his eyes became darker, his nails became like claws.

Hikaru laughed bitterly, "The master truly favored you, didn't he?" The Jounin shook his head, just more to prove himself against. Even without this strange transformation he'd prove he was superior, that developing almost completely on his own had been all he'd needed, that he'd become stronger than Lord Orochimaru could ever have dreamed.

Even though he could not transform as Uchiha could he would win and he would prove himself to himself, he would show the world that _he _was the stronger.

Though it defied his own Shinobi way to expose himself and his power this way this fight meant more to him than his way or his life, this was a fight to validate his very existence!

* * *

Tetsuo was shocked and horrified by the battle he was witnessing. It was literally the clash of monsters, nightmares made reality viciously attempting to kill one another.

He held the unconscious Ami in his arms as he backed away from the fight. It wasn't worth it to get involved but the amount of power radiating from these two was incredible!

And terrifying. He'd always thought that if the need arose he could defeat Hikaru. Had assumed Hikaru to be little more than a run of the mill Shinobi with barely enough talent to be considered Jounin.

But now he wasn't so sure.

He left his shadow clone with Kaori and hoped it'd have the wisdom to get out of the way of Titans at play.

* * *

Tetsuo grabbed Kaori's arm and said "Let's go!"

Kaori shook her head, "This is getting out of hand." She said, "They're going to destroy everything."

"Exactly. Now lets go." Tetsuo insisted.

Kaori ignored him and she ran for the two fighting monstrosities.

Tetsuo followed her, "You can't stop them!" He shouted.

"I don't mean to!" Kaori scoffed and phased through one of Hikaru's swipes.

It hadn't been aimed at her, but the battle was so high paced that he could have cut her in half and not noticed. She heard Tetsuo grunt as he dodged one of Uchiha's great fist wings. Kaori leapt forward, "Take one!" She screamed to Tetsuo, whom she hoped would understand her.

She grabbed the girl, frozen by Hikaru's poison and together they phased into the safety of the earth.

Tetsuo took the boy whose insects had no doubt killed Ami, and together they melted into shadow.

The two cursed Jounin paid no heed to their surroundings and the odds that they would eventually have killed the two frozen Genin were dangerously high. These two were no longer Kaori's enemies, and she was tired of seeing children die.

* * *

Sasuke laughed, he'd been such a fool to deny himself this pleasure, this power!

And a flood of ideas rushed to his mind, he had such capabilities now it wasn't even funny. He dodged Minoru's blades, he blocked the Kumo ninja's fists.

He extended his giant palms and began to form hand seals with them, it was difficult performing a seal with hands unfamiliar to him and not being able to see it, but soon he felt the old sensation, the burning tingle in his arm of Chidori.

With a Lightning Blade in each hand he forced the Jutsu further, gathering more energy. From the corner of his eye he saw Hara and his team withdraw along with Saizo, he had no idea what had become of Shiroi or Kurai.

And for some reason he didn't care either, the euphoria was far too overwhelming.

He gathered more and more energy, let Chidori Nagashi rip through his body just to keep Hikaru's hands off of him, struck out with his sword to block those blades, and then let his large wings absorb the chakra from his own Nagashi!

And they struck! Lightning shot off in all directions, it tore into the ground and it ripped the earth asunder, it shot into the sky, it pulverized trees, bolts of lightning as thick as a man's arm, or even as thick as Akimichi Chouji ripped the surrounding area apart!

And many of them struck Hikaru.

Minoru Hikaru roared in outrage and pain, the power of his cursed mark might have been the only thing keeping him from dying outright, though Sasuke couldn't imagine how, he didn't recall any of Lord Orochimaru's curse marks providing immortality or invulnerability.

Hikaru's blades struggled forward as Sasuke shocked him, Sasuke felt his Chidori rip into him as well but kept his sword up to block the mantis-like blades from descending on him even as Minoru's hands were used to punch him repeatedly in the stomach.

"You . . . can't . . . beat . . . me!" Sasuke laughed as the lightning zapped them both.

He of course wasn't terribly bothered by his own Jutsu.

It hurt to a degree, but the Nagashi he'd never technically stopped using was only intensified by the electricity coursing through him via his connection to Minoru.

The Kumo Jounin's hands became bloody as he kept on punching Sasuke, too wild with rage perhaps to draw a kunai and simply stab him.

But the blood was a passing thing, he seemed to slowly be regenerating, and it amused Sasuke.

It was like fighting Naruto, and if this new Chidori Strom Jutsu he'd just invented was any indication, he might just be able to use it on Naruto as well.

Minoru's glowing red eyes avoided Sasuke's and it was almost as an afterthought that Sasuke realized he could use his Sharingan to truly break this man. He held his sword with one hand and reached out for Hikaru's face with the other.

He forced the man to look into his eyes and used the Sharingan.

But to his surprise it was no easy task entering Hikaru's mind.

There was a darkness there too, like a barrier, and Sasuke felt some sort of jolt run through his head as if he'd just had a brick slammed into his skull!

He staggered back, his Jutsu ended.

Minoru staggered as well, both Jounin glared at each other for a moment.

And then Minoru's extra limbs detached from his back, falling to the ground and he lurched forward, stumbling to his knees, but did not fall completely.

Sasuke was far too low on chakra to continue using the curse mark, he let his body revert to its natural state and began to breathe heavily.

Minoru looked as if he were about to say something, but didn't. Sasuke tried to make a witty comment, but couldn't.

They stood there in silence for a moment, and then finally Minoru fell forward, unable to continue kneeling.

Sasuke fell to his knees, and would have fallen over completely, save that a pair of hands caught him.

He glanced up at the sickeningly familiar face, and smirked weakly. "Naruto."

"I missed the fight, but I bet that crazy light show was your doing. Made you really easy to find, believe it!" The Whirlwind said with a grin.

Sasuke looked at the opposite side of the field. Kaori and the unnamed Jounin appeared again, holding Shiroi and Kurai respectively. The female Jounin helped Hikaru off the ground and the Jounin slowly struggled to bring two fingers to his brow, "This poison is best left to a medic ninja, but I should be able to do something. Release!" He grumbled, and Shiroi and Kurai fell to the ground and picked themselves up.

"Sensei?" Shiroi gasped when she saw Sasuke, "U-Uzumaki? What's happened?"

"We'll fill you in later." Hitomi said, "Right now we've got company."

Another Cloud Jounin appeared, he was identical to the one who'd had Kurai, and he held Ami in his arms. Sasuke knew she wasn't his enemy anymore, but he was still a little annoyed that she hadn't been killed. The one who'd had Kurai disappeared, a shadow clone. This new one said "Uzumaki, the war is over. Kumogakure makes peace with Konohagakure."

"I know." Naruto said. "That's why they dispatched me to get Uchiha here the moment the hawk arrived with word of your withdrawal from the alliance. And my sympathies for your daimyo's fate."

The Jounin with black eyes smirked, an odd reaction to Naruto's comment. "In that case you can thank Hanabi for the peace between our people."

"I'll mention it next time I see her, believe it." Naruto said. "Good to know you guys didn't dice her up and steal her eyes. So what's all this?"

Sasuke looked past the Cloud Jounin quartet to see a small army of Kusa ninja as well as two more teams of Cloud ninja and six rather large horse drawn wagons.

The convoy and the gold.

One of the Kusa ninja stepped forward, "I'm the head ninja of the Village Hidden in Grass. And I know you're Uzumaki Naruto, the Konoha Whirlwind. I know your friend there must be Uchiha Sasuke, the last of the Uchiha." The grass ninja glanced at the Cloud ninja, "If they are now your allies then we stand no chance against you. We surrender and ask that you take the gold and leave us in peace."

"All right! Mission accomplished, believe it!" Naruto said, "We accept your surrender and Iwa's gold, believe it!"

"We did it, sensei!" Hara laughed, "And the only person to get injured was Uchiha-senpai!"

"Ahem." Saizo coughed into his fist.

"Oh yeah, and you." Hara nodded.

"This gold will be vital to Konoha, as long as we have it we know Iwagakure doesn't, believe it!" Naruto said.

Sasuke shook his head and stood up straight, "Actually Naruto, I had other ideas."

"Hmm?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

Sasuke looked at the grass head ninja, "Iwagakure abuses its allies almost as much as its enemies. We'll take half the gold back to Konoha, but we're going to leave the other half with you, the ninja of Kusagakure to use as you see fit for the development and protection of the Grass country."

Naruto gawked at him, "That's a lot of gold Sasuke!"

Sasuke nodded, "It's not for free. This show of good will does come with a condition. An alliance between Hidden Leaf and Hidden Grass."

The head ninja looked stunned, "I can't speak for the daimyo." He said.

"But you can strongly suggest it." Sasuke said. "And now that Kumogakure is our ally as well you have two great nations to support you if Iwagakure attempts to attack you. Just as Konohagakure's ninja protected the grass country from the village Hidden in the Stones in previous Great Wars we should be allies once again."

The head ninja nodded. "I . . . I will suggest it to the daimyo. Strongly suggest it." The ninja said, sounding awed and just a little confused. "You have our thanks, Uchiha, Uzumaki."

The cloud ninjas said nothing as they withdrew, but Minoru gave Sasuke a look that said quite clearly that this had only been round one. They weren't finished.

Sasuke knew the feeling, though his and Naruto's rivalry was friendly enough he was also intensely interested in defeating the Whirlwind. He nodded to Minoru who limped away supported by Koari and one of the newly arrived ninja.

Tetsuo handed Ami over to another ninja and turned back to Naruto. He said "From what I've heard of you, Uzumaki, you're quite close to Hanabi-chan's older sister."

"Hinata? Uh yeah, we get on okay I guess." Naruto said evasively. Sasuke smirked. He knew Naruto wasn't ignorant of Hinata's infatuation with him, he just didn't seem prepared to acknowledge it for some reason.

Perhaps he felt the same way and couldn't express it, or perhaps he didn't want to hurt Hinata by rejecting her. Perhaps he was keeping her in reserve as a fall back girl, Sasuke didn't know.

"Please tell Hinata-san that her sister is perfectly safe and the honored guest of the Hattori clan for the moment. She has also taken a position as a Shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Clouds , though I sense it may have been a temporary move. Assure her that before any harm comes to Hanabi, that I, Hattori Tetsuo would die. Her sister is in very good hands."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I'll tell her, believe it."

Tetsuo nodded and withdrew with the rest of the Cloud Shinobi.

Naruto nodded to Sasuke, "So . . . got your butt kicked, huh?"

"It was more of a tie." Hitomi said.

"Lies, I won that one!" Sasuke scowled, "He fell on his face, I just staggered, I would have finished him off if he weren't our ally!"

"You'd have fallen over too if not for Naruto-sensei." Miyuki commended, "Now let me examine you."

"Keep your hands to yourself." Sasuke said with a glower. "I'm fine, I'm just low on chakra."

"Okay I'm still waiting to know what happened." Shiroi said.

"It's a long story." Sauske told her.

"Long my eye, your little duel was over in two minutes." Hitomi said.

"Duel? You had a duel sensei? You're not a samurai, you're a Shinobi! You should know better!" Shiroi cried, "And I can't believe I missed it!" She jabbed Sasuke hard between the eyes the way he usually did to her. "Bad sensei!" She scowled.

Sasuke glared at her. "You're going to be sorry once I can walk again."

Shiroi scoffed, "Yeah but until then," She jabbed him again, "See how you like it sensei! Take that, and this, and that one too!"

**To Be Continued . . .**


	46. Just Get Married Already!

**Chapter Forty-Six**

Shikamaru felt nervous as everyone sat down around the Kazekage's large table. For the Genin this was an incredible honor, dining with the lord of the Village Hidden in Sand.

It was an honor for Shikamaru as well, he supposed. But really it just made him nervous. Sharing a meal with his would-be brother-in-law knowing that at any point Gaara could just kill him. Though he knew it was unlikely to happen it was mildly possible.

He had to sit in between Kotaro and Chouji, Gaara hadn't allowed him to sit next to Temari, though he was allowed to sit across from her. The seating arrangement left Gaara at the head of the table with Kankuro to his right, Syako next to Kankuro, Temari's genin between Temari and Syako, and Yomiko had scored a seat next to Temari and little Sumiko.

Shikamaru couldn't recall seeing Asuma's daughter more thrilled, not even when they'd been given their first mission. She made silly faces at Sumiko, who responded with a mildly amused laugh, but mostly she just looked confused.

To Gaara's left was Chouji's Genin, Daisuke, Tomoko, then Kyusaku. Then Chouji who sat next to Shikamaru, then Kotaro and Naomasa.

"This is a momentous day." Gaara said softly. "My niece is a year old today, and it would seem the fates have given her some very grand birthday gifts."

"Uh-huh!" Syako cried. Gaara gave her a very narrow look, and Kankuro whispered something in her ear. "Oops, I like didn't mean to interrupt, Kazekage-sama. Do go on."

"Thank you." Gaara said evenly. "As I was saying not only has Sumiko's . . . _honored_ father decided to attend our little celebration" Gaara said, making an exaggerated struggle with the word 'honored' that made all the Genin smirk, and Temari roll her eyes, "word has reached me that two days ago the daimyo of the land of lightning was murdered by unknown agents. His wife was killed as well, and his youngest son is missing."

"Such talk at the dinner table." Syako scoffed, and Kankuro pinched her to shut her up. "Hey, don't get kinky in front of everybody!" Syako cried, misunderstanding his intention (maybe) and pinching Kankuro back.

Kankuro groaned but this time Gaara ignored them, "His elder son, the new Daimyo, has announced an alliance with the lands of Fire and Wind. If this weren't enough," Gaara looked at Shikamaru, "The Daimyo of Rain Country has declared alliance with Wind and Fire as well after his sons and daughter, all Genin of Amegakure, were captured and apparently well treated by an unknown Konoha patrol."

"That's us!" Kotaro gawked, "They made an alliance with us just because we didn't kill those brats that tried to take us out?"

"Had we been Iwa-ninja we would have just killed them and he'd have no heirs, but even so it does seem kind of lucky that those kids just happened to be the children of the daimyo. But then if they really were his kids why did they have a Chuunin sensei?" Tomoko said. "To be honest I don't trust it. And I don't buy that he's allying with us out of sheer gratitude."

"Neither do I." Gaara said, "But it's best not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Furthermore today news arrived that Kusa has _also_ entered into an alliance with the lands of Fire and Lightning. Ambassadors from each nation are set to meet in the Fire Capital by the end of the month to negotiate terms of a solid alliance between these countries. This puts pressure on Waterfall of course, and they've declared neutrality. Iwa's invasion buffer is gone, now it belongs to Konoha and to a much lesser extent, Suna."

Gaara went on, "Lord Raikage and I, as well as the head ninja from Kusa and Ame will be going to Konohagakure to meet with the Hokage to discuss how this changes the war plan, and how our three great nations will provide protection and support to the smaller Ame and Kusa. The war isn't over. But it's taken a turn for the better. With all of this happening so close to the day of my niece's birthday celebration I find myself, by no means a superstitious man, wondering if this girl was not blessed by the heavens. But even if it is all just a coincidence, Sumiko is fortunate indeed. There is no need to wish her a happy first birthday, fate has provided one for her."

"Great, now let's eat!" Syako cried.

Shikamaru nodded solemnly, he could barely believe all this.

The war wasn't over of course, but this was a massive change. And one that made little sense to him. He glanced at Temari, he had things he needed to tell her, something she needed to know about his little excursion with all the genin a couple days ago.

"There is just one gift I can give to my niece," Gaara said, watching Shikamaru very closely, "Unfortunately it is a hard gift to give and I would be lying if I did not admit that I give it grudgingly. My sister's hand in marriage to the father of her child so that this most fortunate girl might grow up knowing both her parents."

"That's awesome! Temari-sensei's getting married!" Kyoko squealed.

"A wedding? That's so dreamy!" Yomiko giggled.

"Oh Tem-tem you have to like let me be your maid of honor!" Syako cried.

Everyone looked at Tomoko who scoffed, "What? Because I'm a girl I'm supposed to get worked up over this? I find that offensive." She scowled. Then whispered, "But it's _so _cool!"

"Okay, slow down, slow down." Temari laughed uneasily, "First of all, nobody had better ever call me "Tem-tem" again. Second of all, unfortunately Gaara, Shikamaru and I cannot get married at this time."

"Outrageous! She's joking! No way!" Kankuro cried.

"Good for you sensei, girl power, you don't need a man in your life!" Yukio laughed.

"Oh fie." Syako scoffed.

"Fie?" Yomiko jeered.

"Fie?" Kankuro asked.

"It expresses disapproval." Syako clarified. "And anyway like why are you not marrying him? I mean is he like poor?"

"No." Temari said, "But Shikamaru and I agreed I'd get this team to Chuunin status before we'd get married. I don't want to force these kids to find _another _sensei."

"Wait a minute sensei, you'd rather be lonely in Suna than happy in Konoha just because we're not Chuunin?" Ryu demanded.

"That's why you gave us all that study material." Kyoko said, "I understand sensei! I won't let you down!"

"No." Yukio said. "I don't want to disrespect you sensei, and I'm not trying to be funny, but . . . that's utterly stupid. It wasn't your fault that our last sensei got killed fighting Stone Ninja, it's not your fault you're in love with a foreigner . . . well it kind of is, but you know what I mean. You should be able to get married, have a family and go your way without us holding you down."

"And I have every intention of doing that. But I'd feel _better_ about doing all that if I knew for sure that you kids were ready to be left alone." Temari said.

"We'll never be alone." Yukio said, "We have each other. Kyoko and Ryu are like the brother and sister respectively that I never wanted.

"Respectively? So I'm your brother?" Kyoko demanded. "That's not funny Yukio!"

"He's gotta work a joke in at some point I guess." Ryu scoffed.

"That's pretty messed up." Kyoko scowled. "And in front of the boy I li--uh I mean in front of all these people!"

"It's not like you're abandoning us, you're doing what's best for your daughter and doing what you really want to do," Yukio continued, "that is if it's what you really want to do."

Temari smiled, "You kids just aren't old enough to understand that sometimes we have to give up the things we love or put off being with the people we love because it's the right thing to do. I want to be absolutely certain that you'll all be okay before I leave you all behind."

Gaara shook his head, "I think you misunderstand. I said you could get married Temari, I'm not letting you join Konoha."

"Now _that_ is like messed up!" Syako cried. "What're they going to do, honeymoon at the black monument? Spend six months in one place and six months in another?"

"Syako!" Kankuro whispered but the busty redhead just kept on going.

"You're insane, Kazekage-sama!"

Gaara laughed, it was his cheerful laugh but it still sounded sort of . . . well sinister. It shut Syako up (so Shikamaru was grateful for it) but it sent shivers down Shikamaru's spine. "Temari, _if _you want to be Nara's wife this could be your only chance to have both Kankuro and I there to witness it. But you're right, you're not leaving your team until they're Chuunin. Which, if you'll excuse me, is why you and your team are also assigned to Konoha from now until the exams. I was concerned but given their reactions I doubt your Genin will object."

"Of course not!" Kyoko giggled, batting her eyelashes at Kotaro, who cringed.

"As long as it's what sensei really wants." Ryu nodded.

"I'm all for spending some time in Konoha." Yukio agreed, and Shikamaru noted that he stole a glance at Yomiko.

Shikamaru shook his head slowly, "What about your families?"

"Our what now?" Kyoko laughed.

"Kyoko and I are orphans. Yukio's father is on the front lines so he wouldn't be able to see him if he wanted to." Ryu said. "We're all set."

Shikamaru frowned, that was really unfortunate.

"So how long am I going to be assigned to Konoha?" Temari asked.

"Until your Genin become Chuunin, and then you'll be free to join Konohagakure's ranks." Gaara said. "You may live in Konoha but for your Genin sake I will assign you a month here and a month there after the exams should they fail. But even so there should be nothing holding you back from this marriage."

Temari glanced at Shikamaru and . . . was she blushing? "Do you still want to?" She asked almost shyly.

Shikamaru smirked, "Of course I do, I've never wanted anything more."

"That settles it." Gaara said simply. He glared at Shikamaru, "You will allow her and the child to visit us here." He said. It wasn't a question or a request, it was a statement of fact. Shikamaru nodded.

"Good luck to the kids in the exams though, we can sure use more Chuunin." Kankuro pointed out.

"Well you'll have competition in the chuunin exams." Chouji spoke up.

"Oh I think we can take your team!" Ryu laughed, He winked at them, "You'll go easy on us right? It's for a good cause!"

"Hey, neither is _my _sensei!" Daisuke laughed.

"I didn't mean _my_ team." Chouji laughed, "I'm talking about team ten. Your genin are showing serious promise Shikamaru, Ino complemented them. But then with parents like theirs and a sensei like you . . ."

"Parents make the person, but it's the person who makes themselves a strong ninja." Shikamaru said, darting his eyes towards Nao so that Chouji would remember that unlike Yomiko and Kotaro, Nao was not born to ninja parents.

Chouji nodded, "Yeah, but the sensei is a big part of it and you're not doing as badly as Kiba thought you would."

"Kiba said what?" Shikamaru demanded.

"Everyone was having a pool on how long you'd last as a sensei, how well you'd do." Chouji shrugged, "Didn't you know?"

"No!" Shikamaru cried.

"I'll have to get in on that when we're in Konoha." Kankuro said to himself.

"Yeah it's easy money, I got _myself _a piece of that." Temari said.

"_You_ knew?" Shikamaru frowned.

"Well sensei if they'd told _you, _you could cheat." Yomiko pointed out.

"I know." Shikamaru grumbled. He _wanted _to.

"Oh yeah, that's right!" Chouji frowned, "I forgot that was the reason they told me not to tell you. Well . . . we'll keep this between us."

"Chouji, did you bet?" Shikamaru asked.

"No, I wouldn't." Chouji said. "Ino made a bet though, she said you'd do a good job."

Shikamaru scoffed and said, "You're making a bet on my behalf that all three of these Genin become Chuunin at the end of the exams!"

"Heck yeah!" Yomiko cried, "Atta-sensei!"

"It'd be quite a sight to see, so many Genin getting promoted from one exam." Daisuke said.

"But it can happen." Kotaro said.

"We'll see." Nao said slightly glumly.

"It _will _happen." Tomoko said. "Don't you think, Kyusaku?"

Everyone looked to the round boy who was staring blankly at the food. Tomoko snapped her fingers in front of his eyes and he snapped out of his stupor, "Can we eat yet?" He asked.

"Oh . . . yes." Gaara nodded.

The meal was exquisite but Shikamaru couldn't focus on that. He kept watching Temari . . . and it wasn't because the soft moonlight coming from the window behind her gave her a serene glow, or because the candlelight from the table made her stunning eyes look even more beautiful.

It wasn't because this was the woman who would become his wife, the woman who was the mother of his child. She was all those things but that wasn't what dominated his mind.

He made a motion with his eyes to tell her that they needed to ditch the party. Not because he wanted to whisk her away to some private location and forget about the rest of the universe in exchange for just a few intimate moments with her, though that did sound tempting.

Temari frowned and said to Syako, "Syako-chan I'm sorry to ask but could you please put Sumiko to bed?"

"Absolutely!" Syako cried, getting up.

Yomiko looked heartbroken but she got over it and joined the idle banter with the other Genin.

Shikamaru and Temari left, he supposed the proper thing to do would have been to ask for Gaara's permission, but he didn't want to draw attention to their departure.

Temari however knew better than to just assume Gaara would be complacent, and said "We'll just be a moment."

Gaara nodded and Temari and Shikamaru rushed out of the room to some whistles and cat calls from the Oedo twins and Yukio.

You'd think the kids would be better behaved around a Kage. Then again Gaara had slightly encouraged the behavior with his little remark earliar.

As soon as they had proceeded into the next room Temari shoved Shikamaru against a wall, "Couldn't wait huh? Neither can I." She said with a lewd grin.

"Actually," Shikamaru said softly, "There's something I need to tell you."

Temari's eyebrow raised, "What?"

Shikamaru frowned, "You remember the Iwa ninja we fought before, the one with the sword."

"The one I saved you from?" Temari smirked.

"That one." Shikamaru nodded. He watched Temari carefully and said "Two days ago I took the Genin on a little trip to keep them out of trouble. Our goal was to find something nice for Sumiko's birthday. This whole fatherhood thing is troublesome and new to me so I thought I would use them to speed along the process."

"Did you find anything good?" Temari asked.

"No because instead we spotted _him_. That Jounin from the Monument, the one we'd thought you killed."

Temari scoffed, "Can't be. No way he could have come all this way, gotten into this town so easily."

"He was well disguised as a Suna ninja." Shikamaru said. "He had hair and a beard, but I recognized him. At least I'm pretty sure it was him."

"Go on." Temari whispered. "What did you do?"

"I tried to confront him. I was stopped by the person he was speaking to and he got away before my shadow could snare him."

"And?" Temari pressed. "Who stopped you? I'll have _them _interrogated."

Shikamaru gave her a level look, "It was Syako, Temari. Syako was talking to the Iwa jounin."

Temari laughed, "Well that's okay, she's . . . you know. He was probably just some Suna ninja you've never seen before. You know there are quite a few of us." Temari said with a wink.

Shikamaru shook his head, "Temari we all know how Syako is. The woman couldn't shut up if her life depended on it . . . say I'm right, say that _was _the Jounin, how creative would he really have to be to get Syako to tell him things about Sunagakure so long as he was wearing a false uniform?"

Temari shook her head, "I'm not saying you're wrong Shikamaru, but . . . Syako shouldn't know anything important. Nothing that can endanger Sunagakure."

"She's Kankuro's lover." Shikamaru said.

"So? Kankuro wouldn't tell her anything. Just like I never told you anything that might harm the village, just as you never told me anything that might destroy Konoha." Temari said. "Anyway Syako's a little . . . special, but she's loyal enough."

Shikamaru shook his head, "I'm not saying she's one of the bad guys, Temari. But she might have unwittingly let an enemy know _something_ and that being the case--"

"That being the case why tell me instead of Gaara?" Temari asked.

"I wanted to know your opinion before I did anything. I wasn't sure if this were the sort of thing I should risk speaking to Gaara about. Besides it's strong suspicion, not solid fact. But if you think there's no way Syako could have betrayed any information I'll trust your word. But I _do _think that _you _might tell Gaara if the chance should arise."

Temari nodded. "Fine, I'll let him know."

Shikamaru shrugged, "Well . . . let's get back then."

"That's it? That's what couldn't wait?" Temari demanded.

Shikamaru smirked, "I didn't say it couldn't wait, I just motioned that I wanted to talk to you at some point. You're the one in a rush."

"Yeah well . . . I have needs." Temari said. "Speaking of which," She forced him against the wall again, "It'll look suspicious if we're not just a _little _disorganized when we go back. And give me your flak jacket, I'll be wearing it back."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her . . . but after all was said and done he noticed she looked _really_ good in a Konoha flak jacket.

* * *

Syako gently rocked Sumiko to sleep and sighed. How she wanted one of her own. 

Despite her beauty Syako was, for reasons unknown to her, simply incapable of carrying a child inside her womb.

Which was why she'd need to . . . adopt.

She gently rocked Sumiko, she already felt like her daughter. She kissed the little girl's forehead and whispered to her "They almost stopped me, those Ame ninja. They lucked out when they got me instead of Kankuro, and it almost ruined everything. Luckily my contact from the Stone Village lingered in Sunagakure and I was able to get him the information he needed . . . a bit late of course, but now Sunagakure's fate is sealed. Aren't you proud of me? Let them call me stupid once _this _is over." Syako smiled.

Sumiko stirred and a rather upset look came to her face as Syako laughed softly, "Soon enough little dear this village will burn. Soon enough all those filthy ninja will die. Those _sand _ninja that is. But don't worry, I won't let them hurt _you_, my precious. I'll protect you. You'll be my payment for being such a good spy. Tsuchikage's units are infiltrating even now, and in six months, before the new Imperial Army is even done trying on their new uniforms Sunagakure will be doomed. Your mother--I'm sorry dear baby, the _stranger_ who _thinks _she's your mother, will die. Even if she tries to take you away to Konoha I'll come for you there my darling, and we'll be together. You and me . . ."

Syako laughed softly, though the baby was beginning to fuss the image of a burning Sunagakure dominated the young woman's mind. Ninja from the land of earth marched through the burning village in Syako's dreams.

She knew how this war would end, even if Konoha made allies the destruction of Suna had been decided the moment Kazekage refused to abandon the leaf village's pet demon.

Syako set the fussing infant down in her cradle and blew her a kiss, "I will raise you to be a princess. And if you need to follow in your trash-born true parent's foot steps I will even let you become a ninja some day. A ninja of Iwagakure that is. Sweet dreams, my future daughter."

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **In honor of this story reaching an unexpected 200 reviews you all get this chapter two days early, enjoy! I know 200 reviews is no record breaker and I'm not getting high on my own ability or anything like that. But I honestly didn't think we'd ever come close to this number before the Chuunin exams. But I'm pleased to see that I'm wrong and that so many of you enjoy this story so much.

So I guess the index and the first chapter of Arc Three are going to be Friday's update. Have fun, and thanks for all the support!


	47. Ninja Index

**Ninja Index**

_Here it is, the Ninja Index of Original Characters to aid in the understanding of just who the heck everyone is. I'm not totally content with it (you'll know that's changed when this note disappears) and there may be errors here and there but I've tried to weed them out. There are also slight spoilers, but anyway enjoy!_

**Name: **This is the identity that each character received from their parents at birth unless otherwise noted.

**Bio:** Just a description of the Ninja.

**Age:** How old are these ninja?

**Name Origins: **Most characters have a name with meaning, some, like Yomiko were named for another reason.

**Odd Notes: **Most characters have an odd story behind their creation.

_If you do not want to go down the list use the search function (CTRL+F), type in the number of the character you want to learn more about (for example put in "005" for Kyusaku) and let the search take you right to them._

**FIRE**

**001**Sarutobi Yomiko

**002 **Hatake Kotaro

**003 **Ishida Naomasa

**004 **Oedo Daisuke

**005 **Inuzuka Kyusaku

**006 **Oedo Tomoko

**007 **Aburame Kurai

**008 **Miura Saizo

**009 **Hyuga Shiroi

**010 **Hara Masamune

**011 **Hijiri Hitomi

**012 **Yamamoto Miyuki

**WIND**

**013 **Yukio

**014 **Ryu

**015 **Kyoko

**016 **Syako

**017 **Sumiko

**LIGHTNING**

**018 **Minoru Hikaru

**019 **Ina Ami

**020 **Yurei Kaori

**021 **Konjo Takumi

**022 **Tosa Kimiko

**023 **Hibiki Masaru

**024** Yurei Yuu

**025** Hattori Kasumi

**026** Hattori Tetsuo

**027 **Hattori Hanzo

**028** Daimyo Taiko

**029** Okatsu 

**030** Akuma 

**EARTH**

**031** Juukei Toshiie

**OTHER**

**032** Team Chiwa

**033** Okatsu's Master

* * *

**FIRE

* * *

**

**Team Ten (Team Nara)**

**Sensei: **Shikamaru

**Members: **Yomiko, Kotaro, Nao

* * *

**001 Yomiko (Sarutobi Yomiko) **

Yomiko is the daughter of Asuma and Kurenai, and she's a brat. She's a proficient genjutsu user. She has mixed feelings about her sensei and no matter what Shikamaru does she's convinced any other Jounin worth their salt could do it and do it better. She dislikes the boys in her team, but tolerates Kotaro since he at least comes from a ninja family.

**Age: **12

**Rank: **Genin

**Name Origins: **I'm a fan of Yomiko Readmen from Read or Die.

**Odd Note: **Originally Yomiko was going to be a boy, however I decided to give Asuma a daughter. She was "born" (in other words I made her up) long before Asuma and Hidan fought. I should have changed her lineage but I grew far too used to her being Asuma's daughter and felt it would give her and Shikamaru a chance to form a bond later.

* * *

**002 Kotaro (Hatake Kotaro) **

Kotaro is the son of Kakashi and Anko. He's laid back most of the time, and very good with earth jutsus. Though he has a fear of talking animals he rather likes his mother's snakes. He likes Shikamaru because he requires less of him than any other sensei would, Kotaro is slightly lazy himself. He does however have ambitions to learn Chidori and 1000 jutsus, just like his father. He's the object of Kyoko's affection right now, but doesn't return the feeling because she's too creepy.

**Age: **12

**Rank: **Genin

**Name Origins: **Onimusha 2, and the historical(?) Kotaro.

**Odd Note: **Kotaro was originally the son of Kakashi and Shizune, but just before the story writing began I changed my mind and made his mother Anko. I have my reasons, though I've got mixed feelings in regards to the Kakashi+Anko pairing. It's Anko's claw pendant that he wears around his neck, as described in chapter one. Though this was supposed to be explained early on I put it off in case I ever changed my mind and made Shizune his mother again, since I haven't he'll explain during the Chuunin exams why he wears his mother's necklace.

* * *

**003 Nao (Ishida Naomasa) **

Nao is the only son of the Ishida Merchant Clan. He abandoned a life of comfort and wealth to become a ninja because he disliked looking down on other people simply because they had less money than him. With the help of Tomoko he becomes proficient in fire Jutsus, and though he and Tomoko might in some ways resemble a couple, their relationship is strictly platonic. Even if her smile lights up his day . . . yeah, strictly platonic.

**Age: **12

**Rank: **Genin

**Name Origins: **The Ishida clan hails from an original work I once did about two samurai brothers. In _New Blood _they're a merchant clan. Naomasa is named for the historical Naomasa Ii, but Nao also means "honesty"

**Odd Note: **Nao was a constant concern for me at first because looking at the planned arc one and two I felt too many people might feel he was based off Naruto. I tried to leave subtle notes that this wasn't the case, for example Nao's dislike of Ramen.

* * *

**Team Akimichi**

**Sensei:** Chouji

**Members: **Daisuke, Kyusaku, Tomoko

* * *

**004 Daisuke (Oedo Daisuke) **

Daisuke is one of the few members of the Oedo clan to become a ninja. He still lives with his parents and fellow Oedo, but does not ostracize Tomoko, his twin. He's a great medic and tries to be chivalrous and brave. Though he tends to flirt with women left and right, he doesn't mean anything by it and he's really very loyal, especially to his friends and family. He likes to use fancy words in his speech, sometimes it causes him to get teased.

**Age: **15

**Rank: **Genin

**Name Origins: **Daisuke means "Great Helper" or something to that effect. Oedo, as far as I know is not even a Japanese name, the clan is meant to be slightly exotic.

**Odd Note: **Daisuke is one of the few guys in this story to be interested in younger women, almost every other pairing the girl is either older or the two characters are the same age. It's a matter of personal preference, I like _slightly _older girls so that's just how I tend to write my pairings, usually it's unintentional. Daisuke was meant to be very different from me. Maybe that's why so many people like him.

* * *

**005 Kyusaku (Inuzuka Kyusaku)**

Kyusaku is a member of the Inuzuka clan who cannot bond with dogs. In fact he's incredibly afraid of dogs. His relation to Kiba is undecided, he's likely a cousin. Kyusaku bonds quickly with his sensei, Chouji, and his teammates. Between the twins' constant bickering Kyusaku can be rightly called the glue that holds team Akimichi together when their sensei isn't present. He has a thus far unrequited and unannounced crush on Tomoko.

**Age: **15

**Rank: **Genin

**Name Origins: **Kyusaku is just a name I like, but I did choose it for a reason way back when. I've long since forgotten both its meaning and the reason I chose it.

**Odd Note: **I liked the idea of an Inuzuka who was afraid of dogs since I myself was terrified of dogs as a child, even though my family had two great big ones.

* * *

**006 Tomoko (Oedo Tomoko) **

Tomoko is the twin sister of Daisuke, and when he's being teased it's usually by her. She abandoned her clan some years ago and lives alone. Completely ostracized by all members of her clan except her twin brother, Tomoko set out to make a life for herself without them, obtaining a job and a house of her own. She may or may not be romantically involved with Shiroi. Though the girls spend almost all their spare time together in a romantic setting, Kurai accuses them of lying just to mess with their male teammates.

**Age: **15

**Rank: **Genin.

**Name Origins: **Tomoko means "Friendly/Wise Child" or something to that effect. Oedo is not a Japanese name so far as I know.

**Odd Note: **I was somewhat apprehensive about the reaction to Tomoko and Shiroi being a couple, so I tried to slightly gloss over it a bit at first and make it clear earlier than I'd originally wanted to that they were just fooling around. Having them together wasn't _that _important to the story, wasn't even technically important to _their _stories, but it's one of those things I really regret not sticking to the script on. After all with the wealth of NaruSasu stories a littke TomoShi shouldn't be unacceptable.

* * *

**Team Uchiha**

**Sensei:** Sasuke

**Members: **Kurai, Saizo, Shiroi.

* * *

**007 Kurai (Aburame Kurai) **

Kurai is the most level headed member of his team, but he does go along with their bullying simply because it's too much trouble to swim against the stream. He doesn't actively pursue Shiroi or Tomoko, which ends up causing Shiroi to fall for him, much to the annoyance of Daisuke and Saizo. He's likely the most powerful Genin of his year, but he doesnt show off his power like his teammates.

**Age: **15

**Rank: **Genin

**Name Origins: **Kurai means Nothing. Aburame is an official clan as most readers will know.

**Odd Note: **Originally planned to be the son of Gekkou Hyate and that Anbu girl whose name I've never known I decided I'd rather have an Aburame so Kurai was changed right before the story began. Luckily he didn't show up until much later so I could make the change more complete and better plan him.

* * *

**008 Saizo (Mihuru Saizo) **

Saizo is the son of a Samurai who rose up from a peasant to become the most trusted general of Konoha. Saizo ran away from home as a child and cast off his family name for reasons that are unclear. He idolizes Sasuke but listens even more intently to campfire stories of the evil Orochimaru. He considers Shiroi an acceptable consort, however she doesn't like him "that way".

**Age: **15

**Rank: **Genin

**Name Origins: **Named for the legendary Saizo.

**Odd Note: **Saizo was meant originally to represent what the combination of Sasuke and Orochimaru should have been in my mind. He still does in some ways, but mostly I dropped the idea.

* * *

**009 Shiroi (Hyuga Shiroi) **

Shiroi is a member of the Hyuga branch family and loathes every bit of it. She forms a bond with Tomoko because she admires the other girl's ability to survive living by herself at her age. Shiroi wishes to leave her clan but it's impossible, even if she could the seal of the branch family would only mean that she could be killed on a whim. She vents her frustration at this situation by following Saizo's bullying lead, except in the presence of Tomoko who frowns on such rude displays. Shiroi is trained by both Neji and Sasuke and is the only Genin in her year to know a One Hit K.O. Jutsu.

**Age: **15

**Rank: **Genin

**Name Origins: **Shiroi just means "White" that's it.

**Odd Notes: **Most of what should be said for Shiroi was said for Tomoko. Originally Shiroi was going to be a super medic though, but I decided she shouldn't care enough about her comrades to heal them. Yet.

* * *

**Team Hara**

**Sensei: **None (Formerly Naruto)

**Members: **Hara, Miyuki, Hitomi

* * *

**010 Hara (Hara Masamune) **

An expert at both ranged and close combat, Hara became Jounin by age seventeen, beating his two teammates. Trained by Naruto, whom he attempts to emulate, Hara is an expert with Shadow Clone Jutsu, but has failed to learn moves such as Rasengan. He has a great amount of pride in himself and his teammates, and might have an unrequited crush on Miyuki.

**Age: **17

**Rank: **Jounin

**Name Origins: **Masamune is just such a cool name. Both his names come from Samurai stalk, the Masamune coming from Date Masamune.

**Odd Note: **Feels like a filler character in this story, Hara's not slated to do anything truly spectacular or get too involved with any of the main Genin. His role in the story "Red Eyes" was much greater, but that story was never finished. Originally he was going to have just one eye, like his namesake, my beta readers didn't like the idea of a ranged specialist being thusly hindered.

* * *

**011 Hitomi (Hijiri Hitomi) **

She's the daughter of Hijiri Shimon, a Chuunin examiner (and not an original character, ergo he is not listed here). A Chuunin eaminer herself Hitomi never fails to spot a cheater, and she takes great pleasure in carrying out her duty. She's especially good with fire Jutsus, and owns a pair of black goggles that have yet to be seen off of her face.

**Age: **17

**Rank: **Chuunin

**Name Origins: **Hitomi means strange or unusual eyes. Hijiri is just the family name of her father, I don't know what it means.

**Odd Note: **Hitomi was originally the central character of a story called "Red Eyes" set some time before New Blood. That story never got finished and I ended up writing New Blood instead. The least I could do for the girl whom I'd grown quite attached to, was give her a role in New Blood.

* * *

**012 Miyuki (Yamamoto Miyuki) **

A Special Jounin with medical skills unparalleled by any of her age Miyuki doesn't care if she's a nice person or not as long as her patient's still breathing when she's through with them. She is disdainful of talkative people like her sensei Naruto, but accepts and respects Naruto for who and what he is. She refuses to "have any sort of opinion" on Hara's affection for her, believing it simply isn't the sort of thing Ninjas should occupy their time with, she is however not ignorant of it.

**Age:** 17

**Rank: **Special Jounin

**Name Origins: **Though the name probably has a lovely meaning, Miyuki is named for Tallest Miyuki, a nod to Invader Zim. The Yamamoto in her name is there because I once knew a guy named Yamamoto.

**Odd Notes: **Miyuki might just have the oddest reasoning of all behind her name.

* * *

**WIND

* * *

**

**013 Yukio **

A smart mouthed joker who has little respect for Temari as a sensei but likes her okay as a ninja, Yukio is the unofficial leader of his team. He takes it upon himself to act as their boss and protector. He enjoys making sly comments, and playing jokes, but knows how to buckle down and devote himself to his ninja training when he needs to. He has some serious issues with Shiroi.

**Age:** 13

**Rank:** Genin

**Name Origins:** Yukio means "gets what he wants" or something to that effect. Though it was originally meant to reflect his character, his true object of desire hasn't been openly announced.

**Odd Note: **Yukio was originally planned to have a crush on Temari which he covered up by making jokes and disrespecting her. I decided against it, Yomiko disrespected Shikamaru enough that I didn't feel Temari needed outright disrespect from Yukio (thus he has _some _respect for her) and the crush wouldn't have been that important to the story since Yukio would have dropped it once he met the girl he'll end up liking.

* * *

**014 Ryu **

A proficient medic who usually follows his buddy Yukio's lead. He looks out for Kyoko as if she were a younger sister, but secretly finds her to be the most annoying creature in the world (hey, a little sister!) He likes just sleeping in and being lazy, though nowhere near to the extent of Shikamaru. Ryu is the slowest attacker on his team in part because he gets little nonessential exercise.

**Age: **13

**Rank: **Genin

**Name Origins: **Ryuu means Dragon Man, and that was Ryu's original name. I kept forgetting the extra "U" then I just got used to it being Ryu. I've been far too busy and lazy to research what Ryu means.

**Odd Note: **Like Yukio, Ryu was meant to have a crush on Temari, I decided against it, though it remained with him much longer than it did Yukio, lasting even until the beginning of the story but being dropped shortly thereafter.

* * *

**015 Kyoko **

A cute redhead from Suna who aims to emulate her sensei in all things Kyoko has an extraordinary chakra reserve and chakra control so precise that she almost never runs out. She can summon multiple allies at once, and though she has signed a contract with the weasels like her sensei she's also got a contract with the falcons, and neither animal is too pleased about this. Kyoko has a crush on Kotaro because she thinks he's cute, she knows but ignores the fact that he's made uncomfortable by her affections.

**Age: **13

**Rank: **Genin

**Name Origins: **Kyoko is a name I've always liked, it also means Imperial Child or something like that.

**Odd Notes: **Originally she would have been Gaara's daughter, she would also have been a year younger than her teammates (Which is why early in the story it's said that she's twelve) I decided against this since frankly I wasn't sure who Gaara would have a daughter with and didn't want him to appear with anyone in the story until I had some vague idea of who to put him with. By that time it was easier just to say she was related to some other redhead.

* * *

**016 Syako **

Beautiful, and a bit of an airhead as far as any can tell, Syako is the niece of the Lord of the Land of Wind, but nobody important as far as she's concerned. She has a relationship with Kankuro which might be purely physical. However Syako has a dark secret that could lead to the downfall of the Village Hidden in Sands, and she might not be as clueless as she leads everyone to believe. The only person she's told her secret to though is Sumiko.

**Age: **28

**Rank: **N/A

**Name Origins: **I don't know if Syako's even a name, the idea was that she'd dropped her real name (Which was probably something like Kiyoko) and made one up because it sounded fun.

**Odd Note: **Though she isn't a ninja, Syako is one of the few people to cause Kotaro to bleed (again and again) during over the course of the story. She accomplishes this with her "Breasts in Face Jutsu", but at **no point **is she **intentionally **leading him on (well maybe just a little) declaring any kind of intentions towards him, or anything of that nature. It's more of a running gag than anything else.

* * *

**017 Sumiko (Nara Sumiko) **

Lazy, small, quiet (except when she cries) and possessing a wide array of annoyed facial expressions Sumiko is the daughter of Shikamaru and Temari, but you probably already figured that out.

**Age:** 1

**Rank: **N/A

**Name Origins: **Sumiko means clear thinking/pure child, Nara is Shikamaru's family name. I don't think Temari _has _a family name.

* * *

**LIGHTNING

* * *

**

**018 Hikaru (Minoru Hikaru) **

Hikaru was cursed as a child with Orochimaru's Restoration Seal. As such Hikaru is almost as hard to hurt as Naruto. Almost. He feels abandoned by Orochimaru for being left behind in favor of Sasuke. He keeps his true talents a secret, though he possesses an ability to use ninjutsu and genjutsu ahead of time and infuse them into cards allowing for instant use at a reduced chakra cost. He leads a Jounin team consisting of two women, both of whom he is romantically (if not only physically) involved with.

**Age:** 27

**Rank: **Jounin

**Name Origins:** Hikaru means brilliant bright leader I am told, and Minoru means fruitful or something like that.

**Odd Note: **Originally Hikaru was meant to often quote Nny from Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. I decided against that, there's no way for him to even know about JTHM and frankly I don't like quoting _anything_ if I can avoid it, I'd rather come up with my own lines. So even if Hikaru says something totally stupid at least I know I made it up myself.

* * *

**019 Ami (Ina Ami) **

Ami controls dead bodies with a jutsu similar to puppetry. She has no need to make puppets, instead seeking out beautiful young women to be her works of art. Armed with a Jutsu to prevent decay for a period of no more than a year Ami often needs new beauties, as decaying corpses simply aren't beautiful. Once summoned they can either operate as themselves or take on her appearance, Ami is not beyond murdering innocent civilians for a good "work of art" though she is careful not to do so within the borders of her own country, least she suffer punishment. This ruthless attitude, as well as her ability to become weightless attracted Hikaru to her.

**Age:** 25

**Rank: **Jounin

**Name Origins:** Ami means "Much Love" or something like that . . . yeah.

**Odd Note:** Ever since I've created Ami every time I hear the song Living Dead Girl (or whatever it's called) by Rob Zombie, Ami springs to mind. I literally can't hear that song without thinking of her and when I write scenes with her in them I start humming it. This habit has become really annoying.

* * *

**020 Kaori (Yurei Kaori) **

Kaori is the elder sister of Yuu, and the family's main bread winner. She's one of Hikaru's teammates, and has succumbed to his charms the same as Ami. She dislikes Ami personally but values Hikaru's happiness over her own. She and Yuu are the last of their clan. Though she doesn't have problems with taking life, she has some reservations about killing helpless opponents and children. Her brother dislikes Hikaru and has been trying to set her up with Takumi, a bar tender.

**Age: **25

**Rank:** Jounin

**Name Origins: **Kaori means "fragrance", Yurei means "Ghostly"

**Odd Note: **Like Hitomi, Kaori starred in a story of her own before I wrote her in to New Blood as one of Hikaru's girls. Her story was called "Yurei" and unlike "Red Eyes" it actually _was _written to completion. I plan to post it someday in the near future but planning and doing are two different things.

* * *

**021 Takumi (Konjo Takumi) **

He's the son of a bar tender and has a terrible allergy to alcohol. So despite his upbringing Takumi isn't much of a drinker. As such he has difficulty running a good bar so when he inherited his father's tavern he turned it into an inn and a restaurant, however he allowed it to keep its proud history as a bar because it was his father's last wish. Takumi is friendly towards everyone, like a good host should be, accepting Hanabi as a person rather than a turncoat ninja and stopping countless fights between Tetsuo and Hikaru while in his establishment.

**Age: **27

**Rank: **Resigned, formerly a Jounin.

**Name Origins: **Takumi means "Artisan", I have no idea what Konjo means. Konjo Takumi is the name a friend assigned me once in a samurai RPG. And don't look at me like that, everyone's played a pen and paper RPG at some point . . . I'm not a nerd! Well maybe a little . . .

**Odd Note:** Though he is, after a fashion, named after me, Takumi is not a self insertion. He and I have little in common.

* * *

**022 Kimiko (Tosa Kimiko) **

A dignified and polished young woman, Kimiko would never do anything unseemly or wrong. But she's also an alcoholic so whatever she does while she's intoxicated doesn't count according to her. A text-book Jounin Kimiko has an extensive knowledge but has only recently been promoted to Jounin. She rules her team with an iron fist made up of rules and regulations. When she falls for a certain genius Konoha ninja, it earns her the enmity of a certain Suna kunoichi.

**Age: **23

**Rank: **Jounin

**Name Origins:** I'm sure Tosa Kimiko means something relevant to her personality, but I can't recall.

**Odd Note: **Kimiko was a background character, a snotty little book worm know it all from "Yurei" who somehow became a sensei. I toyed with the idea of letting her be one of Minoru's girlfriends too, but decided against it. In part because she wouldn't meet his power standards, and also because she'd be far too intelligent to go for such a guy . . . unless she was drunk.

* * *

**023 Masa (Hibiki Masaru) **

At first glance you'd think Masaru was the only guy on a team full of beautiful women. You'd be wrong, but Masaru likes it that way. He's a member of the Hibiki clan, a clan so old and ancient that they are spread to almost every hidden village. Expert ninja tailors the Hibiki Clan's Steel Cloth Jutsu can make a well clothed Hibiki nigh invulnerable to taijutsu attacks. Perhaps this is why Masaru feels even more exposed when not fully dressed than any normal person would.

**Age: **14

**Rank: **Genin

**Name Origins: **Masaru means Intelligent and Victorious, or something like that. Hibiki is a slight (yeah right) nod to my favorite character from Ranma 1/2.

**Odd Note: **Originally Hibiki was meant to tease Yuu more often about his appearance and try to convince everyone that Yuu is a girl. I was asked however why Yuu, who can just phase through Hibiki's armor would tolerate such a thing and leave him alive, the whole "he knows he's kidding the way best friends do" excuse didn't hold water. I was also told this seemed homophobic and insensitive on my part as well as Masaru's so I toned down what would have been a very . . . turbulent friendship.

* * *

**024 Yuu (Yurei Yuu) **

Second to last of the Yurei clan, Yuu was just an infant when he and his sister Kaori fled their homeland and came to Kumogakure. Yuu knows very little of his clan's jutsus, all he knows is what Kaori, a very busy Jounin, has had time and inclination to teach him. His soft features and long hair make many believe that he's a girl. Yuu has a high moral code which he tries to live up to at all times, but knows better than to expect the same morality from others. Case in point: his sister.

**Age: **14

**Rank: **Genin

**Name Origins: **Yuu is a name I like. I mean look at it. Anyway it means Superior, Yurei means ghost or ghostly, I can't recall.

**Odd Note: **I had originally though up an actual reason for Yuu to look the way he does and still be able to fall for a certain undisclosed female ninja just before the exams. However we figured it's more fun if people scratch their heads and say "Well if he's straight why the heck does he look like that?" when he makes a move on an actual girl.

* * *

**025 Kasumi (Hattori Kasumi) **

The daughter of Hattori Hanzo and the sister of Hattori Tetsuo, Kasumi has rather big shoes to fill. In a team full of talented ninja led by a book smart sensei Kasumi's got a long way to go if she's going to prove she's the best. She also has a crush on Masaru, but she's too shy to admit it . She looks up to Hanabi as her big sister.

**Age:** 14

**Rank:** Genin

**Name Origins: **Her family is named for the historical Hattori, Kasumi's actual name is another nod to Ranma 1/2.

**Odd Note: **At one point Kasumi was going to have a different name, I changed it to Kasumi because it sounds better than what her original name was going to be.

* * *

**026 Tetsuo (Hattori Tetsuo) **

The son of Hattori Hanzo and a prodigy of the Hattori fighting style, Tetsuo became a Jounin at the tender age of fifteen. Tetsuo was believed to be the most powerful ninja of his village aside from Raikage, though many veterans believe his father Hanzo could defeat him. Now he suspects that Hikaru might also be too powerful for him. Tetsuo has been a sensei, a field captain and even one of the body guards of the Lord of the Lands of Lightning. Tetsuo however has always had an interest in Hanabi, whom he met during a Chuunin exam, the two are now set to be married.

**Age: **23

**Rank: **Jounin

**Name Origins: **Clear Thinking man, Tetsuo's name was originally going to be Tatsuo, which had some meaning that I've forgotten due to never writing it. The auto-spell-checker thingy on my computer kept changing it, exasperated and annoyed I changed Tatsuo's name to Tetsuo, I'm unaware of the name's meaning at this time.

**Odd Note: **Doesn't the rant in Name Origins count?

* * *

**027 Hattori Hanzo **

The head of the Hattori household, Hanzo is a powerful ninja and has served his village as a Jounin since the age of ten. He is reputed to have over a thousand successful A ranked missions under his belt before retiring to focus his attentions on running the Hattori clan. His wife died giving birth to Kasumi and as such he has never been terribly close to the girl, however he expects her to perform to a certain level of excellence equal to her brother, a task she is thus far failing.

**Age:** 48

**Rank: **Jounin

**Name Origins: **Hattori Hanzo is named after the historical (or legendary) Hattori Hanzo . . . how could I not?

**Odd Notes: **Originally Hanzo was just going to appear once and never be part of the story again. But I figured "dude, this guy's named after _the _Hanzo, he's gotta fight Naruto before the story ends" . . . so he will.

* * *

**028 Daimyo Taiko **

Formerly the prince of the land of Lightning, Taiko has become daimyo after the assassination of his father by Hanabi. He might be responsible behind the kidnapping of his brother Shinno, and he may be in some way involved with the delinquent actions of Team Minoru. Taiko claims to be in love with the daughter of the Fire Daimyo, and he has thus far kept up his part of the bargain with Hanabi, sending Lightning soldiers to reclaim Fire territory lost to Water, as well as withdrawing from their alliance with Earth. None the less Hanabi distrusts the man, is Taiko worthy of her trust?

**Age:** 25

**Rank: **Daimyo

**Name Origins and Odd Note:** Back when I was a young thing I played a game called Kessen. It was awesome, the story was beautiful to me at that age and I even purposely failed missions just to see more of it. However there was always refrence to The Great Lord Taiko, the name Taiko stuck with me even though I'm aware it was a title, not the guy's name (the guy being Hideyori Toyotomi) or something to that effect it seemed the perfect name for my villainous Daimyo. And yes, the man who has his father murdered is a villain. Big surprise.

* * *

**029 Okatsu **

The niece of the lord of the land of lightning and cousin to both Taiko and Akuma, Okatsu is a Jounin known for training other Jounin. She did not become a Jounin until she was twenty years old but since then she has trained three squads to that rank at shocking speed and is rumored to have taught the members of Team Minoru some tricks as well. Okatsu assassinated her aunt and kidnapped her cousin, Shinno, renaming him Akuma with the promise to break him mentally and bend him to her will.

**Age:** 30

**Rank: **Jounin

**Name Origins: **Okatsu is another Kessen reference. Okatsu seemed like an older, more organized, more efficient and frankly more appealing ninja compared to the bouncy and annoying Sanada body guards.

**Odd Note:** I very nearly left Okatsu out of the story and gave her role to her master instead. But it occurred to me that he shouldn't have to waste his time with such things when he's got minions, and more importantly for Shinno to be abducted by his older cousin felt more sinister and villainous than some stranger coming in and taking him.

* * *

**030 Akuma **

Once known as Shinno, the boy now called Akuma is not technically a ninja. He never attended the academy and was never officially given a forehead protector of the Cloud Village. However he serves his new master without question, having been thoroughly broken mentally. The boy had been raised with some skill in the ways of the Samurai, but thanks to Okatsu could he have become a Chuunin level shinobi in less than two months?

**Age: **12

**Rank: **Samurai, Prince (former) Genin (unofficial)

**Name Origins: **Shinno had a meaning behind it that I no longer remember. I think it meant Princely, but I don't recall. Akuma however is a word for Demon.

**Odd Note: **Some people might wonder why I needed Akuma at all with such a full cast. But Akuma is just another part of that full cast, and an important tool in thinning the numbers of said cast. Yes, the fallen prince will kill others, he'll do it a lot. Sad really, he was such a gentle boy.

* * *

**EARTH

* * *

**

**031 Juukei Toshiie **

The brother of fallen Iwa Jounin Keiji, Toshiie has an understandable chip on his shoulder after Shikamaru killed his brother and after Temari tried to kill him. He is devoted to his country, but even moreso to killing. Toshiie loves killing worthy opponents, not that he shies away from killing unworthy ones. For him the desire to kill can become overwhelming, and with a sword that can cut through even the strongest stone, Toshiie's ability to kill is no laughing matter.

**Age:** 28

**Rank:** Jounin

**Name Origins: **Both Toshiie and Keiji are named for the historical Maeda Toshiie and Maeda Keiji. Their familial relationship was changed however to make them brothers and make Keiji the elder.

**Odd Note:** It was rough work at first making Toshiie as a villain. How stupid was he going to be, how smart was he going to be? He had to be dumb enough that Keiji was the obvious brains of the group but also smart enough that once Keiji was dead he could still survive and operate on his own. In the end I chose to make Toshiie intelligent to a point but too much of a thug to really be a leader, thus Keiji took the leadership role.

* * *

**OTHER

* * *

**

**032 Team Chiwa **

**Members:**Mayumi, Maeda, Masunari

**Sensei: **Chiwa (unofficial)

Technically team Chiwa was not a real team, Chiwa was just a Chuunin who took the kids out on a trip so they could become heroes and because she believed it would make her a Jounin. This didn't come up because it was being saved for the Chuunin exams when team Chiwa meets once more with Team Ten. The kids are all named with an "M" that was about the only reason for their names though Mayumi and Maeda had meanings behind the selection Masunari just sounded cool. Chiwa is named for a voice actress. The character is only _named_ after her, not _based_ on her. Naming her in this manner was a joke since pretty much she's just a voice, she never does anything impressive in battle, but she gives orders like nobody's business. The triplets are the children of the daimyo of the land of rain, the fact that this makes them similar to the sand siblings was a complete coincidence, they're not based on them at all.

**Age:** Chiwa - 18, Mayumi - 16, Masunari - 14, Maeda - 12

**Rank: **Chiwa - Chuunin, Mayumi, Masunari & Maeda - Genin.

**Odd Notes: **The triplets are actually based off of my real life younger brothers and sister. "Don't make me weak!" was my sister's cry when she learned who these characters were based off of, and so Mayumi will always be notable as putting up a bit more of a fight than her brothers.

* * *

**033 Okatsu's Master **

This is the man responsible for the war, the man who pulls the strings behind _everything_, the master of Okatsu, and Akuma, this individual's goals are unknown.

**Age**: Unknown

**Rank**: Missing-nin

**Name Origins: **Wouldn't you like to know.

**Odd Notes: **This character hasn't shown up yet. I said that all original characters would be introduced in arc 2, that wasn't a lie. Okatsu's master is _not _an original character, he's a member of the genuine cast of Naruto, and not a background character like Hitomi's father. He's a rather important character, one that I found interesting anyway. His identity will be revealed over the course of the Chuunin Exams. And no . . . he's not Obito, nor is he the Fourth Hokage.

* * *

**In Closing . . .**

I had wanted to add in the Element of each ninja, but I chose not to. I haven't totally decided for everyone yet, though Nao is most definitely fire Kotaro is pretty much either earth or Lightning. He's going to be both before too long but I hadn't decided which he'd be first.

I had considered throwing in a "Romantic Link" area. Answering the question of "just who does each Genin have interest in?" But that felt pointless since love interest can be determined simply by reading the story and many of the Genin who have crushes on each other now are suffering from unrequited love.

I'd also wanted to throw the official characters into the index but I feel everyone knows them, their age, their rank their name meanings (if they care) and so forth, so I kept the index to original characters. It's long anyway.

And another thing is that fan art would be **extremely** useful I know, unfortunately I can't draw very well. I used to be able to draw excellently if I do say so myself but I haven't done it in a long, long time and whenever I try now I get a rather pathetic looking doodle. My faces all looked alike anyway. So I considered putting in a "They look like" section, for example "Ami looks similar to X character from X well known anime" but I decided against that. Many of these characters _don't _look like anyone from any other anime (that I know of) and in the case of those that _do _it might imply that they were based off of the person they resemble, which is not the case for any of these characters. Yomiko for example is named after Yomiko Readman. She doesn't _look _like Yomiko Readman, nor does she act like Yomiko Readman.

So unless some talented artist comes along to do the fan art you're all stuck with my verbal descriptions . . . sorry folks.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, Read or Die, Onimusha 2, Invader Zim, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Living Dead Girl, or Ranma 1/2.


	48. The Calm Before the Storm

**Story Arc Three**

**Chapter Forty-Eight**

Okatsu inhaled the smoke deeply, allowed it to calm her even as it slowly killed her.

Actually cigarettes were no problem for ninja, with Medical Jutsu so efficient Okatsu could have her lungs pumping like new with minimal fuss provided she could find a talented enough doctor. Her master, an amazing medic could probably restore her lungs if the need arose.

Still because it was what she had been taught-for her parents had never smoked around her-she made sure to avoid smoking too near to and downwind from Akuma.

Akuma who had, in two months mastered many concepts others took years to understand. Okatsu was, not to put too fine a point on it, the finest instructor in the world if she did say so herself.

He practiced now with his short blade, Okatsu had judged him simply too small for a katana.

He didn't need it anyway, the blade was only to enhance his taijutsu, which he had not had proper time to pursue given how much time Okatsu had devoted to teaching the boy ninjutsu and genjutsu.

The boy Akuma had once been had already been trained with blades, being the son of a Daimyo it made him, like his brother, father and mother before him, samurai. The samurai discipline had come in handy while Okatsu taught him the way of the ninja.

Sitting away from Akuma breathing deep the cigarette smoke was not calming her today.

Today they would arrive in Konohagakure, today her little test would tackle the Chuunin exam.

If he became Chuunin she'd know she was the finest of teachers. If he failed she would be disgraced and he would likely die. The master did not have much tolerance for failures.

Of course there was the political usefulness of Akuma. If Taiko ever began to act contrary to what the master wanted . . . well here was a readymade replacement, and a member of the royal line no less.

Okatsu took a long drag on her slowly dwindling cigarette. It was her last one, it was a good thing they were almost to Konohagakure . . . she needed more.

She was paid well enough to afford them, _Genin _were paid well enough to afford them. But she wouldn't buy them. She'd force Akuma to steal them.

She watched the boy train. He'd been so handsome and soft once that Okatsu might have considered entering him into pagents if any existed for boys. But now he was rugged and hard. Two months of Okatsu's training had stolen the youth from his face. The handsomeness was still there to a degree, but it was nothing special now.

The light in his eyes was gone as well, his eyes were empty, dark, almost lifeless. That light had diminished when he'd watched his mother die, but Okatsu had done various little acts of cruelty to see it fully removed. She suspected that that light was the light of purity and youthful innocence, for it always seemed strongest in the eyes of sweet young children.

Which Akuma no longer seemed to be.

Okatsu took one final drag on her cigarette before it became too small to work with and died. She held the smoke in longer than was intelligent, but she didn't care. She exhaled very slowly and whispered to herself "Damn I'm good."

* * *

Ishida Naomasa sat with the others in the small café popular with the older Genin. With him were his teammates, Hatake Kotaro, and Sarutobi Yomiko. 

The person _not _with them was their sensei.

"Our sensei is late . . . again." Yomiko pointed out.

"Well he's got a wedding to plan." Kotaro shrugged, "They _are _getting married once the exams are over you know."

"Yeah, but that's why it's so important he not be late anymore." Yomiko scowled. "My mom's been teaching me Genjutsu but she said it's up to sensei to teach me the bulk of what I need to know. Which means I'll learn _nothing_ if he's not here."

"Practice your Jutsu while you wait. My mom's actually taught me a couple of new Jutsus, when I'm not with The Laze I'm usually practicing those." Kotaro shrugged and sipped his tea.

"I see . . ." Yomiko said. "But Nao of course has _nobody_ to teach him."

Nao shrugged. That actually wasn't true. Tomoko had been teaching him various fire Jutsus, he'd been coming up with his own combinations whenever she wasn't around.

It was kind of cool hanging out with an older Genin. Neither of them had any family to give them a curfew or anything like that, they could train as long as they wanted. Nao still hadn't heard Tomoko's story-she kept thinking of creative ways to avoid telling him so he'd stopped asking-but he knew that had he still been living with his parents instead of by himself in the housing that the hidden leaf village provided for its homeless ninja, his father would have begun to demand to meet Tomoko's father, his mother would be inquiring as to her physical purity, and his sisters would be teasing her "poor person" clothing.

And all because she was a girl, if he were friends with Daisuke his parents wouldn't have cared. But because Tomoko was a girl he'd have been engaged to her by now. Although that's assuming his parents allowed him to see Tomoko at all given that she was older, a girl, and born to a different cast.

In fact Yomiko liked to tease him about having a crush on Tomoko. He didn't argue with her, it was best to let her think she knew everything then prove her wrong in action. There was nothing between him and Tomoko, even though his heart did kind of speed up whenever she was around.

And even if he did kind of ditch Kotaro, his best friend, every now and again if Tomoko was unexpectedly available . . . it was just so he could learn Jutsus, not because he thought she was cute.

Even though she was, not that that mattered, because he wasn't interested in her at all!

Not that it'd be so bad if he were. Sensei's girlfriend was three years older than him, same for Nao and Tomoko. His dad was older than his mom for that matter . . . but that wasn't important. He glanced at the sun and guessed it was pretty early. The café had just opened up, the barbeque would be opening up soon. Tomoko would be going to work . . . maybe he could visit her at lunch.

To talk to her about training of course. Not because he . . . wanted to see her or anything.

Kotaro clapped his hands in front of Nao's face and the boy yelped and fell backwards in his chair.

Yomiko snickered rudely, but Kotaro helped him up, "Sorry!" He said. "I didn't think that'd happen."

"What was that for?" Nao demanded, rubbing the back of his head, which he'd hit when he fell.

"You were staring into space with a stupid grin on your face, I wanted to make sure you were still . . . you know, sane." Kotaro shrugged.

"I did _not _have a stupid grin on my face." Nao said, hoping he wasn't blushing.

"Well it was a _little _stupid." Shikamaru-sensei said, appearing behind Nao and ruffling his hair, "But then in your defense it had nothing on the look that crosses Kotaro's face whenever Syako jumps on him."

Kotaro chuckled uneasily, "You're uh . . . you're full of it Sensei. I don't even like that airhead."

"Yeah, I know it's not her _head _you like." Yomiko jeered.

"Never mind that," Shikamaru-sensei said with a grin, "Sorry I'm a little late, but there was a line."

"A line?" Yomiko asked.

"For what?" Nao wondered, then he spotted the three pieces of paper in his sensei's hand.

Shikamaru placed one in front of each of them, "Entrance papers for each of you. Fill them out and hand them in, the exam's in just one more week."  
Nao gulped. He looked at the paper before him.

It would be the biggest, hardest thing he'd ever done.

But if he passed he'd be a Chuunin. Not even Naruto-sensei had done it on his first try . . . Tomoko for that matter hadn't managed it yet either.

Nao frowned at the paper . . . he was learning a lot from Shikamaru-sensei but he was learning a lot from Tomoko too, and if Tomoko wasn't good enough to be a Chuunin then that meant _he _might not be good enough. The things he learned from Shikamaru-sensei gave him confidence, especially since Shikamaru-sensei had passed the exam on his first try but . . .

Well what if Nao's lack of a ninja background doomed him? What if he dragged Kotaro and Yomiko down because of his own inadequacies?

"You're _all _ready." Shikamaru-sensei said, patting Nao on the shoulder, "You're relatively clever kids, most of the time. Your fighting skill is above what _mine _was at your age, and your array of Jutsu is steadily increasing. You're all Chuunin in my eyes, even if the examiners disagree. Or something motivating like that. You can do it."

"And when we do we're out of your hair." Kotaro reasoned.

"And you're out of ours!" Yomiko cheered.

"Not quite." Shikamaru-sensei smirked, "Like I've said before we'll still be assigned together for at least a year. So don't sweat it if you fail too. It's calmed down but there's still a war on, this squad won't be broken up unless it's necessary."

Nao nodded. The war _had _calmed down. With the help of Cloud ninja the village hidden in mist had all but been shoved out of what had once been Konoha territory, and as such the Water Country had begun to withdraw, it's soldiers all but defenseless against the combined force of Konoha and Kumo's ninja forced.

The Earth Country's advance into Wind had been stopped all together by Rain and Sand Shinobi, and Iwa had been forced to redeploy its ninja in greater numbers along a broader boarder now that their allies were their enemies.

The war would end soon, and Nao had only faught one battle. His chances of being a hero were slipping away, but he didn't mind.

He could still be a hero without a war to fight. If he could become a Jounin faster than anyone else in their year he'd be recognized as being above that beloved ninja scion, Yomiko. He'd be a hero in his own right, a nobody, as Yomiko kept reminding him, who'd beaten a somebody and become an elite ninja before she could.

But he worked hard not to let his annoyance at Yomiko turn to rivalry. If they became rivals they might never be friends, and even though to be perfectly honest he didn't actually like her all that much, he did want to be her friend.

Even though she was obnoxious.

Not like Tomoko. If Tomoko thought he was inferior she told him in a gentle way and instead of teasing him tried to help him get better. She'd never mocked him for not being from ninja stock, she'd never called him a "nobody" or a "nothing" or anything like that.

And the way the sun shone off her raven braids was just so-

"Hey! Hey I'm starting to worry about him sensei, he's doing it again!" Kotaro said.

Nao snapped out of it and shook his head, without thinking he grabbed a pen and began to fill out his paperwork to look busy. "So what're you teaching us today sensei? What? What's everyone looking at me for, I wasn't distracted, I was just meditating."

"With a stupid looking-" Kotaro began.

"I wasn't grinning!"Nao interrupted him and rapidly signed his name at the bottom of the paper.

"Yeah, you just look stupid, you don't have to grin." Yomiko sneered.

Nao smirked and finished signing his name. Turnabout was fair play, he tossed the pen to Yomiko, "Hurry up and fill it out, Saturobi. Unless you're just a big chicken."

"I'll show you chicken you turkey!" Yomiko cried and filled out her papers. "What about _you_, Taro? Not going to join us?"

"I would . . . but Nao stole my pen." Kotaro shrugged.

"Well you guys sure are zealous." Shikamaru smirked, "Good for you. Make sure you turn in those papers one week from now at the start of the exams."

"Wait, what if we lose them before then?" Kotaro asked.

Shikamaru smirked, "That's what I'm about to teach you kids. A Jutsu that'll keep you from ever losing anything important ever again. You might forget it though . . . but it wont be lost."

"There's a jutsu for that?" Kotaro looked surprised.

"Well sensei you'd better call up a Shadow Clone. One to teach me and Taro the normal way, and then you can teach poor little Nao with baby steps."

"Enough, Sarutobi." Shikamaru-sensei said evenly, but Nao shifted uneasily in his chair.

Please oh please whatever power was out there, please just let him master this faster than Yomiko. Then maybe she'd stop being so mean and they could get started on that friendship thing because it was times like this in particular that it was hard not to want to write her off as a rival instead.

* * *

Yukio smirked as Temari-sensei's attack was defelcted completely, "It's working!" He said with a grin. 

"Not bad." Temari said. "And you've mixed my Jutsu with the sand barrier. Not bad at all."

Yukio smirked. He still couldn't control sand the way the Kazekage could, he probably never would be able to. But he had managed to start using it for simultaneous offense _and _defense, raising a barrier wall of sand when necessary, and mixing sand with the defense technique Temari-sensei had taught him.

He had more to this special customized Jutsu that Temari-sensei didn't know about. He couldn't wait to use it on Shiroi during the Chuunin exams, he'd show her what was what!

He'd _kill_ her.

No, kill wasn't strong enough. He'd annihilate her, murder her, smear her across the wall, turn her into a foul red stain on the ground.

And he'd become Chuunin for Temari-sensei's sake. But as unofficial leader of his cell he'd be damn sure that the slow Ryu and lovestruck Kyoko became Chuunin too. Because this was _his _team, he'd look out for them.

He was the _best _after all.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	49. Shadow Summoning

**Chapter Forty-Nine**

Shikamaru smiled warmly at his Genin. They'd all gotten pretty powerful, if they faced the rookie nine fifteen years ago during the first Chuunin exams Shikamaru would have put his money on his Genin.

They really amazed him, but that was the nature of successive generations. Each generation grew more powerful, that was the way of the word. Their children would be even more powerful.

He held out his hand and said "See this? Nothing in my hand, nothing up my sleeve." He then performed a series of hand signs and suddenly a trio of scrolls appeared in his hands. He tossed one to each student.

"These you may remember as the scrolls of Jin, Wu and Han. I'm going to let you three use them in today's practice."

Yomiko raised her hand, "Sensei will you ever teach us to _summon _these deer?"

"Possibly." Shikamaru said. "In all honesty I doubt it. The Sarutobi have a long tradition of working with the monkies, Yomiko, and I had assumed that Kotaro, who seeks to follow in his father's foot steps, would sign a contract with the dogs when the time came. The only one who would need to sign the contract with the deer would be Nao. But that's a lesson for another day." Shikamaru said.

"Another day? Sensei we've only got one week left with you." Kotaro said, his eyes grinning. "Then we take on the Chuunin exams!"

Shikamaru nodded, "That's right. There's a chance you've got just one week as Genin, but as I've told you time and again you're mine for at least a whole year, even if this war ends we'll still be on the same team for some time. More likely than not we'll be assigned missions together on a regular basis, and as such it's vitally important that I teach you what I can. But most importantly the technique I'm about to teach you is a stepping stone to mastery of the summoning jutsu."

Shikamaru noticed that Kotaro seemed to smirk a bit. He smiled, he knew why Kotaro was so confident.

Anko had mentioned her attempts to train the boy in the art of summoning. Kotaro had displayed however a lack of the proper amount and refinement of chakra to succeed at it. Not surprising considering that he had less chakra than anyone in the team.

He was like Shikamaru in that regard. Kotaro was clever, he was even perhaps the most talented member of the trio, but he lacked chakra. Shikamaru would work with him to devise strategic ways to make the most of the chakra he had while helping him to increase the overall amount.

Yomiko came in second in the chakra race, and her amount of chakra was really surprising.

She had nearly twice the chakra Kotaro had, but somehow only half the stamina.

Nao on the other hand was a lot like Naruto. His chakra levels were high for a Genin, high for some Chuunin even. The fact that the kid could use six shadow clones at a time and still train was evidence of this. He was nowhere near Naruto's overall level, but when it came to sheer chakra Nao could outdo some Chuunin Shikamaru knew. Sarutobi and Hatake couldn't use that many shadow clones, especially not as efficiently as Nao.

Yomiko wrote it off as her having learned from an inferior teacher, which irked Shikamaru just a bit. The girl had learned the technique well she just couldn't use it the way Ishida could.

Shikamaru shook it off, no point getting annoyed with her, she was just trying to live up to her family's reputation. "You might be wondering how Item Summoning will help you, well aside from making sure you never lose your most important possessions this ability will also ensure that you can summon a weapon at any time, make sure that an enemy can't steal important documents from you, get rid of cumbersome traveling gear, and so forth."

"Does it also clean bedrooms and brush teeth? It's like you're trying to sell us something, Sensei." Yomiko sighed.

Okay, he was getting just a wee bit annoyed with her now. "This technique can save your life in a bind, lets say you're taken prisoner and tied up in the enemy camp. Well if you know this technique just summon a knife, cut yourself free and escape."

"Then why didn't those Rain Chuunin do it?" Kotaro asked.

Shikamaru shrugged, "For starters I bound them in a way that made it impossible for them to cut themselves free even if they were holding a katana. Second of all there's a good chance they didn't know it. Summoning a weapon or item from a scroll is standard Chuunin fare, that's true. But making something from nothing, or putting something into obscurity and yanking it back, that's something special. This technique variation is not very widespread, in fact this technique is one I developed myself."

Actually he'd made it up for Temari so she wouldn't have to carry that huge fan around all the time. She used it on occasion, but she said she felt more comfortable feeling the fan pressed against her back as she traveled.

It was a dangerous world, he wouldn't grudge her the sense of security.

"Okay, a jutsu you invented yourself? Now that I have a hard time believing. I mean you just use shadows right?" Yomiko said.

"You've _seen _me do other things." Shikamaru scoffed.

"Yeah, but they've all been basic academy things." Nao said, "We just assumed most of your jutsus were all about shadows."

"Well assumptions are a bad thing, Ishida. Never assume anything about your opponnent or your ally, that'll get you killed real fast." Shikamaru said. "Now let's get to work, I want to see two Shadow Clones apiece."

Shikamaru decided not to mention that they'd actually be storing everything _in _their shadows. He was confident that they could use it and never know that, after all Temari had been able to use the Jutsu without being part of the Nara clan, Shikamaru was sure these kids could do it too. The Shadow Item Summoning Jutsu.

"Two?" Kotaro groaned.

"That's right, two." Shikamaru said. "I want you three to master this technique today."

"Sensei, is this right?" Kotaro asked. "Using clones I mean. How often do _you _train with them? Because I asked and none of the other teams trains this way."

"None of the other teams thought of it." Shikamaru scoffed, "Frankly it's a bad training method unless you want to improve your taijutsu. It drains and divides your chakra which is never good while leanring ninjutsu and genjutsu. However this ninjutsu you're about to learn requires very little chakra, I made it efficient because I don't like _wasting _chakra."

"That didn't answer our question," Yomiko piped up, "How often do _you _train with a shadow clone?" Yomiko asked.

Shikamaru scoffed. He decided to give Asuma-sensei's daughter what she wanted. "Sarutobi I never trian this way because I'm not strong enough. You Genin are _already _much stronger than me, your ability to master and use Shadow clones so well proves that." The girl's smile actually made him feel kind of warm inside.

Lying to children was wrong, but it sure made them happy. He added, for realism and because he felt like he deserved a reward for lying so well, "Therefore while you train I'll be under that three meditating. I'll be here for verbal support if you need it, but I'm just not strong enough to train you hands on. Now let me show you the hand signs so you can get started."

"Cheap, Sensei, real cheap!" Yomiko scowled.

"Let's just do this!" Kotaro said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

There were now three of Hatake Kotaro, one pulled his mask down to stick his tongue out at Yomiko. "Hurry up Sarutobi." The real Kotaro said.

Yomiko huffed and made her clones, Nao followed suit. Shikamaru showed them the hand seals and told them about how to properly focus their chakra.

"So . . . go for it." He said.

* * *

"Oh please sensei, you can't be serious!" Ryu whimpered as Yukio snickered.

Kyoko looked envious as Temari handed Ryu her own battle fan. "Just try it out."

"But _girls _fight with fans!" Ryu complained.

"Don't give me that," Temari laughed, "It may not be a Nodachi but it's a weapon nonetheless. You're a slow attacker Ryu, there's no way around that. Your Taijutsu is abysmal, so let's just not use Taijutsu. Master this and you can keep your opponent at a distance."

"But how can I master this thing with only a week before the Chuunin exams?" Ryu scoffed.

Temari nodded to Kyoko, "Kyoko uses the fan, she'll help you whenever I'm not around. You're going to devote every second to training."

"I was afraid it'd be something like that." Ryu grumbled.

"Hey, hey, our specialist sensei is just trying to teach you guys the only way she knows how!" Yukio laughed, "When I'm a Chuunin out on my own you guys can call yourselves Team Fan Dance! In fact that sounds like fun, why don't you do a little dance for us, sensei!"

"You don't _want _to see my fan dance, Yukio. People _die _when I do my fan dance." Temari said with a smirk.

"Bet they die happy." Ryu scoffed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kyoko demanded, "Just what kind of dance do you think sensei is talking about?"

"Well, uh," Ryu began but Kyoko cut him off, "Shut up, of course I know what you're thinking! You sicken me!"

"Sorry." Ryu shrugged.

"Don't change the subject now, Ryu I want you to try swinging the fan." Temari said. "A nice sweep to create a gust of wind. Try to knock that little tree down."

"Gotcha sensei. How hard can it be?" Ryu reasoned and gave it a shot.

Nothing happened.

"Want to know what you did wrong?" Temari asked.

"Uh, well yeah that might help! I mean you're teaching him but you just say "wave it" don't tell him how to or anything." Yukio rolled his eyes.

"Shut up and go practice your barrier with Kyoko!" Temari snapped and Yukio left, laughing.

Temari-sensei slapped Ryu on the shoulder and said "Now that the distraction is elsewhere I'll show you how to do this properly."

"Why didn't you show me in the first place?" Ryu asked.

"I like for Yukio to think I just flick my wrist and the winds are unleashed. But it's not that easy. Watch and I'll show you."

Ryu nodded, "Sensei do you really need to teach me this? I mean I don't want to use fans, people are going to tease me."

"A real ninja doesn't care about what people say about him." Temari said. "It's true that the fan is a slightly feminine weapon but just as a woman can wield a Katana a man can wield a fan."

"But women arent _supposed _to wield a katana." Ryu pointed out.

"Technically _no one _is supposed to wield a katana but a samurai, but we're ninja, we bend the rules Ryu, and I was making a point. Never mind that now, Watch this and do as I'm doing. We're going to take it slow so nothings going to happen this time, remember the movements okay?"

"Right sensei." Ryu said, but he was dead sure he was going to be teased for this.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	50. Day of Challenges

**Chapter 50**

Shikamaru smiled when the three Genin made their papers disappear, Yomiko clapped her hands and cried "Now I can believe you made up this Jutsu sensei, it was _so easy_!"

"Thank you, I think." Shikamaru said with a grin, "And you're right, the easy part is past. Now comes the hard part."

"Oh . . . you're kidding." Kotaro groaned, "You've got to be kidding. Tell me you're kidding. Please? You mean we've got to do _more_?" The white haired pre-teen groaned.

Shikamaru's smile grew sinister, "You got rid of the scrolls, now you need to know how to bring them back."

"Oh that's no problem! Just show us!" Yomiko said.

"It's easy, perform the jutsu again in reverse." Shikamaru said. "Go for it."

"But . . . give us a demonstration." Yomiko insisted.

"I did, Sarutobi. When I summoned the scrolls you all just lost. Remember?"

"No fair sensei, I wasn't paying attention then!" Yomiko cried.

"That _is _pretty low." Kotaro agreed.

"You're _really _not going to show us?" Nao gawked.

Shikamaru laughed, "A Shinobi always pays attention to a foe. When we train consider me not just your sensei, but your enemy. You never know what I'll do to you, I could kill each of you without breaking a sweat."

"I doubt it." Yomiko scoffed.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"I _have _been watching you sensei, you like to use dirty tricks to get the drop on us and then we get all impressed and talk about how great you are." Yomiko said.

"When has any of you ever called me great?" Shikamaru asked.

"But in reality you're just being sneaky, and a bully."

"Sneaky, yes. What ever did you think being a ninja was about?" Shikamaru asked. "But no tricks, no sneaking today. Today we learn. I want to see which of you can remember the jutsu I just performed and perform it on your own."

Yomiko scoffed, "We're not Uchiha, sensei."

"Shikamaru-sensei, can't you just show it to us again?" Kotaro asked.

Shikamaru shook his head, "It's so simple, it's just the same jutsu you _just did _in reverse, even if you cant remember what _I _did you should be able to call up the scrolls for yourself. And here's the tricky part, I want you guys to summon up those papers of yours, _not _the scrolls."

"You said no tricks!" Yomiko cried.

"Really?" He _did _remember saying that, "Well then I must have _tricked_ you." Shikamaru

scratched his head.

Yomiko called him something that seemed a bit extreme, he considered telling Kurenai that her daughter had a foul mouth but figured he'd had it coming. He cracked his knuckles and said "Why is it so hard to do as your sensei says? Just try the Jutsu in reverse if you can't remember and _next _time pay closer attention. Watching your opponent's hand signs can clue you in to the jutsu they're about to use. You don't have to be a Jounin, or even have the Sharingan to know what your enemy is doing and try to counter it. If you know the enemy is going to use a lightning based attack it'd be pretty stupid to call up an earth shield since lightning is strong against earth.

"Pay close attention and you can stay alive where others might not. This year in the Chuunin exams there's no holding back. There's a team here from Kumogakure, teams from Amegakure, and even a few Kusagakure teams. You don't want our new allies to think the_ only _competing rookie team of Konoha is weak do you?" Shikamaru asked.

"Thinking fast is vital too, but I already know you kids can do that." Shikamaru added, "Keep your wits and you'll do splendidly."

"Yeah I guess." Kotaro grumbled.

Shikamaru shook his head, that kid thought faster than either of his companions . . . when he was properly motivated. "All right here's the prize." Shikamaru announced suddenly, "The first person to master this jutsu doesn't have to take the next test, they can just laze about like me."

"Sweet!" Kotaro grinned. "Let's do this!" He and his two clones said together.

* * *

Tomoko smiled weakly, she looked tired and frazzled, "Okay, here's your order. I'll be off in another twenty minutes or so, so by the time you guys finish we can all train together or something." She said, sweeping stray strands of hair away from her beautiful face.

Shiroi nodded, she hadn't spent much time with Tomoko lately. Not since she started spending all her time with Kurai. She knew Tomoko was started to feel slighted, but she couldn't help it. She loved Tomoko, they were like sisters, but somehow having a _boyfriend _made Tomoko seem like less of a priority.

Sitting with her chair backwards so that the back of it was up against her stomach she leaned against the chair and yawned. She poked Kurai who stirred.

So . . . they were kind of like an unofficial couple she guessed. They spent all their spare time together and stuff like that. But mostly it was because of Shiroi taking initiative, Kurai never asked her out, never did anything but tolerate her presence.

But she _knew _he liked her. She could tell. It bugged her that she couldn't get a response out of him like she could out of anyone else.

But she liked him too, as much as she was shocked to admit it. So she put up with his aloof attitude basking in moments like this where he actually wasn't a loner.

"Don't touch me." He said shortly.

Okay never mind, this wasn't one of those moments.

But they did exist.

"I can't believe I thought I had a chance." Dasiuke sighed.

"There's always Tomoko." Saizo scoffed.

"She's my sister!" Daisuke scowled.

"I meant for me." Saizo shrugged.

"You're not going anywhere near my twin sister, snake boy." Daisuke warned.

"Or what?" Shiroi asked.

"Nothing really. I just don't want to be the only one without a girlfriend." Daisuke said. "I can't be the _only _loser in our little clique."

"What about me?" Kyusaku asked, "I don't have a girlfriend."

"See it works out." Shiroi smiled, "Saizo can have Tomoko, and you and Kyusaku can hook up, Daisuke."

"Stop it." Kurai said sharply, and Shiroi frowned.

"I was just kidding." The She said.

"You were being rude." Kurai said. One of the conditions to his tolerating her presence was that she could no longer follow Saizo's lead and bully others.

It wasn't so much that she enjoyed doing it, or missed it, as it was hard to remember not to do it.

But she scooted her chair a little closer to her _boy friend _(she loved calling him that) and said "I'll be good, I promise."

"Whatever." Kurai sighed.

"Anyway it wouldn't go down like that because Tomoko's going to marry Kyusaku someday. Right Kyusaku?" Daisuke smirked.

"Wh-what? W-we never even dated." Kyusaku said shyly.

Shiroi smiled, so Kyusaku liked her Tomoko huh? Well that was interesting.

"That doesn't matter. She'd rather have me than you. I'm better looking and I can show her a good time in more ways than one." Saizo scoffed, and his snake Oro-Chi made a sort of hissing laugh. "Yeah, so can Oro-Chi." Saizo added.

"That's gross." Shiroi scoffed.

"I don't mean that the way it sounded. I meant committing crimes and stuff like that." Saizo shrugged. "She's into that sort of thing isn't she? We can shop lift on our first date, throw stones at old people's houses on the second . . ."

Daisuke glowered, "She's enough of a delinquent without you influencing her."

"I'll keep her under control. Maybe we'll play tie up games. I could but a whip." Saizo smirked. "And yeah, I do mean that the way it sounds."

Shiroi bristled, "If you hurt Tomoko I'll-" she began but Daisuke interrupted her.

"There's no way a wimpy summoner like you could ever control my sister."

"Really?" Saizo raised an eyebrow. "Care to wager?"

"Daisuke . . ." Kyusaku said in a concerned voice.

"Sure. What have you got that I'd want?" Daisuke asked.

Saizo smirked, "If I can defeat Tomoko in a duel she's my _property_. If she wins I'll never say anything to her ever again."

"Done!" Daisuke said.

"Wait a minute!" Shiroi snapped, and Kyusaku looked pale. "She's not going to be your _property_, I won't allow that!"

"Neither will I." Kyusaku said, color returning to his face and he stood up to glare at Saizo.

Saizo smirked, "Bargain's been done, nothing you can say on the matter. Daisuke-kun here is pretty confident in his sister, must not know what I'll _do _to her once she belongs to me."

"You must not know what _I'll _do to _you _if you do anything she doesn't want." Shiroi warned. "She's my best friend, Sai, and if you hurt her, whether or not we need you for the exams _I . . . will . . . kill . . . you_." Shiroi said very clearly, very slowly so there'd be no mistaking her.

Saizo just smirked, he got up and said "Just tell Tomoko to meet me at the market place once she gets off work."

Shiroi scowled, "Blowhard." She wanted to say something else that started with a B and ended with a D, but she'd spotted a cute family with a bunch of little kids just enter the restaurant. Being a cool Shinobi she didn't want to set a bad influence for the tots.

But Daisuke laughed, "You guys don't know what Tomoko can do, she'll humble that jerk."

"And if she cant? You do know what he meant by making her his property right?" Kurai demanded.

Daisuke smirked and slapped Kyusaku on the back, "If Tomoko can't take him then Kyusaku will step in. Ladies love samurai in shining armor."

Kyusaku stared at Daisuke in horror, "But-but . . ."

Shiroi shook her head, "Good luck. Against Saizo, you're going to need it." She crossed her fingers though and hoped that Tomoko would put her teammate in his place and show everyone how strong she was.

Shiroi _knew _Tomoko was one of the most powerful Shinobi of their year. Maybe even stronger than _her _if she'd just give it her all and stop holding back . . .

* * *

Shikamaru smiled as Kotaro tossed the scroll of Wu into the air and caught it, then tossed it to his sensei, "Haha, did it first!"

Yomiko and Nao both looked annoyed, "Well that's no shocker, I mean aside from me Kotaro is the best in the team!" Yomiko cried.

"Stop boasting and just do the jutsu." Nao said.

"I'm not going to be beaten by _you_!" Yomiko sneered.

"We'll I'm not going to be beaten by _you_!" Nao agreed.

The two glared at each other, at Shikamaru's bidding they'd long since disbanded their clones and gained the experience and knowledge from the clones. It was just the two of them focusing on not being the last.

Shikamaru put his hand on Kotaro's shoulder. Kotaro was talented but lazy, like Shikamaru. He said to him "You've won imunity from the next test, congratulations."

But Kotaro shook his head, "Can I use that immunity for some other time?" He asked, "With the Chuunin exams coming I _want _to try the next test you give us, I want to do my best and become a Chuunin."

Shikamaru smiled, surprised. He'd assumed that Kotaro was a lot like he'd been as a kid. Brilliant but lazy.

No, Kotaro was like Kakashi, as was only proper. He was brilliant and diligent.

Shikamaru smirked and said "If anyone you'll be a Chuunin. And I think you'll be a good one."

Kotaro grinned behind his mask, "Thanks."

"Hah!" Both Yomiko and Nao cried at exactly the same time as the scrolls appeared in their hands. "We did it!" Yomiko laughed, she slapped Nao on the back rather hard, "See I took it slow so you wouldn't be the last one."

"Yeah right." Nao scoffed.

Shikamaru stepped in before Yomiko could make a sharp retort, which he knew was coming. He said "Excellent, you've all taken leaps and bounds from when we first met._ I _can see how far you've come, but I want to make sure you all know it too. I want you to see just how talented you've all proven to be in this short amount of time."

"How're you going to do that?" Nao asked.

Shikamaru smiled and drew a bit of blood, he prepared the seal and summoned!

The little weasel appeared and leapt onto his head, "Oy! You're not my boss!" Tombugiri cried.

Shikamaru smirked, "Tombugiri, it's time to play with the kids again."

"Oh boy!" The weasel snickered.

"Don't hold back this time, or they'll catch you. These kids are Chuunin level now."

"Don't hold back?" Tomugiri laughed insanely, "_Don't _hold back? Are you sure? _Nobody_ is _ever _going to catch me if I don't hold back!"

"My kids will." Shikamaru smiled, and noted the slight swelling of pride in each of the Genin.

He knew how far they'd come, but they wouldn't fully comprehend the difference until they caught Tombugiri and succeeded in the test they'd once failed.

Tombugiri, not holding back was catchable only by a Chuunin or better, but Shikamaru was certain that if his team worked together they'd manage it.

They had the skills of a Chuunin, they just needed the confidence of a Chuunin. "Head over to the market place Tombugiri. If you can keep from being caught until sunset I'll give you back to Temari-chan and never summon you again."

"Incentive!" Tombugiri cried, "Haha, you got it lazy bones!" And the little weasel sped off towards the market place.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Again thanks to all those who have given this story their support. Having planned out the exams the writing is progressing smoothly, and while I make no promises we might be able to start updating more often soon. Enjoy!


	51. Nao's Distraction, Hanabi's Surprise

**Chapter 51**

Saizo scratched his chin, "So why'm I doing this again?"

"Team Akimichi is your chief rival in the Chuunin exams," Sasuke-sensei said, "They're the only other team left from your age group."

Yeah, because the others had either been killed, resigned, or reassigned. Saizo shrugged, "But isn't this underhanded?"

"We're ninja. Besides if it makes you feel any better call it a hazing test."

Saizo nodded as Sasuke-sensei handed hima black rose. "Just give this to her, and she'll be out for the entire exam, her team can't compete without her."

Saizo nodded. "Yes, sensei." He said.

He didn't bother asking if the rose would hurt Tomoko in some way. He didn't see how it could. And furthermore he didn't care. Tomoko was okay and all but _nothing _was going to stand in the way of him becoming a Chuunin.

"Your 'date' will be here soon." Sasuke-sensei said, slapping Saizo on the shoulder. "I'll be watching to make sure it doesn't get out of hand."

Saizo sighed. "So I can't kill her." He scoffed. "Better keep Oro-Chi out of it too."

He sighed when he saw the group approaching.

She looked tired and annoyed. It shouldn't be too much trouble to defeat her.

She cracked her knuckles, "All right lets get this over with."

"Do you know why I'm challenging you?" Saizo asked. "Are you aware of the consequences for failure?"

"No." She shrugged. "Daisuke wouldn't tell me. I was hoping you could enlighten me."

"If you lose Tomoko, you become my slave." Saizo said with a smirk.

"That's fine." She shrugged.

"What?" Shiroi demanded, "You mean you don't care?"

"So what? I clean his place up, do the dishes, chop fire wood, that kind of thing right?" Tomoko shrugged, "That shouldn't be too bad."

"Uh yeah, you'd be doing that kind of stuff if we were like three." Saizo said, "But we're not, and you're very lovely. Do you know what I'm saying to you?" This was kind of fun.

He had no intention of taking advantage of her one way or the other, but could Shiroi's reaction perhaps be jealousy?

Well too bad baby, that ship had sailed. She'd made her choice, now she was stuck with it. Saizo wouldn't take her back unless she got down on her hands and knees and begged him.

Tomoko shuddered and said "Wait a second you mean . . . uh-uh, I'm done, I'm not doing this. Doing a few odd chores for you is one thing, Saizo, but I'm not doing _that_."

Damn. He hadn't meant to force himself on her one way or the other but if she wouldn't fight he couldn't take her out of the exams!

He smiled at her, recalling that there was one thing she couldn't resist. He smirked and said "Hold on Tomoko. If you _win_ don't you know what _you _get from me?"

"You've got nothing I want." Tomoko said. It was a lie, she knew it. The fact that she'd stopped trying to walk away was evidence of that.

Saizo grinned and said "Really? Well in _that _case," He said, "Go ahead and leave, consider my generous offer withdrawn. Maybe I'll give someone _else_ my collection."

"Collection?" Daisuke raised an eyebrow.

"The complete works of the great Jiraiya, all signed first editions." Saizo smirked, seeing Tomoko's hands shaking.

"You read that smut?" Kurai scoffed.

"Of course he does." Daisuke snapped, "Why wouldn't he? It's great stuff! Tomoko win those books for me!"

Tomoko scoffed, Saizo knew she wanted the books too. Not to read, but the fact of the matter was they could be _sold _for _so much _money!

And living by herself with a stack of bills and a Genin's pay the Oedo girl needed money.

They meant nothing to him, they'd been a gift from his father for graduating from the ninja academy, he'd never asked for them. Still he'd never give her the books if only because the fact that she wanted them and couldn't have them gave him a perverse kind of pleasure. But their sheer value would be enough to make Tomoko take a shot at him. He hoped.

She shook her head, "It's not worth the risk."

Blast it.

"Fine then, go on _coward_. I mean clearly you know you can't beat me, it's okay. We all know you're the _weakest_. Why don't you just quit being a ninja? I mean you're _such _a good waitress and-" Saizo scoffed, deciding he'd pick a fight with Kyusaku instead by trashing on the fat kid's crush.

But unexpectedly before Kyusaku could react and before he could finish his speech Tomoko spun around and charged at him, "I'd rather be weak than a pervert!" She screamed and kicked him viciously in the stomach, "But lucky for me I'm neither!"

Saizo rolled with the hit. It hurt but he'd managed to back off just enough to keep from doubling over, it'd glanced him rather than crippled him as it was meant to. He smirked at her through the pain and said "Does this mean you accept my challenge?"

Tomoko nodded and Saizo smirked, he tossed her the black rose Sasuke-sensei had given him. "Then this is for you, my love."

Tomoko looked at the rose, "It's what?" She asked, and he noted that she pricked her finger on one of the thorns when she caught it.

He grinned, the instant she'd pricked herself she'd lost the fight. She juts didn't know it yet.

"Ready?" He asked her.

Her eyes narrowed and she nodded, she shrugged her shoulders and a pair of chains fell free.

He smirked, she'd ditched the claws for a pair of serrated blades. So she was really serious about this, eh?

Wouldn't matter, this fight had been decided before it began.

* * *

Nao rushed through the market place as casually as he could, remembering the plan Kotaro had detailed to him.

But he forgot all about that when he saw what was going on in the middle of the marketplace.

There was a bit of a crowd gathering, it was almost sunset and the market wasn't too crowded but the number of spectators was sufficient that Nao couldn't see what they were watching.

He heard some clamoring though, one said "What a jerk, how can he stand to fight a girl?"

"She started it, I saw her kick him right before they got started!" One man said, "I'm rooting for him though, he's one of Uchiha's Genin!"

Nao realized with the crowd that had been gathered here Tombugiri might be spectating as well and decided to try to find him. When he heard someone shout "That's the Oedo girl, the one that got disowned, she's barely even a ninja, what's she think she's doing?"

And he forgot about Tombugiri.

He shoved his way through the crowd and saw Tomoko on the ground, blood running down the side of her head as the other ninja, a total emo looking punk stood over her, a katana in hand.

"Come on baby, get up." He said. "I barely touched you."

"Tomoko, what's wrong?" Her brother shouted, Nao spotted him and a bunch of other Genin their age across from him with another group of spectators.

"I don't know!" Tomoko mumbled. "I'm so tired . . ."

"Oh . . . that's the poison." Saizo smirked. "That rose was coated in it, once it entered your blood it began to siphon off your chakra. You're expending more chakra than you need to just to do the most basic of Jutsus. Your vaunted chain games won't work with me, my pretty. Got anything else?"

Nao and Tomoko made eye contact, she smiled at him and he rushed forward to help her.

A hand stopped him. "Don't interfere."

Nao gapped, "You're Uchiha Sasuke!" He gasped.

"That's right. You mind your own business like a good spectator and let them have it out. It's just a little lover's quarrel, your part-time sensei won't be hurt.

Lovers? So was that guy . . . Tomoko's boyfriend?

Nao felt an odd sort of disappointment. Well it wasn't like he _liked _Tomoko or anything. It wasn't like she liked him. They were just kind of like friends. That was all. Not like he'd ever take her out on a date or anything, she was too old anyway.

By the time he'd be old enough to get serious with her she'd already be over eighteen and it'd be illegal.

Still he felt a bit of inexplicable disappointment until a girl in the crowd made a comment that made perfect sense to him.

"No man should ever hit the woman he loves. He doesn't care about her, this is no lover's quarrel." A girl with long silver hair and striking green eyes said.

She was flat chested but her beautiful face more than made up for it. She had long bangs that slightly obscured the hidden village symbol on her forehead protector, but judging from her two companions it was likely cloud symbol.

With her was a guy who wore more clothes than seemed totally necessary, and a girl that Nao remembered from _somewhere_.

When she smiled at the silver haired girl, her doll-like. soulless black eyes made him recognize her. She was that girl from the Hattori clan.

"You just think she's cute, don't you, Yuu? You don't usually watch street brawls so intently."

"She's interesting." The silvery haired girl said, "That's all. Anyway if these Konoha Shinobi are so intent on showing us what they've got _before _the exams have even begun I say we pay them the respect they deserve and learn _everything _we can."

Nao gulped. That was right, with a crowd like this if Tomoko went all out she'd be exposing her talents to far too many people, if she had to fight in the Chuunin exams her opponents would know what to expect from her.

But even so Nao didn't want to see her give up.

He glared at Sasuke, he had to get to Tomoko and help her.

And that's when he spotted him. Tombugiri.

The little weasel had been drawn to the fight, Nao suspected that like the three deer Tombugiri was easy to distract, he was staring very intently at the fight, even clapping at one point when Tomoko tried to sweep her opponent's legs only to have a substitution log fall on her.

Naomasa smirked, "Uchiha-sensei, I'm not going to interfere with the fight but I have a mission to accomplish, please let me pass."

Uchiha glared at him with those deadly Uchiha eyes. The Sharingan wasn't activated or so Nao supposed since his eyes looked pretty normal. "Go, but if you _do _interfere with Saizo's duel . . ."

"I swear I wont." Nao said. "I won't lay a finger on your student, or Tomoko."

"Go then. Be quick about it." Sasuke nodded.

Nao grinned and rushed off.

"That's right Yomiko, get him from behind!" He shouted loud enough for the weasel, which was sitting on top of a nearby booth watching the fight, to hear him over the roar of the crowd and the combatants.

"Oy! From behind? Not happening!" Tombugiri cried and leapt from the top of the booth, cutting its sign in half as he did so.

The small weasel taunted Nao by landing on his head and then going where he couldn't follow.

Through the two older Shinobi combatants.

Tombugiri tripped up Saizo, who fell onto his back. Before he could do anything Tomoko was on top of him, she took one of her chains and wrapped it around his neck, "Say you surrender before I make sure you can't say _anything_!"

"Uck! You wouldn't _dare_!"

"You poisoned me, cut me, and practically declared an intention to rape me, I'd not only dare, there's a good chance I'll kill you whether you surrender or not!"

"I wasn't serious about making you my servant!" Saizo pleaded.

"Good to know, but not what I'm waiting to hear!" Tomoko laughed and tightened her chains. "Say those magic words, Saizo!"

"I-surrend-ugh!" Saizo groaned.

Nao smirked, Tomoko had won. He glanced at Sasuke who didn't look too pleased with him. He shrugged slightly and made a "gee, what are the odds?" kind of face.

Sasuke smirked back and nodded once, then turned his back on the whole scene, leaving his Genin

* * *

"I don't get it, she was poisoned, she shouldn't be able to stand." Saizo grumped.

Kurai chuckled, "Given what her fate would be if you won I decided allowing you to defeat her through trickery was unacceptable." About five bugs suddenly fluttered over to him, "I had these fellows suck the poison out of Tomoko while she fought. You were both too busy to notice."

"Sensei's going to be mad at you then." Saizo scoffed.

"You mean it was his idea?" Shiroi scoffed in disgust, "I've just lost all respect for him. Trying to help you rape Tomoko."

"Okay, please don't say 'rape' because I would _never_ have-" Saizo began but Tomoko shoved him.

"Shut up, you're better seen not heard. And get my books before the pawn shop closes. I've gotta pay rent this month and tips have been kind of dry lately." Tomoko said with a smirk.

"That's right and Saizo, you said if you lost you'd never talk to my sister again." Daisuke grinned, "But Tomoko, don't you get paid enough for rent?"

Tomoko blushed and quickly hid her new swords in her sleeves, "Yeah uh, lets just say there were some unexpected expenses this month."

"You spent your rent on those stupid blades?" Daisuke scowled.

"They're not stupid, they're really cool!" Tomoko cried.

"Mm-hmm." Shiroi nodded. "Should have burried them in Saizo's chest."

"Okay, okay, I deserve that." Saizo sighed, "I was bad. I'm sorry."

"Wow, he's apologized." Shiroi scoffed. "He must be serious."

"Yes . . . I am . . . so since I'm such a nice guy now, you wanna hook up some time or what?" Saizo smirked. Tomoko rolled her eyes. Not even if he were the last guy on earth.

"You shouldn't spend so carelessly, you're barely making ends meet." Daisuke scowled.

"As a Chuunin I need something more lethal, I need to be able to do _more_ than just hurtle claws, and iron balls around!" Tomoko scowled back.

"Iron balls?" Naomasa raised an eyebrow, Tomoko smirked. The kid hadn't seen her Beta Combo yet. She'd show him just because it was nice having an appreciative audience since Shiroi started ditching her all the time. Besides she didn't care if she ended up fighting Nao in the exams and he knew everything she could do, she knew everything _he _could do too. She'd _taught_ him at least a third of what he knew.

Kyusaku shook his head and said "That was a really awesome win though."

Tomoko scoffed. No it wasn't, it was dumb stupid luck. And she knew who to thank for it.

She grinned at Nao who was trying to discreetly fade away with the rest of the crowd. She grabbed him around the neck, "No, it was all you! I'd have been in so much trouble if you hadn't showed up! I owe ya big time!"

He was blushing, so cute. She released him and slapped him on the shoulder, "Didn't know you could summon weasels though, you're gonna have to teach _me _that one! I'll make this up to you too, I'll do something awesome to repay you!"

"I uh, I didn't-wait, like what?" Nao asked, "Because about that weasel, I sort of messed up the plan so before Yomiko and Kotaro beat me up for screwing it all up I sure could use a hand catching him-no but sensei won't like that. Never mind, I'll handle it." He sounded slightly confused, he was stammering a bit as if her hug had confused him beyond all reason.

"Uh . . . what?" Tomoko raised an eyebrow when suddenly a trio of genin around her age advanced on them. They were from the village hidden in the clouds, she could tell by their headbands. A pretty good looking girl with empty black eyes, and a pair of guys, one of whom looked somehow more feminine than the girl.

The third guy held up a hand and three fingers, "First order of business!" He said.

The feminine guy bowed and said "On behalf of Team C I want to thank you for making our first few hours in Konohagakure memorable and educational."

Daisuke swooped in almost on cue, grabing the boy's hand and saying "My sister is very talented, but I'm talented too you know. Maybe some time you and I could train together, I can teach you some real _secret_ techniques of Konohagakure, my pretty little shape in the clouds."

"Shape in the clouds?" Kyusku blinked.

"Don't screw me up, Kyusaku!" Daisuke whispered.

"Are _you _hitting on _me_?" The boy asked through narrow eyes, somehow managing to free his hand from Daisuke's ironclad grip.

"Heh-heh, don't be silly!" Daisuke was looking at his hands as if he were trying to figure out how his grasp had faltered, "I just really like to greet pretty young girls." Daisuke said.

The boy bristled but his heavily clothed companion smirked and held a hand over his mouth. Did Daisuke not know that that kid was male? Tomoko decided not to say anything, see how things played out.

"Second order of business!" The overdressed guy said, "Introductions! I am Hibiki Masaru, my female companion is Hattori Kasumi, and my _male _companion is Yurei Yuu!"

"Male?" Daisuke chuckled weakly. Tomoko laughed at him.

Shiroi smirked, "Wow Daisuke, I guess there's a _reason _you don't have a _girl_friend."

"Bite me." Daisuke scoffed.

"Third order of business!" Masaru cried dramatically and Kasumi stepped forward, her eyes fixed on Shiroi.

"Big sister, that is Hanabi wants her family to know that she will be coming back to Konoha to witness _me _in the Chuunin exams. She says she has a surprise for them too . . . between you and me they won't get to see it for nine months though." Kasumi said with a wink.

Tomoko shrugged, that was interesting but useless information for her. But Shiroi's jaw dropped, and she started shaking, "I-I can't tell them that! H-Hanabi's father would m-murder me just for being the messenger!"

**To Be Continued . . .**


	52. Demon's Promise

**Chapter 52**

Akuma smiled pleasantly at the woman behind the counter, she smiled back like an idiot.

She had no idea he had about six packs of cigarettes in various pockets on his person.

She'd been so distracted by the fighting going on in the market place that he probably hadn't had to, none the less he'd been able to use a genjutsu to force her and everyone else in the store to gaze _away _from him as he stole to his heart's content.

But he only took what Okatsu-sensei had demanded, nothing for himself. He didn't _need _anything from this place. He could steal it just for the heck of it but Oktasu might be angry if he did that. Focus on the mission and nothing else, that was one of the rules she'd taught him.

Okatsu would be pleased with what he _had _stolen though. He'd even gotten her different flavors, though how cigarettes could have flavors when all you did was inhale them was beyond him.

Whatever. He'd please her for now but once he'd learned all he needed to form her he'd murder her just like she'd murdered his real mother.

No, just killing her wouldn't be enough. He'd have to make her suffer first, he smiled a the mere thought of it.

Tying her up and leaving her with a mortal wound so she could die slowly, maybe he'd slowly remove vital organs while he had a medic keeping her alive, something like that. He wondered if that was even possible.

He'd also snatched a trio of magazines from behind the counter, one of them pornographic. He now handed them to the clerk and let his genjutsu go so that she could look at him as she rang everything up.

But she didn't really look at him, even though she could now. She stayed focused on the battle mostly, occasionally glancing at what she was ringing up.

The woman laughed and said "I'm not selling you this one." She said, taking the porn out of the stack.

"Can't blame me for trying." He said. It seemed like the kind of stupid prank a kid his age would pull. Good cover.

The woman didn't seem to care that the magazine Akuma had handed her was one of the ones behind the counter near the cigarettes. She probably guessed he'd found it lying around the store somewhere, but rang him up for the other two, a sporting zine and one on Shinobi flower arranging.

He paid her and walked right out.

"Hold it." A young woman in black said, blocking the door. "You forget something?"

Akuma smiled, "Hmm?" He asked innocently. This woman wore a black outfit with a Konoha Chuunin's vest, she also wore a pair of black lensed goggles over her eyes. Her raven bangs were swept to the side to keep them from obscuring the Konoha symbol on her forehead protector.

Konoha.

The enemy.

"You forget to have her ring up those cigarettes?" The young woman asked casually. "You weren't going to _steal _them were you?"

Akuma didn't shudder visibly, but inwardly he was shaking with rage. How _dare _she! And how had she ignored his Genjutsu? Okatsu-sensei had taught him that, it should work on even Jounin level adversaries!

He shrugged, "What are you talking about?"

"I saw you walk right up and take them when no one else was looking." She said evenly. "So now I'm asking you kid, are you going to go back and pay for them or not?"

Akuma shrugged. "What are you talking about? You can't have seen me walk behind the counter, I never did. Weren't you watching the fight? Maybe you got confused." Akuma offered, not really sure how he'd lie his way out of this effectively.

In that past life he'd never had to lie to get what he wanted. Just demand it and it was his. Lying, and doing it well was a skill he was still learning, and often being punished for executing poorly.

The young woman sighed, "Look either you turn around and pay for them or give them back and apologize to the clerk for your little trick. But don't lie to me any further, or so pathetically, and more importantly don't ever assume that your weak genjutsu will work with _me_. These eyes don't miss a thing, I saw you cast the Genjutsu and I saw right through it. If that's the best you can do you'd better hand over the cancer sticks right now because they're obviously affecting your skills and your intellect."

Akuma smiled brightly and said, "Sorry. I guess I'm in the wrong then." But inwardly he seethed. He smiled at the young woman-he guessed she was still in her teens-and thought to himself, no _promised _himself he'd murder her before he left Konoha.

He'd kill her for this. And just because he was pretty sure he could.

He could kill anyone.

He handed all the cigarettes back and said, "I don't suppose you'll ring these up for my dearest mother, now will you?"

The clerk gave him an annoyed look and he was ejected from the store.

He'd kill that shinobi woman!

"Hold it you." The Chuunin called after him. She tossed him a pack of cigarettes, "So you won't try to steal them from somewhere else. But if I catch you trying that kind of thing again I'll hand you over to the authorities. And don't think you wont be watched now, Konoha's market place prides itself for its efficient security."

Akuma smiled brightly, "Sorry, it was just a prank anyway, I don't smoke." He tossed the cigarettes back to the Chuunin.

Okatsu-sensei didn't want a box that was bought, borrowed or gifted, she wanted one _stolen_ and stolen properly!

And Akuma didn't want to be in that woman's debt in any way shape or form. He just wanted to kill her.

And maybe, just maybe use her to practice the methods he dreamed of using on Okatsu.

* * *

Hitomi rolled her eyes as the strange boy wandered off. 

Who was he? He didn't have a forehead protector, she wasn't sure what village he might be from, as such she didn't know who his sensei might be and so she couldn't report this activity to that person.

None the less she knew he was a Shinobi, he'd just used a Jounin level Genjutsu like it was nothing. He'd done it swiftly and casually, had Hitomi not seen him begin it she might not have even known he was doing anything suspicious at all. She nodded twice to signal Hyuga Hinata, the boy had indeed been attempting to shop lift and needed to be watched.

Hinata had said he looked suspicious, and Hitomi had disagreed. Now she knew Hinata was right, worse this kid might be trouble.

She glanced back at the duel in the middle of the market.

She frowned. "It's over." She sighed, and she'd missed it.

* * *

Shikamaru sighed and glanced at Chouji, "It could be a problem." 

He knew Chouji knew what he was talking about, they'd both just watched Nao more or less screw himself and his comrades in their plan just so he could help Chouji's student. That was a seriously poor quality for a Chuunin and Shikamaru couldn't believe he hadn't spotted it before.

"Oh I don't think so." Chouji said. "He cares about his friend and wanted to help her. His mission isn't a failure it just needs to be rethought."

"He's lucky this mission is flexible like that though," Shikamaru sighed, "If it were a mission in enemy territory exposing himself like that could get him and the whole squad killed."

Chouji nodded. Then asked "You don't think she's leading him on do you? To nullify him in the exams?"

"I can't say. You're her sensei."

"I want an outsider's opinion." Chouji shrugged.

"In that case, yes I do. At least I think she's leading him on, but I don't think its intentional." Shikamaru said.

"Can a girl lead someone on unintentionally?"

"Temari does it all the time." Shikamaru grumbled.

"That's true, I do." Temari nodded, sitting down next to Shikamaru on the rooftop overlooking the marketplace.

Chouji smirked, "Speaking of which, how does it feel knowing you two are just a short time away from being man and wife?"

"Frankly I find it boring and uninteresting. But then again, it's not my business." Sasuke said, taking a seat next to Chouji.

"Are you still mad about that whole lost invitation thing?" Shikamaru grumbled.

"It's like I wasn't invited at all." Sasuke sighed.

"I gave your invitation to Sakura, I _thought _she'd get it to you promptly, I didn't expect her to lose it." Temari said.

"She did it on purpose, so he'd have to be her date to get in." Ino commented.

Shikamaru blinked, it was odd for this many members of the Konoha twelve (and his lovely fiancee) to be gathered in the same place at the same time by pure coincidence.

"I did not! I had _another _date in mind, but I'm just so sorry for losing Sasuke-kun's invitation." Sakura said. Now this was getting ridiculous.

And suspicious. Shikamaru tensed up, his old friends were up to something, he just knew it! The Konoha Twelve were close enough, but they almost never all gathered together without purpose.

"Well . . . you can go with me if you like." Hinata told Sasuke. "Not as a date . . . but I don't think the person I want to go with will ask me, so . . ."

"Oh stop it, you're a grown woman, and this isn't some high school dance. It's a serious and sober occasion." Neji scolded his cousin.

"Better not be sober, I want to have _a few_ drinks, and we've gotta toast the bride and groom or they'll be unlucky." Kiba noted.

"This rooftop's getting crowded." Shikamaru said, he knew the only people missing now were Lee, Tenten, and Shino.

And of course . . .

"Kiba's right, we should all get plastered!" Naruto laughed, appearing behind Shikamaru and grabbing him around the neck, "What do you think Lee?"

"I think you'd better _not _let Lee get drunk." Tenten commented. "But hey, that's just me and my desire not to _die_. One he gets smashed if you so much as say the words "eye" and "brow" in the same sentence you'll die."

Shikamaru glowered at everyone, "Okay, why is _everyone _here?" He asked, spotting an Anbu, obviously Shino sulking in the background by Kiba.

"Yeah . . . see we've got this thing planned for you . . . Temari's already in on it."

Shikamaru sighed, "Temari, how could you?"

"It was easy." She shrugged. "Anyway it was Chouji who got you where we wanted you."

"My best friend . . . I guess it can't be all bad then." Shikamaru sighed. "All right, what is it?"

"Tonight being your last night as a free man," Naruto began but Sasuke interrupted him.

"The wedding isn't tomorrow." Sasuke said.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and examined his invitation, "Hmm? Oh! Right. I knew that."

"Anyway," Sakura said, rolling her eyes, "With your wedding so nearby we decided we'd begin the festivities early."

"How do you mean?" Shikamaru asked suspiciously.

"We're going to have a party!" Naruto cried happily, "It'll be good practice since you're the first of us to get married, whatever we screw up at your party we won't be able to screw up at whoever goes next."

"So we're like lab rats?" Shikamaru asked.

"Mm-hmm." Temari nodded. "But still, a party is a party."

"Can't do it." Shikamaru shrugged. He glanced back towards the Genin, "These kids aren't done today, they've got a little test."

"How did our little test go?" Chouji asked Sasuke.

"They both failed. Saizo couldn't beat Tomoko, and Tomoko couldn't turn her back on the fight."

"To be fair we assumed she'd have nothing to gain but honor and pride," Chouji said, "We didn't consider that he'd offer her something of a monetary value."

"What do you mean test?" Shikamaru asked.

"The Chuunin exams are even more important to the village than to the Genin this time." Sasuke said. "Tsunade-sama ordered Chouji and I to play our weakest links against each other. Mine and Chouji's teams have to do well, we have not only our clients and the daimyo to impress, but also our allies. Team Uchiha and Akimichi are the senior classes, technically they should already be Chuunin but Chouji was on assignment last time and my kids made fools of themselves by showboating. The Rain, Grass and Cloud have all sent teams to compete in the exams, Cloud has sent their very _best_, Konoha needs to show that its best are on par with or superior to those of our allies or it could hurt the lord of the land of fire during the negotiations with the other daimyo."

Neji nodded, "The Cloud Genin were speaking to Chouji's team a moment ago. One of them is a Hattori."

"Hattori . . ." Hinata whispered, "Maybe they know something about Hinabi?"

Shikamaru frowned. He had no reason to expect Hinabi was being poorly treated . . . but he could sympathize with Hinata's worry. He said "Hattori Tetsuo seemed honest, I'm sure she'll be fine as long as they're together."

"Yeah, he seemed pretty cool. He gave us his word, nothing's going to happen to Hanabi." Naruto nodded, giving Hinata a thumbs up, which made her blush.

"Th-thank you." Hinata mumbled.

Shikamaru smirked. Hinata was twenty three, she'd grown by leaps and bounds psychologically, she was brave, outgoing and confident . . . except in the direct presence of Naruto. Poor woman.

She might love him, or she might simply admire him. Shikamaru wasn't sure, and it wasn't his business, but Naruto seemed to draw the worst qualities out of Hinata, her shyness and her stammer. Worse the fact that Naruto hadn't seemed to come to a final decision on the matter of Hinata's affections suggested, to Shikamaru at least, that Naruto might still be cradling a crush on Sakura.

Maybe it was just because _he _was getting married, but Shikamaru was growing concerned. A ninja's life expectancy was never very long during war, even though each member of the Konoha Twelve was a Jounin.

Maybe it was time for Hinata and Naruto to get together or move on. They weren't going to be young forever and if Hinata clung to Naruto for too long she might find herself unable to care for another man.

Not that it was _any _of Shikamaru's business.

He put his hands behind his head and laid back, staring up at the clouds. "What's your test. Shikamaru?" Ino asked him.

"The kids are chasing Tombugiri." Shikamaru shrugged.

"Okay, so we catch the weasel for them, they win, we go party!" Naruto said.

"Come on Shikamaru, let's do it." Kiba agreed.

"No." Shikamaru said firmly. "This isn't a test to improve their skill, they're already good enough to catch him. They're doing this so that _they'll _know they're good enough to catch them. So they can see just how far they've come. It's easy to see how much your friends are improving but noticing your own growth for yourself can be hard. They just need confidence. In fact what might give them more confidence would be if you all come with me to congratulate them when they manage it, then we can party."

Temari smiled, "Tombugiri's a little bit of an air head . . . Kotaro should have no trouble outsmarting him. And Nao's dedicated enough to catch him."

"That's true." Shikamaru said, "But it's Sarutobi that he needs to look out for."

"Yomiko?" Temari raised an eyebrow. "She's a cute kid but she doesn't stand out much. Tombugiri is hard to catch even for Chuunin."

Shikamaru smiled, "You havent seen it. But she's pretty talented, especially in chakra control and Genjutsu. She's a lot like her mother." Shikamaru reached into his equipment pouch and removed one of his old sensei's chakra knives. He smiled, "And before she enters the exams . . . I'm going to see how much of her father she's got in her."

Temari smiled and kissed him, the others "ooh"ed and "aw"ed and jeered and snickered.

Temari rolled her eyes, Shikamaru laughed and said, "Hey Neji, weren't you just telling Hinata to grow up?"

Neji smirked, "_Technically_ I just said the wedding wasn't a silly school dance. We can all be a _little _immature. I mean look at Naruto."

"Yeah, dattebayo! Hey wait, what about me?" Naruto demanded.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	53. Tombugiri's Test

**Chapter 53**

Nao shuddered as he searched out Tombugiri.

Okay, he'd messed up, that much was clear. Now he'd lost the weasel and he'd messed up Kotaro's plan.

He sighed, Kotaro would be ticked.

Actually he hadn't seen Kotaro or Yomiko. He wondered if maybe they'd pursued Tombugiri elsewhere, because he just couldn't find them or the weasel.

Maybe it'd been a mistake to help Tomoko . . . but he didn't feel too bad about it. Anyway he'd just have to work extra hard to catch Tombugiri. He smiled to himself, this worked out.

A ninja always needed to be able to adapt to the situation as it unfolded, this may have taken a bad turn but he could learn from it.

And wasn't that what being a Genin was all about?

He put his hands on his hips, and laughed out loud to himself, he might as well absorb as many of life's lessons as he could, because he swore then and there that there was _no way_ he'd be a Genin after the exams.

He'd be like Shikamaru-sensei and pass on his first try.

* * *

Kotaro scratched his chin.

He could understand if Nao and Tomoko were an item, but they weren't.

So he didn't understand why Nao had not only ignored the plan, but sent the weasel running, which of course they had not wanted.

But though he didn't understand, he wasn't bothered either. Nao was obviously focused on the mission now, and Tomoko did look like she'd been getting pretty beat up so Kotaro supposed it was okay that Nao had put the safety of a comrade over the completion of a mission.

That seemed . . . right to him somehow. Sort of like something his dad used to tell him, though he couldn't remember the exact words.

He and a shadow clone were currently scouring the area, he wasn't sure what had happened to Yomiko, he just hoped she was still focused on the mission, and not preparing to start railing against Nao.

He sighed, "This is all so troublesome." He said, then stopped walking and stood in silence for a moment.

Had he just said 'troublesome'?

He shook his head. He couldn't do that, it wouldn't be cool. That was Shikamaru-sensei's thing to say, he needed his own bored lazy thing to say if he was going to say anything at all.

He nodded and said "This is a bore."

Not the best, but at least it wasn't stolen. He'd work on it, think of something good.

* * *

Yomiko wanted to ring Naomasa's neck at first, but she could _totally _see the little hearts hovering over her teammates head when Tomoko-chan had hugged him.

Little pervert.

So she'd forgive him this time, true love could conquer all so Yomiko wouldn't fight it. She'd let Nao have his little girlfriend just this once.

Besides, she hadn't like the idea of working as a team anyway.

She wanted the weasel all to herself. She'd catch it and show Shikamaru-sensei that she was too good for him, too good for his slow lazy training methods.

But then . . . she was kind of getting used to it too.

She kind of liked hanging out with Kotaro and Nao . . . not that she liked _either _of them as anything more than a friend of course. She was too young to be thinking about boyfriends too, Nao and Kotaro with their little girlfriends were just perverts, that's what it was.

But Yomiko's father had . . . fallen . . . before he and her mother could have any other children. He'd geen gone before she'd even been born.

She felt moisture lining her eye at the thought of it, but she knew she wouldn't cry.

She'd _tried _to cry on some occasions at the memory of her father, but she'd always failed.

There was no memory of her father, none at all. She'd never known him.

When she was a little girl she'd used to cry if she looked at his picture and she'd realized eventually that it wasn't that she missed him so much as she missed having a chance to know him.

Mother said he was great, but she'd . . . you know, been in love with him. She had a biased opinion.

Shikamaru-sensei said he was great too, but Shikamaru-sensei had been his student, another biased opinion.

Yomiko wanted to form her own opinion of the man, but it just didn't seem possible.

Her cousin Konohamaru would sometimes talk about her father, but she guessed that _they _hadn't been super close as far as families go, so while his opinion might not be biased his knowledge was likely limited.

Yomiko shoved her hands in her pockets and walked in a melancholy state until she heard a voice say "Oy you look so sad. Is it 'cause ya can't catch me? 'Cause if it is . . . _good_. I think it's funny. Not you bein' sad, but not bein' able to catch me. You know, what with me right here on your head. And you not even noticing."

Yomiko's hands shot up and slammed down on her own head in an attempt to catch the weasel but it leapt away and all she did was clug herself on the scalp.

"Ahh!" She groaned, "Ahh . . . it hurts so bad!" She lied.

She fell on the ground and wept, using that moisture on her eyes, rubbing them until tears came.

"Oy don't be such a baby!" Tombugiri complained, but when Yomiko stole a peek through her hands at him he was standing nervously instead of running off. "Oi ya didn't hit yourself _that _hard! Anyway it's your own fault."

Yomiko wept and wailed, "I whant my mommy!" She cried. "Mommy!"

"N-no, don't start t'tear up on me, and no need for getting adults involved! Oy and I can't stand tears! Uck!" Tombugiri compained.

He scurried over and wiped Yomiko's tears away with his little paw, "Hah! Now no one will ever know I made you cry, hahaha-huh?" He cried as her hands suddenly snapped down around his long slender torso.

"Caught ya!" Yomiko hissed.

"Nuh-ah! No fair! Not fair! Not _FAIR!_" Tombugiri cried, "Also . . ." The little weasel smirked, "Not _me_."

And he disappeared in a puff of smoke!

"A . . . a shadow clone?" Yomiko gawked.

"Why not? You bratty kids can do them." The little weasel snickered and bounded off into the marketplace.

Yomiko scowled, if the weasel could use shadow clones then the whole game had just changed.

But then Shikamaru-sensei _had _told Tombugiri not to hold back. Yomiko smiled.

She wouldn't hold back either. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" She cried.

* * *

Nao heard Yomiko scream "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" and scowled.

She must have found the weasel, he rushed off in that direction.

* * *

Kotaro nodded to his clone, "You know what to do." He said.

The clone nodded, "If _you _do . . ."

Kotaro rushed off in Yomiko's direction.

* * *

Shikamaru leaned forward. "What's going on?" Tenten asked.

He smirked, "Tombugiri's in trouble."

"Dattebayo . . ." Naruto smirked and watched closely.

* * *

Nao ran and noticed Kotaro. He smirked, the plan might just work after all.

Kotaro nodded to him.

He saw Yomiko running as if an army of Iwagakure's Jounin were chasing her.

Tombugiri bounded ahead of her, looking over his shoulder and sticking his tongue out at her he spotted Nao and made a face at him to.

Then, perhaps the weasel's two lonely brain waves came together to form an intelligent thought, and he looked around for Kotaro.

Whom he found standing in front of him, just about to catch him.

The weasel staggered back, Kotaro tripped and fell onto Yomiko.

Yomiko disappered in a puff of smoke, so did Kotaro.

Both shadow clones.

Nao rushed in next and lunged for Tombugiri just as Yomiko suddenly appeared from behind a booth that sold some kind of fried dumplings.

They both converged, they'd catch the weasel together!

He might bolt, he might try to escape, but something was holding him in place, was it fear?

Or would he leave at the last second and let Nao and Yomiko bang into each other . . . yes that was it.

He was going to try to taunt them.

Just like Kotaro said.

Nao grinned and said "You've been captured weasel!"

"Oy ya think so?" Tombugiri smirked, then he lurched forward as if he'd tried to run.

Nao grinned as Kotaro's hand erupted from the ground, gripping Tombugiri around the middle.

"He _knows _so." Yomiko grinned.

* * *

Shikamaru smirked. "They did it."

"Wasn't their mission to do it without causing a disturbance thought? There's a couple of people who noticed." Temari said.

"We can go easy on that detail. Last time that was their mission, this time I just wanted them to catch him. All I wanted them to do was catch the weasel, and they've done it very well. That so few people paid attention is just a bonus, and they were probably hoping for a second ninja duel." Shikamaru said.

"And I'm going to go tell 'em how good they did! Did you see those shadow clones?" Naruto chuckled, "Awesome kids!"

"They are pretty talented," Tenten admitted, "Kind of makes me wish I could enter _my _team in the Chuunin exams and see how they measure up."

"Yeah, mine haven't come that far either." Kiba admitted. "But they're no slackers."

"It must be because of the Shadow Clones." Sasuke reasoned. Shikamaru knew that Sasuke had been told of Naruto's Shadow Clone secret.

But he shook his head, "You can think that if you want to, Sasuke. But these kids really are talented, all three of them. We very, _very _rarely use shadow clones and never to the sort of degree that Naruto can."

Sasuke nodded and Temari shoved Shikamaru forward so that he almost fell from the roof, "Well, go tell them how great they are so we can start partying!"

Shikamaru scoffed and shook his head, "Rushing is such a bother." He said and took his time about it.

"Rushing is great!" Naruto argued and disappeared.

* * *

"We did it." Yomiko said with a grin.

"We did . . . I'm sorry I almost messed this up." Nao admitted.

"Oy! Look at me, I talk! Be afraid!" Tombugiri scowled.

"No. I've gotten over that." Kotaro said evenly.

Yomiko smiled. He'd grown. So had Nao even though she was reluctant to admit it.

Had she? She supposed so. Physically the growth was obvious, she was about a whole inch taller, her hair had grown longer until she had it cut.

But mentally, had she grown at all? She watched her companions . . . Kotaro had become mature enough not to be afraid of the weasel, if he hadn't would Yomiko have been mature enough not to tease him about it later?

Nao had matured enough to admit to his mistake, but was Yomiko now going to be mature enough not to blame him for the inconvenience? In the end the plan had worked anyway, the only difference had been that the weasel was alerted to them earliar than Kotaro had wanted.

Yomiko smiled. Maybe she wasn't mature, maybe she was. But she'd _try_. She didn't make a snippy joke about Kotaro's former fear, and she just smiled at Nao and said nothing.

She'd _try._

Today.

Tomorrow she'd probably give them hell. They were like the brothers she'd never had, so . . . as a sister it was her duty to be just a little immature.

Suddenly _the _Uzumaki appeared before them. He looked, to tell the truth, totally pissed.

His eyes were wild, his hands were on his hips, he was practically breathing smoke he was so hot under the collar! He glared at them and said in a dark voice, "Look at this. I almost can't believe it. But you . . . all . . ."

And then suddenly the angry façade disappeared, he was normal, Uzumaki Naruto again grinning a big grin and giving them two thumbs up, "Pass! I've always wanted to do that to a Genin team. Doesn't it bring back memories, Sakura-chan?"

"What memories? What are you talking about?" _The _Haruno Sakura demanded, appearing next to Naruto.

"He means our first test . . ." _The _Uchiha Sasuke said, walking over with a rather large crowd.

"That's quite a feat. My team couldn't do it at your age." Chouji said. "Daisuke came close, but a girl walked by and . . ." The Jounin trailed off, roling his eyes.

Yomiko felt herself blushing as the two sensei from her first day at the academy, _the _Inuzuka Kiba and even that lovely Tenten both said they were far ahead of their year.

A Jounin she didn't recognize with really crazy eyebrows said something to the effect of "It's been some time since I've seen such powerful examples of passionate youth" which Yomiko hoped wasn't yet another crack about her allegedly liking Kotaro.

There was no passion between them, they were _twelve_!

The two Hyuga clan police officers nodded, the girl was kind of staring at Uzumaki-sensei, but both thanked them for not damaging too much of the market place this time.

The Anbu from before, Shino, unmasked and out of uniform, wearing instead a heavy coat nodded and said "My cousin will have some stiff competition at the exams this year."

Ino-sensei smiled sadly, she opened her mouth to say something, then stopped. She shook her head and wiped a tear from her eye, "Just . . . be careful." She told them.

"Don't let the fact that you're being congratulated by celebrities make you feel invincible." Temari-sensei nodded, "And don't think that _my _Genin aren't going to give you a hard time in the exams."

Yomiko smiled back at the two women and saluted them, "I'll never be careless Ino-sensei, Temari-sensei."

There was a soft clapping sound as dramatically Shikamaru-sensei emerged from the crowd, taking his time about walking over to the team and Tombugiri.

He smiled at them, "Good job." He said. "You guys really are ready to be Chuunin. Pass or fail in the exams, _know _that. Remember that you're all Chuunin in my eyes. It's too bad really . . . I was getting kind of used to being your sensei . . . but once you kids pass, and you _will_, you won't need me anymore."

Yomiko was surprised by herself when she said "We'll never _not _need you, even if you're not our sensei."

"You'd still be our captain." Nao nodded.

"And besides, you haven't even taught us to do stuff with our shadows yet." Kotaro laughed.

Shikamaru smiled and nodded. "The rest of the week is yours, do whatever you want as long as it's legal. You're ready for the exams, you're ready to be Chuunin. All though I do need to see you at the end of the week, Sarutobi. As for you Tombugiri . . . I guess you can go back to Temari if you really want to."

Temari-sensei sneeded, "Hear that? Get over here you little pipsqueak!"

Tombugiri shuddered and used the substitution jutsu to get out of the Genin's grip, the small log nearly fell on Yomiko's foot!

Tombugiri reappeared on Shikamaru's shoulder, "Uh-ah! Nara-boy's more fun than you are, and he don't make me do a lot of work, just fun stuff!"

"Why you little," Temari scowled.

"Think _you _can catch him, Temari?" Shikamaru-sensei asked.

Temari scoffed and put a hand over her stomach. "A lady in my _condition_ shouldn't exert herself."

"Your condition?" Tenten asked, "Uh! Does that mean, Temari-chan does that mean you're-"

"Pregnant!" Sakura squealed, jumping up and down.

So . . . grown women could act like kids too sometimes and no one thought it was weird. It made Yomiko feel pretty good about her own maturity.

"Again, huh? You two really don't have much restraint, do you?" Ino-sensei smirked.

Temari suddenly surged forward and grabbed Tombugiri, "Gotcha, you punk."

"Ahh!" The weasel scowled, "Not fair, you distracted me, and it was two on one 'cause you gots another ninja inside you, boss!"

Temari laughed, "Me? Pregnant? Nonsense! I just said that to throw you off guard." She glanced back at the Genin and smiled, "He's totally gullable, isn't he?"

"So're we!" Tenten scowled.

"I wanted you to name this one Sakura." Sakura sighed.

"Don't worry. He's giving his Genin a week off, I'm sure he'll spend all that time with her. Then what do you think they'll do?" Ino laughed.

"Anyone else feel like this conversation is getting too adult for us?" Nao asked.

"Just a bit." Kotaro nodded.

Yomiko found it fascinating.

"Yeah, uh, on that note we're going to leave you kids to your own devices now," Naruto said, "Enjoy your week off!"

"Spend it training." Sasuke said sharply, "Even if you're _at _Chuunin level don't forget that so are most of the other competitors. Don't think for a second that you're going to breeze through this just because all of the Konoha twelve, and one of the Sand Trio acknowledge your ability."

"How about all of the sand Trio, including the Kazekage?" Kazekage Gaara asked, sounding slightly annoyed. and standing to the left of the group with his brother Kankuro, "Where have you all been? I'm a busy man and we were supposed to start ten minutes ago. I don't have all the time in the world you know."

"It's your brother-in-law's fault!" Naruto accused, "Had to see his students pass their test!"

"Hey, you can't blame Shikamaru, he's family now which makes him immune to all blame!" Kankuro laughed, slapping Shikamaru-sensei on the back. _Really _hard on the back. Might have been a subtle attack actually.

"Oh yeah, _now_ he's family. Before he was just the guy who knocked up your sister, is that it?" Temari demanded.

"He's family _because _he knocked up our sister." Gaara said evenly.

Yomiko smiled as the group of legendary ninja left the three of them star struck in the marketplace.

She turned to her teammates, "So how're we going to spend our week off?"

"I'm going to train." Nao said simply.

"Chuunin is fine, but if I'm going to be as good as my dad I need to be _Jounin _level before too long." Kotaro shrugged, "So it's a hassle, but I'll be training too." He frowned, "A hassle . . . still not right."

Nao grinned, "Lets make an oath then. Each of us is going to be a Chuunin by the end of these exams."

"And even as Chuunin we'll watch each other's backs." Kotaro nodded.

"Like a family." Yomiko smiled. These were after all, the brothers she'd never had.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Author's Note**: Another long chapter. Hope you enjoy it, and thanks for all your support! I love to know that these chapters are well recieved and that no one minds the way things sort of slow down at the beginning of the new arc. Enjoy!


	54. Her Will of Fire

**Chapter 54**

The alarm clock went off and Shikamaru stared at it.

Midnight . . . first hour of the day.

Hmm . . . that was an interesting sound it was making. It was relevant too, he _knew _it was.

He frowned. He'd gone to bed early, totally determined that _this _would be the day he didn't show up late.

There'd been a _reason_ for that too, he'd had some rather significant reason to be _somewhere_ on time.

What was it?

The wedding wasn't for . . . hmm, a month? Oh my, just one month . . . well he'd worry about that later.

Was he supposed to go out with Temari are something? She wasn't in bed with him so maybe she was getting ready . . .

No, she'd slept at the hotel last night, Gaara had insisted they stop "living in sin" until the marriage.

Would it still be living in sin once they were marriage though? Pretty much once they were married it wouldn't be a sin anymore. So he was really asking them to stop forever. Why hadn't he just said that instead? And why was Shikamaru thinking about it now? Was there nothing better to occupy his mind?

He frowned, this required some consideration.

Not really, but he decided 'why not' he'd consider it just because.

He yawned and wondered if maybe Sumiko might say something today. Maybe today was the day his daughter would say her first word.

Maybe it would be 'daddy' or 'mommy' but he sort of thought it'd be funny if it were 'troublesome'

He didn't know why, but hearing his daughter say 'troublesome' would have made him feel . . . happy for some reason.

He glanced at the calendar, how old was she now? A year and . . .

Oh no.

He jumped out of bed. Today was _that _day.

_That _was why he'd set the alarm and determined to get there on time.

He rushed through getting ready, grabbing clothes and his vest, his forehead protector he wrapped around his arm, and he grabbed Asuma-sensei's daggers.

He smiled. It was almost time to say goodbye to them.

They needed to go to their right and proper owner.

Sarutobi Yomiko.

Shikamaru had determined once before to see how much of Asuma the girl had in her, and he'd planned to do so before the exams.

The exams which would be beginning today, in six hours.

He had six hours to test Yomiko, he'd gone through great lengths to convince her to wake up this early and be ready to learn.

He rushed off and for the appointed place, expecting to see the girl standing there tapping her foot angrily.

She'd curse him for being a poor sensei and being late, and all that. He'd act like it was no big deal and train her, they'd go their separate ways.

Not the case.

Today _she _was late.

Or not coming at all, because when Shikamaru got there _on time_ she was nowhere to be found.

He waited . . . and waited.

* * *

Yomiko yawned as her alarm clock went off. She stared at it. 

Wow, midnight? Why had she set it for that time?

It seemed relevant somehow, and something inside her kept her from just slamming her fist down on the "off" button and going back to sleep.

She'd gotten plenty of sleep, had gone to bed super early now that she thought of it . . . and why?

There was a reason for it, she was sure.

She yawned and closed her eyes, sleep was so seductive, so alluring.

She just wanted to sleep.

Close her eyes.

Start to slow her breathing.

Sleep peacefully, the Chuunin exams wouldn't start for another six hours, she and the others weren't going to meet until an hour before . . .

She curled up in her bed, hugging her pillow since she didn't sleep with dolls anymore-they were for babies, she was a mature Genin now, so she couldn't indulge in childishness.

Or something like that. She still liked to hug something while she was sleeping though, so a pillow would have to do until she could get married.

Yep, giving up her dolls had been very mature. Just like being so nice to Naomasa yesterday that she only called him _one _rude name, and only teased Kotaro's mask _once_ was extremely mature.

She considered this and recalled that she was _such _a mature Genin that Shikamaru-sensei had even asked her to show up early in the morning, around one o'clock for a special test.

Yeah . . . what day had that been again? She closed her eyes and snuggled up against her pillow. It wasn't important. Sleep, blissful, wonderful sleep was important. The testing would be hard, she needed to be not just fully rested, but _extra _rested.

Besides, if it were important her mother would kick her out of bed.

Mother . . . oh yeah mother was helping out with the Chuunin exams, she couldn't wake her up. That's why she'd set the alarm . . . well she'd set it wrong, but who cares?

She'd leave it up to her father, if her being awake was important his spirit would help her out.

And then, as she snuggled up against her pillow again she somehow managed to roll right out of bed.

"Ouch!" She complained, was that her father's spirit or just a coincidence?

She scratched her head and suddenly remembered Shikamaru-sensei's test . . . it was _today_!

She looked at her clock . . . "Whoa . . . there is _no way_ it's already one thirty." She said.

* * *

Yomiko rushed through the marketplace on her way to the park to see her sensei. 

As she came around a bend she slammed into someone, and they both fell over.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" She cried, getting up and helping the person she'd knocked over.

To her surprise he slammed her against the wall. He drew his fist back and it was caught by his Jounin-sensei.

"Calm down, Akuma-kun. It's _your _fault, you should been able to avoid that little klutz. You were distracted and so consider your pain and embarrassment correct and just punishment."

The boy's eyes seethed and he released Yomiko, "Yes, Okatsu-sensei. My appologies Okatsu-sensei."

"What about me?" Yomiko demanded fearlessly, "Aren't you going to apologize to _me_?"

"_You_ ran into _me_." He said darkly.

"Yeah, and I apologized." Yomiko growled, "But you shoved me against this wall, and you were going to _hit_ me!"

"Should I then?" Akuma roared and his fist sailed in for her face.

His sensei stopped it, and squeezed his fist in her hand, "Idiot. Apologize to the little tramp if it makes her feel secure. But don't go around assaulting people. Wait until the exams . . . when you can do so without penalty."

Akuma's eyes burned, "Just wait." He growled, "I'll kill you."

Yomiko glared, "Sarutobi. I am Sarutobi Yomiko. You should know that because I'm the grand daughter of the Third Hokage, the daughter of the _great _Sarutobi Asuma and the student of the strongest of the Konoha Twelve. If you get in _my _way, or try to hurt meor my friends I warn you that the fire of my will alone will burn you alive until there's nothing left."

Akuma glared at her and she shoved him away, "Go on you troublemaker. And remember my warning." Yomiko scoffed.

Yomiko's heart was pounding, she was terrified. She didn't know what Akuma was capable of.

And she didn't expect his sensei to suddenly attack her.

The woman's kunai was oddly shaped, it was curved for some reason. It sailed in for Yomiko's neck and Yomiko didn't even have time to blink.

Or maybe she chose not to, she couldn't tell, but the blade was stopped an inch from her throat .

Shikamaru-sensei's dagger quivered as he held back the surprisingly strong Kumogakure Jounin.

"Funny. You act as if you don't know we're allies." Shikamaru said darkly. "Of course you weren't _really_ going to attack my Genin were you? That would be reckless wouldn't it? "

"She looked like she was having trouble breathing. I thought a tracheotomy might _help_ her." Okatsu sneered, "Besides I was wondering who _you _were."

"Now you know." Shikamaru-sensei said calmly.

"So she thinks you're the greatest of the Konoha Twelve. But you don't look like any Uchiha, you're definitely not Uzumaki." Okatsu said.

Shikamaru smirked, "I just don't advertise."

"Yet I know who you are. I know what you've done in your life. Konoha's Legendary Genius. I understand you have a daughter now, an adorable little creature. I've seen her with your wife and your parents in the park once." Okasu smirked, "Oh, I'm sorry, she's not your wife is she? Allow me to correct myself, I've seen your _bastard_ with your _whore_ and those _geezers_ you call parents. I know who they are, I know where they live. I know where _you _live."

Shikamaru's eyes were hard, there was a cold darkness coming off of him that scared Yomiko just a bit.

Akuma was snickering at his sensei's rude words, and Yomiko was angry. Temari-sensei and Shikamaru-sensei might not be married, but she wasn't a whore, and Sumiko shouldn't be called a bastard. Yomiko hated that word so much, it shouldn't even exist.

But Shikamaru-sensei smiled and said "Yeah, I've got a pretty nice life. Thank you for your compliments. Now if you're done with my student take yours and go about your business."

The woman smirked and backed off. She began to walk away and Yomiko felt rage pour through her. She scowled at Shikamaru-sensei, "What are you doing? You're going to let her say those terrible things and just walk away?"

Shikamaru smiled, "Who is she? She's nobody to me. Just some troublesome woman I've never met before so what does her opinion matter to me? Let her think what she wants about my child and my fiancée, let her call my parents what she chooses it doesn't hurt me. Words are just words, actions are the key."

Shikamaru-sensei's expression darkened again, "Actions Yomiko. Actions. If she ever _did_ anythingto hurt my family I'd cut her to pieces and feed her to the fishes, but for now her words are just empty little threats." Shikamaru smiled at Yomiko, "Of course if I'm going to cut her up . . . I'll have to do it without these." He said, handing Yomiko the two chakra knives her carried.

Yomiko stared at them, "Uh . . . sensei? What are these for?"

"They're for you." Shikamaru-sensei said.

"You're giving me your knives?" Yomiko squeaked.

"I borrowed them. I'm returning them. They're yours, or they should have been. They belonged to your father Yomiko. I liked having them as a memento, and I've gotten pretty used to them, but in the end I have no right to keep them from you."

Yomiko took the blades with shaking hands. Somehow as soon as she picked them up they felt . . . familiar.

A warmth filled her and she gripped them underhanded and watched in surprise as a slight blaze kicked up, fiery chakra engulfed both blades and her hands, but didn't burn her.

She glanced up at her sensei, "What about your test? I'm late but do we still have time for it?"

Shikamaru smiled, "You've already passed it, Saru . . . Yomiko. When I heard what you said to those two . . . I knew you'd passed."

Yomiko smirked. She didn't really understand. But hey, she'd passed!

Hopefully today would be a long day of passing. She'd passed Shikamaru-sensei's test, hopefully today she'd pass the Chuunin exams too.

* * *

Kurai cracked his knuckles. Today was the day. He glanced at the clock, soon he'd meet with his team and they'd take their second attempt at the Chuunin exams. 

And this time they'd succeed.

He knew the exams would be different, they had to change them year after year. So he knew that all his preperations would be in vain if he just prepared for what happened last time.

So he'd gotten ready for anything.

He'd become Chuunin.

* * *

Yukio glanced over his shouilder at his teammates. They were getting ready early, they were prepared. 

Ryu slung a huge battle fan over his shoulder, Kyoko wore hers on her back like Temari-sensei.

Yukio nodded to his team. They were _his _team. Temari was the teacher, but he was the captain. A fact he'd always known but had to take even more seriously now because if they did their jobs right Temari-sensei wouldn't be going home with them.

Not that he didn't want her to see them again, not that he didn't want to see her ever again. But she needed to be with her lover, and her child. That was what was best for her.

For Temari-sensei he and both Ryu and Kyoko would all become Chuunin.

* * *

Kasumi wrapped her arms around Masa and Yuu's necks and pulled them in close. They'd do it. 

By all rights they should never have failed the last time, it hadn't been fair, but that was past.

"Rembember, we're the best our village has. We've got to do a good job." She told them. But she didn't have to.

They knew what to do. They knew this was their time to finally advance.

And it was hers to. Living in the shadow of a legendary father and brother and failing to live up to them . . . Tetsuo had been a Chuunin at this age, she should be too.

Well she'd turn the tables today. She'd become a Chuunin, she'd make her father proud.

* * *

Kyusaku didn't care about being a Chuunin. 

This was it, the big exam, and he should have cared.

He didn't.

All he could think about was _her_. Tomoko . . .

What Saizo had done to her, what he'd _wanted _to do to her. It made him so angry, but he hadn't done anything, hadn't acted in time. Tomoko's little student had moved to help her before _he _had!

He'd confess to her, he'd tell her how he felt before these exams were over. And maybe it was a bad idea, maybe it'd be an unnecessary distraction to her, maybe it'd screw up the harmony of their team . . . but he had to tell her.

Had to know what she thought . . .

He didn't care if he became a Chuunin . . .

* * *

Akuma would be a Chuunin. Because Okatsu wanted it. 

He couldn't have cared any less, personally. And yet somehow he couldn't deny the fact that her happiness directly affected his happiness. If she was happy, he was made less miserable. If she was content enough to be distracted, she'd hurt him a bit less, abuse him a bit less, she'd make him want to die just a bit less.

But his desire to see _her_ die never diminished. He'd be a Chuunin because it meant something to her.

And because being a Chuunin meant he was getting stronger. And someday he'd be too strong for her to abuse, too strong for her to control.

He'd be Chuunin. He'd be strong.

And he'd measure himself against the best these villages had to offer. He'd _kill _the best he could find. Especially that Sarutobi girl and her team. That woman from before . . . oh so many people to kill.

But that wasn't the reason for his existence. He wouldn't let it be. Killing Okatsu and his evil brother, _that_ was the reason he existed. Everyone else in the world was just a possible stepping stone. If they got in his way . . .

He took a kunai in his hand and slashed his own palm. By this wound he swore that no enemy he faced would live.

And if they lived, if they escaped him somehow . . . he'd find them. He'd find them and he'd murder them. No one would escape him, no one would give Okatsu any reason to punish him. He'd never let his prey escape him, even after he killed Okatsu he'd never let his prey escape.

Their lives were meaningless to him, but their deaths meant everything to him.

He'd be a Chuunin. And if he had anything to say on the matter . . . he'd be the _only _Genin to pass and live.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note:** I must admit I _am_ pleased with the way the manga is going when I have time to read it. Shikamaru is awesome, Naruto is getting stronger, Sasuke is . . . doing his thing. It would be neat if Kurenai has a daughter, but I doubt that will be the case. In any event the odds of the kid being named Yomiko are just down right bad, still it is cool to know that for a little while longer at least this story continues to be somewhat believable up to a certain point in the manga.

Daisuke gets extra "screen time" sometimes because he's a fan favorite. Incidentally though I never planned to let him be killed _during_ the Chuunin exam (I won't say anything about after the exam, keep the suspence going) but if that _had_ been the plan I'd be really scared to do it now since so many of you readers seem to like him.

I have not fully decided yet on just how to seperate this story's first and second halves. My intention at first was to start off a whole new fic, a sequel of sorts with each arc. Obviously I chose not to do that because here we are, still in New Blood and in the third arc. This would force casual browsers to backtract over quite a few stories if say they found arc 6 first and had never read any of the others, they'd likely say "What the heck is this? Who the heck is Syako? When did Shikamaru and Temari have a kid?"

But New Blood is starting to grow really, _really_ long. I am currently leaning on ending New Blood itself after Arc 4 is finished, then starting arc 5 off as a sequel. I may call it "Shinobi in Exile" or something neat like that, I've never been totally content with "New Blood" it was the title I chose when I thought I would be naming each arc. Now it's just the name the story is known by, I won't bother to change it. I do not like the idea of keeping all of the 8 planned arcs together in one collection, the story would be too long then.

But I am still undecided.

Anyway enjoy this update as well as those soon to follow, and thanks for all the support!


	55. The Gauntlet

**Note: **Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi most of you _probably _know. They're the band of kids that seek to emulate Naruto or something like that. However Matsuri, Hibari, Futaba and Kouji are also all students from Iruka's class. During the stage of the anime where the Hokage intrudes on the lesson Iruka gives by the mountainside monument each of these four speaks up at some point. Futaba is the girl with the pink hat who has a dog named Gonta, Kouji is the kid with the tie who says he'll be Hokage but lacks the grades to back up the boast, Hibari is the brunette with her bangs down over her right eye who asks Iruka who the fifth Hokage is. Matsuri is the girl with the totally awesome hair who asks The Third if he has a precious someone too.

They're not terribly important, it's just that I chose to use them as examiners as a way to show that not just the Konoha 12 have survived the war so far.

**Chapter 55**

Konohamaru smirked at his longtime companions, Udon and Moegi. "A fresh crop, eh?"

"A lot of them have no idea what to expect, coming from our newest allies. But for those return customers we've worked up something really special this time." Udon said with a sniffle.

"Well it's just tragic that all this time these kids have had to move back and forth between only Suna and Konoha for their exams, we've had to shuffle it up a lot lately. Still I think this year we've done our best work yet. And it won't be our turn again for another three exams now that we have allies again." Moegi said.

"So let's make it one to remember. Udon, you're up." Konohamaru said, "Give 'em a hard time."

Special Jounin and exam proctor Udon nodded, wiped his nose on a handkerchief and disappeared.

Konohamaru smirked as he watched the steady flow of students. Moegi asked him "Do you want to go get something for breakfast Konohamaru-kun?"

"Not now," he complained, "I want to see how badly Udon thins the numbers."

"Okay . . ." Moegi sighed. "But Konohamaru-kun I'm the next one to deal with them, you should just worry about how many pass through _my _exam."

Konohamaru scoffed, what a blond, "I'm interested in how many pass through _each _stage of the exam, did you forget that the Hokage asked us to keep record of each individual team's progress past each stage?"

"Well yeah but Udon's exam doesn't begin for an hour." Moegi said.

"Yeah . . . but there's the hazing." Konohamaru said. "I'm betting not half these teams get through that."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that . . ." Moegi admitted. "Hope it goes okay . . ."

* * *

Matsuri shuddered, leaning against the doors that led to the basement. She nodded to Futaba as a new team came through. 

Like their "ancestors" before them the two were disguised as more youthful Genin. "I wouldn't go in there." Futaba said, "You know what'll happen if you go in there."

"Well no, but we would if you'd get out of our way. How're we ever going to know if you don't let us pass?" One student demanded.

"Hey, look at us kid, count us. Go on, do it. See three men here? Our last comrade _died _in these exams, this is no joking matter." Matsuri said, folding her arms. "If you don't watch out you'll die too. If you're not ready for that then get out of here before it's too late. Once you pass through the doors anything goes, your life is forfeit if you're not strong enough to protect it."

"Let me pass." One boy without a forehead protector commanded. He was accompanied by a Jounin, Matsuri raised an eyebrow, "Jounin sensei are not supposed to accompany students to the exam room." Then she remembered she wasn't supposed to be so knowledgeable, being a mere Genin, "I mean that's what I've heard. Did they change it?"

"Out of the way weakling, or he'll kill you." The Jounin smirked.

Matsuri scoffed, "Let's see him try it."

"Matsuri." Hitomi snapped from the sidelines. Matsuri frowned at her colleague and nodded. "Okay, okay, I guess we're busted Futaba, might as well let them pass."

"Yeah, go ahead." Futaba said, bowing her head slightly in apology.

The boy glared at them as his sensei took a step towards the door Matsuri and Futaba had been guarding.

She stopped. "Cute. Very cute." She smiled, "But this isn't the entrance to the exams. This is the entrance to the basement."

"But how can that be? We're on the second floor." Futaba lied.

"Drop the act and the genjutsu before he kills you." The Jounin warned, but Futaba did not.

She folded her arms and stuck her nose in the air, "Go on already, go get killed in the exams, but we're still going to warn off all the hopeless cases so this doesn't turn into a tragedy."

"But we _want _tragedy." The Jounin laughed sinisterly, "I _want _the hopeless cases to pass your little hazing," She glanced back at the Genin, "Know this you whelps, my son Akuma is the true power in this exam, and he will kill each of you in turn be it here or on some later field. To get in his way is death, support him now and he may treat you favorably in the end."

Matsuri glared at the boy. and then at his "mother"

"Where's the rest of his team?" Hitomi demanded. "You can't enter the exams alone, you need a three man squad."

"By the powers you are correct! Akuma we've miscalculated." The Jounin said with a smirk that suggested she'd done no such thing, "Akuma-kun, find two Shinobi whose presence and survival you will be able to tolerate for the duration of the exam. Kill their teammates now and we'll have ourselves a three man cell."

"Yes, sensei." Akuma said, and sprang.

Hitomi intercepted him with blinding speed and held him back. "That's enough, the exams haven't even begun yet, kill anyone now and it'll be murder. I'll take you in for it, and believe me you're making me _really _want to take you in."

"You must be the little Chuunin who got in the way of my son's . . . shopping." The Jounin said.

Hitomi's eyes were unreadable behind her goggles, but the curve of her eyebrows suggested she was as annoyed as Matsuri with this Kumo Jounin. "I would never interfere with shopping, I am a woman after all. But _theft_ on the other hand is another matter."

"You saw through his Genjutsu before, and you've laid hands on him now. That's a death mark, young lady. He'll have to do away with you, you know."

"If he'd like to try, I'm right here and ready." Hitomi scowled.

"Of coruse you are. Which is why you won't die just yet. It won't happen when you're ready. It'll be when you're not expecting it. Come Akuma, lets let these Konoha whores play their game with their little hopeless miscreants."

"What did she call us?" Matsuri demanded, but Futaba grabbed her wrist and held her back.

"What chance do we _Genin _have against a person like her?" Futaba asked, reminding her that they had a job to do.

But judging by the number of teams trudging away from the exams, the number of crestfallen Genin hesitating and rethinking their course Matrsuri realized that that Kumo Jounin had done their job for them.

Only those with true confidence in their ability and no fear of death were willing to continue.

She nodded to them and said, "Well good luck. And don't let that pair get you down." Matsuri said. "Show them there's a _reason _you've all made it this far. Show them what Konoha's Shinobi can do!"

"Wow, they're singing a different tune." One of the students commented.

"Shaddap! Just do your best and don't worry about us!" Matsuri commanded.

Matsuri, Futaba and Hitomi all withdrew. Matsuri straightened her Chuunin Examiner's uniform and adjusted her hair once she was again in her own, adult body. "That . . . that . . . that woman!" She scowled, "Threatening our kids like that, if we didn't need the alliance with Kumogakure I'd-"

"Do nothing." Hitomi said, "She's a Jounin, the three of us probably wouldn't stand a chance against her."

"Even so, you know that if she tries anything against you we'll have your back." Futaba said, patting Hitomi's shoulder in a comforting manner.

The younger woman shook her head, "Thanks but if it comes to that I'd rather you two stay out of it."

Matsuri nodded. She knew Hitomi, and that boy Akuma had just become her target throughout the whole exam. She'd watch him more closely than any other student.

She frowned, Hitomi would be watching Akuma, Matsuri decided it'd be up to her to watch Hitomi.

Someone would have to.

* * *

Yomiko frowned and rapidly went through the maneuver to summon her paper. It appeared in her hand and she handed it over to the well dressed examiner. "Here you are." She said, "That's Sarutobi Yomiko of team ten!" 

The brunette examiner nodded, her hair cut was similar to Ino-sensei's except that instead of a pony tail she had a bun. "Under Nara Shikamaru, one of the Konoha twelve. Well that explains it."

"Explains what?" Nao asked.

"Why you three are the _only _rookies entering the exams in the past four years." The woman's companion, an examiner with crazy purple hair said. "The last time rookies entered was when they were Uzumaki's, but even then they didn't pass their first time, hardly any rookies ever pass their first time around!" The examiner laughed.

"Shikamaru-sensei did it, he was the _only _member of the Konoha Twelve who did, so given that we're trained by him I'd say our chances are pretty good!" Nao said.

"Yeah, as good as any other rookie. You've got about a one percent chance of success!" The male examiner laughed.

"Kouji!" The woman snapped.

"What? Oh sorry Hibari." Kouji said, scratching his head, "What I mean is I'm sure you guys will do very well. Go on ahead."

Nao shoved his hands in his pockets and grumbled. "We'll show them." Yomiko reassured him.

All part of her acting more mature thing, really she was pretty sure Nao was screwed, he didn't have ninja for parents, the best he had was that _thing _he had going on with Tomoko-chan.  
She glanced at Kotaro, who seemed rather distracted. She snapped her fingers in front of his face and said "Hey! Hey, are you awake?"

"Yeah . . . but I don't see her."

"Her? Who?" Nao asked.

"Kyoko." Kotaro said.

"I thought you didn't care about her." Yomiko leered.

"I don't. You know. It's just . . . it was real important to her and to Temari-sensei that their team pass these exams. I thought I might be able to wish them luck before it started, you know for Shikamaru-sensei's sake as well as theirs."

"Oh that's right . . . too bad. Maybe they didn't wake up in time, I mean there's a time difference isn't there?"

"They've been here long enough to adjust." Nao said. "I'll bet they're already in there."

"Yeah." Yomiko said.

"Good luck!" Someone shouted suddenly, and Yomiko spun around expecting to see Kyoko leap out and grab Kotaro.

It wasn't Kyoko, it was Syako.

She grabbed Kotaro and hugged him, burying his face between her massive-

"Oh look, it's the pedophile." Yomiko observed.

"Uh, what?" Syako raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" She shoved Kotaro away and grabbed Nao, who tried to leap back but somehow this non-ninja's speed exceeded his, she crushed Nao against her massive bosom now, "Anyway I just want to wish you three good luck! For the sake of Temari and Shikamaru's love you three need to pass! Oh good luck!"

"Please don't touch me ever again . . ." Nao grumbled. But he was blushing.

Pervert.

Kotaro was bleeding. An even bigger pervert. Yomiko maturely chose not to say this out loud, but she couldn't help thinking it.

Syako turned on Yomiko.

"I'll scream rape!" Yomiko warned, backing away.

"Don't be silly!" Syako cried and leapt out for her.

She was intercepted by Daisuke, who stood in front of Yomiko as if he were shielding her from a hail of arrows.

"I shouldn't have to say this to a woman . . . but "no" really does mean "no." He said.

"Oh you're so cute!" Syako cried and hugged Daisuke instead. She then ran off, "Kan-kun, where did you go?"

"Uh . . . you guys I feel sullied." Daisuke grumbled.

"Bet you loved every second of that." Tomoko sneered. "And all this time I thought you liked _younger _girls."

"I do! I mean . . . I don't know what you're talking about." Daisuke grumbled and sort of stumbled off as if he were disoriented.

"Thanks, I guess." Yomiko called after them. She turned to her companions, "Well boys, you ready?"

"Uh-huh." Kotaro grumbled.

"Okay . . ." Nao sighed.

They were a little pale, they looked totally out of it. Yomiko frowned. "What's wrong with you? Oh c'mon her breasts aren't _that _great!" She scowled and dragged her teammates towards the doors of the exam.

The doors of their fate, their future!

* * *

Syako smiled and leaned against the wall. "I failed I'm afraid. But I got two of them with the poison." 

A voice from the other side of the thin wall answered, "It's okay. You got the son of Hatake Anko and that's the important one."

"Why's that?" Syako asked.

"He's the only one on the team with the intellect to pass the exam easily. If the girl can do it herself then she really does deserve to be a Chuunin."

Styako nodded. Okay, whatever. Not that she really understood or even cared about that kind of thing. She didn't totally grasp why these kids had to run through a kind of triathlon to get a promotion, what with the war on and all a heroic act on the field should earn one a promotion.

That's why samurai were better than filthy, disgusting ninja, as far as Syako was concerned.

She bowed her head to the man who couldn't see her unless he could see through the thin but very solid wall. Formal as she was she imagined him bowing back. "Well whatever your feud with Nara Shikamaru and his soon to be bride, I do hope this won't compromise my situation."

"It wont, your position is more important to me than the outcome of these exams. Our plans can't move forward without you being where you are."

"Thank you, your words flatter me." Syako said.

"It's been such a long time since I've been in Konoha . . . and to come at another Chuunin exam, it's so nostalgic. This one won't end like the one I remember so well . . . we won't be assassinating the Hokage. But what we do now is just as important."

"I don't really understand, but okay." Syako said. It wasn't that she was too stupid to understand she just didn't really care.

"It's time to thrown down the proverbial gauntlet my lady. Time for us to declare to Konoha who we are, and whom they're dealing with."

Syako raised an eyebrow, though the man behind the wall couldn't see it. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"See that boy and that woman with him? They're our gauntlet. And they're about to throw down." The voice behind the wall said. "You probably won't understand the significance of what is about to happen, but those that do will begin to wonder, begin to investigate, begin perhaps to be just a little afraid. Not right away of course, at first only the wise will recognize what a problem this is. But by the time these exams end . . . I'll put fear into the hearts of everyone in Konoha. And everyone in Sunagakure as well . . . except those who are there _at_ our bidding to _do_ our bidding of course."

Syako watched the young boy and a woman who looked like she could be either his mother or his older sister approach the examiners.

"Uh, I'm sorry ma'am but this . . . team cannot be allowed. All teams must be composed of three individuals."

"I have here a written letter of approval from the Raikage himself, the boy enters."

"Oh, very well . . . but according to our documents only one team from Kumogakure is going to be entering, and they're already inside." The woman with brown hair said with an uneasy smile, "I'm not saying you can't go in, but it'll take us a moment to process everything if you're a last minute diplomatic entry."

"You should have one team entered in under "other" do you not?" The Jounin asked casually.

"Hmm? Oh . . . so we do." The examiner said, sounding confused. "That's never happened before-I mean uh, yes, so this would be . . . Akuma. Very well. Uh, it's tradition but he'll need a forehead protector during his competition, we have some blank ones he can rent if you like, or if you have a spare somewhere . . . it's necessary not only as tradition but as a marker of his alliance."

"Akuma has a forehead protector, don't you Akuma?"

"Yes . . . sensei." The boy said in a dark voice.

"Put it on. Show them what the master gave you. Show them whom you serve, Akuma."

The boy reached into his equipment pouch.

Syako leaned forward just a bit. This had better be good, this had better be something significant.

"O-oh my." The examiner gasped. "That . . . we haven't seen that since . . ."

"An heirloom?" The second examiner, a man asked.

"It looks so new." The woman whispered, and Syako read her lips.

"It _is _new." The Jounin said loudly, "You are witnessing the rebirth of a once promising power. Watch now as it rises again through my son."

Syako frowned as the boy turned to enter the examination room and she caught a glimpse of his forehead protector.

A gray band, and the symbol.

"What's the big deal? It's just a musical note." Syako scoffed, but the voice behind the wall had gone and she received no answer. But some of the older Genin began to whisper to each other.

"Isn't that the symbol of Otogakure?"

"Hey, that's the guy who was going to kill everyone!"

"If he's from Otogakure I bet he could!"

"Don't be stupid, there _is _no Otogakure, we wiped them out!"

"Yeah so . . . if he's a survivor he'll probably be after teams from Suna and Konoha."

"I bet I can take him!"

"Oh please don't let me face him!"

"We're okay since we're from rain right?"

"What's the big deal? It's just one guy. Heh, I bet _I _can take him out."

There was a lot of such talk, Syako just shook her head, none of it made sense to her.

The Village Hidden in Sound . . . what a stupid name.

But then there seemed to be some kind of history between them and the Leaf and Sand villages. She shrugged, she didn't follow Ninja history as closely as everyone else, she didn't _care_. But she noted the concerned look on the examiners' faces, and noted how one of them rushed off after her companion mouthed "Get Sarutboi-senpai" and smirked.

Syako didn't understand. But it was funny seeing ninjas get scared. After all, what could be scared could be _killed_.

And to think, scared of a little boy no less.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	56. The First Trial

**Chapter 56**

Nao tried not to walk too close to Tomoko, but he also didn't want to walk too far from her. It was confusing.

He'd more or less come to terms with the fact that he liked her, but he didn't know how to go about making that known to her. And maybe now wasn't the best time but then maybe it was, he really didn't know anything. He whispered to her, "You know what's gonna happen, right?"

"Nope." She answered, "They change it every year, but don't worry, you can do it."

Nao hoped he wasn't blushing, but he felt like he was. "Thanks. So can you."

"We'll both do it, Nao. We'll prove we're not the weak links." Tomoko said with a smile. Nao nodded. An examiner stopped them and said "Team Akimichi this way, Team Nara that way."

They split up and Tomoko gave him one last gesture, making a "V" with her middle and index fingers on both hands.

Victory. Victory for the both of them. Nao nodded and returned the gesture as the older girl walked off with her team.

"You know . . . she's playing you." Yomiko whispered, "She might be your girlfriend outside of the exams, but inside she's any other Shinobi to you and you're just any other Shinobi to her, she'll take you down if you give her a chance."

"She's not my girlfriend, and she's not using me." Nao grumbled. "She wouldn't have helped me if she weren't sincere." He said.

He felt a little odd, as if he were ill but he'd woken up in the best of health this morning.

Kotaro seemed a little feverish too, he had a slightly dazed, delirious look to his eyes but that could just be due t the large amount of blood that'd come out of his nose just a moment ago.

Nao frowned, he hoped he wasn't coming down with something . . .

"Girls help guys all the time and they're not sincere about it. If they've got something to gain from the deal . . ." Yomiko shrugged, "Don't get me wrong, I like Tomoko-chan and all, but I gotta say, Nao, she's playing you. Like a harp, might I add."

"Sounds almost like your jealous." Nao smirked. "What's the matter Sarutobi, can't stand to think there might be another woman in my life? I had no idea you-"

"Okay shut up! You're making it hard to be friendly to you." Yomiko grumbled.

Nao smiled, that was her being friendly? Well he'd accept what kindness she was willing to offer, he wouldn't instigate or start something. He didn't feel up to a full blown argument anyway, he was finding his attention wandering and he had a strange urge to vomit.

So he just said "Sorry. I guess I'm nervous." It seemed reasonable enough to him, and Yomiko accepted it as well.

"But she's right about one thing. We're gonna do it!" Yomiko said, "All three of us!"

"Ewe, gross." Kotaro scoffed.

"Stop thinking like that you pervert!" Yomiko shrieked.

"No, not that. It's just there's _so much _blood all over my mask . . ." The boy said, removing the mask and digging another one out of his bag.

"How many of those do you have?" Nao and Yomiko both asked at the same time, but Kotaro didn't answer.

Instead he said, "Hey Yomiko, jut curious but given that the first thing that came to your mind when I said that, was perverted, doesn't that mean _you're _the pervert?"

"I don't have time for this, our lives are about to change!" Yomiko said, and she jogged ahead of them a bit.

Nao smirked, and followed her, Kotaro finished adjusting his new mask and did the same.

But Nao noted that Kotaro looked a little ill himself. Could the Hatake boy be suffering a fit of nerves too, or was it something else?

* * *

Yomiko staggered into the empty room at the end of the long dark hall way. "What is this?" She demanded.

"Your first challenge." A Shinobi said, "I am Special Jounin Udon, and this is your first test. Well actually I'm a shadow clone of Udon and this is more like the first question of your first test. It's an intellectual triathlon."

"Isn't an intellectual triathlon a contradiction?" Nao asked.

"Don't argue with me." Udon warned.

"I wasn't arguing."

"True then, but you are now. Your team loses a point. Lose five and you're out of the exam. Anyway-"

"Wait, we lose a whole point for that? That's not fair!" Yomiko cried.

"Two points. Now as I was saying . . ." Udon waited for them to say something else and when they didn't he said "There are three puzzles, figure out each one before you run out of time. You'll know you've run out of time because you'll probably be unconscious. Or, on the third test, dead. This is serious business but it's too late to back out now . . . unless you annoy me and I take away all five points. But then you fail the exam, and we'll make you parade through the village wearing pointed caps and carrying flags on your back that say 'I are the dunce' so really it's in your best interest to-"

"Just shut up, let's get on with this!" Yomiko cried.

"Fine. And that's three by the way." Udon said. "We'll be watching you." And he disappeared.

"Okay Yomiko, since you chose to annoy out proctor before he could tell us what we're doing in this empty room . . ." Kotaro grumbled. "Maybe you can figure out what we're supposed to do."

"Oh no sweat. There's like a secret button or something along the walls, gotta be. It'll open up the next room."

"Brilliant. So go find it." Nao grumbled.

"What about you two?" Yomiko demanded.

"Not feeling so hot." Kotaro said.

Yomiko scowled, "Fine! I'll do it myself!"

She scanned along the walls and pressed against each stone, but there was nothing.

Okay, maybe not the walls, maybe the floor.

She felt along the floor.

Nothing.

The ceiling. She used her chakra to crawl along the ceiling.

Nothing . . .

She frowned, the boys were going to laugh at her.

Miss smarty pants crawling around like a fool trying to find a button that didn't exist.

She sighed, "You guys have any ideas?"

"Not really." They said together.

So it was up to her.

Okay, this was an intellectual test, she'd sort of wanted Kotaro to handle that but . . . all right, she'd see what she could do.

So there wasn't a secret switch, what was it then? What did she have to do?

She stomped on the floor and suddenly the floor gave way.

"Hah! I told you there was a secret switch!" She cried.

That's when three holes opened on each wall except the one they'd entered from, and a large ccircular trap opened on the ceiling.

"This might not be good." Kotaro observed, and he was right.

Water began to gush through all the holes, Yomiko screamed as it flowed towards her, the force of it knocked her against the wall and into another "faucet" which threw her into Nao.

To make matters worse, when she slammed into Nao he threw up all over her.

"Ugh! That's it! You're so my enemey!" Yomiko screamed hysterically, she dove under the water to clean herself off . . .

Wait, _under_? The water had already risen up to their waists!

Kotaro was alert and attentive now, he looked around and scowled, "Don't worry, let it rise."

"That's not very intellectual!" Yomiko cried.

Kotaro shook his head, "Maybe not but that's how it is. When this room fills up the room above it will be empty, I think that's our next challenge. We just get a little wet is all. No big deal."

"That's too easy." Nao mumbled, "There's got to be something else."

Kotaro frowned, "We'll figure it out if there is." He said, and he stood up on top of the water.

Nao and Yomiko followed suit, but Yomiko agreed, there had to be more to this.

They waited until the water stopped draining and found that it had only filled the room up half way.

They couldn't reach the hole it had poured out of.

Nao frowned, "Maybe if we stand on each other's shoulders?"

"Uh . . ." Yomiko frowned. "I uh . . . no, not really, that's a stupid idea."

She folded her arms. She didn't want to be on top of the human ladder since if she were they could check her out and stuff, and at the same time she didn't want to hold the two of them up.

Nao frowned, "You know this makes no sense, how can this room be filled with water? The door we came through wasn't air tight or anything, besides that we're on the second or third floor of the building and it's only three stories high, given that this room is easily two stories tall there's no reason for there to be another room up there, and no way the water would have been contained in here."

Kotaro nodded, "So we've been played. Nice work."

"What are you saying?" Yomiko demanded, "If there's no water," She splashed her hands in the liquid they were standing on, "What's this?"

"An incredibly good Genjutsu." Kotaro said.

"So we could go to the ground and be okay." Yomiko reasoned.

"No, because unless we can see through it-which we can't-it can still drown us because we'll _think _it can drown us." Kotaro explained. "The fact that we know it's a Genjutsu doesn't make us immune to it's effects since it's so powerful. But it does help us combat them."

"I'm willing to bet if we "swim" to the bottom there really will be a switch like the one Yomiko was looking for." Nao added.

Yomiko nodded, "Okay, I'm the Genjutsu specialist, and I was a top swimmer at the academy, I'll look for it."

"Good, cause I think I'm going to throw up." Kotaro said.

Yomiko scowled and swam to the bottom of the pool. It sure _seemed _real enough.

What a Genjutsu master this person must be, who could have done such a good job? Surely not that weird looking Special Jounin.

Yomiko seached around quickly before she rushed back to the surface. Just because it wasn't real water didn't mean it wouldn't really drown her, like Kotaro had said.

She breathed in and out and was about to tell them that she couldn't hold her breath long enough to reach the bottom, look for very long, and then get to the top.

But she thought better of it. She'd just bragged about being a good swimmer, she'd look stupid if she admitted weakness now.

Kotaro said, "That switch you pressed, press it again."

Yomiko nodded and dove back down.

Okay, so long as she knew where she was going she should be fine.

She swam as fast as she could and reached the small area of the floor where the switch had been.

She frowned, this was part of the genjutsu. This switch wasn't where she'd been standing, she was sure of it.

She ignored it and felt along the floor for the real one.

She searched frantically, and then went up for breath.

Kotaro was about to say something but Yomiko ignored him and went back down.

This time Kotaro and Nao dove too.

They went for the switch Yomiko had ignored, but she kept searching for another.

And she found it. It had risen back up again. She pushed down on it and let it go, to find that indeed it rose back up whenever there was no pressure against it. Which meant she'd have to stay with it and push it down, ingoring the water all together because if she went back up it'd rise up again.

But she could also drown.

It began to descend slowly, she waved the boys over, annoyed at the fact that she couldn't just call them.

Stupid false water genjutsu.

But she'd have to learn it.

She pressed hard and Kotaro and Nao came over to help her, the floor began to give, the stone switch began to move.

Kotaro suddenly swam for the surface, Nao followed.

They were out of breath.

Yomiko would run out of breath too, she was nearing the halfway point.

But she _knew _this switch would set them free, she wouldn't give up.

If she could just move it a little bit more!

It moved, she pushed, it moved, and she pushed.

Slowly, slowly . . .

She scowled and reached into her equipment pouch for a kunai, maybe she could wedge the stone so it wouldn't rise again.

But accidentally she pulled out one of Shikamaru-sensei's chakra knives . . .

One of her her _father's _knives.

She hoped it wouldn't be broken or dulled by this. She slammed it into the stone.

The stone cracked, it broke, the knife cut right through it.

Yomiko stared in awe at the knife as the "water" disappeared and Kotaro and Nao fell to the floor.

Luckily they'd been swimming back down so they weren't too high up. But Yomiko did wonder how they'd managed to levitate like that, if there was no water there was nothing for them to stand on.

That had to have been more than just Genjutsu.

And she stared at the knife in her hand, its blade seemed to have extended quite a bit, she glanced at Kotaro and Nao.

"Hey, that's one of sensei's knives." Kotaro said.

"He gave it to me." Yomiko said.

"I didn't know it could do that." Nao said.

"It's because your chakra element is wind." Special Jounin Udon said. "Anyway congratulations on passing the first test."

"Wind?" Yomiko frowned, "What're you talking about? I wasn't even using my chakra. And it lit up with fire earliar!"

"Well then the blade's reaction is unusual . . . but I've got a lot of other teams to put through this test, so I don't care." Udon said, "Go on to the next room and figure it out yourself."

Yomiko scowled and proceeded through a now open door, "What'd we even learn from that?"

"This isn't class time," Nao said, "It's test time. We're not learning from this, we're supposed to show what we learned already. Shikamaru-sensei has practically told us time and time again not to trust our eyes, you were the only one who remembered, Yomiko."

Yomiko shrugged, "I just remembered where I'd stepped on the stone and knew that that one wasn't it. No big deal."

"What about the knife? If you weren't using your chakra it shouldn't have had any to cut that stone open." Kotaro said.

Yomiko shrugged, "Well I don't know, maybe I _did _use chakra . . . I mean I already knew I was a wind type, and wind chakra can cut through almost anything. And I'd rather have cut that stone than had my dad's daggers get ruined."

"Wind type?" Nao asked.

"Shikamaru's your dad?" Kotaro asked.

Yomiko shook her head at the idiots. She didn't have time for this, and obviously they were too ill to be in their right minds. They'd probably caught cooties or something from Syako when she hugged them. "Hey, look, part two of the triathlon, stay focused!" She said to change the subject.

But then it hit her . . .

Syako . . . Syako had hugged both boys and now they were pretty spacey. Nao was vomiting and Kotaro was far less intelligent than usual . . .

So what was going on? What had that busty lunatic done to them?

* * *

Nao looked at Udon, waiting for some kind of explanation as soon as the ninja poofed into the room. "Your next test is simply this, there are four statues in this room, all identical. _One_ of them is slightly different than the others-"

"That one." Kotaro said, pointing to the one behind Udon and to his left. There was one in each corner, but Kotaro easily selected the one he didn't like.

"Very astute. But finding the statue is just phase one of the test. Your job now is to fix one statue so that they're all the same, so that one looks just like the others. Have fun with that."

Nao frowned, "Fix it? Kotaro what's the difference between it and the others?"

"There isn't one, it's just not looking in the same direction. That's what he means by fixing it so it looks like the others. So it _looks _the way the others do, get it?"

"No." Nao said.

"Then forget it. Look see how the statue is looking right at us, all the others are facing the statue across from them."

"So we just turn this guy to stare at his cousin on the far wall." Yomiko reasoned.

Kotaro shook his head, "Look closely, he won't budge. He's built out of the same stone as the floor. We've got to move the other three statues to look the way he does."

Nao scoffed, "Oh boy, what fun. Well let's get to it." He grumbled, and felt like throwing up again.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note:** The Chuunin exams are Arc 3, however the much shorter but vitally important Arc 4 really is the way this "book" should end if I do split them. I considered ending it after the Chuunin exams, but in the end it's much easier to end after the next arc, that's when part one ends.

And yes, there will be a time skip after arc four. Arc four ends when the Team Nara Genin are thirteen (in other words a year since the story begins) and after the tragic events of Arc 4. If I were to do fillers they would cover the changes that go over the characters as they age during this time, unlike _some _fillers I can think of. But I am not currently planning on any fillers. Do not ask why I bothered to mention it.


	57. Sticky Statues and Lovely Laceration

**Chapter 57**

Kotaro would be lying if he said he was proud of himself for figuring out the test. He would be lying because he'd rather have had a good twenty minutes or so to rest.

Maybe he'd lost too much blood when Syako grabbed him, but he felt weak. Tired. Lightheaded.

He tried moving the statue with the help of two of his shadow clones, Nao and Yomiko were both doing the same and only Yomiko was actually making any progress.

Kotaro had noticed that if he did move it any more than an inch it would simply shift back if he relieved the pressure against it, they would all have to push it into place at the same time.

No wonder this was a three man test. Anyone by themselves would have to be able to use Shadow Clones as well, or there was just no way Kotaro could think of them accomplishing the mission.

The floor was made of wood instead of stone as the last floor had been, so earth jutsus probably wouldn't work or else Kotaro might have tried tunneling down and disabling whatever mechanism caused the statue to reset itself.

Instead he pushed and pulled on it, and thought to himself that this was no intellectual test.

That is it had been for the first few moments, then he'd solved the intellectual portion of it. His dad would have solved it even faster and Shikamaru-sensei probably would have figured it out at a glance.

And both of them would have been able to use more clones to pass the test easily, but even Kotaro's shadow clones were feeling a little ill.

But then they were Jounin weren't they? The elite of the elite.

Nao seemed to be feeling the same way. Maybe Syako had give them a sexually transmitted disease when she hugged them.

Could you get them just from hugging? Kotaro didn't know, but the idea of it terrified him because his mom hugged him all the time and sometimes his dad would too and he didn't want to pass anything on to them. Besides, it'd be weird to say "yeah, we got an STD from our twelve year old son"

He sighed. This was impossible. And the final test would likely be something equally annoying. How could they call this an intellectual triathlon? So far it'd been mostly physical.

Kotaro scowled "This is such a drag!"

Ooh, that sounded good . . . no wait, he'd heard Shikamaru-sensei say that before too. Not as often as "troublesome" but he _had _said it.

The statues were stone cylinders, their bases were also round but protruded out from the rest of it by a few millimeters. They had faces carved in which told the Genin where they were and were not looking but Kotaro was having trouble holding onto them, he and his clones had to grab hold of the eye sockets and the mouth in order to turn the statues.

And it was when Yomiko finally succeeded in turning her statue that they all discovered the true horror behind the puzzle.

Yomiko moved her statue into position, and went over to help Kotaro while her two clones went to help Nao. No sooner had she let go of the statue however then it simply spun back into its former position.

Kotaro felt his statue move too and swore.

"Okay if you get it into position just hold it!" Kotaro commanded irritably.

"Hold it, hold it!" Nao shouted, "Leave it alone Yomiko. Come over here and help me."

"What do you think I am, made of muscle?" Yomiko panted, "I've got mine to move back _and _I have to hold it once I get it!"

"Just help me, if this doesn't work we'll both help Kotaro." Nao said.

"What are you getting at?" Kotaro demanded.

"The Proctor said move _one _statue so that the oddball looks like the rest." Nao said, "Not all. Now if one statue snaps the other two back they've got to be linked."

"So if one can move them all back maybe one can move them all together." Kotaro reasoned. He released his statue, Nao and Yomiko heaved against the statue Nao was working with.

Nothing happened to Kotaro's so they both came over to him.

He was glad for the help, but he doubted Nao was right about this one. Kotaro had it figured out, this was the reason you needed a full squad for the Chuunin exams.

Still he hoped Nao was right, this test was a pain in the ass.

Hmm . . . would that work? No, his mother would beat the spit out of him if she ever heard him say "ass" in front of her.

Man was this hard! Shikamaru-sensei had taken the good ones, it wasn't fair!

And as Kotaro considered this the statue snapped into place, simultaneously there were three other snaps.

Nao had been right. How interesting.

Kotaro didn't think he was a genius, his intellect certainly didn't measure up to Shikamaru-sensei or even his own father's however he _had _felt kind of proud of himself for figuring out this test so easily.

Now that he knew he'd only figured out half of it he felt a little deflated. Maybe he was even less of a genius than he'd thought.

Not that he grudged Nao figuring it out, truth be told he was very pleased not to have to push the statue anymore.

He opened his mouth to congratulate the team but vomited instead.

What was wrong with him?

* * *

Kurenai frowned as she watched her daughter's team on the monitor. 

She noticed Shikamaru had given Yomiko her father's knives, it was odd.

She tried to envision her daughter using them the way Asuma had . . . it just didn't work. Yomiko was too lithe and delicate for that sort of thing, Asuma had been rugged, muscular . . . strong . . . sexy--uh er . . . Asuma had been built in a completely different manner.

But that would all be revealed later she supposed, who knew maybe Yomiko would grow up to be a completely muscular, rugged young woman.

She was only twelve now after all. Someday maybe she'd take more after her father.

However her teammates did cause Kurenai some concern. She glanced over to one of the Chuunin examiners, and a Special Jounin who was serving as the head medic for the exams.

Hijiri and Yamamoto if she recalled, Naruto's former students. "Are those boys fit to participate in this?"

"No." Yamamoto said flatly.

Kurenai waited patiently and when it seemed like Yamamoto wasn't going to say anything else she said "Well?"

"Excuse me, senpai?" Yamamoto frowned.

"If the boys aren't fit what do you think is wrong with them?"

"I can't say until I've examined them." Yamamoto said.

"Do you want me to bring them in Miyuki?" Hijiri asked. The girl looked a lot like her father, long raven hair-especially the bangs-but there was something else familiar in her. Kurenai couldn't be sure but there was something annoying about that girl's appearance, as if there was some detail to her that the older woman should have recognized from someone else she knew, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Don't pull them." Udon said sharply, "They're doing very well, especially for rookies. They've passed the first two tests at the time we expect from Chuunin, if they can pass the third we might have ourselves a squad ready and waiting for promotion."

Kurenai frowned. If there were something wrong with those boys she didn't want Yomiko catching it.

But it was important that she not watch her daughter's performance as a worried mother, but as a superior officer. Still she worried because she was the girl's mother and no amount of emotional conditioning would change that.

"If they're ill we can pull them, let Miyuki fix them up and then let them take on the third part." Hijiri said.

"I don't know if I _can _fix them, Hitomi. There are limits to what I can do and I don't recognize _any _of these symptoms as any specific illnesss. It's possible that they're both suffering multiple illnesses."

"How could that have happened." Kurenai demanded.

"Weak immunities, perhaps they were poisoned. I won't know for sure until I take a look at them and even then I might not be able to cure them." The young medic shrugged.

"Blast it!" Hijiri Hitomi shouted.

"Relax, I didn't say I definitely couldn't. I'm sure they'll be fine, if I can't do it we can call in Haruno Sakura-senpai, or even the Hokage." Yamamoto Miyuki assured her friend.

"Not that." Hijiri scowled, pointing at one of the monitors, "_That_."

Udon frowned, "So Nara's Team Ten isn't the first group of rookies to pass."

Kurenai stared at the screen of the team that had upset Hitomi.

That team wasn't the first to pass either, several teams had done it. But Kurenai was surprised by one detail.

The "team" consisted of just one person. A boy all by himself once he dispelled the shadow clones she'd mistaken for his teammates. He glanced up at the observation camera and scowled at it as if he were scowling right back at the clearly annoyed Hijiri.

Kurenai noted the Sound Village headband on his forehead. She didn't comment.

But the sound village had been wiped out . . . even before Orochimaru's downfall Kurenai had been under the impression that Orochimaru had not been training any Genin other than Sasuke, to see a Oto ninja partaking the exams . . .

It was beyond bizarre, "This exam is only for our allies," Kurenai spoke up, "What's a sound ninja doing here?"

"He has written permission from the Raikage to participate." A young Chuunin examiner, Futuba said. "Not only that he's by himself, a one man team."

"Yes, we can see that." Kurenai said sharply.

"But it's against the rules." Udon said. "Everything about this kid's entrance is against the rules."

"Let me bring him in then." Another examiner, Matsuri suggested.

"Leave him." Udon said. "If he can pass Moegi's test alone he _deserves _to be a Chuunin. Heck if he can pass that test alone he might just deserve to be a Special Jounin."

Kurenai turned her attention back to her daughter, deciding not to give the sound brat another thought.

She was surprised by what she saw, Yomiko and her team were already halfway through the final test . . .

She smiled and tried to hide her pride in daughter's performance by quickly scoffing and saying "Well I for one would have expected Nara's team to pass through an intellectual triathlon _faster_, ill or not."

Udon laughed, "I may not be hailed as the Konoha Genius, but I'm no slouch. My tests arent easy."

"Shut up and wipe your nose." Moegi laughed, coming into the observation room, "How many teams are finished? How many am I getting?"

"If all the remaining teams pass the fist test," Udon said "twenty four teams and a one man squad."

There was a scream and Yamamoto poofed away, appearing next on the monitor next to a Genin who'd just failed the third test . . . _painfully_.

Udon shook his head, "I _know_ my clones warned them about the third test. Mess around and you can get killed, that boy's _lucky_." He glanced at Moegi, "Sorry, make that twenty_ three _teams and a one man squad."

Kurenai shuddered. Yomiko was half way through the final test, she'd been so proud.

Now she recognized the real danger. Yomiko was half way through the test which meant she was at the point of no return. Either she passed or . . .

There was no way she'd get back to the safe side in time if something went wrong.

* * *

Kotaro gulped as he took another step, he heard the heart stopping sound of blades erupting from the floor and glanced over his shoulder to Naomasa. 

He was fine.

Yomiko, two tiles ahead of him took another step.

This was a dangerous puzzle, in order to pass they needed to be stepping on three tiles at once, in other words there needed to be three people on the squad.

Every time you stepped on a tile the tiles next to you, in front of you, in back of you and to both sides would suddenly have razor sharp blade shoot out to cut you to pieces.

It was tricky because some tiles had no blades erupt and some would erupt in an X around the trigger instead of a cross. They had to advance by picking either the left or right tile in front of them, or simply stepping forward or back if the blades came out in an X.

But the Udon clone had told them that they couldn't just cheat their way across, they had to solve the puzzle or the lock mechanism on the door on the other side wouldn't deactivate and they'd be stuck anyway.

Because Kotaro didn't want to have to trust the others to memorize the pattern in his head he dictated their moves one at a time, Yomiko had made it to the final tile, there was absolutely no need for her to move again until Kotaro and Nao caught up.

Kotaro just hoped she didn't panic and try to run to safety until he and Nao were also there since they'd found that if only one or two people were standing on tiles and there was no third _all_ the tiles had blades shoot up out of them, and the roof was also completely covered in razor blades so there was no escape by jumping. Your best bet if the worst happened was to cling to the walls with chakra and Kotaro just didn't feel like he had it in him.

He'd learned the tricks of this test by having their clones try it first, to the last the clones had been slaughtered.

Using Nao to make an additional team of clones Kotaro had been able to figure out the pattern down to the last step. Since none of them could produce any more shadow clones, and since the regular illusionary doppelgangers didn't work at all they'd had to risk themselves for the final stretch.

But it was all just a guess. If this didn't work they would at least be close enough to the exit to just make a jump for it, but if they failed . . .

He gulped as Nao took a step past him.

Nao was four tiles from the exit, Yomiko was just one and Kotaro was five.

If he screwed up now Nao could conceivably jump to the exit

He couldn't.

So it was very cautiously that he made his move.

Just a few more . . .

He was getting close . . .

He was shaking too but he was pretty sure they were going to make it. He was convinced that they'd get this done . . .

And then the unimaginable happened.

He lurched forward and vomited so violently that he fell to his knees.

On the tile in front of him.

"Nao jump!" Kotoaro shouted as the blades on Nao's tile suddenly shot out.

But it came out as a grunt and a moan, Kotaro was too busy vomiting to properly convey warning to Naomasa. He only hoped his friend had understood the situation and gotten to safety so Kotaro could rethink the plan.

* * *

Kotaro fell forward and began to vomit, Nao knew what came next. He was on the tile adjacent to the one Kotaro was on now, he was supposed to have moved before Kotaro did. 

Now blades shot up out of the floor he knew if he leapt to the only safe tile-Kotaro's-they'd all die, but if he jumped blindly he'd impale himself.

He focused all his chakra to his feet, and closed his eyes, "just like tree climbing, just like tree climbing!" He pleaded with the universe.

His chakr repelled the blade and he rose up off of the tile, he opened his eyes and quickly leapt onto a safe tile before whatever sensor was in place to automatically end the test in failure could kick in.

"Are you guys okay? I can't even bare to look!" Yomiko whimpered.

"If we'd died you'd have died too." Kotaro grumbled. "But thanks for staying put, if you'd panicked . . ."

"I was too scared to move." Yomiko confessed.

Nao smiled. "We just won't tell the examiners that. Let them think it was part of Kotaro's plan."

The three shred an uneasy laugh, Yomiko said, "Sure, Taro thinks up a plan to get you killed. Sounds brilliant."

"Being a Chuunin is all about sacrifice." Nao shrugged.

"Kidding aside," Kotaro said softly, "I'm sorry for that. Let's get this over with quickly . . . I say we make a jump for it."

"But wont the door stay locked if we do that?" Nao asked.

"Yeah but I'd rather fail this test than die trying." Kotaro said with a shrug, "Worse I wouldn't have been the one to die form that screw up, you would have Nao."

Nao shook his head, "You're not quitting because we're not qutting, we made an oath."

"Only Temari's team needs to pass, we can all fail and sensei can still get married." Kotaro said. "We can try again next time, we're rookies we have no right to be here in the first place."

"No!" Yomiko shouted, "We have _every _right to be here! And I wont let you give up. Either you solve this puzzle and get to the exit, Taro . . . or I'll . . . I'll walk off and you and Nao will die!"

"What the-hey!" Nao protested.

"Do it Taro, you _know _you can!" Yomiko commanded. "Finish this test!"

"I don't fell well enough, I'm _sick_, I can't continue even if we passed this test."

"Once we've passed we can have a medic look at us," Nao said, "I'm sure Daisuke will pass, and Ryu's a medic too and we _know _Temari-sensei's team has to pass. Don't give up, we can do this."

* * *

"So they're not giving up after all." Udon nodded. "Impressive." 

Hitomi watched team ten closely.

They had gone from leading the charge to being the last team to finish, but they _were _finishing.

They were just one move away from success, Sarutobi and Ishida were both standing just one tile away from each other, both their tiles had blossomed in an X so Kotaro could get to the tile in between them if he leapt over the blades in front of him.

However if he stepped to the left, or to the right he'd impale them.

The problem was Hatake wasn't in the greatest of health, and more importantly to just jump over the spikes would be the _wrong _move since obviously it would _also_ impale his teammates who stood adjacent to the empty square. That tile spiked a cross, not an X.

Hitomi was standing on needles herself just waiting to see if these kids passed, she held her breath as Hatake made his move.

Would he make the right one? Had he guessed? Had he figured it out?

Would he somehow realize that the only way to finish was to jump over _both_ tiles in front of him at the same time that Ishida and Sarutobi left their own?

The real trick was that there _was _no locking mechanism on the door, the Genin could have passed simply by climbing on the walls. All the other teams that had passed had done the ninja thing and cheated. Some had tried the legitimate way to a point then simply given up, cheated and passed, or given up and conceded.

Not one team that had passed had done so "legitimately" and in truth they'd never been asked to do it legitimately. Not _really._ However team ten was different. They'd believed Udon and come this far, if they actually solved the puzzle they would score highest out of all the other teams despite finishing last.

Hitomi was quivering, she wanted them to succeed. She wanted to see a group of rookies pass the exams.

She crossed her fingers and hoped they'd make it.

Hatake was making his move . . . and the young Chuunin examiner hoped he'd figured it out.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note:** LOL, Nao and Kotaro are having some rather annoying health issues, but never fear. They'll get over it or die trying. On the subject of character deaths sadly some of these Genin were "born dead" in a sense that their deaths were planned even before they themselves were fully crated. Some will be hard to let go of, but it's their destiny unfortunately. To make our villains truly easy to hate, to make it clear that they are villains, and because people die in war some of these characters must die as well.

So far the only person scripted to die who hasn't was Ino. I had planned to kill her in arc 1 but decided that was way too early to kill one of the Konoha 12, and anyway I wanted to use her later. But don't worry, it's not like everyone will die in the same chapter, it's sort of spread out.

I like to think that most of the genin will die well at least. Thanks for all your support and encouragement, here's hoping all of your favorite characters survive the coming evil!


	58. The Answer Is?

**Chapter 58**

Kotaro took a deep breath and leapt into the air.

He reached out for Nao and Yomiko, grabbing each by the shoulder and pulled them with him over the tile trap and to the hard but safe floor in front of the door.

All the spikes erupted to kill anyone who might have been left behind, luckily Kotaro had moved them all.

"What did you do that for?" Yomiko demanded.

"Our backs were to the wall," Kotaro said calmly, "There was no move to be made."

"But now what do we do?" Nao asked. "We cant get back to the other side, we don't just give up do we?"

"I'm afraid we do." Kotaro said evenly.

"I wont!" Yomiko screamed, and she stormed over to the door, "I won't let this thing keep me from being a Chuunin, if you're so smart think of a way to pick this lock!"

"I never said I was smart, you guys just seemed to get it into your heads that I'm smart." Kotaro scoffed.

Yomiko roared and kicked the door viciously.

It opened up . . .

Kotaro scratched his head, "Uh . . . wow."

Yomiko looked pretty confused too, but she quickly returned to herself, "Now do you see how strong I am?" She laughed.

"Hurry up!" Udon snapped, "You've passed the first test, albeit far slower than anyone else. Everyone's waiting for you in the next room. Oh, and congratulations rookies. One of our examiners will lead you to the next room."

"Why do we need an examiner to lead us there, I mean it's _right _there." Yomiko said.

"Because this examiner wants to congratulate her daughter for coming this far." _The _Kurenai said with a smile.

Kotaro had to say he was impressed with how gracefully Kurenai had aged, her hotness had been the one reason he forgave her for calling him an idiot all that time ago.

Maybe Yomiko would look like that some day. Maybe not.

He didn't care, he wasn't interested in Yomiko in that way.

Kurenai walked with them, talking quietly to her daughter. It was none of Kotaro's business so naturally he tried not to listen to what they were saying, but after a while of trying and failing to give them their privacy he listened in.

"I see Shikamaru gave you your father's knives."

"Yeah . . . they're acting funny though. They've had fire and wind chakras acting up." Yomiko said.

"Well you don't know how to use them yet, so I'm surprised they're reacting to chakra at all. But perhaps you're simply both a fire and wind type."

"Can you be two different types?" Yomiko asked.

"Most Jounin are, and it's rare but sometimes a Chuunin or even rarer a Genin can be as well." Kurenai said. "When this is over Shikamaru will teach you all about learning, controlling and using your chakra types, I'm sure."

Kotaro smirked, learning to use his chakra element? If it was lightning . . .

He just knew if he could master his dad's number one original move he'd be able to become a Jounin just like his father had at a young age.

He glanced at Nao, it seemed pretty clear to him that his buddy Naomasa was a Fire type, and he was already using Fire Jutsus rather well.

And maybe Kotaro was earth type, that might explain why he was so good with tunneling and stuff and couldn't even begin to learn his dad's Chidori.

He sighed, now he really couldn't wait for these exams to end. He wanted to be a Chuunin, and he wanted to know his element.

Maybe Shikamaru-sensei should have taught it to them _before _letting them enter the exams.

They came to a large metal door and Kurenai smiled, "I'm not really an examiner, I just helped them with the Genjutsu for the first test. So though none of the examiners are allowed to say these words to any one team, I will. And those words are 'good luck all of you."

Nao bowed slightly and Kotaro nodded, Yomiko grabbed them and led them into the next room.

"About time." Kyoko cried, hugging Kotaro.

He shuddered. He was getting used to it, and Kyoko hadn't really talked about spitting for a long time, but still it kind of creeped him out.

"We were hoping it was you when they said just one more team had to pass." Yukio said.

"Why did you need us to pass?" Yomiko asked.

Yukio shrugged, "We just know you better than anyone else in this village, I mean we've met a couple other teams but . . . you know, we never hung out with them."

Kotaro nodded as he finally pried himself free of Kyoko.

She kissed him on the cheek-well technically she kissed his mask-and said "Good luck!"

Kotaro tried not to act in an immature manner, but before he could consider that he'd wiped his cheek out of sheer habit.

When kids his age got kissed they tried to wipe it away, he hadn't been thinking about it, it wasn't his fault if it hadn't been cool!

But Kyoko didn't seem to mind, she just giggled.

"Look, look, look what we've got here." A familiar voice said. Kotaro spun around to see another girl with tanned skin and white hair. "Remember us?"

"Of course!" Kotaro said enthusiastically, "Youre . . . you're . . . uh . . ." He spied at their headbands, Hidden Rain . . .

"You're those guys who tried to kill us!" Yomiko cried.

"We didn't try to _kill_ you . . . I mean . . . okay we did, but it wasn't personal." The girl cried.

"It was just a mission!" One of the boys agreed.

"Anyway," The girl said, "I wanted to thank you. It was your actions that made us convince our father to make an alliance with Leaf and Sand. It was the mercy you showed us, even when you had nothing to gain from it that made us rethink the way we saw our own enemies. That one act meant a lot to us." The girl smiled, "So if there's anything we can do to help you out in these exams you just name it. So long as it doesn't get us disqualified that is."

"And your village is huge! Are you sure it's a village? I'd call it a city!" The younger boy on her team added.

"Well yeah, actually it _is _technically a city." Naomasa admitted, "But we just kind of call it that."

"Yeah, Suna's the same way." Kyoko nodded.

"Well Amegakure is pretty big too." The older boy said somewhat defensively, "Anyway we-"

"Should shut up," An older boy from a second Rain team with metal clawed gauntlets said, "You really want to make fools of yourselves talking to leaf ninja?"

"Why not? They're our allies now." The girl scowled.

"Ch'yeah, if the negotiations go well enough. And don't help them, they could be our enemies tomorrow for all we know." The older boy scoffed and walked off with his team.

Kotaro's eyes narrowed, what a jerk.

Nao however had a concerned look on his face, Kotaro glanced at him and said "Don't let that lummox get you down, he's just a loser."

"Yeah, he doesn't know anything." The rain girl scoffed.

"It's not that . . ." Nao grumbled, and continued looking the room over. Ah, Kotaro understood now. He started searching too.

"So I'm Mayumi. These are my brothers, Masunari and Maeda. Anyway what are your names?" The Ame girl asked.

"I'm Sarutobi Yomiko, this is Hatake Kotaro and Ishida Naomasa." Yomiko answered in an official's tone.

Kotaro noted the troubled expression on Nao's face, "Didn't they say we were the last team? That they were waiting on us?"

"Yeah, you are. They said everyone else failed." Mayumi nodded.

Kotaro glanced at Yukio, "You guys seen team Akimichi?" Nao glanced at Kotaro in surprise, but he just smiled and shrugged, "Hey, whether I really am smart or not it doesn't take a genius to know that's who you're looking for."

"Yeah, we saw them. Don't know where they are now though." Kyoko shrugged.

* * *

Nao frowned and scanned the room for . . . team Akimichi. 

And _all_ of it's members . . . yeah, all of 'em.

No one in particular of course.

Now where was she-er that is where were _they_?

He spotted Daisuke and Kyusaku, leaning against a wall engaged in conversation with a team of Konoha genin around their age, it took Nao a moment to recognize them as Team Uchiha. They'd also been blocking his view of the two before so he hadn't spotted them, but now he could see them and he was also pretty sure there was no one else being blocked from his view.

So where was Tomoko?

He Glanced at Kotaro who seemed to be watching something just over his shoulder, he turned around only to suddenly have a pair of arms grab him by the shoulders and hear a familiar voice shout "Gotcha!"

He jumped, even though he knew it was her, had known somehow just by the expression on Kotaro's face that she was sneaking up behind him.

He smiled and looked her over, she didn't seem even slightly worn out after the first test, but he knew he must look like trash.

She slapped his shoulder and said "My protégé ," She laughed, "What took you so long?"

What the heck was a protégé? "We just got held up on the third test." Nao said. "But Kotaro figured it out."

Tomoko looked shocked, "You _did_? Whoa . . . we just skipped it."

"You what?" Nao blinked.

"Yeah, we figured if there was a locking mechanism Daisuke or I could just turn it off once we got to the other side since the door was metal and we know metal. I mean Oedo is a blacksmithing clan. So they transformed into shuriken, I tossed 'em to the other side of the room, I shot my claws out and ripped myself over too before those spikes could be triggered. Then we found out the thing was unlocked, it'd been a lie."

"Unlocked?" Yoimiko whined.

"Oh, such impressive strength, Miko." Kotaro snickered.

"Shut up! I . . . I did it without turning the knob! I wasn't even really trying . . . jerk." She folded her arms and pouted.

Tomoko grinned, Nao was blushing. Tomoko was so cute when she grinned.

Maybe he did like her, it was hard to say. Maybe he just had a really strong respect for her. But either way knowing that she'd passed too made him feel more comfortable somehow.

As if coming this far wouldn't be right without her too.

He told her, "We're going to do this, right Tomoko? We're going to become Chuunin."

"Of course." The girl winked, "Don't even doubt it for a second. That's the way dreams are, as long as you've got faith that they'll come true they will. But if you lose hope, even for a second you risk losing your dream." She slapped his shoulder again. "So don't give up on your dreams, and they'll come around."

Nao nodded, but he heard someone scoff.

"Dreams? What a fool. Dream of this; dream of surviving. Dream of getting through this test alive." A boy with an odd headband said. Nao didn't recognize the symbol, it looked like a musical note. The boy was also alone, he had no teammates nearby, maybe they 'd left him on his own or something.

He smirked at Yomiko, "This isn't your time to be Chuunin. Not if you're going to survive that is. Because this time I'm here. And anyone who gets in my way is going to die." He pointed at Yomiko and said "Just like anyone who annoys me . . . will die."

Yukio stepped between them, "You want to mind your own business? I don't think any of us were talking to you,. and I don't think we invited you into our conversation."

"A friendly warning." The boy said. "Don't bother dreaming." He said, glancing at Nao, their eyes met and Nao felt his heart rate increase.

There was something . . . scary about this kid's eyes. They were so . . . empty. There was no light there at all. It was an odd observation to make, Nao didn't know why but for some reason the first thing he noticed was that there was absolutely no light to the boy's eyes. They were dull, dark, drab. Not like the Hattori clan's eyes either, it was a normal enough eye just . . . without that light.

It was stupid, Nao couldn't explain it, but the sight of it was sobering, even a little disturbing.

"Don't dream, don't wish. All that's for fools. And fools end up dead . . . or worse." The boy said with a snide grin.

"Everyone needs a dream." Tomoko said with a smirk, "It's what drives a person to drag themselves out of bed in the morning, it's what causes them to take in breath. It's what helps them to move forward so that even if they're not too pleased with what their life _is_, they know there's a chance that it'll get better. Maybe your problem is that you lack a dream and so you lack direction."

"I have a dream. I have direction. But as I said only fools dream." The boy said. "My dream is to kill anyone who stands out, anyone who looks like they might be a good test of my skill. Frankly anyone who gets in my way really . . . in addition to a few choice people who've annoyed me."

"That's selfish." Tomoko shrugged. "What gives you the right to end a person's life just because they annoy you? "

"My power gives me the right." The boy said with a shrug, "If you don't believe I have power, seek me out in the exam . . . I'll show it to you before you die."

Nao bristled and snapped "As if you could even _hurt_ Tomoko! She'd rip you to shreds!"

"And if she didn't . . . I would." Daisuke nodded. "Are you picking fights with rookies, sis?"

"No," Tomoko shrugged, "I was just . . . oh never mind. Good luck Nao, everyone. Oh, and good luck to you too kid. I won't wish you good luck on your ambition of murder, but I do hope you come up with a more worthwhile dream."

"You'll see how worthwhile it is when you see me again . . . we'll call that time your _death_, shall we?" The boy taunted.

Nao scowled and lunged forward to punch the smirking slime in the face, but Kotaro stopped him.

"Relax, he's just a loser who wants attention." Kotaro said. "He hasn't even got his teammates with him, they probably cant stand him."

"Actually," The boy said, "I just didn't need them. I'm a one man team."

"Whatever, you mistake me for someone who cares." Kotaro rolled his eyes and led Nao away from the kid who stayed where he was and just waved slowly while leering at them, evil plain on his face.

Nao clenched his fist, "He's threatened Tomoko directly, I can't just-"

"She'd take him." Kotoaro said evenly, "Don't even worry about your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend." Nao scoffed. He frowned, did he really like Tomoko that way? He couldn't say, he'd never had a crush before . . . but he felt like if he were in love it should be more intense than this.

Granted this was the most intense feeling he'd ever felt for a girl . . . it was so confusing.

* * *

Akuma smirked as the next proctor appeared to give them their instructions, he was about to go stand in front of the instuctor with everyone else when a girl with long silver hair appeared in front of him. She smiled and swept her hand out towards his neck. 

He noted that she was from Kumogakure, his village. Bah, Okatsu was the best sensei in his village so he could kill this girl no problem, and she was attacking him so he had a valid excuse.

He moved his arms out to intercept her hand and snap her forearm.

His hands went _through _her arm.

Her hand went _through _his neck!

"I've just broken your neck. You're dead." The girl said softly. She then retracted her hand, and shoved it against his chest, "I've just crushed your heart, you're dead." She said, her voice growing harder, "Your lungs and you're dead, your spine and _you_ _are_ _dead_!" She shouted.

"Yuu!" A boy snapped, "Stop it!"

"What are you . . . oh no, don't!" A girl from the Hattori clan protested.

Yuu's eyes were hard as she glared at Akuma, Akuma glared back with equally hard eyes full of hatred.

He felt a cold sensation sweep over each part of his body that she named, his neck, his heart, his lungs, his spine, his kidneys. She was no illusion she was really going through him, he could _feel_ her inside him and yet she _wasn't _inside him, it defied everything Okatsu-sensei had taught him. It defied reason.

"Yuu, you're exposing yourself! This is like running through the street naked, everyone can see your Jutsu! Tell him Masaru!" The girl snapped.

"Running through the streets naked wouldn't be as bad, at least then everyone would know he's a boy." Masaru snickered, "But seriously Yuu, cut it out. Stop picking on the kid."

Yuu glared into Akuma's eyes. "Who are you to insult a dreamer when your own dream is no more, perhaps even _less _attainable than hers? How dare you threaten someone just because you _think _you have strength. I'm sorry, but I don't see strength in you. I see a boy whose neck I can snap, whose lungs I can rip, whose heart I can stop and all without breaking a sweat. But I do not, because I have no _right_ to claim your life. So who are you to assume that taking another's life is _your_ right simply because you believe yourself strong?"

Akuma smirked, "Me? Why . . . I'm the nightmare that haunts your dreams, fairy. I'm the monster hiding in the closet everyone's waiting for you to come out of. I'm the demon that ties you down while he slowly guts you like a fish and shows you the color of your insides. Actually I wonder what color a fairy's insides _are. _Do you bleed red, or is it pink or yellow, fairy?"

Yuu smiled, "A nightmare? A monster? A demon? Are you unable to decide, or do you mean to say that you are fear itself? Well I do not fear you." Yuu turned around and walked away. "If you want to see my blood, just try and spill it. I can assure you, you'll never succeed. And if I hear you threaten that girl again, you'll never say another word, not _ever _once I'm through with you."

The Hattori girl shook her head and complained, "What are you thinking? What did that accomplish? Anyone watching _knows _what you can do now!"

The boy, Masaru however smirked at Akuma, pulling his scarf away from his neck, "You'll probably never fully realize what Yuu's done to you. But allow me to put things in a clearer light . . ." The boy's scarf suddenly snapped into a long sharp blade, as if it were a katana, he held it to Akuma's neck and received an exasperated groan from their female companion, "He's given you a warning, he's also weakened your vital organs. For the next day or so a hit to your chest might just stop your heart, so don't go picking any unnecessary fights. Behave yourself . . . and don't you _ever_ call my best friend a fairy again, or I'll kill you. Not even _I _use that word on him, and I call him some pretty mean things when he's not listening."

Akuma folded his arms. "I see. So _you're _his boyfriend."

Masaru shrugged nonchalantly, "Keep the school yard insults coming, prove to us that you're too stupid to come up with something really good, and still just the spoiled little brat we always knew you were."

"Always knew? What do you know?" Akuma asked with a sneer, "You don't even know my name yet."

"You think a Kumogakure Genin wouldn't recognize you? We know your name . . . Shinno." Masaru said with a shrug. "Your father would be ashamed."

Akuma frowned for an instant.

Only an instant. That name had no significance to him anymore, and that man's approval or disapproval meant nothing to him now.

He was Akuma. Okatsu was no longer his cousin, she was his mother. She and the master had helped him to be _reborn_, they were the only family he needed now.

Akuma smiled. He'd kill that team from Kumogakure too.

He put his hands in his pockets, he'd have to make sure no one hit him in any of the places that boy had "struck" him.

With a handicap like that . . . he'd impress Okatsu-sensei even more when he slaughtered any team that crossed his path.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **The large cast is going to be shrinking now that the exams are fully underway. For those of you worried about your favorite original characters I don't know what to say other than keep your fingers crossed. Thank you for all the reviews and the support, the constructive criticism that I've tried to take to heart so I could improve as a writer.

Other than that I'm glad everyone's liking the story so far. Enjoy this new chapter, and the one after it!


	59. Hitomi's Warning

**Chapter 59**

Moegi clasped her hands behind her back. "Quiet down, quiet down. Your next test is a tricky one."

She kept her eyes on Nara Shikamaru's team, they were the really impressive ones so far. They'd more or less solved Udon's deadly puzzle, their score so far was the highest of all the teams and they were only rookies.

She smiled, "For your next test each of you will be given one of these, a scroll." She showed them the two different scrolls, "The Heaven and Earth scrolls. Your mission is to keep yours, and snatch the opposite scroll from another team _before_ you get out."

She laughed, "Get out of what, you might ask. Well that's the fun part. Your arena, your testing ground . . . is a massive labyrinth beneath this city. The goal is to get the scrolls you need, not just to get out. If you leave the labyrinth without both scrolls you're considered disqualified."

There was some murmuring, one girl asked "What if we find the exit before we find any other teams?"

"When you reach the exit one of our examiners will teleport you back to a random point in the maze if you truly have run into no other teams and have just one scroll and wish to find the other. Now as for how you get these scrolls; we expect you to use all your ninja skills, the walls and corridors of this maze are very wide so you should have plenty of room to fight, but not many places to hide in ambuscade, This is a straight up fight. We ninja frown on them, it's true. But as any fool whose fought this war can tell you we are facing more and more outright slugfests than ever before, being able to fight in the open is vital. As Chuunin those of you that pass will be expected to perform field combat duty, understand that."

"But as I said we want to see _all _your skills, extra points are awarded to teams who can obtain their scrolls _without _resorting to outright combat. Not that any of you will be able to do that, even though it's dim in that maze it isn't completely dark, and like I said there's no real hiding places. You'll all probably have to fight at some point or another."

Moegi smiled brightly, "On that note, we have these wavers, if you're injured or . . . you know, _killed_ during this next exam we're not responsible."

One of the proctors suddenly appeared next to Moegi, "Moegi-sama, I have to insist that you not hand those out."

"What do you mean, Hitomi?" Moegi demanded.

Hitomi bit her lower lip, "Moegi-senpai, several of these teams have already been throwing threats around, and I am . . . apprehensive about one of the candidates."

Moegi waved Hitomi's words away, "Well I'm the proctor here. These kids will fight no matter what, they _have _to if they want to pass and frankly when they fight someone's _going_ to get hurt, maybe even killed. Just as murders happen, accidents, honest accidents happen too. We need to have them sign these or we can be held responsibly by their families."

Hitomi frowned, "Change the test. Just getting out of the maze should display Chuunin qualities, especially with all the traps."

"Don't question me in front of the Genin, have you no respect, girl? If you want to continue being a part of this exam you'll behave yourself and recognize who holds the authority just now." Moegi warned. "If you're so worried why don't you and the other proctors each pick a team and watch them?"

Hitomi frowned, "If you'll permit me, then I will watch _a_ team. But there aren't enough of us to watch _every_ team-"

"Then be quiet and let me do my job before I relieve you of yours." Moegi said sharply.

She didn't mean to be mean, but this was her first time as a Chuunin Exam proctor, and she wanted to impress Konohamaru-kun. She didn't need four-eyes here worrying like this, it was going to ruin everything!

Hitomi's look was very cold, it just made Moegi feel defensive. Who was this Chuunin to boss her around? "You'd better not look at their faces then, senpai. If you do they'll haunt your dreams. All the children who die today because you knew better."

Moegi scowled, "Get out of my sight, Hijiri!"

Hitomi gave a sarcastically deep bow and disappeared.

Moegi smiled brightly and turned back to the hopeful Genin . . .

Her smile disappeared because she realized just then that she'd already had their faces burned into her mind. Each and every hopeful, worried, or ambitious face. This was supposed to be her moment of triumph and she'd remember ever moment of it. Now that brat Hitomi had ruined everything and turned it into a moment of doubt.

She didn't know the names of the Genin . . . but if anything happened to them . . .

She shook her head and said "Anyway you'll each need to sign one of these before we hand you your scroll, it's one scroll a team so by the end of the day these sixteen teams are going to be eight or less! You have exactly twelve hours to reach the end of the maze with your scroll or we fail you. In this time of war there's no room for lazy, slow moving Chuunin. Have fun you kids!"

_And be safe._ She added mentally.

The teams signed their papers, took their scrolls . . . Moegi didn't mention that there were only seven earth scrolls and nine heaven scrolls.

In truth only seven teams _could_ pass, and in truth only four teams were expected to.

She tapped her chin and called to one of the examiners handing out scrolls, "Futaba . . . tell Hitomi I want all the teams with Earth Scrolls watched. That should make her happy."

Futaba nodded. "As ordered, Moegi-senpai."

* * *

Shiroi smirked at a team from the grass village, "They've got earth." She whispered to her comrades, and she tilted her head towards a team of Konoha shinobi a year behind them, "They've got Heaven." 

"Keep an eye on them, whichever scroll we get will dictate which of them we go after." Saizo said.

"We'll be split up to start the maze in different areas." Kurai said, "Reaching our targets before someone else does will be difficult, even with Shiroi's eyes."

"Don't doubt me, I've picked my prey well. These are teams that will do well enough not to be killed off until we get to them." Shiroi smirked.

She'd use her eyes to see through the walls and hunt down their prey once she knew which of those teams would be their prey. They'd pass without difficulty.

* * *

Akuma yawned when he received his heaven scroll. It didn't matter to him what he got because he didn't plan on getting just one scroll of the opposite type. He didn't plan on even leaving the maze until he'd satisfied his blood lust. 

And killed that girl Yomiko.

And that boy, Yuu.

And those others who'd annoyed him.

He wouldn't leave until he was satisfied.

If they escaped he'd punish himself. Okatsu-sensei might not know that he'd failed his self-appointed task , but _he_ would know, and she did seem to have a funny way of knowing everything he knew.

He smiled, he knew that examiner with the goggles that had been whispering to the proctor had tried to stop the examination. She knew what he'd do.

He hoped she tried to stop him . . . so he could kill her too. The mere thought of having that beautiful, deadly thing under his power gave him energy. She would be the best out of the bunch, if he could fight her, someone who was already a Chuunin . . .

He smirked, he hoped he got to kill her soon, he couldn't wait. He couldn't stop thinking about her, imagining that sweet voice of hers begging for mercy she'd never receive, imagining all the humiliation she'd suffer for having died at a child's hands . . .

He could _hear _her screams in his head, if he closed his eyes he could see himself slitting both her wrists and making her drink her own blood until she drowned on it, he could see himself snapping her every bone until that magnificent body of hers was just a shattered mess.

He snickered to himself, he must be in love. Wasn't that what they said if you thought about a girl all the time? If you couldn't get her out of your head didn't it mean that you were in love with her?

He winked at her as he passed her, she was glaring at him from behind those goggles.

He couldn't wait to show her how much he _loved _her

* * *

"You seem all right." The young woman in white said, "It's just a standard practice you understand." 

"Yeah." Kotaro grumbled. "Why didn't you examine us for illness _before _the exam began?"

"Because the hopeless teams who couldn't even pass the first exam would only be a waste of time to inspect." The woman said. "Besides, you seemed . . . pale."

Nao nodded slowly. They had felt very poorly, but somehow this woman had just examined them and somehow he'd felt better instantly.

He didn't even recall her actually _doing_ anything, just listening to his breathing and looking down his throat.

But now, even though he felt healthy and fit again Nao's hands were shaking as he took the earth scroll. He glanced at Yomiko and Kotaro who both nodded.

It was so surreal. This was it, this was their time. They'd become Chuunin, he stowed the scroll away for safe keeping. He was honored that both Kotaro and Yomiko had agreed that he should be the one to hold it, he hadn't known what to say other than nod dumbly and mumble his thanks when Yomiko said that he'd be able to keep it safe without any trouble.

Maybe she'd meant it a as a subtle insult, he didn't care because it had _felt _like a compliment.

"Do you two feel any better?" Yomiko asked.

"I think so." Kotaro said, "I'm not sure _why_, but I do feel better."

"Then let's do this." Naomasa said to his team.

* * *

"Okay Hitomi, it's your turn." Matsuri shrugged, "Take them. Team Ten." 

Hitomi scowled. Not at Matsuri of course, but at the fact that that boy had gotten a Heaven Scroll.

As far as she was concerned he was the only one they needed to watch, she'd seen inside him, seen inside his mind, his heart when she looked into his eyes.

There was murder there, there mischief there.

There was a darkness so terrible there that she was horrified. She'd nearly fallen to her knees and vomited when he'd winked at her.

The young Chuunin took a few deep steadying breaths and turned to Matsuri, "Be careful, if that Sound Genin comes after your team . . ."

"I know, I sense it too." Matsuri said.

Yeah. She sensed it.

She couldn't _see _it.

Hitomi closed her thrice cursed eyes. She hated that they never missed a thing.

Never, even if she tried.

"Hitomi." Miyuki said softly, "Team Ten . . . the boys were poisoned. So was that Oedo boy from Akimichi's team. It's a weird poison, a sort of oil rubbed into their skin somehow. It's nullified by my jutsu but if your team starts to act up," Miyuki handed Hitomi something that looked like an explosive tag, "Set this off and I'll be there to help them out."

"Is it common for a team to have the special sponsorship of the head medic?" Matsuri asked.

"Given the sudden appearance of a Sound entry we're making a special exception for this illness at the order of Shizune-senpai because it looks like foul play." Miyuki explained.

"Shizune's here?" Hitomi asked.

"No, I sent a request to the Hokage, but she was unavailable, Shizune-senpai gave me authorization."

Hitomi nodded and stowed the tag her childhood friend had given her.

She hadn't missed the expression on Miyuki's face.

Shizune had nothing to do with this. Miyuki had used that name because Shizune favored her enough to lie for her.

Just like Miyuki had just lied to Hitomi so that Matsuri wouldn't understand what was really going on. The most truthful thing Miyuki had said was that the boys were poisoned by foul play.

Hitomi needed to be on her guard and keep this team safe.

Which meant she had to abandon her plan to abandon _them _and hunt down that boy.

Unless he came to her that is. And she knew he would.

* * *

The lights in this maze were so dim they might as well have not been there. It was so dim it was downright dark as far as Daisuke was concerned. Twenty minutes in the maze and he half wondered if he should expect to see a moonrise. 

He hadn't been feeling too hot, but now, ever since that medic had examined him he'd felt pretty good. Until he saw this drab, depressing maze.

He took a deep breath and said "Here we are, Heaven Scroll in hand . . . let's do this and get out of here quick."

Tomoko laughed softly, "The floor's wet. They must think we're a bunch of helpless babies."

"Well we are Genin." Kyusaku chuckled, "But why should the floor being wet make you think-"

Tomoko placed a hand on the ground, "Because the water is _flowing_, Kyusaku. You wouldn't feel it through the soles of your shoes but if you put a hand down, or if you listen to it it's obvious."

"So we just follow the flow out." Daisuke said in relief.

"That's right." Tomoko said.

"After we get the scroll." Kyusaku reasoned.

"We'll find the scroll on our way to the exit." Tomoko said.

"What if the water is just a diversion, or a trap?" Daisuke asked. "What if it leads to a dead end?"

"There won't be any _real _dead ends. This isn't a real maze, we _can't _get lost here. The only thing is how _long _it takes us to find the exit, how direct the path we take is, how many bends and turns we take, overall however there will be no dead ends."

"That doesn't make sense." Kyusaku said, "And how do you know that?"

"Because our dad _planned _this place out. Remember, Daisuke?" Tomoko asked.

Daisuke scratched his head. "No." He admitted. How the heck did she remember? He couldn't remember their father ever even mentioning anything like that.

Kyusaku laughed, "Hey you guys, I think we just found our first victims."

"Our what now?" Daisuke asked.

"Fire Style, Fire Summoing Jutsu!" Tomoko shouted, exhaling a gout of flame that lit up the blackened passage, Tomoko's flame familiar appeared and the battle was on.

Shuriken emerged from the water, Daisuke saw a trio of rain ninja emerge from water so shallow he hadn't even noticed it until Tomoko pointed it out.

"Let's hope they have a heaven scroll!" Daisuke said.

It was a trick, _their _team had a heaven scroll, but if this team had an earth scroll and Daisuke made it seem like his did too they might be a little less eager.

He noticed one of the rain shinobi pause, "You've got an earth scroll too?" He asked uneasily.

"No . . . but we will once we take yours!" Daisuke laughed, and he lunged forward, drawing forth his kunai and cutting the leather strap of the shinobi's equipment pouch.

The scroll rolled out, illuminated by Tomoko's familiar.

The earth scroll.

"Oh my gosh you guys, we just passed this exam." Daisuke laughed.

"You have to beat us first!" The shocked rain ninja cried.

"Too right." Kyusaku grinned. "Tomoko-chan, Daisuke, get behind me!"

"What? Why?" Tomoko demanded.

"Because these halls may be wide, but no one will be able to squeeze past once I go boulder!"

* * *

Shiroi chuckled and tossed their new Heaven Scroll into the air and caught it deftly. "We're too good. We've got to be the first team to get their scroll." 

"Well we started far too close to the enemy." Kusai said. "I don't think this maze is very large. Or else they weren't planning on having so many teams wandering around it. It's only been an hour and already we've encountered our opponents."

"Because we _knew _where they were." Shiroi pointed out.

"Yes, but navigating to them should have been more difficult." Kurai said.

"Shut up and enjoy our awesomeness like the rest of us." Saizo scoffed. "Now Wonder Girl, use those eyes to plot us a way out of here."

"Sure. Sasuke-sensei is all about speed right? So he should be able to appreciate it when we're the first team to get out of this maze." Shiroi laughed.

"Speed _is _good," Saizo said, rubbing his hands together, "but even speed isn't as useful as having a Hyuga in your team."

* * *

Akuma smiled at the trio of rain ninja sitting in a circle in his path. 

He cracked his knuckles, "Nice doppelgangers, what's the matter, can't make a flesh and blood clone?"

"Man he spotted it!" One of them complained, emerging from the shallow water.

"Well kid it's just unlucky for you. We just lost our Earth Scroll to some fat ass, so we're going to be taking whatever _you've _got so we can continue. You can go home and cry to your mommy though."

Akuma couldn't really see their faces in the dim light, but be could hear where they were.

He didn't care what their faces looked like anyway, they were nothing to him.

Nothing but animals waiting to be slaughtered.

"An earth scroll would have been just what the doctor ordered, but I don't care if you have a scroll or not. I don't care who you are or where you come from. All that matters is that you're in my way, and it's too late to flee. Make peace with whatever spirits you worship, because once I've counted to ten all three of you are going to die." Akuma said coldly.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note:** Here you go, as is my way I post a bonus chapter every 100 reviews. This one is early, but you've all earned it anyway. Besides even I get eager to tell it just a little faster sometimes.

I honestly expected to recieve **no** reviews when I first began this story, I was not even totally sure that I'd post it online, but I'm glad I did. I kid you not when I say that I never expected this story to be half, or even a quarter as popular as it is right now so thank you all. Not to sound too full of myself (Because I'm not, honestly I'm not) but the fact that you actually like my original characters, that some of them have actual fans has even given me the confidence to start working on some original work again instead of constant fanfiction, so there's _another_ reason I'm thanking you with a bonus chapter.

Even those of you who hated the story, and/or gave up on it, though you're obviously not here to read this, you've still been thanked for reading my work at all. Thanks all around.

Hope you enjoy the bonus!


	60. Exit Team Rain

**Chapter 60**

Tsunade frowned as Konohamaru showed her the photo of the boy who was causing such an uproar. "Orochimaru has nothing to do with this, he's gone now. This is just some Jounin trying to get attention for her son by giving him a Sound headband. The fact that his written permission comes from the Raikage signifies that he is in fact part of Kumogakure, as does the fact that _she _is a Kumogakure ninja."

"Y-yes, Hokage-sama." Konohamaru said, "But I'd like to have him watched."

"No need." Tsunade said, though she subtly glanced at Sakura.

Sakura nodded and slipped out of the room.

She couldn't _admit _it to Konohamaru, it might cause him to worry or do something rash like end the exams or pull the child.

She couldn't tell Konohamaru _why_.

But Tsunade _did _want the boy watched. She recognized his face as soon as she saw his picture.

It was more rugged somehow, he looked as if he'd been through hell in just the short while since his father's murder, and that probably was the case, but that was most definitely prince Shinno.

The odds were whoever assassinated his father and mother would have something to do with him now, or he had escaped them and was seeking protection with his cousin-for that was who the Jounin was. Tsunade didn't recognize her, but she'd spotted that little detail in the woman's dossier when she'd skimmed the profile for both her and her "son" that Konohamaru had handed her.

"You're dismissed Konohamaru, and good luck with the exams. I can't wait to watch the third test."

Konohamaru nodded, he seemed slightly but not fully reassured. "It'll be great Hokage-sama, I promise you that! I've got something special planned that'll make it different from any other before."

Tsunade smiled, "I do hope so."

* * *

Mayumi was taken aback when a pair of Shinobi seemed to materialize out of the darkness. One was a pretty girl with weird eyes, Mayumi couldn't see them in the dim light, but they almost looked completely black.

Her companion wore entirely too much clothing, he drew his scarf from his neck and it became hard, like a sword.

"Hold it right there." The girl said, "We have no quarrel with you unless you have the scroll we need. We've already lost one of our teammates in here and all for a scroll we didn't even need! So tell us, before we fight, what scroll you have."

Maeda reached into his pouch and materialized the Earth Scroll, "We've got the Earth Scroll." The chubby Genin said, "What you got?"

No sooner had the words "Earth Scroll" escaped Maeda's mouth then a rather beautiful young girl dropped down from the ceiling, snatched the scroll out of Maeda's usually ironclad grip, fell _through _the ground and disappeared.

Mayumi stared in speechless horror at what had just happened.

"Oh _there's _our lost comrade!" The female Genin said brightly, "Well I guess he's not lost anymore! Thanks for the scroll too, bye-bye!"

"Sorry about this, but you guys look tough, you can probably find another pair of scrolls. Good luck." The male said, wrapping his arm around his companion's waist they both disappeared into the shadows somehow.

Mayumi stared in stunned silence for a moment longer before declaring "I wish my brothers were a little less _stupid_!"

"I'm not stupid, he's stupid!" Masunari cried.

"Nuh-ah!" Maeda cried, "How was I supposed to know she-he-_it _would just fall out of the sky like that? I mean the roof, I mean look where the heck was it holding on? There's nothing to hang onto!"

"That's not important right now, what's important is that we find a new scroll." Mayumi sighed. "Idiots."

* * *

Yuu threw the scroll to Kasumi, "You didn't have to taunt them." He said.

"Don't be silly, of course I did." Kasumi smiled brightly, "Besides I wasn't trying to be mean or anything. You got the scroll right? I mean you made sure it was the real deal before you snatched it?"

"You're holding it, see for yourself." Masa suggested.

Kasumi rolled her eyes, "We're not supposed to open them, so how can I know?"

"Well then how was _I _supposed to know?" Yuu asked.

"I thought you could use your power to peek inside or something, you know." Kasumi shrugged.

Masa shook his head, "Well that doesn't matter, if it isnt a real one they'll let us know at the end of the course. Let's get a move on, before it's too late, all right?"

"Hey!" Kasumi said, "Let's be the first to get there! Come on, let's make sure we get there before anyone else! Yuu, can you phase us through the walls so we can just run all the way to the exit?"

"First of all, No, I haven't got enough chakra for that. Second of all I'd have to know where the exit is." Yuu said apologetically.

"Right." Kasumi nodded. "Okay. Old fashioned hard work then."

"Not too hard." Masa laughed, "After all we just got our scroll without even throwing a single punch!"

* * *

Kouji smirked and whispered into his headset "Team C of Kumogakure has just seized an Earth Scroll, they've done so without resorting to violence, they are proceeding to the exit now. Over."

"Right, follow them." Moegi responded.

Kouji waited for about ten seconds then said "You didn't say 'over' when you were finished, senpai. Over."

"Just follow them." Moegi commanded in a firm but quiet voice. But after a while she added ". . . over."

"Roger. Over and out." Kouji said and followed Team C, leaving that rain team to fend for themselves.

* * *

Akuma took a deep steadying breath.

He was covered in blood. Not his of course, thanks to that cursed fairy he hadn't wanted to allow himself to be struck at all. But the blood of the three Ame Genin covered him almost from head to foot.

Despite his tough talk this was the first time he'd taken a human life.

And three of them no less.

He'd felt something inside of him die when it happened, he chose to believe it was the weakling within him, the spoiled brat named Shinno. With this act of murder he had rid himself of Shinno and fully become Akuma.

He heard a soft groan and glared at one of the rain Genin.

So there was weakness in him yet, he'd left one of them alive.

He grabbed the older boy, who was armed with a metal clawed gauntlet. Akuma ripped the gauntlet from the older boy's hand and tried it on.

It didn't really fit, he removed it. He raised his short sword and allowed it to hover over the dying boy's neck.

"Why?" The boy asked. "We . . . we didn't even . . . have a scroll."

"I told you. You got in my way." Akuma said simply.

"Please . . . don't kill me." The boy whispered.

Akuma grinned wickedly, "You're already dead. So is Shinno."

"Who?" The teenager whimpered, tears in his eyes as Akuma plunged the sword into his neck and forever silenced him.

* * *

Mayumi sighed after another half hour of walking and searching.

She frowned when Maeda held up a hand and said "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Mayumi demanded.

Maeda held up a hand and the three of them proceeded quietly down the hallway.

"Did you hear it?" Mayumi whispered to Masunari, but Masunari just scowled.

He wasn't talking to anyone since the little argument.

Mayumi and her brothers came around a bend . . . and Maeda yelped as he tripped over . . . a body?

A dead body.

A dead _Ame _Genin's body!

Mayumi gasped, Maeda shrieked.

And it was the last thing her youngest brother ever did. A metal clawed gauntlet suddenly flew through the air and slammed into his throat. He fell forward . . . dead.

Mayumi stared in horror at her brother's lifeless form.

Surely he wasn't really dead.

She felt herself shaking, the rapidness and the finality of the act shook her. Just like that her baby brother was . . . he was . . .

She recognized the gauntlet, it belonged to that guy who'd told her to shut up back in the waiting room. This was his team . . . they were all dead . . . like Maeda.

No. No Maeda couldn't be dead, this had to be a bad dream. He couldn't have just died like that, it wasn't possible.

She glared in the direction the gauntlet had come from and saw a dark form approaching them slowly, a sword drawn.

"You bastard." Was all Mayumi could think to say.

Masunari was shaking, "M-Mayumi . . ." He whispered.

Mayumi tore an umbrella from her back, "You bastard." She said again. "You unforgivable bastard!"

"Yes, we've established that I'm a bastard." The boy said, coming close enough for Mayumi to see his cold, emotionless face and burn it into her memory.

She'd never forget the face of her brother's murderer as long as she lived.

"You'll pay for that. He didn't do anything to you, he didn't pose any kind of threat and we don't even have any scrolls!" Mayumi hissed.

"Don't get me wrong, I didn't do it for a scroll. To kill you is enough for me. If you'd had the one I needed it'd be a nice bonus of course. But I killed them," He kicked one of the dead Ame Genin, "They didn't have a scroll either. Are all the people from Rain Country so innocent that they can't imagine someone killing them for the pleasure of it? You poor lost lambs."

"Wh-who are y-y-you?" Masunari stammered.

"Your killer." The boy said, and he lashed out at Masunari.

Mayumi blocked with her umblrella, the blade cut it in half at the handle, but it opened up and fired a salvo of senbon at the murderer.

The boy with a unique headband leapt back but failed to avoid the senbon. They buried themselves in him and he disappeared . . . a Shadow Clone!

Masunari was shaking, Mayumi searched around for their foe.

The examiners hadn't been wrong, there weren't many places to hide, so where was this guy?

"M-Mayumi . . ." Masunari whimpered, kneeling down over Maeda.

"He's lost, keep your guard up." Mayumi snapped.

"M-Mayumi!" Masunari wept, "I . . . if we don't make it . . ."

"What? Don't be stupid we-"

"If we don't make it . . . I love you, sis."

"Don't get weird on me!" Mayumi shouted, feeling tears lining her eyes.

"And if you get out of here, and I don't . . . tell mom and dad I loved them too." He wept, "I don't wanna die Mayumi. We've got to get out of here. Isn't there some way to give up or-"

"Don't panic! And don't disgrace your brother by making his death meaningless, now for Maeda's sake we _have _to press on! We have to kill the bastard who killed him, and become Chuunin for his sake!"

"The last thing I ever said to Maeda was that he was an idiot! I never got a chance to say I was sorry. If this is the last time I get to talk to you I just want you to know-" Masunari was weeping over Maeda one moment, then he was suddenly quiet.

Mayumi's eyes widened and a tear rolled down her cheek as she saw from the corner of her eye the gauntlet that had killed Maeda suddenly dissipate in a puff of smoke and become the boy who'd stolen her brother's life.

His blade descended on the weeping Masunari before either he or Mayumi could act, and before Masunari even finished his speech he died.

The boy moved like the wind itself and came for Mayumi, she leapt back, tears of loss and anger rolling down her cheeks as she reached for every senbon she possessed with one hand and took her second umbrella with her other hand.

She glared at the boy and threw her umbrella into the air sideways so that it would rain down on them, had it gone up properly its shower of needles would have slammed into the walls above them.

The needles destroyed her enemy, but he was just another shadow clone. Mayumi was shaking and instinctively she spun around and threw a senbon into the darkness lest her enemy sneak up behind her.

He was there, and he twisted so fast that she thought he might have begun to dodge even before she began to throw.

His sword rose up towards her outstretched hand, towards her wrist . . .

She screamed and fell to her knees, in the poor lighting she couldn't see the floor, couldn't see where her now very much severed hand had fallen.

Recovering the useless limb now was her lowest priority anyway. She crawled on all fours at first then rose to her feet and ran, tears streaming down her cheeks as she prayed that she'd find someone who could help her and avenge her brothers.

She heard the splash of the boy's footsteps in the shallow water behind her.

She ran, and she ran. She came to a turn and tried to take it without slowing down.

She slipped, and she fell. She hit her head, but it didn't hurt.

Or maybe she was suffering too much of one pain to recognize another.

Mayumi wept and tried to crawl away but she felt someone stomp on her ankle, "I'm through playing. But you _were_ a lot of fun." The killer said.

"You didn't put up any real fight, but it was funny watching you run and cry." A second murderer said, emerging from the shadows and hovering over her.

"P-please . . . please I don't want to die." Mayumi whispered. "Please . . ."

"What you want doesn't matter." A third killer scoffed.

"All that matters is what I want. I want to kill you." A fourth said, now Mayumi was lying on her side, ankle pinned down, the stump of her wrist bleeding profusely as she stared up at four identical ninja, each raised his short sword.

"But . . . I never got to become a Chuunin like Chiwa . . ." Mayumi whispered, her well of tears dried up, it was as if she were simply too horrified to cry any more. "I never . . . I never got to _do _anything with my life."

"You want to live? You _really _want to live?" The four asked simultaneously.

"Yes." Mayumi whispered. "I will do anything . . ."

"Scream _really _loud." The boys said. "Hope that someone comes to save you."

The one pinning her ankle brought his sword down and Mayumi did scream.

She shrieked in terror as death descended upon her, but the blade and its wielder disappeared in a puff of smoke just a millimeter from her.

The second brought his blade down on her head and she continued to scream in fear, the seconds seemed like centuries to the girl who was too terrified to move even now that her leg was free.

The blade descended and disappeared before it could cut her, just as the last one had.

But she didn't feel secure, and she had lost control of her voice. She was screaming still and it echoed through the maze's hallways as the third sword descended upon her.

The blade dissipated and Mayumi was shaking so violently that she might have looked like a girl suffering hypothermia. She couldn't stop screaming though she could feel her vocal cords burning.

And as the fourth sword descended her voice suddenly gave out, her eyes rolled back into her head as she began to faint from exhaustion, loss of blood and sheer fright.

But she did not manage to faint before the final blade cut cleanly through her flesh. Did not manage to black out in time to avoid the pain involved with being viciously murdered.

* * *

Akuma nodded to his clone, who disappeared after the deed had been done. He spat on the dead girl's body. "Must not have screamed loud enough . . . what a shame." He whispered, and viciously kicked her.

He kicked her a few times more simply because he could.

And because she was female, and most of the people he so dearly wanted to kill were female. She reminded him of all of them, and the very thought of having each woman he hated under his power the way he'd had her under his power filled him with so much adrenalin he needed an outlet, and kicking and hacking at her body with his sword seemed a good one.

Besides, this had really been a waste of time, since these three didn't even have a scroll, so some of his kicks and some of that hacking was done out of frustration.

It must have been ten minutes before he was satisfied enough to move on.

And after that he'd have been surprised if even the girl's closest family and friends recognized the bloody mass that was her corpse.

* * *

The Raikage watched the Jounin closely, "You understand your mission?"

"Yes . . . Raikage-sama." The Jounin said with the slightest hesitation.

The Raikage glared, "Should I offer this mission to Minoru Hikaru?" He barked. No need for hesitation, if this Jounin couldn't do it perhaps his rival could.

The Jounin shook his head, "N-no Raikage-sama . . . it's just . . . to murder a child . . . I . . ."

"He is a danger to the stability of this country as long as he draws breath. It is your duty as a Jounin of the Village Hidden in Clouds to eliminate all threats to this country."

"A _child_ . . . and a son of our lord . . . even if he were a miscreant on the streets this is-"

"You thought yourself _above _such missions?" The Raikage mocked the young Jounin. "Perhaps I should tell your _beloved_ just how far from the truth that is. Perhaps I should tell her just what it is that you _do _for me, why I allowed her to live in _my_ village when killing her would be so much easier, hmm?"

"No!" The Jounin assured the older ninja just a bit too sharply. "I'll do it just . . . leave her out of this." He said as if _he _held the authority. "I will carry out my duty, you have my word. Before these Chuunin Exams are finished . . . the lost prince Shinno will be dead."

"And your secret will be safe. Because if you fail," The Raikage said, materializing a scroll in his hand, "This detailed work of fact _and _fiction will fall into your darling's hands, and she will know everything you've done, and quite a few things I made up for my own amusement. All of it sounds credible however. Do not fail me, boy."

The young Jounin glared up, eyes dark, his face shrouded by shadow, "I will _never_ fail to serve the Land of Lightning." He said coldly.

The Raikage smirked.

This one was getting too willful and too hesitant.

It was because the gap between them was closing, the Jounin was growing ever stronger while the Raikage grew older and weaker. Soon he would not be able to push the young man around.

He'd need a new thug.

And he'd need to dispose of this one. He waited for the Jounin to take his leave then said to his attendant "Bring me Minoru Hikaru. Alone if his lady friends can spare him."

The attendant bowed and disappeared.

Ah Minoru Hikaru. If this Jounin couldn't kill Shinno, _that_ was a Jounin who would.

And either way he would have Hikaru kill his servant.

If Hikaru was killed the Raikage would say it was a gift, that he'd known all along that his _slave's _hated enemy was no match for him, that he had simply delivered his enemy into his hands.The Raikage smiled to himself, good to cover every base.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note:** Let me start by again thanking all my kind reviewers, and readers and say that not a single one of them is considered annoying. I hope to set aside time to reply to each signed review on Friday when I post chapter 61.

Now this is going to be short as I can make it, but on the subject of killing characters based on my family . . . this is not a declaration of intention or desire, I certainly don't want to see my younger brothers and sister killed or even really hurt. All I can really say is that these characters are not them, these are fictional characters **very** loosely based off of them (with their permission of course) and their deaths serve a purpose other than illustrating how far Shinno has "fallen" so to speak.


	61. Love or Psychosis?

**Chapter 61**

Temari stared up at the sky besides her soon-to-be husband.

Their daughter was safe and resting with her soon-to-be aunt (assuming Syako and Kankuro got married someday) whilst her parents enjoyed a view of the sky.

It seemed somewhat neglectful, Temari had wanted to share this moment with Sumiko . . . sort of make it a Nara family tradition or something, but the girl had been so peacefully asleep and Syako did so love to watch her Temari had thought that just today it'd be okay.

She could let Sumiko sky gaze with them tomorrow . . . besides it was a bit chilly tonight anyway.

But thinking of Sumiko did concern her . . . she frowned at Shikamaru, "Do you think I've made too many mistakes raising our daughter? I mean she's more than a year old now . . . and she still won't speak. She won't even try."

"Everyone develops at different rates and it _is_ a bit early to expect her to really speak. But I doubt, given how loudly she can cry, that she's mute." Shikamaru said with a slight grin.

"Maybe I've spoiled her. She cries a lot." Temari sighed.

"She's little. Little kids cry." Shikamaru said. "Anyway maybe she gets it from me."

"Yeah . . . crybaby." Temari smiled.

Shikamaru sighed, "Temari . . . our daughter isn't stupid if that's what you're thinking. She's actually pretty clever . . . yesterday when I was watching her she wouldn't stop crying so I told her if she wouldn't stop and smile for me I'd hand her over to Syako since _she_ obviously knows what she's doing, and Sumiko slowed down to a stop and then gave me a really pathetic smile. Then I called her a crybaby once and she just glared at me, this evil glare, not the kind of thing you expect from a baby."

"You said what to her?" Temari demanded.

"You know, in a playful way, because she wouldn't stop crying. Well she stopped and just gave me this dead glare."

"Why do you keep picking on our daughter?" Temari demanded.

"She's short." He said simply.

Temari stared at him for a moment, when he didn't elaborate she said "Excuse me?"

"She's short. I mean is she even a foot tall? I can't tell because she never stands. But she's short. It's easy to pick on short people." Shikamaru said.

"I'm shorter than you!" Temari snapped.

"Not by much. Besides you can slam my head into the ground with minimal effort, so I don't pick on you." Shikamaru smiled at her.

Temari frowned, "Be nice to her Shikamaru . . . if anything happens to me she'll be all you have left of me."

Shikamaru held Temari close and whispered "Don't talk like that. No one's ever going to hurt you, you've got the promise of Konoha's Genius. All I want in life Temari is to marry you and have a family, do you really think I'd let anyone stand in the way of that?"

Temari hugged him and sighed, "I love you." She said.

"Yeah I know." He nodded.

She pinched his side, "That's not what you're supposed to say." She growled.

"Oh, now you're policing what I say? Troublesome woman." Shikamaru scoffed.

"Konoha's Crybaby." Temari scoffed back.

They glared at each other until they broke and grinned, they kissed lightly and Shikamaru whispered almost inaudibly, "I love you, Temari."

And that was all she needed to hear to make the evening complete, and perfect.

* * *

Syako smiled, she didn't know where Shikamaru and Temari's hangout was, but she was grateful for it. It gave her this precious moment with _her _baby. 

She heard the door open and shuddered to think that the dotting parents had returned and that her time might be up. She gripped Sumiko just a little bit tighter, even though she'd have to let her go, she couldn't take her yet.

She turned around with a forced smile on her face that disappeared as soon as she saw who stood there.

"You!" She hissed, "What are you doing here?"

"I've heard that Nara Shikamaru . . . and Temari of the Desert . . . lived in this residence. I know they're not here now. But I'd heard they had conceived a child. I've come to kill it." Juukei Toshiie said calmly, sword drawn.

* * *

Hitomi bit her lip as she watched team ten struggle its way through the maze. 

They'd been going around in circles for the last hour. The maze was designed so that no matter what turns you took you could eventually reach at least one of the two exits. This was done because actually finding genin in a maze with no surveillance cameras would be far too difficult if they truly had to find their way out.

But there were traps, and there were trick passages that could lead you right back to the beginning. In truth the maze itself was not the challenge, though with a bit of good genjutsu on Kurenai-senpai's part it could have been.

Allowing the teams an excuse to fight and perhaps kill was insane under the current circumstances.

Hitomi was shaking, hoping that her team would come across Akuma.

She'd then disqualify him. She'd find some excuse, she'd disqualify him and drag him out of the competition. Kicking and screaming if necessary.

She frowned, had she gotten the only Genin team without any sense of direction?

She scowled and suddenly felt something grab her left arm.

Had she been so distracted that she'd fallen into one of the traps?

It didn't really seem possible. She never missed _anything_.

"Hello you beautiful doomed animal." The boy whispered to her, and twisted her arm behind her back.

She struck backwards with her right arm but he stopped it with another pair of hands.

She scowled as a third shadow clone seemed to simply stroll leisurely past her, spin and turn to face her.

He held a blade and showed it off to her. She remained still waiting to see what he meant to do.

"I've thought about you every moment that I can spare. I've seen you in my dreams like this . . . but bloodier. Your voice haunts me you know, I hear it whenever I try to calm my mind, and I see you whenever I close my eyes."

"I will count to five, if you don't let me go I will be forced to free myself, and kill these shadow clones." Hitomi warned. Yes she could tell that these beings were shadow clones. At least the one in front of her was. "Five." She said very slowly and calmly.

"I think I'm in love with you, you know." He shrugged. "So I think no one needs to suffer quite as badly as you for creating this weakness in me."

Hitomi smirked, "I'm a bit old for you, don't you think? Anyway hearing voices and dreaming of committing murder? Thinking you stand any chance against me? That's not what we normal people call "love." It's called "psychosis" little boy, and by the way, four."

"It's true, I'm young. So I have no interest in forcing myself on you in a sexual manner or anything like that. Just making you suffer, and killing you. Because I love you, I will let you look into my eyes as your life goes away, as I murder you . . . lets see what you're hiding behind these black lenses . . ." He said, reaching up for her goggles.

She couldn't let that happen, a traumatic childhood and the words 'freak' and 'weirdo' screamed through her mind over and over as she thought of another human being seeing her eyes. "Three-two-one!" Hitomi said so rapidly that not even she understood it, she threw her head back and slammed it into the boy's forehead, or rather the forehead of his first shadow clone.

The clone disappeared and so did his grip on her left arm.

Before the smoke cleared she was already whipping her right arm towards the second clone that held her, to a casual observer the arm would have simply teleported from behind her back to inside his chest with no explaining the gaping bloody hole that it left in its wake.

And that hole worried Hitomi for a split second, she feared she'd miscalculated and actually killed the boy.

But he disappeared as well. A shadow clone.

Her sharp eyes forced her gaze up where a fourth Akuma was sailing through the air towards her, sword drawn.

Her speed greatly exceeded his however, and she easily grabbed his third remaining shadow clone and threw him into the original.

The original did not hesitate to cut through his comrade, or so Hitomi thought at first.

But the sword stopped at the last minute and the clone seized his master and threw him towards Hitomi, accelerating his speed.

Normally she could have moved out of the way in time, she was fast enough.

But she hadn't expected it, hadn't fully realized what he was doing until it was too late to react.

He held his sword out as if his own body were an arrow. She waited an extra second, calculating her chances, then moved so that he could stab her in the shoulder but not in the heart.

She moved so that the blade passed through pure meat, not rupturing any organs, or shattering any bones. It'd been a gamble because she lacked Miyuki's in-depth and frankly creepy knowledge of the human body, she could very well have allowed the boy to disable her arm without realizing what she was doing.

But it beat the alternative, which would have been to stand there like a fool and die as any normal person would have.

She wasn't normal, she was a Konoha Chuunin, and she'd show this boy that that counted for something.

_But I can't use my full skill against him, it'd kill him._ She thought to herself, quickly trying to calculate the best way to subdue this boy.

His shadow clone began to hurtle shuriken and he tossed his short sword to it.

His hands began the rapid movements of hand signs and he cast his jutsu on Hitomi right away.

The Chuunin staggered as the Genjutsu washed over her.

She fell to her knees as a thousand blades erupted from the ground, the walls and the ceiling, impaling her, ripping her to shreds, cutting her to pieces.

It was all she could do to keep up the act and keep from scoffing.

_Pathetic little scum_. She thought. _The genjutsu you used on me before didn't work, this one is just a waste of your chakra and my time._

But she forced herself to go rigid, and she collapsed.

The boy laughed and stood over her.

She swept his legs out from under him, and slammed an open palm onto his chest just over his heart.

"Down you go!" She shouted, and he fell flat.

"Uck . . ." He groaned and staggered to his feet. "My jutsu . . ."

Hitomi smirked, "Is trash against me. Genjutsu have never had much use against me. I get that from my mother's side of the family I guess." She put her hands on her hips, "All right, get up. I didn't hit you that hard."

"M-my heart!" He gasped.

Hitomi's eyes narrowed, this boy . . . he was up to something. "Get up or I'll drag you to your feet."

He coughed and grumbled, "Damn fairy! I'll . . . kill him . . . for this . . ."

Hitomi scowled and grabbed the boy, she pulled him up by the collar and held him out at arm's length so that any attack he might make could be avoided.

She had the speed to simply drop him and jump back in the time it would take him to move his arms or legs in attack.

And she hadn't forgotten hi shadow clone, she kept one eye on it, it seemed to be confused, as if this were a part of the plan it didn't know about.

Which Hitomi just didn't trust.

But when the boy coughed up blood she was surprised, and concerned.

She hadn't _thought _she'd hit him that hard . . . had she?

The agonized look on his face stunned her so much that she almost didn't feel the fifth shadow clone slam the true and real sword into her back.

She screamed in pain and fell forward, ripping the blade from her back and falling onto her stomach.

The clone who'd looked surprised rushed over to his creator, the other however leapt onto her and began to beat her mercilessly.

"As long as there's life in him there's life in me, and I'll make sure he doesn't die alone!" The clone hissed.

Hitomi scowled and kicked up, striking the clone that was beating her hard in the back of his head and he 'died' the way that clones do, "So much for there being life in you, you useless puppet!" She snapped, and staggered to her feet.

Blood poured down her back, the boy, Akuma gripped his clone's arm and came to his feet, "I'm going to have . . . to make sure you don't lay a hand on me again. The only one . . . laying hands on anyone . . . is going to be me."

"If you say so. I won't lay a finger on you, I'll kick you to death." Hitomi warned. "Just give up."

Akuma laughed, "First tell me . . . how have you seen through not one, but two Jounin level jutsus when you're just a Chuunin?"

"How did you _use _two Jounin level jutsus when you're just a Genin?" Hitomi retorted.

"Touché." He smirked. "I'll . . . share if you will, my love."

"Don't ever call me that." Hitomi hissed. "And if I tell you my secret I have to kill you, and I didn't plan on taking your life today."

"Really? That's a shame. Because I plan on taking yours. Your only survival is to slay me. Okatsu-sensei and my true master knew I would be fighting Genin near the Chuunin level and some Genin at the Chuunin level. I had to be made stronger than a Chuunin. And so the result of having the very best sensei, the very best training all magnified a thousand times over by the best alchemical potions is that I am above the level of your average Chuunin."

Alchemical potions? The kid had been using drugs to improve over a short amount of time?

My that sounded familiar. Like the legend of the Konoha Twelve.

Uchiha may or may not have been using drugs while training under the vile Orochimaru in order to increase the results of his training. Could the Sound Village be continuing in its founder's footsteps?

Hitomi scoffed, "So you drink some magic potion and it makes you stronger huh? Well kid it's unlucky for you but I just happen to be above any other Chuunin. I could be a Jounin if I wanted to be, I _choose _not to be. I _choose_ to live my life quietly and follow in my father's footsteps rather than put myself out there to become a celebrity, an therefore a target. I'm the worst possible foe for you to fight boy, because not only am I Jounin level in every way, the fact that I am is a closely guarded secret. And since I've told you, you have to die."

It was a bluff. She didn't want to kill him, an unprovoked attack on an examiner would be enough to have him expelled from the exam, he could be taken by the Anbu for questioning and no one had to die.

As for her level of skill, well that too had been a bluff . . . slightly. She really did believe she _could _be a Jounin, and she really did choose not to. Anyway it would be her word against his. The boy she'd dragged in could _claim_ that she had fought at Jounin level, but would only sound deluded, as if he believed only a Jounin could have stopped him.

Hitomi would be sure to see that no one believed his story.

"Let me see your eyes, and I'll come quietly." The boy said with a smirk.

Hitomi smirked back, "You think I have a problem with bringing you in the hard way? I don't. She cracked her knuckles, "I _really _don't. As for my eyes, well they're not important."

"You're a Hyuuga, aren't you?" The boy accused. "You see my speed and react as if I were moving like a snail."

"I'm no Hyuuga," Hitomi scoffed, "I'm just fast."

"You body may be fast, but your eyes seem to be even faster. So then an Uchiha. You have the Sharingan somehow . . . somehow you must be an Uchiha, you cannot have _normal_ eyes!" The boy screamed, sounding uncertain now, "Yes you saw through my genjutsu, you must have the Sharingan!"

Hitomi laughed cruelly, with a calculated coldness, meant only to worry her opponent more she said "You aught to know all about cruelty boy. No, I'm not a Hyuuga, or an Uchiha. I'm a Hijiri. My eyes? I'll never show them to you. Know why? Because you _want _to see them. You wantto _justify_ your weakness by saying that I have a bloodline inheritance. As if the fact that I am Chuunin and you are Genin isn't enough you need me to be superhuman to explain away your failure. You're too weak to _admit_ that you're weak. It would be _cruel _to show you that you're wrong. It would be cruel to show you my eyes."

And anyway if she did show them to him . . . she really would have to kill him.

No one looked at her eyes, no one saw them and lived.

The only person who knew the truth about her eyes had been her father. He was dead, though not by her hand or her design, she most certainly hadn't _wanted _anything to happen to her father. Miyuki and Hara were curious, and Naruto-sensei probably did suspect the truth, but none of them ever talked about it. Nonetheless no one who had seen and knew the truth of her eyes for a fact was alive today to tell about them, she wouldn't let this boy the first.

_Freak._

_Weirdo!_

_Look at those weird, ugly eyes!_

She smirked, "You tell yourself I have the Sharingan if it makes you feel good. Make excuses for yourself, you pathetic piece of trash, and get ready because I'm taking you in. You fail this examination."

She put her hands on her hips and glared down at him.

Then suddenly his eyes snapped open and he sprang at her. "No fool, you fail! You fail to survive against the demon!" Akuma roared.

She'd been expecting it of course, she'd guessed he'd try something like this.

But she could never have predicted the next distraction.

When a flaming falcon slammed into Akuma and sent him sprawling, illuminating the dark hallways

When a young voice shouted "Stay away from the examiner or I'll break every bone in your body!"

* * *

Nao heard a commotion echoing down the hallway. 

Their trap had worked, they'd pretended to be lost so that another team would attempt to prey on them.

And now the hunter would become the hunted, just like Kotaro had planned.

He nodded to Yomiko and Kotaro and the three spun around and headed for the noise.

What he found was a young woman, the most beautiful he'd ever seen, standing over the slime that had threatened Tomoko . . . who was incidentally _also_ the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, man girls were confusing!

But this wasn't the time to think of that. The woman before him was bleeding, but she seemed not to be too bothered by the wound, she glared down at the boy who seemed unconscious, "You fail this examination." She said.

But he sprang for her, blade ready and murderous glee in his eyes, "No fool, you fail! You fail to survive against the demon!"

Nao didn't hesitate, or even call out the Jutsu, he just rapidly performed the hand seals and blew forth a gout of flame, his phoenix took form and attacked.

"Stay away from the examiner or I'll break every bone in your body!" Nao warned, his heart pounding so hard that he could hear it.

The boy grinned at him and said "Oh-ho . . . more lambs to the slaughter." He reached into his equipment pouch and pulled out a handful of strange little red marbles, "I'm going to enjoy playing with you."

**To Be Continued . . . **

**Note: **I had planned on a new upgraded Ninja Index at the end of Arc 4 so that I'd have fewer ninjas to index I could go a bit more in-depth with the remaining characters without it being too long. The cast is still rather swollen at the end of arc 3. As of yet I have introduced no new characters (nor technically do I plan to introduce any at all, other than maybe a child or two born during the upcoming skip) though so the old index should still work. If a character has left you confused it's bad storytelling on my part or I'm trying to be mysterious but they're all in the index . . . none-the-less I will see what I can do about an update after Arc 3.

Temari's team is being left out of the spotlight for a specific reason which you'll see soon enough. Needless to say since Akuma is too busy fighting team 10 they haven't run afoul of him just yet.

On the subject of character deaths, well I won't lie, characters are going to die. Some of these deaths will be sad. Surviving arc 4 doesn't mean the characters are in the clear either, it just means they get to go on living over the time skip.

The review count doesn't bother me, in fact though I acknowledge that there are many stories with higher review counts with fewer chapters, as one of my Beta readers constantly reminds me, I'm not jealous. I'm actually really pleased with what I've got. For a story that I thought would net maybe four or five dedicated readers and one or two reviews per chapter it's completely blown away my expectations, and it gets more and more popular by the week.


	62. Akuma's Surprise

**Chapter 62**

Yomiko glared at the boy across from her.

Akuma, the son of the cow that called Sumiko a . . . well Yomiko didn't even want to think of what that cow had called Sumiko.

She drew a kunai and held it out towards him, "Look here, it's the one man squad and big surprise, he is all alone. Where's your mommy now, you twerp? Still think you can kill me?"

"I know it. I'm going to count to five, then I'll prove it. One . . ."

The Chuunin Examiner shook her haed and shouted "Kids I am Hijiri Hitomi, one of Uzumaki Naruto's students, I am perfectly capable of handling this by myself."

"Don't call us kids," Kotaro said, "You're not much older than us."

"That's not the point-" Hitomi was saying.

"Two." Akuma said.

Nao rolled up his sleeves, "We're going to be taking your scroll by the way," He held up their earth scroll, "Whether you've got one of these or one of the others we're taking it and knocking you right out of this competition."

"Three." Akuma said.

"He's already disqualified for launching an unprovoked attack on me, back off!" Hitomi insisted.

"If it's over tell him." Kotaro said.

"He doesn't seem ready to surrender." Yomiko agreed.

"Four . . ." Akuma grinned.

Yomiko couldn't see Hitomi's eyes, but by the teen's voice she'd guess they were hard when she snapped "You don't understand, he _can_ kill you, he's not a normal Genin, he's above the Genin level, he's above the _Chuunin _level, only I stand any chance against him now run!"

"You're just a Chuunin too." Nao said, and his fiery familiar circled over Akuma's head, "We'll help you out,."

Akuma grinned sinisterly, "Five!" He shouted, and suddenly Yomiko noticed a great number of shuriken on the ground suddenly come to life and hurtle themselves at everyone.

Nao, Kotaro, Hitomi, and Yomiko, the shuriken were coming from point blank range, no room to dodge or deflect.

They'd all be pincushions.

* * *

Syako glared at Toshiie, "Stay away."

"I am not going to hurt _you_, you're my ally." Toshiie said calmly, then he grinned, "Then again . . . I suppose I should rough you up so it looks like you put up a fight. Which of your arms would you be most willing to part with?"

Syako twisted so that she blocked the Shinobi's view of Sumiko with her body, she kept her eyes on the Shinobi. "Stay away. Nothing happens to this baby, she is my reward for my fine service!"

"I can see her eyes, her face. She is both of the people I hate, she will die." Toshiie said with a smirk.

Syako's heart was pounding, she felt rage building up inside her, a tear brimmed her eye, "I won't let you!"

"If you want a child . . . there are orphans on the street you can adopt. After I've killed this child you and I can go shopping for one and if it isn't an orphan I'll fix that for you." Toshiie grinned, "I feel a little homicidal today, it'd be my pleasure."

Syako shook her head, "You can't have her! I'll kill you, you filthy Shinobi slime! Get away! This is _my _baby!"

Toshiie melted into the ground and emerged on the other side of Syako, she twisted again shielding the baby, Toshiie cut her arm with a kunai rather than his sword and she screamed. But she did not let go of Sumiko.

"You'll never take this baby! Never!"

"I don't want to take it . . . just kill it. And you if you continue to get in my way. _Nothing _will get in the way of my vengeance, woman!"

"Nothing?" Kankuro scoffed.

Syako's eyes widened, "K-Kan-kun!" She stammered.

She was both relieved and horrified . . .

She was certain that Kankuro could save her, protect her. He may be a filthy ninja slime but he was a powerful one, and less of a filthy slime than the rest, or so she felt. She liked him okay, and if he weren't a Shinobi she might even have considered really falling in love with him.

But was she really saved? How much had Kankuro heard her say?

Toshiie grinned, "Fine, I'll kill you all."

"Just run Syako, I'll take this guy down, I don't want you getting in the way and getting hurt." Kankuro told her.

She nodded, supposing that he couldn't have heard much if he wanted her to escape.

That's when a second Toshiie filled the doorway, "I'm sorry," He said with a laugh, "Did you think I came alone?" He laughed again, "I mean technically I have . . . but you know how it is." He thrust forward with his sword and Syako could only scream in terror.

* * *

Nao held his hands up to block his face and laughed weakly at what a futile and frankly ridiculous move that had been.

The shuriken would kill him, who cared about his face?

But to his surprise no death came, he quickly looked at the battle to see the Chuunin examiner holding every single kunai and shuriken.

"That speed is amazing . . ." Kotaro said, and he sounded as if he were caught in-between being impressed and being outrageously jealous.

"That's a nice trick." Akuma admitted, looking annoyed and holding his chest, "You're going to be worth every second, I can tell." He raised his hands, both still full of red marbles and smirked, "But it's time to end it, time for you all to die. Pray to whatever spirits you pray to, you'll meet them soon."

"You kids back off." The examiner told them again, "I may have to resort to lethal force."

"Lethal force?" Yomiko squeaked, "But-"

"Do please." Akuma said, "All that I want is to kill you . . . or be killed by you. But I won't let you win, you'll have to work for it, be worthy of it."

"You kill me? Never going to happen." The examiner said, sweeping her beautiful raven hair out of her eyes . . . or her lenses, Nao supposed. "You just don't get it. They don't pick any old Chuunin to be an examiner and even if you can fight at a Chuunin level you're facing a more experienced opponent, and one of the cream of Konoha's Chuunin crop. Worse you're outnumbered since this team clearly refuses to follow my instructions. Even if they were just average Genin they'd be worth about a Chuunin all together so at best for you and worst for us you're still outnumbered two to one.

"Is that a fact?" Akuma grinned, "Then I have a confession."

"Really?" Yomiko sneered, "Is it that you're a jerk?"

The boy grinned and raised his hands, "I never mastered the Shadow Clone Jutsu." He said, and threw the marbles to the ground.

They exploded into a veritable army of shadow clones.

Nao gulped and decided not to try to count them . . . it'd be too depressing.

"Forty five to four . . . how do you like those odds?" A chorus of Akuma clones asked, filling the corridors and surrounding the small group.

"You think you're slick huh?" Nao said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Six clones emerged, the best he could do.

"Fine. Forty five to ten." Akuma's chorus sneered and began to laugh. "I hope you realize that you've split your chakra and your strength into fractions and though my clones may not have as much chakra as I do I'm at least not dissected."

Nao scoffed, "Come on then, let's do this."

"Oh yes. Let's do this." One of the Akumas said, "I want to see that beautiful blood, show me how strong I've become, then fall down just like my toy soldiers."

* * *

Hitomi took a deep breath.

She could control this situation . . . just kill the clones and incapacitate the boy.

She glanced at the Genin with her. Either they were very brave or they were very stupid.

She'd have to hope that it was the former, "Kids," she said, but the one with gravity defying gray hair interrupted her.

"Not kids, we're pre-teens, you're just a teen." He said, and though Hitomi couldn't see his mouth she could tell he was grinning.

She liked his calm attitude, he was confident and it told her she didn't need to calm him or his team down. They didn't seem too worried by the overwhelming numbers they were facing, it made her feel good to know that there were Genin like this serving Konoha.

However she needed fear, not confidence for her plan to work, "I don't care!" She snapped, "Pre-teens, unless you want to die listen to me very carefully."

"Uh-huh." The girl said.

"I'm going to break a hole through and you'll run away."

"No way!" They all said together.

"Just do it!" Hitomi hissed, "I'm going to use my ultimate one hit kill jutsu, and if you're in the blast radius you'll die too!" She lied. The Genin did not look convinced, and she had to admit it had been a pretty lame story. But she'd had to try something to get rid of them, they just wouldn't leave!

She grabbed one of the shadow clones the other boy had made, "You, transform into a shuriken so I can open a path!"

"Y-yes!" The clone said nervously.

She nodded to the kids and said "Remember, run down the opened path.

They nodded.

She smirked and licked her lips. It'd be useless to wink at them because they wouldn't see it through her lenses. In fact she'd become quite used to not using her eyes to convey things but these kids didn't know her, wouldn't know that when she licked her lips it was her version of a wink.

She took a deep breath and moved with all the speed she possessed. She hoped the boy's eyes weren't as sharp as hers.

Of course he did have forty five pairs of them watching her . . .

She grabbed the clone as it began to transform and she viciously stabbed it in the back, it exploded in a puff of smoke that would-she hoped-be mistaken for a transformation cloud.

And she sprang her trap.

* * *

Kotaro didn't take his eyes off the Chuunin but he still had no idea what she'd done.

She stood holding a large cross shuriken which she hurtled at one of the enemies before the smoke even cleared.

The swarm of enemy Genin was caught off guard, so rapid was this woman's movement and Kotaro was driven mad with jealousy. If he had that kind of speed he could use Chidori. Even if his eyes couldn't see his enemy's counter attack he'd be too fast for his foe to launch one.

He neededthat speed. He _needed _it!

The shuriken cut through the genin, making five of them poof away the final one, the real target however ducked.

But the shuriken went "poof" too.

It became a second Hitomi, the first laughed and disappeared.

The new Hitomi swept her arms out and destroyed another two clones before the one who'd ducked could even finish hitting the ground.

Despite the incredible speed with which the Chuunin moved, speed that Kotaro's eyes could barely clock he noted that Akuma seemed suddenly aware that she was behind him, likely thanks to his mob of onlookers and the fact that the memories of his two newest losses would be with him telling him very firmly that the Chuunin was behind him.

But he was too slow to react to her in time, as he started to turn his head to see her she had already gripped his wrists.

She stomped on his back and pulled his wrists back, she forced his face to the ground and twisted his arms, "Call off the mob . . . or I'll kill you."

"H-how can you be human?" The boy screamed in outrage.

"Oh first I have to be a Hyuuga to be able to beat you, now I'm not allowed to be human?" The woman taunted, "Did it ever occur to you that you're just not as hot as you think you are? Did it ever come into your head that maybe you're just a normal boy with some-I grant you-_some _talent?"

"I was good enough to kill two Genin teams without being touched!" The boy screamed and Kotaro saw tears lining his eyes as he struggled with the woman who held him in a no doubt painful position.

Frankly Kotaro thought it looked kind of kinky. He wouldn't be surprised if she suddenly commanded him to call her "mistress Hitomi" or something like that.

He wasn't sure why that thought came to mind, this was obviously very serious, the boy was in pain and his small army of clones just stood there stunned and confused.

Nao reacted first, or at least one of his shaodow clones did, springing into the swarm of shocked enemies and beginning to deal death to any that came within reach of his kunai, Yomiko and the other clones acted next, the real Nao however continued to watch Hitomi.

So did Kotaro.

She pulled on Akuma's arms, "You want these broken?" She demanded, "Did you really _kill _two other teams?"

"Yes!" He hissed, sounding triumphant, "I murdered them, I ripped them to shreds, you like that?"

Hitomi shoved down on her foot and Akuma's face slammed into the ground, his nose began to bleed, "You murdered them. And then you came after me when you could have just left the maze and passed?"

"Oh I couldn't pass, I didn't have the scroll I needed." Akuma laughed."

"You killed two teams with the same scroll as you?" Nao demanded angrily, "You just . . . just _killed _them?"

"I _murdered _them, they didn't have _any _scrolls." Akuma laughed, he sounded so proud.

Kotaro felt something seize up in him.

Kyoko . . .

She was creepy sometimes, and he wasn't totally comfortable with the idea that a girl a year older than him had a crush on him . . .

But if she were dead he'd feel . . . really sad. He felt his hand shaking, "Who was it? Who'd you kill?" He demanded.

Akuma's eyes met with his, their gaze crackled and Kotaro had to fight hard to keep control of his own expression as the boy said "You'll just have to find the bodies."

Hitomi shook her head, "Dispel the clones now, or I break your neck."

"You forget that they have you outnumbered, you can't hold me and defend yourself at the same time." Akuma laughed.

"You've seen my speed, do you honestly think I can't kill you before they get to me?" Hitomi asked.

"I honestly think you're bluffing my darling. I don't think you'll kill me." The boy sneered.

Kotaro frowned at Hitomi, it was a stand off, but one that she would lose.

Because she was bleeding so badly she'd soon have no strength left to harm Akuma, no strength left to hold him, and he would be free to sick the rest of his clones on them while he easily murdered Hitomi.

Kotaro just hoped Akuma didn't figure that out.

He was surrounded, he was in trouble, but time was on his side, time that Hitomi was stupidly giving him.

Kotaro looked at Nao and glanced towards the clones.

Nao nodded, but Kotaro's attempts to get Yomiko's attention failed poorly.

She was too busy watching Hitomi.

"All right Akuma," Hitomi said calmly, "By the time I count to ten if those clones haven't disappeared you'll die. Try anything and you'll die."

Akuma laughed and said "If you were going to kill me you'd have done it already."

"Maybe. Try me."

Kotaro nodded to himself, they had until she counted to ten to kill the clones, within that time Akuma would either surrender or he'd be forced to mob Hitomi and hope it went well.

But Hitomi acted first, kicking Akuma forward and shouting "Hold him!" at Yomiko she drew and threw shuriken faster than Kotaro could see. The metal stars decimated most of the surprised shadow clones leaving far fewer for Kotaro and Nao to deal with.

It really seemed like Akuma had met his better in Hitomi.

* * *

Akuma had been a fool.

To think he could kill Okatsu when he couldn't even kill this woman!

She kicked him forward and his face slammed down on his bleeding and likely broken nose, he decided there was only one thing to do.

He needed to escape, get a scroll and pass. Okatsu and the master would smooth out this little . . . fiasco.

He'd be severely punished for attacking this woman when his orders were only to pass the exams but he'd suffer the punishment and he'd live.

He'd live, and he'd become stronger.

But just now he wasn't strong enough, wasn't fast enough to handle this woman.

The idea that she might be even faster than Okatsu pleased him, the idea that he might be able to pit the two against each other and murder them both pleased him even more.

He wondered, if he escaped, if he could have Okatsu fight this woman.

If Okatsu won he would be sure to take the killing blow against Hitomi. If Okatsu lost vice versa.

He just needed to look on the bright side . . . and find some way to escape Hitomi.

She was fast, she'd catch him if he escaped normally. But he had to try.

She ordered the Genin to hold him, he sprang forward into the smoke of all his disappearing shadow clones and quickly threw out three more capsuls, his last three.

He then transformed into a shuriken and fell into the hand of one of his clones, the clone then threw him to a clone outside of the smoke.

That clone ran.

Hitomi and the other Genin were too busy finishing the last of his other clones to pursue. Or perhaps the woman let him go.

He doubted it, he'd confessed to the murder of two teams, it would be irresponsible to let him go.

He'd really made it, he'd really escaped.

He'd find another team, he'd take their scroll, he'd pass.

* * *

Hitomi glared as Akuma escaped from her.

She couldn't do anything about it, she was on her knees as it was holding her wounds closed as best she could.

Six people could be dead because of that boy.

And if any more died she'd blame herself. She'd _had _him and she'd hesitated.

Because he was a child, because she'd wanted to bring him in alive, because Naruto-sensei would have been able to bring him in alive she'd hesitated and done her best to hold on as she bled to death.

She'd been so stupid allowing herself to be so badly injured fighting this little cretin. And now if he killed anyone else it was on her head.

Heck she blamed herself for the six he'd already killed. She promised their spirits that if she lived she'd tell their families in person who had killed them, and why they'd been allowed to, she'd confess her weakness.

Just so long as she lived.

She closed her eyes and reached for the talisman Miyuki had given her . . . where was it? Had she lost it? She needed to summon Miyuki or she'd die.

She felt herself slipping out of conciousness and laughed weakly.

She fell from her knees to her face and bled. She heard a cracking sound but she didn't know what it meant.

Maybe it was Miyuki's talisman. Maybe it was just one of the Genin's jutsus finishing off a clone. Maybe it was just the sound you hear when you die.

Hitomi thought it would be rather amusing if she died now. Died because she had spared a boy whose neck she could have snapped at a whim, bled to death because she hadn't wanted to kill her opponent outright.

But if she lived it was a lesson learned.

Never hold back, the next chance she got . . . she'd kill the punk.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	63. Syako's Threat

**Chapter Sixty-Three**

Shikamaru was walking up the path to his humble, rather unimpressive home, hand in hand with Temari when he noticed something really strange.

There was someone blocking the doorway to his house, someone he didn't know.

Temari frowned, "Hey who is-" the heared Syako scream in terror and they broke into a run.

Shikamaru reached for his chakra knives, Temari grabbed a kunai as the person blocking their doorway became all too familiar.

He had long hair now instead of a shaved head, and unless he'd shaved Shikamaru recalled, from when he saw him in Sunagakure, that Toshiie was now sporting a thick beard as well.

A beard which would provide no protection when Shikamaru cut the man's throat out.

But unfortunately as he reached for his knives he remembered he'd given them to Yomiko.

That he'd forgotten did not bode well, he didn't usually forget critical factoids like that.

instead as he ran he began the hand seals for his Shadow Possession Jutsu.

* * *

Temari heard Syako scream and she ran.

She ran because Syako screaming was never a good thing, and when the woman was watching he daughter it was all the worse.

She saw Shikamaru's shadow speed ahead of her, and she supposed he at least was thinking. She wasn't.

Her daughter was in danger, and the person responsible needed to die.

* * *

Syako could only scream as the sword came for her, she raised Sumiko into the air so that it couldn't hurt her.

It stopped right at her throat, she wanted to scream for help, call Kankuro, he was just a thin wall away, surely he'd come.

Syako was shaking, she hated ninja, she hated shinobi! She wanted to run away but her escape was blocked by those beings she hated!

She'd changed her mind, she wouldn't let Sumiko grow up to be a Shinobi no matter how much the girl might want to, she'd make her a princess.

Yes, yes it was good that a parent set some boundaries and rules for their baby.

Sumiko would never be a Shinobi, never ever!

Syako hated ninja, hated how they were so darn powerful, how they defied logic with their so-called skills and how their very existence only ensured that there would always be more war. She hated them, she wanted them all to die, even the stone ninja since obviously they were just as bad as the rest.

When warfare became necessary the Samurai could handle it, there was no need for Shinobi.

Let them all die.

She had nowhere to run, she was shaking in place.

She glared at Toshiie, or his clone, she wasn't sure who the original was. Both were disguised as Konoha Jounin.

"You cannot kill this child. I am the niece of the lord of the land of winds, if I were killed my uncle would be _very _displeased, and if you spare me and kill this child I will tell my uncle _everything_ and he will be _very _displeased indeed. Surrender now and flee, or die, or doom yourself by killing me. The choice is yours." The woman said in her firmest voice.

She mouthed subtly so that Kankuro couldn't see her, 'The _master _has plans for this child'

It was a lie, but she'd do anything to keep Sumiko alive.

And that lie did give Toshiie pause, he stumbled and stood very still, just staring at Syako and Sumiko.

And then Temari came up behind him and said in a very cold voice, "Don't let Sumiko see, Syako."

And as if the taking of a human life meant nothing to her she slit Toshiie's throat, Syako had barely any time to shield Sumiko's face so that there was no way she might see it, and cover the girls ears so that she could not hear the scream.

Toshiie fell to the ground and became a pile of rubble, Shikamaru's shadow receded, explaining Toshiie's pause.

It sickened Syako, though she was almost certainly saved now, that ninja possessed such power.

Shikamaru had paralyzed Toshiie and Temari had simply killed him. Killed him from behind no less.

It didn't matter that it'd been a rock clone, the whole act stank of dishonor, a Samurai would _never _have performed the deed so . . . dishonorably.

But Syako had a role to play, she said "Oh thank heaven! Thank heaven! Kan-kun is fighting the real on in the other room, go, please hurry and help him!"

Temari's hands were shaking with rage as she went quickly into the next room, Shikamaru however put his hand on Syako's shoulder, "Thank you," He whispered, "We heard what you told him, you're a very brave woman."

_Yes I am. Not like you cowardly, backstabbing Shinobi. _Syako thought, but all she said was "Please help Kan-kun."

"I'm fine." Kankuro said, "It was just a clone, it fell apart as soon as it laid eyes on Temari."

Syako smiled, "Oh what a relief." She said.

So Toshiie hadn't come in person, and since these had just been clones he wouldn't know that she'd defied him.

And since he'd been disguised there was a chance no one would know he'd been a stone Shinobi. Everything was going to be okay.

* * *

Hanabi frowned, Tetsuo seemed strangely distant this evening. They sat together at Takumi's bar. All the preparations had been made to travel to Konoha and watch the Chuunin exams.

For Hanabi to confess to her family.

Or at least to tell them what she could. They couldn't know that she was the one who assassinated the daimyo of the land of Lightning.

She could not tell them about the life she had taken. But she might tell them about the life she was creating.

Was that why Tetsuo was so distant tonight? Was that why he seemed so distracted?

Takumi leaned over the bar and handed Hanabi a glass of water, "Looking forward to it?"

"What?" Hanabi asked.

"Your younger cousin is competing as well isn't she? Do you think she'll make it to the third exam? Do you think we'll get to see the next generation of the Hyuga while we're there?"

Hanabi shrugged, "I don't know how talented Shiroi really is, but I'm sure, being Neji's favorite student, that she'll make it."

"Then she may face Kasumi you know. The crowds would love it, and prospective clients would be very interested in seeing such a contest. Both represent powerful bloodlines, powerful clans." Takumi said with an excited grin.

The man was two years Hanabi's senior, yet he spoke like a little boy, the light in his eyes as he anticipated the contest almost lifted Hanabi's spirits.

She smiled a thin smile and said "What makes you so sure Kasumi will pass that far too? Not that I doubt her of course."

"Well if you don't doubt her you shouldn't ask." Takumi smirked. "You're worried, you're concerned that she wont be graded fairly because she represents a country and a clan that have spent the last three years at war with Konohagakure?"

Hanabi frowned. Actually that _had _come to her mind, but in actuality she was more curious about Kasumi herself. The girl seemed to lack a Chuunin's temperment, and the duty of their one mission had been so light that Hanabi had not had a chance to see Kasumi perform in a combat related manner.

Takumi shrugged and said "The girl's got skills, even if she doesn't realize it. She doesn't get much respect from her father, but Tetsuo will tell you her mastery of the Shadow Eye is exceptional. I taught her most of her Taijutsu and I know she can pass to the third exam on that alone. Her flaw is her lack of confidence and if she can overcome that she'll be a Chuunin."

Hanabi stared at the young bartender and said "You taught her Taijutsu?"

"Yeah." Takumi said with a shrug, "I taught the whole team. She caught onto it the fastest though, she was the best of them at it."

"_Can _you teach people Taijutsu?" Hanabi quiried.

"Why, did you need to learn?" Tetsuo asked, looking confused, "Your Taijutsu's stunning as it is, Hanabi-chan."

"No, no," A soft voice said as a woman with long silvery hair walked through the door without bothering to open it. "You two, you're so clueless. She doesn't know he used to be a Shinobi, so she's wondering why a bartender would teach Genin Taijutsu."

Hanabi would guess that this girl was a relative of Yurei Yuu's. The resemblance was remarkable, they might even be brother and sister.

The doors swung open and a Kumogakure Jounin swaggered in, sweeping brown hair from his eyes he laughed and said "Although a bartender teaching Taijutsu would be hilarious."

Takumi smiled weakly, "Well then this must be a riot because I _am _just a bartender."

"But you _were _a Jounin." A blue haired woman scoffed.

Hanabi tilted her head to the side as she looked at Takumi.

She could see it actually, he held himself up like a ninja. The confident stance that most Shinobi had, the stance that came from knowing that in their world they were the supreme power and that nothing could really hurt them save each other.

He had a Shinobi's stance, she just hadn't noticed before. She had been raised amongst a clan where everyone had at least some Shinobi training, for her seeing such a person was just normal, she had to really look closely to even notice.

Takumi shook his head though, "I'm retired."

Hanabi frowned, why would he retire and become a bar tender?

Tetsuo scoffed and the man laughed a somewhat rude laugh, "Getting plastered, my friend? I would too, given the circumstances."

"Circumstances?" Hanabi asked the silver haired woman who sat down next to her at the bar.

The man answered however and laughed, "Oh you didn't know did you? Why we're all going to be traveling together tomorrow. Despite our alliance Konohagakure doesn't want multiple convoys entering their borders, everyone coming is going to be licensed and registered. Probably watched too." He glanced at the woman with blue hair, "So be on your best behavior."

"But I've still got one more to replace, and I was hoping-" She was saying, but he cut her off and continued with talking to Hanabi,

"That said there's only one convoy, anyone going to Konoha goes together, the Raikage and some nobility are going, then there's the family and friends of the Genin of team C. You and our dear friend Hattori will get to travel with us the whole way."

The blue haired woman looked a little peeved at being ignored and cut-off but she smirked and threw her arm around her male companion, "We'll try to keep it down at night . . . ah who'm I kidding? We won't really try, but don't let that stop you two from giving us some competition, eh?"

Hanabi stared at them for a moment and finally said "Okay, I'm sorry but uh . . . who are you guys?"

The man chuckled and sat down at the bar next to the woman from the Yurei clan, "I am Hikaru. Minoru Hikaru, my dear. These are my companions, Yurei Kaori, and Ina Ami."

"Why's Kaori get introduced first?" Ami demanded in an accidentally loud whisper as she sat next to Hikaru.

"I introduced you first last time, I'm being fair." Hikaru smirked, "There are other ways, and other fields in which you can be first, Ami."

Ami snickered and Hanabi decided she really didn't like these people.

Takumi smiled, it didn't seem forced at all but Hanabi could sense that it was just from the tension that had crept over him when the first one, Kaori entered the bar. "What'll it be you three?"

"The best damn sake in town for myself, and for the ladies . . . perhaps, honeyed water?"

"Honeyed water?" Takumi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Hardly." Kaori scoffed.

"I'll have honeyed water, You _know _I'll try _anything _for you Hikaru-kun." Ami said snidely.

Kaori tossed her a napkin, "Here."

"Oh thank you, Cow Face. What's this for?" Ami asked.

"To wipe off your exceptionally brown nose, my dear." Kaori said softly and Ami looked suddenly panicked.

"What? Brown? Why is it brown I . . . oh I get it. Very funny Cow Face!" Ami scowled, and the smirk on Kaori's face did suggest that it had been meant to be humorus. Hanabi thought it was rather rude, but then the woman was calling her companion "Cow Face" so maybe it'd been fair.

"It's too bad Hikaru-kun likes you, I'd love to take you and turn you into . . . well, _me_." Ami sneered.

"Oolong tea?" Takumi asked, jumping into the conversation before Kaori could respond.

The silver haired woman smiled lightly and nodded.

"How come he knows what she wants and you don't Hikaru-kun?" Ami sneered, "I bet she's cheating on you."

Kaori said calmly, "It doesn't take that kind of a relationship to know what kind of drink I like. I _always _drink Oolong tea. Since we've been a team what have I _always _ordered here Ami?"

Ami sneered, "Yeah right. So Tak-kun, you're nailing Kaori on the side are ya? Not bad, not bad. I'm surprised you never tried for me, but then I guess you know I just couldn't be satisfied by a bartender."

Takumi just smiled his forced smile and passed out the drinks, he didn't comment on what Ami said but of all people Tetsuo did.

He stood up and said "Ina Ami, the loudmouth that never closes said orifice . . . or any orifice for that matter. Why don't you explain to me exactly why you're coming along? You don't care about Team C."

"I care about Hikaru-kun!" Ami giggled and hugged Hikaru's arm.

Tried to anyway, he shoved her away.

"Yurei's right, you need this." Tetsuo said, tossing Ami a napkin.

Ami snapped "It's not as funny the second-" but got interrupted by Hikaru's laughter.

"Nice one, Hattori. Nice. Insult one of my girls when yours is right here, leering like she's got nothing better to do. If she didn't look blind I'd be a little offended."

"Oh grow up, what's next, mother jokes?" Tetsuo demanded, taking a threatening step towards Minoru Hikaru who smirked.

"And you knocked her up too, nice work. You know it takes the fun out of them for a good long while. Yeah, that'll go over real well in Konoha. Hyuga girl carrying a crossbreed child. You know if anything her clan might just decide to take her out. It would be tragic if something happened to her in Konoha." He said and grinned darkly at Hanabi, "I mean once word gets out I'll bet her whole clan will be out to get her, and if she were found dead in some darkened alley . . ."

"That's not going to happen, she'll be under the best of care." Tetsuo said calmly, though his fists were shaking at his sides.

Hikaru laughed, "Yeah, I'll bet. Just think about it Tetsuo. Kaori, Ami, let's go." Hikaru said with a sly grin.

Ami leapt up, Hanabi nearly tossed her a napkin just for the sake of it as she saluted smartly and clung to her boyfriend's arm. Kaori however remained seated and sighed, "Not done with my drink, captain. You two go on ahead."

"We won't wait up." Ami sneered.

Hikaru smirked at Tetsuo and said "Remember what we talked about, hmm? For your own good old friend."

Hanabi glared after Hikaru, then turned to Tetsuo when he was gone, "You know, I'm going to have to help you meet new friends, I don't like the ones you have, dear."

Tetsuo smiled weakly, "Controling my life and we're only engaged. Let's go home where it's safe, and we can talk about forming a new circle of friends."

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Given how much everyone liked chapter 62, I'm willing to bet 63 will seem . . . underwhelming.

Well I wanted to keep everyone in suspense about Hitomi's fate and whether or not (or rather how) Team Ten would pass the exams. Thanks for the reviews, again I'll try to set time aside to reply to those that have questions and so forth.

I swear one of these days I'll just make my own website for New Blood with it's own message board . . . maybe a fan art section too . . . hey, I can dream can't I?


	64. Hitomi's Fate

**Chapter Sixty-Four**

Naomasa stood over the unconscious examiner as a medic in white attended her injuries.

"Get back, I don't work well with spectators breathing down my neck." The woman said sharply.

Nao took a step back, but he was still worried about Hitomi.

Kotaro was too, he could tell. Kotaro hadn't taken his eyes off of the unconscious woman since the medic showed up.

Yomiko on the other hand had taken to pacing and periodically demanding to know when they'd be moving on.

"She's going to be fine, so let's go." She'd said at least five times now.

This time she also added "I mean seriously, we've got places to go, scrolls to find, and that psycho running around can't help matters at all, c'mon!" Yomiko cried and began tapping her foot impatiently in front of the next crossroad of the maze.

Kotaro sighed, "I'll go try to shut her up." He said and headed off to Yomiko, Nao stayed where he was and watched Hitomi's rather impressive chest-not that he paid attention to that sort of thing-rise and fall slowly.

He felt a little bit of worry over the two teams that had been killed. He thought of Tomoko, and thought that if an examiner could be brought down like this why not a Genin? Even a really talented one like Tomoko?

He was worried about his friend, but he told himself he could trust her to get through the exam. Hitomi on the other head was lying there almost completely motionless. The bleeding had stopped, whether that was due to the medic's skills or because Hitomi had died, Nao wasn't sure.

He felt nervousness seize him, and he thought that he'd do anything for this woman to be alive.

The medic sighed softly, whether it was a sigh of relief or resignation he couldn't tell, he felt his breathing increase, Hitomi couldn't be dead!

"All right then . . ." The medic reached out and put a hand on the young woman's goggles.

Suddenly her breathing increased, she sat up and looked around wildly, her hands shot up to her black lens goggles and she calmed down immediately when she found they were still there.

Nao was confused, one would think wearing thick black lenses in the dim light of this maze would make it difficult to see.

"You're okay," Nao said, feeling his heart rate slow to a more comfortable level.

Hitomi looked around and finally settled her gaze on him. She smiled, Nao felt his heart rate increase again.

Her smile was just _so . . . _the way her ruby red lips curved, the shape of her face . . .

He hoped to high heaven he wasn't blushing. But the mere thought of this girl and himself together had just popped into his head when she smiled. It was ludicrous of course, there was an age difference for starters, and a more dramatic one than the one between him and Tomoko, not that he'd ever considered Tomoko in that way . . . because he hadn't! But Hitomi had to be what, seventeen, eighteen? Five years at least, and she probably already had a boyfriend to boot. But this woman's smile made him think of thoughts he hadn't realized he was old enough to think.

"I've got something for you." She told him.

Well that was unexpected.

She didn't stop smiling as she reached behind her back into her equipment pouch, but as she rummaged she glanced at the medic, "Ah, so I summoned you, Miyuki."

"Actually I summoned myself. That seal I gave you activates if your vitals get too low." Miyuki, the medic said calmly. "After all, Naruto-sensei always used to tell us 'this is a four man team not counting the clones, make sure you look out for each other and keep it that way' remember?"

Hitomi laughed and said "Naruto-sensei and his pearls of wisdom. Ah, here we are! This is for you!" She threw something to Nao, he caught it right before it smacked him in the face.

He stared at the small scroll in his hand. "What's this?"

"The scroll you guys need to pass." Hitomi said.

Nao stared at it, "But why?"

"Because I don't need it." Hitomi said flatly. "I took it off him without thinking. Anyway I think the sooner we get you guys out of here the better, Miyuki and I will hunt that sound brat down."

"No we wont." Miyuki said sharply, "You're going to the hospital, you've been patched up, not properly fixed."

"The kid's gotta be dealt with, he's already-" Hitomi was saying but Miyuki rapidly snapped her fingers in front of the other girl's face.

"You're going to the hospital I said!"

"Fine, fine!" Hitomi scowled, "But someone's got to-"

"Someone else _will_, it's no longer your problem." Miyuki said firmly. "Now we'll see them to the end and then you're coming to the hospital."

"Not for too long, right?" Hitomi whined.

"I'm thinking two days at least. That's me being generous to the point of near malpractice. I'll need to use my chakra thread to stitch you up though, don't think I'm pleased about that, missy," Miyuki said evenly. Hitomi mumbled something and Miyuki scoffed, "I'll talk to you like you're _two _years old if it'll get you to stop letting yourself get beat up _like_ a two year old."

Nao stared in awe at the scroll he held in his head. "Y-Yomiko . . . Kotaro!" He called to his two comrades.

They came over, Yomiko spied the scroll in his hand.

Kotaro said "H-how'd you get that?"

Yomiko threw herself at Nao and grabbed him in a surprisingly powerful bear hug, "I knew you weren't useless! You swiped it off that homicidal maniac, didn't you?"

"Well no I--"

"He sure did." Hitomi called over her shoulder, "He swiped it when no one else was looking, your team passes, congrats."

Yomiko laughed and said "And so the rookies pass, haha, great job Nao, you're awesome!"

Nao frowned. He didn't like lying . . . but how often would Yomiko tell him he was awesome? And Hitomi had pretty much given him credit for it . . . so she must not mind if he accept that credit, right?

He decided to be evasive about it, "It was uh . . . it was nothing. Uh, really."

"So modest!" Yomiko laughed, holding both scrolls now and practically drooling over them, she hooked her arms through Kotaro and Nao's and pulled them off after Hitomi and Miyuki, "The first rookie team to compete in years is going to be the first rookie team to pass in years, oh yeah!"

Nao glanced at Hitomi's back as they followed her and Miyuki out of the maze.

He'd have to see her in the hospital and thank her for this . . . it was rare to have Yomiko treat him like an equal this way.

It was rather nice.

* * *

Temari held Sumiko tightly and kissed the sleeping child's forehead for about the fiftieth time when the messenger suddenly arrived.

"Nara Shikamaru, Nara Temari," Naruto, the messenger said in a dramatic tone.

"Not yet." Temari said.

"Well I was trying it out, how's it sound?" Naruto asked.

Temari was too stressed to really consider it, she just kissed Sumiko again and continued pacing.

Naruto shrugged and said "Anyway Granny Hokage has given me these to give to you two. I thought they were wedding gifts so I was going to open them up and sign my name next to hers. But she says they're something to do with the exam so I didn't. But if they really are wedding gifts they're from me too, okay?"

Temari nodded and kissed Sumiko again.

Shikamaru was very quiet and she knew he was thinking, even though he wasn't in his thinking stance she could tell by his tenseness that he was deep in thought.

Syako and Kankuro had gone, Shikamaru and Temari were debating whether to keep Sumiko with them or to leave her under the watchful eye of her uncle the Kazekage while they hunted down the slime Toshiie.

Temari was certain that it'd been him. He looked different but it'd been him.

She'd kill him again. Well, technically she'd kill him for the first time.

He'd threatened Sumiko, threatened her child, she'd rip him apart! She'd subject him to every kind of torture known to mankind, and try to invent a few new ones as she slowly killed him.

But Naruto was here, and he was carrying a pair of envelopes, which is how Temari had surmised that he was a messenger. He might also have mentioned that he was bringing them messages from the Hokage, she hadn't really paid attention she was inspecting her daughter for bruises for the thirtieth time.

She didn't want to move even one of her hands to take the envelope from Naruto but Shikamaru took them both and read over his. "What is it?" Temari demanded.

"Team Ten's passed. They're in the third exam" Shikamaru said with a slight measure of pride in his voice. "This is a summons to the examination hall, the Hokage is going to address the successful teams within the hour."

"The third exam?" Temari gasped, "So then they passed? My team, they passed right?"

Shikamaru just passed her an envelope, "My team has, it doesn't mention yours. See for yourself."

Temari eyed it suspiciously, a Jounin of Toshiie's skills could transform himself into an envelope . . . she didn't want to risk Sumiko to a blasted envelope!

"Rip it apart and read me the scraps." Temari commanded.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "You're kidding." He assumed rather than asked.

"Is something wrong?" Naruto piped up, "You seem a little . . . disgruntled."

Well Naruto was perceptive . . . even if it took him about five minutes to notice that Temari was, as he'd put it, "disgruntled".

Temari handed Sumiko to Shikamaru and began to open up her envelope. She _had _to know about her team. Sumiko's safety was her top priority, but these kids were kind of like her adopted family too, and she wanted to know if they'd done all right.

Still as she opened up the envelope to read their fate she barked at her fiancé, "Tell him, Shikamaru. Tell him what almost happened today!"

Shikamaru put his hands in his pockets and said very calmly "Gaara's probably already been informed by Kankuro, but you may want to let the Hokage know that at least one Iwagakure Jounin has infiltrated this village."

* * *

Akuma struggled to find even a single team and he was failing miserably.

Not that he knew what he'd do if he found anyone, he had no clones left, couldn't allow himself to be struck, and he had to find the right scroll to go with his . . .

As he reached for his scroll he found that it was . . . not there.

He felt panic overtake him, he began to hyperventalate, "No, no!" He whispered, "No! It's got to be here somewhere I-"

"Never mind that." His master said, appearing before him and holding out a pair of scrolls.

"Where did you get those?" Akuma whispered.

"Never mind. Take them." The master said calmly.

Akuma's hand was shaking as he reached out for the scrolls.

He expected to be violently struck as he took them, but he wasn't.

"I understand that the desire to kill is strong within you, it's how we made you," The master said in a gentle, friendly voice, "But seeing as I've gone to great lengths to make it appear as if you were not responsible for the deaths you confessed to, please don't brag about your murderous prowess, and perhaps we'd better begin working on your story. Pay attention and I'll tell you _exactly_ where you were when those two teams killed _each_ _other_."

"Killed each other? But any medical ninja will be able to tell-" Akuma began but the master interrupted him.

"No medical ninja, not even the Hokage herself will be able to determine the truth of the event before our plan is completed, rest assured of that." The master said calmly. "So now Akuma, listen carefully as I explain the story to you, and be prepared to defend your innocence, it will be rather hard to do."

"Yes master." Akuma nodded and glanced at the two scrolls in his hand.

He didn't deserve them, he hadn't earned them. But the master didn't seem angry with him . . . Okatsu might be though.

He listened as best he could to the story that he was supposed to tell anyone who confronted him about the two murdered teams, but he found it hard to hear the master's words over his own inner voice screaming that he wasn't _good enough _to be holding those scrolls.

He'd have to prove himself wrong . . . someone else would have to die soon.

* * *

Kaori toyed with her oolong tea and watched Takumi start cleaning up.

Other than herself and a few patrons who'd be staying in the rooms above the bar tonight the place was completely empty. It was closing time, and pretty soon he'd ask her to leave.

She'd sat in silence for nearly an hour since the others had left, toying with her now very room temperature tea and thinking of what to say to Takumi and taking count of the number of times he'd asked her if she wanted a new drink.

Ami was wrong of course. Kaori was not cheating on Hikaru with Takumi or anyone else for that matter. But it wasn't for lack of trying. She'd been making herself available to Takumi for weeks and he'd been completely oblivious.

Nights like this she just wanted to grab him, shake him, and scream at him. And yet in her mind even in those scenarios she never knew what to say to him.

They'd met fourteen years ago, when she was just an eleven year old girl fleeing her homeland and the extermination of her clan with her infant brother, Yuu. Takumi had been just thirteen then, but he'd been a Chuunin. So had Hikaru, they'd been on the same team-she didn't know if they'd been Genin together, or just assigned for that mission, neither had ever said-and on the patrol that had found a half starved and unconscious Kaori and Yuu little more than a mile away from the village.

Kaori had been an orphan of course, and a foreigner with no place to stay. She had been taken in by Takumi's parents, she once lived in this very tavern with her brother. Yuu had spent half of his fourteen year life in this tavern until Kaori had turned eighteen and earned a Jounin promotion.

She smiled weakly, Takumi had been her first friend, her first love, her first . . . well her first _everything_. But three years ago, when the war began Takumi had fought for a single week before resigning and refusing to take any further part in it. She'd been bewildered, her hero was refusing to fight for his country? She'd called him a coward, a traitor, and she'd thrown their relationship away as if it'd meant nothing.

But now she wanted it back. She was tired of being one of two women sharing one guy. Hikaru always joked that if she felt neglected there was nothing keeping her from branching out and seeing other guys so that was exactly what she was going to do.

If she could just work up the courage to actually proposition her old flame.

She sighed, she'd gotten together with Hikaru only because she'd broken it off with Takumi. But she'd fallen in love with Hikaru now, she wasn't totally sure how. There was just something about him that she really liked. Something that made her look past his darker actions, something that made her mimic them even. He brought out the worst in her and a part of her really, _really _liked that.

She loved Hikaru . . . but she still loved Takumi too. This sort of nonsense was supposed to have stopped when she left her teenage years behind but here she was, twenty five and these problems had only just begun.

She watched Takumi and struggled to say something, _anything _to him.

But she didn't know _what _to say.

She bit her lip and went on fiddling with her tea.

"You should turn in." Takumi told her suddenly, "You can't be late tomorrow you know. It's a big day."

"Hmm?" Kaori raised an eyebrow.

"Well you can't miss the convoy. After all, like Hikaru said there's only one. If you don't get enough sleep how're you going to wake up in time to catch it?" Takumi said.

Kaori saw an opportunity there, she said "Well if I rented a room here you'd wake me up, right?"

Takumi nodded, "Sure. But won't your friends wonder worry if you don't go home tonight?"

"Oh we don't live together, they'll assume I just went home to my own place." Kaori shrugged, "But I don't want to go home tonight. Without Yuu the house is too empty."

Takumi nodded. "All right. What room do you want?"

_Yours. _She thought. It's what she meant to say too, she had every intention of saying it. But she said "Oh just a nice one. Ooh, how about the big suite, is that available?"

_Coward. _She thought to herself.

Takumi nodded and tossed her a key which she easily caught.

She'd considered letting it phase through her hand and then making a real show out of bending over to pick it up. But she'd decided that wouldjust be immature, she couldn't see Takumi going for it.

"How much will I owe you?" She asked. She'd been joking about a big suite, she wasn't so sure she could afford it.

"Since it's just you for a night, and since you're an old friend we'll call it free. Just don't tell anyone else, huh?" He whispered.

So he at least considered her a friend. She smiled, she could feel herself blushing and, since she came from a terribly pale clan, she suspected it was obvious. "Thanks Takumi." She said with an unintentional shyness.

But thankfully Takumi was in the middle of a yawn and seemed not to notice. "Not a big deal. Hey, if I don't wake up on time and you do make sure you wake _me _up, huh?"

Kaori smiled, "Yeah, of course." She bit her lower lip for a moment then forced herself to stop. She was twenty five years old, she was not an eighteen year old girl anymore. The lip biting and blushing and all that nonsense had to stop, she was a Jounin for crying out loud!

She nodded sharply to Takumi and said in a more dignified tone, "It wouldn't do any good to leave you behind I suppose."

But he was already gone and she was sitting at an abandoned bar alone talking to herself.

She sighed and went up the stairs to the large, luxurious and insanely comfortable suite at the top of the inn. It was designed for visiting dignitaries and wealthy samurai.

The woman decided she had issues that needed to be dealt with. She was glad she'd chickened out. She didn't want to be the type of woman who had two boyfriends. It'd be more trouble than it was worth. She decided she'd make a firm decision on the matter while she was in Konoha.

Leave Hikaru, or continue to be faithful, but she wouldn't cheat. In fact she knew Takumi and he wouldn't accept or respect her if she propositioned him _before _breaking up with Hikaru.

If she did stay with Hikaru though she'd have to do something about Ami. Quietly do away with the psycho whore when Hikaru wasn't looking.

She frowned as she settled into the large, soft bed and couldn't help but think that as comfortable as it was it wasn't the bed she wanted to be sleeping in tonight, which only reaffirmed her earlier conclusion that she had some issues that needed dealing with.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **It'll be Friday that I get in touch with all those who asked questions, so don't fret if your question hasn't been answered.

As for the web site, well that's just a passing fantasy, I really don't know the first thing about making a web site, or a message board, or anything like that, except that for the message board I'd probably need a squad of moderators and I don't know many people whom I'd trust to handle that task . . . not one of my beta readers can be trusted with it, they're reading this note, they _know _why not.

But like I said I can dream. I suppose I'll look into it and see if I can't find anything along the lines of "message boards for dummies" or something. It's a fun fantasy but in the end I have very little spare time, about four hours a day to be honest, and if it came down to maintaining a New Blood website and actually maintaining and continuing to write new chapters of New Blood I'd have to go with writing New Blood and condemning the website.


	65. The Third Exam Will Be

**Chapter Sixty-Five**

"Nice work kids." A Konoha shinobi said, giving team ten a V with his middle and index fingers, "The first rookie team to compete and pass on to the third exam in a long time." He wore an orange suit similar to Uzumaki Naruto's and a flak jaket, "The name's Hara. Hara Masamune, I'm not technically an examiner, but Hitomi's too beat up to finish you guys off."

"I'm just fine!" Hitomi scowled.

"Yeah, don't listen to her, she always says that. She broke both her arms once and she swore she could still arm wrestle me. She doesn't leap often, but when she does she doesn't often _look _beforehand. Anyway I wanted to thank you for helping out Hitomi."

Nao wondered if this guy was Hitomi's boyfriend. He'd just met him and didn't really know him but the thought that she was too good for him quickly sprang to mind.

Er not that he cared of course. He knew _he _had no chance with this older girl, there was no reason for him to even be considering it . . . so why was he?

"How do you even know about this?" Hitomi demanded, and the annoyance in her voice, though likely caused by embarassament gave Nao some hope that there was no romantic relationship between these two. Not that it was any of his business to hope that, what the heck was wrong with him all of a sudden?

"Miyuki summoned me before she went to help you out." Hara shrugged, "In case you needed the full team. She had a clone stay with me and explain everything."

"You share knowledge with your own clones?" Yomiko piped, "How do you do that? We don't learn what our clones know until they die, and I don't think our clones ever learn what we learn after they've been summoned."

"It's a more advanced version of the Shadow Clone jutsu," Miyuki said, it's dangerous because you can go insane being in two places at once. I used it only because I had to be certain that Hitomi was in the utmost need before I could break protocall by allowing Hara to interfere with the examination."

"It's okay now though, I got permission to handle your reception from the proctor." Hara nodded.

Hitomi grumbled and folded her arms, "I'll be fine by tomorrow morning, I'm just a little anemic."

Nao had to admit the girl did seem to be recovering rather quickly actually.

"So now what?" Kotaro asked.

"Open the scrolls, you'll be teleported to the Proving Grounds, where the third exam will be held." Hara shrugged.

"You heard the man!" Yomiko cried and opened the earth scroll as Kotaro opened the heaven scroll.

There was a flash, and suddenly everything went black.

Naomasa was shaking as he stood in what he guessed was a large room.

It was dark, almost completely black save for a few torches behind which the Chuunin examiners stood. Naomasa could see his teammates' outlines but no details. They were like shadows in the black night, or cave, or wherever they were, and he couldn't see anyone else in the darkness.

A proctor appeared, Naomasa recognized him right away as a member of the Sarutobi clan, Konohamaru if he wasn't mistaken.

Well of course there were really very few members of that clan left, so who else could it have been?

Konohamaru smiled at them all and said "We suspected that nine teams would pass. But it doesn't surprise me to see only six of you. Now it's time for you to know the truth about these exams. In times past the Chuunin exams were meant to take the place of war. To avoid needless bloodshed among Shinobi and to showcase talent before perspective patrons villages like this one would pit its finest Genin against those of other villages and hope to impress patrons with the next generation of Chuunin."

Konohamaru shook his head and laughed, "But there's no point in that now, is there? We're at war and most of you have probably fought at least one battle against enemy Shinobi. Therefore you'll understand why this Chuunin exam is by no means a representation of war, it is in fact an evaluation of how prepared you are to fight that war. You've all been graded on your performance thus far but the major portion of your grade comes from this third exam. Take a moment to look around at your fellow Genin, see whose passed and who hasn't."

Nao frowned when the first person he saw as the light intensified was Akuma.

He stood with his arms crossed glaring at Konohamaru.

He immediately turned around to spot the members of the other four teams.

The Kumogakure team he spotted but he stopped caring when he saw Tomoko-er that is when he saw team Akimichi.

They'd done it, and with barely a scratch! He wanted to just run over and hug Tomoko for some reason.

He didn't, he didn't feel it would be dignified, and he might get in trouble.

Konohamaru said "In thirty days you will all be evaluated on your combat ability. Your ability to fight an enemy Shinobi and survive. Normally for such a large batch we'd have preliminary eliminations right now and narrow your steep number of sixteen down to a more reasonable eight. However at the urging to the Hokage in order to pass as many people as we can we will not be doing that today. Speaking of the Hokage . . ." Konohamaru said, and stepped aside as a beautiful young-well, maybe not-woman stepped into the dim light.

To call her well-endowed might very well be both an understatement and an insult to the woman, she was over-endowed and then some. Nao had thought Hitomi's chest was large but this woman . . . it was kind of ridiculous actually.

Nao had met the Hokage before, well been in her presence at any rate and it never failed to shock him. She looked way too young to be a Hokage. She didn't look much older than Shikamaru-sensei who was in his late twenties, yet if this was the Hokage Nao had always heard that she was well over sixty, maybe even seventy years old.

The woman held out a hand and said "I greet and praise all of you. They say that each successive generation surpasses the previous and I can see a glimmer of truth to that when I look at you all. And I am indeed pleased to see that so many of you young ones have come this far, all I can say to you now is congratulations and be prepared. You will compete before this village, before myself, the Kazekage, and the Raikage, before the ambassadors of all Konoha's allied countries, before nobility and before commoners, you will fight and hold nothing back. Give it your all and you'll become Chuunin, hold back, doubt yourselves even little, hesitate for even a moment and you'll be proving to our sharp examiners and to your respective village heads that you're not ready yet."

She folded her arms, Nao was surprised she could manage to do so over those massive . . . well anyway he really needed to find something else to focus on with this lady. Stop looking at her chest.

She had pretty nice hips . . .

He decided he'd focus on Konohamaru instead, he didn't find the Special Jounin even remotely attractive.

The Hokage went on, "Even if you lose you'll have a chance at becoming a Chuunin, it is clear that some of you are supporters rather than fighters, our judges will watch you for various traits other than pure combat prowess. Mental acuity, efficient use of jutsu, and ninja tools will all be considered among other things. But don't think for a second that we're obligated to pass a single one of you, even the tournament champion, though each victory gives you more opportunity to fight and show us your ninja skill. It is possible that _none _of you will pass, that _none _of you will become Chuunin, keep that in mind." The Hokage said simply.

Nao felt his hands shaking as the woman smiled broadly and said held out her arms, "In thirty days this will be your proving grounds, here you will fight one another and here before the entire world some of you will prove that you do indeed have what it takes to become Chuunin!"

The entire arena suddenly lit up, and it was indeed an arena.

A huge stadium with enough seats to comfortably fit the entire village and then some, the battleground was a large circle, a field of somewhat flat ground with a few trees and boulders which Nao could see being used for cover or other such things.

He took this chance to finish inspecting the passing teams while pretending to survey the terrain.

There was the Kumogakure team, without a single scratch. They'd be a tough one to beat.

There was Team Akimichi of course and Nao wasn't crazy about the idea that he might have to face friends in the tournament. He hoped they'd do well as well.

There was that team that jerk who'd fought Tomoko was on, wasn't it Uchiha Sasuke's team?

And of course there was the Sungakure team.

Nao felt a slight thrill run through his spine, they'd made it too!

They looked like they'd been through a meat grinder but they'd made it! He couldn't wait to hear how they'd passed, it had to be quite the story.

Yukio and Ryu were both subtly holding back Kyoko, who looked like she wanted to just run over and hug Kotaro. Unlike Naomasa she clearly hadn't discerned that doing so would be undignified and probably in violation of some rule.

Nao shook his head in surprise when he spotted the Jounin all sitting in the bleachers, Shikamaru waved, Temari wiped imaginary tears from her eyes-Nao guessed they were imaginary because given what he knew of her she'd have been more subtle if they were real.

Chouji-sensei really _was _crying, Sasuke was sitting about five chairs from them all with his arms folded looking like he wanted to pretend he didn't know any of them.

There were a pair of Kumogakure Jounin, one of whom, a younger Jounin who looked somehow too neat and organized, wasn't taking her eyes off of Shikamaru-sensei. The other, an older woman with a slightly crazed look was wringing her hands together as if she were strangling someone and whispering something, and nodding like someone making a promise.

Nao shuddered, she was creepy.

"You're all dismissed, spend the next thirty days preparing for the tournament, practicing your jutsu. Your senseis will all be very pleased to teach you a few tricks, I'm sure. If you'll excuse me, I have a rather important matter to attend to. " The Hokage said and she disappeared.

The punk.

Nao gulped as Shikamaru-sensei suddenly "poofed" over to them, he smirked at them and said "I must be doing _something _right if mine is the first rookie team to come this far in so long."

"No, it was all us, not once did we rely on anything you taught us!" Yomiko smirked, and while there was reason enough to believe that Yomiko, being Yomiko was speaking honestly Nao actually detected a heavy amount of sarcasm in her voice, she was actually _joking _with Shikamaru-sensei!

What had happened to this girl? She was so much less . . . hateful.

He smiled and said "It's thanks to you that we even got a chance to enter, sensei."

Shikamaru nodded, "I hope you're ready, the tournament is going to be a big one. They'd planned on holding preliminaries with nine passing teams but since you've passed with eleven fewer people than they expected you guys got off easy today. Of coruse it means we don't know what our opponents from the Cloud and Sound village can do, we have a pretty good foreknowledge of the rest." Shikamaru said.

"Who're we going to be fighting?" Kotaro piped up, "I mean shouldn't they announce who fights who first?"

"They'll announce it the day before the tournament." Shikamaru-sensei said, "We've had far too many problems with contestants murdering their first opponents in recent years and due to some complications the Hokage was urged not to allow certain hopefuls to know whom their first opponent would be. Of coruse it's all being selected at random, you don't need to worry about that."

Nao frowned. He could guess why a certain hopeful wasn't going to be allowed to know whom his first opponent was.

The hopeful who'd confessed to the murder of two entire teams, the hopeful who'd stabbed a Chuunin examiner.

Nao hoped he faced that kid. He wanted to take him down.

He couldn't think of anyone, aside maybe from the guy who'd tried beating up on Tomoko, who deserved to be eliminated in the first round more.

Shikamaru-sensei smiled and said "C'mon. I'll take you guys out to eat, you must be starving."

Actually Nao _was _hungry now that he thought of it. He'd skipped breakfast and the exam hadn't taken a break for lunch or dinner. It was late at night now and he hadn't eaten anything.

He might like to sleep actually, but a meal first sounded ideal.

"So the whole village is going to watch the tournament?" Yomiko asked.

"And then some." Shikamaru said. "In addition to the regular folk many nobles will be here, as Hokage-sama said. Also the families of all the competing Genin will be in attendance . . . assuming they're able, what with the war on I'm guessing not everyone's parents can make it."

Nao shuddered.

What if _his _parents showed up? What if the wealthy Ishida clan decided to watch its black sheep attempt to become a Chuunin?

Was he ready to deal with his judgmental, elitist family?

He gulped, "Is there any way a family can be _un_invited?" Nao asked.

"Well they can always _choose _not to come." Shikamaru shrugged, "But whatever you're thinking now there may come a day when you'll look back and wish that your parents _had _been here to witness your actions. It can be very vindicating to prove through actions what you might have had trouble conveying with words." Shikmaru-sensei said in a somewhat cautious tone.

He was guessing that Nao had issues with his family and of course he'd guessed right.

Nao smiled weakly though, maybe he _could _prove himself to them. If he won the tournament they'd have to be proud of him . . . right?

They headed for the arena exit when team Akimichi caught up to them, "Let's take the kids out for a night on the town!" Chouji said.

"Just what I was thinking." Shikamaru nodded. "They've earned it . . . I'll treat." He said with some reluctance.

"You da man!" Kyusaku cried.

"Can we just not go to the barbecue?" Tomoko asked, "I hate eating where I work."

"Why, the place have rats or something?" Yukio asked as the Suna team caught up to them.

Tomoko shuddered, "If only. Rats would mean some nice shuriken practice while I'm on the job. No, it's just whenever I try to eat there I sort of jump every time someone calls for a waitress."

"You chose life as a civil servant! Besides, where else is there?" Daisuke asked.

"I don't think a waitress is technically speaking a civil servant." Yomiko pointed out.

"Well a servant nonetheless." Daisuke shrugged.

"How about ramen?" Kotaro asked.

Nao shuddered, he could stand but didn't much care for Ramen.

"What about Sumiko?" Temari-sensei asked.

"We can't eat her." Ryu said, Temari whacked him on the head.

"We'll bring her with us." Shikamaru said evenly. "With this crew of future Chuunin there's no safer place for her."

The assembly of Chuunin-hopefuls laughed at what they thought was a joke on Shikamaru-sensei's part, but Nao caught the concerned look on Temari's face and the somewhat reassuring way that Shikamaru had said it.

He wondered what that was all about.

* * *

Akuma gulped as Okatsu strode over to him, she threw her arms around him, a casual observer might see a mother hugging her son.

The truth of it was far different and far more painful.

"You blasted fool, you stupid little twit, you're so lucky the master took pity on you! Why if it'd been me I'd have cut off _your _hand for being so stupid, you twit!" She crushed him against her body so that the blades and caltrops in her breast pocket stabbed into his chest, she cut off his airways with her arm making it hard to breathe and with her other hand against the base of his neck she pressed unmercifully on the base of his skull until he was certain she meant to sever his brainstem.

By whatever powers existed and ruled mankind Akuma swore he'd murder this woman.

Okatsu released him and stood up, facing him. "Come along then, your skills clearly were not enough such as they were. But with another month to train you I'll have you damned near Jounin level."

Akuma really doubted that, Okatsu was an intensive sensei but from what he understood her students didn't usually _survive _to seize the Jounin rank, those that did generally didn't survive long afterwards and the master had said that he was to be kept alive.

At least he'd said that in front of Akuma . . . could he have told Okatsu differently?

What if Akuma's entire reason for living was only to showcase the Sound village in these exams? What if he became useless after that?

He closed his eyes, he couldn't become useless to the master. To become useless was to die painfully and alone.

Akuma was already almost constantly in pain, and he wouldn't mind being left alone forever . . . but he didn't want to die.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	66. Kotaro's Promise and Tomoko's Tale

**Chapter Sixty-Six**

Kotaro had begun the evening-maybe it was morning now-sitting next to Nao and across from Kyoko.

Somehow through some clandestine strategy however and quite a bit of chair shuffling he'd ended up sitting next to Kyoko and across from Daisuke who'd swooped in to flirt with Yomiko who'd been sitting next to Nao to begin with.

Heaven knew where Nao was . . . now.

They'd settled on the barbecue for two reasons, reason number the first: it was still open, reason number the second: Tomoko's employee discount was good for everyone and Chouji and Kyusaku had assured everyone they'd need it.

And even though Kyusaku had fallen asleep shortly after the meal began Chouji was making up for his large student's slumbering absence.

"I was so worried about my kids I barely ate today!" Chouji had said.

Kotaro sort of wished he could eat that much, but not get fat. The food was delicious, overindulgence was tempting but when he knew when he was full and he was full.

Unfortunately that meant there was little else for his mouth to do but . . . well, talk to Kyoko.

"Do you like my hair? It's just like Temari-sensei's but do you think I should go a different way?" Kyoko asked.

Kotaro shrugged, "It's okay."

"I think the Hokage had nice hair. Do you think I'd look pretty with the Hokage's hair?" Kyoko asked.

"Sure." Kotaro shrugged again. Having the Hokage's rack might help out too.

Kotaro took a sip of water to ensure that he didn't let _that _thought slip out of his mouth, he tended to say stupid things when he was full of food and very tired.

"Will you go out with me next week?" Kyoko asked.

"Absolutely." Kotaro said. He said stupid things like _that_ when he was full and tired.

Kyoko's eyes were practically glowing with enthusiasm all of a sudden, he took another sip of water to reexamine the last few words of their conversation and try to figure out why she was so pleased.

He considered it and realized what he'd said. He considered thinking of an out, a "that is I would buy my mom grounded me" kind of deal.

It didn't work, he couldn't think of anything.

Anyway she looked so happy he thought it'd be kind of mean to burst her bubble. And besides she was such a trusting girl if she were to go out with anyone else they might . . . take advantage of her. After all she _was _really cute when she wasn't talking about what she had or had not spat on.

Her captain, Yukio reached over to steal something from her plate and she said "I spat on that."

Kotaro sighed, Yukio sighed too and gave up on his machinations for Kyoko's dinner.

"You spit on everything." Yukio grumbled.

"Only things I like." Kyoko rolled her eyes.

Kotaro hoped that didn't mean she was going to spit on him soon.

* * *

Where Nao had run off too just happened to be where Tomoko had run off to.

Tomoko was standing just outside the store watching the sun rise in the sky, "More than twenty four hours and I haven't slept a wink." She said. "So if I slur or stammer, don't mind."

Nao shrugged. It was weird but he'd been so tired before now that he'd gotten past it he wasn't tired. As if he'd been awake too long to be tired now. He said to Tomoko "Well . . . you don't have to talk."

"You telling me to shut up?" She smirked, leaning against the wall of the restaurant.

"No, but I mean . . . you know. We don't _have _to talk."

"No, we don't." Tomoko agreed. "But I want to. I told you once, I don't even remember _how _long ago that I'd tell you my story, right? That I'd tell you . . . what it was that made me move out and get a job right? So you still want to hear it?"

Nao considered this and decided no matter how bad it was, no matter what happened he _had _to listen. She wanted to tell him and as her friend he had sort of a duty to listen and not pass judgment.

Besides if they ever got married he'd--whoa, where had _that _come from?

"Go ahead." He said, clearing his mind of such thoughts, "I want to know."

Tomoko nodded slowly. She took a deep breath, "Shut up though, don't say anything until I'm done. No questions, no comments, don't laugh and don't scowl at me." She said very slowly, very clearly.

Nao nodded but didn't say anything just in case she'd meant immediately.

She took another deep breath and said "This isn't easy. But it all started almost four years ago when I'd just become a Genin. We'd all graduated from the academy. We hadn't been assigned to our teams yet, but we were ninja." She folded her arms and shook her head.

"The Oedo clan isn't a Shinobi clan. I suppose at some point it was, but anyway the Oedo mostly forge. A blacksmithing clan, a lot of your ninja tools, your kunai, and shuriken are all probably made by our clan."

Nao didn't say anything, but he took out a shuriken and examined it to see if there was some symbol or something that might say "forged by the Oedo" just out of curiosity.

Tomoko sighed and almost whispered "When an Oedo _does _become a ninja it's a really big deal though, and Daisuke and I _both _managed it, our parents . . . well I don't think they'd ever looked prouder." Tomoko shoved her hands in her pockets now, she seemed pretty indecisive of whether to keep them there or fold them over her chest. "Father held a huge celebration, he invited the whole clan, all our cousins and aunts and uncles, even really distant relatives and friends of the clan. Had to show off his Shinobi kids you know?"

Nao nodded. He should be so lucky to have his family react that way.

"Well me, I wasn't too bright as a kid. Looking back I'd have to say at age twelve I was really stupid. See Iruka-sensei, he'd told us that by wearing the forehead protectors of the hidden leaf village we were laying aside our childhood and becoming adults. I didn't get that he meant that as a figure of speech, I thought he was serious. So I made sure everyone knew that _I _was an adult. Told all my cousins that _I _was grown up and _they _were still just snotty little brats."

Nao smirked, he could just see a Tomoko his age rubbing everyone's faces in her success. And why not? Tomoko deserved to be successful, she worked hard, he could tell.

She scowled suddenly and whispered "And there was this guy I really liked too. He was older than me, you know like _way _older, like eighteen or nineteen, I can't remember. Anyway I had such a crush on him, I spent almost the whole party flirting with him. And he noticed me, y'know? Took me off to the side so we'd be alone and he told me that I wasn't a _real _woman yet, y'know?"

"I see where this is going." Nao blurted.

"Maybe not, and what did I tell you?" Tomoko demanded, "Don't say _anything_, please just listen."

Nao nodded.

Tomoko sank to the ground, sitting on the pavement in front of the restaurant wall she said "Anyway he told me he'd help me out, said that before I'd be a _real _adult I had to prove myself. He told me about a scroll my father kept hidden, and locked away. A lock that only an Oedo could open. He told me that if I could bring him that scroll he'd believe that I'd become a real, mature young woman. Promised me all kinds of things in exchange for the scroll, even said he'd marry me which was exactly what I wanted. So what did I do? I went to get the damn scroll."

Tomoko's expression darkened, "Daisuke's always looked out for me, I never want him to but he always does. That night he thought what you were just thinking when that guy led me away from the crowd and he'd come after us wanting to protect me. Instead he heard the whole exchange and knew exactly what I was going to do. He didn't want to tell our dad, didn't want to get me in trouble instead he rushed off for the workshop. He knew where the scroll was and he wanted to make sure I didn't steal it for that guy.

"So I show up thinking this is going to be a simple little trip to my dad's workshop, pick up a scroll, head back out, and maybe get my first kiss y'know? I told you I was a stupid kid. Anyway Daisuke was already there, he told me not to do it. Told me that if I wouldn't listen to reason he'd stop me. Me? Well I didn't listen to reason. And Daisuke? This was before he became a medic. Let me just say when he needs to my brother _can fight_." Tomoko smirked, "We really tore the place up, I mean it would have taken weeks to clean it all up again. But I got Daisuke with a chain, that's when I developed an affinity for them, wrapped it around him. He's an Oedo, same as me so it wouldn't have held him for long, I just used it as a chance to stall him so I could open the chest and steal the scroll."

Tomoko held out her hand, "These hands can manipulate metal. Ever wonder how I control my chains so well? That's only partially skill, a lot of it is the metal responding to me and doing exactly what I want it to do. It's part of the reason why the Oedo make such good black smiths and why particularly strong willed Oedo, like myself and Daisuke, can make powerful Shinobi. The lock was pure metal and engineered so that any attempt to break it would cause traps to go off. Traps that would ruin the scroll, my 'boyfriend' warned me about those and told me I had to be very careful about opening the chest.

"So I lit up a torch so I could see what I was doing and I opened it carefully and found it was empty. Daisuke then made a really bad move and taunted me. Held out the scroll and said that he had it and the only way I'd get it was over his dead body. I decided to oblige him. Let me tell you if that workshop had been messed up before it was totaled once I got mad enough. But that didn't matter, as I fought with Daisuke I knocked over a the same torch I'd lit to see what I was doing to the chest. The fire wouldn't have spread very much, the workshop was designed to keep stray fires small and contained. I mean it's a blacksmith's workshop, there's almost always fire and a careless apprentice can make that a problem y'know?

"But see Diasuke and I had done such a good job of wrecking the place, leaving lots of flammables lying all over the place . . . and me, well you know how good I am with fire. I suddenly had the advantage and I used it. I set fire to everything in my attempts to kill-yes kill-my brother. In the end though I didn't pay attention to my surroundings and as the workshop burned down around my stupid head Daisuke ended up looking out for me yet again and saving me from some falling piece of roof.

"His reward was getting his leg trapped under the debris. Well I sort of forgot we were fighting, seeing my twin brother like that. So I helped him out. His leg was broken so I had to half carry half drag him out of the workshop . . . I set him down someplace safe and told him I'd get help."

Tomoko smirked wickedly, "I'd stopped fighting him but I hadn't given up on my little mission. I picked the scroll from Daisuke's pocket while I helped him out. As for getting help, well I figured the fire in and of itself would attract _enough _attention, I went to give the scroll to my guy. He took it, told me how incredibly grateful he was, promised me we'd be together forever, promised me a lot of things. Then he told me to pack my bags, since you know, as husband and wife we'd live together, He told me I'd move out that very night. Remember how I mentioned my being really stupid back then? Well while I was packing _he_ was running, he got the hell out of town with that scroll, a scroll which contained all the secret formulas of the Oedo clan."

Tomoko looked at the ground, Nao continued to watch her in silence, finding her body language told a story in and of itself. She was shaking now and it looked like she was about to start crying when she whispered "My father wasn't happy. I'd broken my brother's leg, burnt down the workshop and to top it all off I'd given one of his less promising students all the family secrets. What wealth our family did have would have to go into repairing the shop just so we could continue to make a living and if that weren't bad enough I'd disgraced him in front of the entire clan over a school girl's crush.

"So since my bags were already packed he suggested I find someplace else to live. He meant with one of my aunts or uncles but none of them would have me. I was a delinquent, a trouble maker. So that's why I live alone. I have this insane idea that if I can make it on my own and somehow work up the money to pay for all the damage to the workshop my dad might take me back, might forgive me, you know? But . . . that's not going so well. So that's it, that's why I live by myself, that's why I have to pay bills and Daisuke doesn't. You can talk now. Now that you know all about me, now that you know the real, stupid me."

Nao frowned, "That's silly. What makes you think that story tells me who the real you is? I already know the real you." He said. "The real Tomoko is a nice, thoughtful girl who helped build me up from next to nothing without ever asking anything for herself in return. She's a girl who taught me to have faith in my own abilities no matter what Yomiko might say or how much Kotaro might overshadow me. Regardless of what she may have done in the past the Tomoko I know is smart, not stupid. Moreover she's very pretty, any nineteen year old country skipping rat would have been a fool to skip town without her. But you know I'm glad he did. Because if you'd run off with him I wouldn't have met you. I wouldn't have you as a friend."

Tomoko smiled weakly and wiped a tear from her eye, "Shut up, you're . . . going to make me cry."

Nao turned around, "Well you can cry and I just won't look." He said. "There's nothing wrong with crying."

Tomoko sniffed and said "I know. But I just don't want anyone to see me doing it." She said. "Nao . . . you're a good friend. And I'm glad I told you this but . . . can you promise you won't tell your teammates? You wont tell anyone?"

"Yeah." Nao said. "Just one question . . . if you ever got that scroll back, do you think your parents would forgive you?"

"I don't know." Tomoko whispered. "I've thought about it. But I don't think I can."

Nao cracked his knuckles, "Any idea where this rat ex-boyfriend of yours went to?" He asked.

"Yeah, but don't call him my boyfriend. If I ever decide to have a boyfriend . . . he's not going to be such a jerk."

Nao smirked. Maybe _he'd _be that guy someday.

Tomoko whispered "Anyway I don't know for sure . . . but the war had just started when he took the scroll I stole for him. About six months later we started noticing the Iwagakure Shinobi were using _much _more powerful weapons. Y'know what I'm saying?"

Nao nodded.

So there just wasn't any way Tomoko was going to earn her family's forgiveness by getting the scroll back. Not unless she could go into Iwagakure and hunt the guy down.

Maybe he could help her think of something else. He put his hands on his hips and said "You're an incredible person, and a top rate shinobi. And someday your parents are going to see that. In fact I'll bet that day will come a month from now . . . when you become a Chuunin, Tomoko. I know you can do it, you know you can do it. You just need to show everyone else what you and I already know." Nao told her.

She sniffed and whispered "You're a good friend Ishida Naomasa."

Nao smiled. Yeah, he _was _a pretty good friend. And that made him happy. Being a good friend to Tomoko had made him feel . . . well, as if he'd made a difference.

Being a good friend . . . felt good.

Tomoko stood up, "You're going to be a Chuunin Nao. You're even more talented than I am, I just hate to admit it. I can't believe you're not from a Shinobi clan because you're just so . . . well, _good._ You're like a ninja prodigy and to tell you the truth it makes me a little jealous. Promise me one thing though Ishida Naomasa. If we have to fight in the exam . . . promise you won't hold back. Even if it means using the very jutsus I taught you against me, promise me you won't hold back."

Nao shook his head, "Are you kidding? Me hold back? If I don't throw everything I've got at you you'll kill me for sure!"

Oedo Tomoko smirked and swept her braided hair over her shoulder, "Damn straight, kid. Don't forget it."

Naomasa didn't know if someday he and Tomoko would become a couple, or if they'd just be friends. He was still too young to really understand love but he _really_ felt like if it were love he were feeling for Tomoko it should be more intense. This was more like a very strong respect. The sort of respect he felt for Shikamaru-sensei or Uzumaki-sensei. Tomoko was his teacher.

But it was different than the respect he felt for Shikamaru and Naruto too because in a lot of ways Tomoko was also a kindred spirit. But she'd been expelled from her clan and she couldn't go back. Nao had run away, he _could _go back, he would be _welcomed _back, he had a luxury Tomoko would probably kill for and for a long time he'd taken it for granted.

He'd been foolish . . . and maybe just a little selfish. Maybe seeing his family at the exams . . . wouldn't be so bad after all.

And maybe Tomoko wouldn't be the only person proving to their clan their strength once the tournament began.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note:** Originally Tomoko's story was written as a short story but I liked having her tell it much better, it takes less time and allows a little bit of thought interjection by Nao in some places. It may not be the best chapter, and maybe I could have told the story better with greater detail, but I like it.

And this is the bonus chapter for the story reaching a shocking 400 reviews (well we're a bit early for 400, but I felt like doing it early again, besides I can never post over the actual weekends) it seems like not too long ago I posted the 300 review bonus chapter. Many thanks go out to all my kind reviewers.


	67. A Family Game?

**Chapter Sixty-Seven**

Hanabi stared at the rather large horses that would be pulling the Daimyo's carriage.

"Future madam Hattori," Lord Taiko said, leaning out of a window of his rather impressive vessel, "I do not think it would be appropriate for one in your condition to walk all the way to Konoha, there is room for one more and I do wish to speak to you on some rather important matters."

Hanabi frowned, room for _one_ more meant that Tetsuo wasn't invited. She glanced at her fiancé who shrugged, "Go ahead. This gives Takumi and I a chance to talk business." Tetsuo said.

Takumi looked surprised, "Oh right . . . the thing we spoke about yesterday."

Hanabi nodded and got into the large carriage, but she wondered what business Tetsuo and Takumi had to talk about. Tetsuo hadn't really said much to Takumi last evening and she couldn't recall any business being discussed.

The carriage seemed strangely foreign, normally a daimyo would be carried by a human drawn contraption called a palanquin or something of that nature. For a longer trip he might ride, but rarely did a daimyo mix the two into a palanquin drawn by horses.

Perhaps the trip was too long for human servants and Taiko himself disliked riding, he did seem like the indoors type.

Hanabi was also impressed by how large the carriage was, Taiko himself took up an end large enough to seat two people, across from him sat the Raikage, who moved over a bit so that Hanabi could sit next t him without being too uncomfortably close.

"We'll discuss more on the matter later, Raikage-sama." Taiko said, and the Raikage nodded. Taiko smiled at Hanabi, "As for you, well to begin I want to thank you for helping me bring peace to our countries."

Hanabi bowed her head slightly and Taiko laughed, "No, no my friend. You are hereby forbidden to bow, henceforth all shall bow _to you_. Except of course for myself, I forbade myself from bowing some time ago. You and I shall simply . . . stand."

O--kay. That was a bit of an unusual proclamation, but it also seemed like it should be a high honor and Hanabi didn't want to seem ungrateful.

"Hyuga Hanabi, soon to be Hattori Hanabi, I must ask you a question. You are a Jounin of Kumogakure now, and as such you are expected to perform certain duties upon request. You've already performed one rather unpleasant one, I wonder if I can persuade you to perform another for myself and the Raikage."

Hanabi frowned, "What is it, my lord?"

"Oh nothing too strenuous, I have not forgotten that you are with child and I would not ask you to do anything too physically challenging. I would like for you to travel with me to see the Daimyo of the land of fire. As a Hyuga having you at my side would be . . . quite a statement. I wish to ask for his daughter's hand you see and showing that I truly have befriended Konohagakure might help in the matter. I know you wish to witness the Chuunin exams and I assure you that this matter will be handled before the tournament even begins."

Hanabi nodded, she had no real choice, this was her new Daimyo speaking, and her commander the Raikage had apparently already approved it. She was a soldier and she had a duty to perform, if that duty meant once again appearing before some royalty she'd do it.

At least this time she'd only be a decoration, she would not have to say anything. Or kill anyone.

Taiko smiled brightly, "Very good. I do so look forward to seeing Konohagakure again, I've not been since I was a small boy. And I understand one of your younger cousins is competing in the exam, do you suppose she will be participating in the tournament?"

"I'm sure she will, my lord." Hanabi nodded.

"Then I do hope to see her compete against our own Hattori Kasumi. It would be interesting to witness, I daresay the last time a Hattori and a Hyuga would ever battle one another if I've anything to say on the matter." Taiko said.

Hanabi smiled, if only she could believe that a reasonably friendly tournament would be the last time the Hattori and Hyuga would fight. The two were sworn enemies and with the two greatest members of the Hattori clan in Konoha-for Hattori Hanzo had come along as well-she doubted rogue members of her family would be able to resist the urge to strike out at their hated enemies.

Which was why, though she dreaded it, it was vitally important that she speak to her father. She had to make sure that no rogue clan members were allowed the opportunity.

* * *

Shikamaru sat across from his daughter in front of a Shogi board. They weren't technically playing the game of course, but sitting in front of the board helped him to think. Seeing her helped him to remember what he should be thinking about.

Someday he'd teach her to play though.

He moved a piece just to pass time as he considered how best to root out the spy and keep his daughter safe. Keeping her with him at all times was not an option nor would _that _be totally safe.

The little child sitting across from him lurched forward and Shikamaru was afraid she was going to fall, he reached out for her but she actually shoved a piece forward.

She'd moved the same piece he had in exactly the same manner.

He smiled, what a clever, observant little . . .

Then she moved another piece, then she put one in her mouth.

"No-no-no-no, don't eat that Sumiko-chan, don't uh . . . bad girl. Bad!" Shikamaru said, prying the piece from his daughter's mouth.

"Bad girl? What is she the family cat?" Temari yawned, coming into the room she glanced Shikamaru's way and stared. "Are you forcing our daughter to play shogi with you?"

"No, I was just thinking." Shikamaru said, finally prying the piece away from Sumiko's mouth.

Temari sat down across from him and put Sumiko on her lap, "Don't eat your soldiers, Sumiko-chan, it's bad for morale. All right dear future husband, I guess I've got to put you in your place for challenging our daughter. Watch carefully Sumiko, mommy will show you how it's done."

The child _did _watch with something of a pout as Temari returned her pieces to their starting positions and then made her first move.

Shikamaru smirked, "Watch carefully Sumiko, your mom's going to lose so quickly it'll make her head spin."

"Care to wager then?" Temari asked. "The winner gets to go after that slime who threatened out daughter."

Shikamaru shook his head, "Fist of all we're a family now, and we'll viciously kill our enemies _together_ from now on. Second of all, let's not talk about that in front of her."

Temari nodded. She smiled, "Remember Strip Shogi?" She asked.

Shikamaru could feel himself turning red, "No, I don't."

"I do. It was what, our second time, wasn't it? The first time had been so spur the moment we didn't know how to initiate a second round and then you come up with the idea of making me strip every time I lost a piece. You pervert."

"And I lost that game." Shikamaru smirked.

"Guess you couldn't stay focused when a beautiful young woman is sitting right across from you in barely anything buy her underwear, can you?"

"That had nothing to do with it." Shikamaru said, but he remembered that'd had _everything _to do with it.

Temari smiled and put one of her pieces in an incredibly vulnerable position, "Want to play by those rules again, Shika-kun?"

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed, "Our daughter is right on your lap."

Temari looked surprised for a second then looked down at her lap and saw Sumiko staring at the game board. "Uh . . . yeah she is. Hey Sumiko, isn't it your bedtime yet?"

The little girl looked confused now, Shikamaru smirked at the noontime sun. Temari chuckled uneasily, "Naptime, it's your naptime Sumiko-chan."

"Leave her alone, there's plenty of time for delinquent variations of shogi when she's asleep or with her grandparents or aunt and uncle."

"Hmm, but I want to be naughty _now_." Temari said, seductively licking her lips.

"Don't teach our daughter to whine." Shikamaru said, and made his move.

Temari kissed Sumiko on the forehead, "See daddy gets grumpy when he knows he's losing."

"That's not true, and we're only two moves in." Shikamaru smirked.

"I know. Sad how quickly I can beat you, isn't it?" Temari smirked back, and slowly deliberately she loosened her kimono, exposing some but not a great deal of her breasts.

Shikamaru scoffed, "You can't do that in front of Sumiko."

"Do what? Oh it's so hot in here, I'm just getting some air." Temari said with a superior grin, lightly fanning herself.

Shikamaru sighed and tried to focus on the game, "If you think a little cleavage is going to help you claim victory you're sadly mistaken," he told his bride-to-be.

But even as he said it he was staring at her chest and wondering if there were any available babysitters of appropriate strength to watch and protect his daughter for a couiple of hours.

No! No he needed to keep focused, Temari probably didn't realize how crucial the line of thought she was interrupting was.

He sighed, this woman of his . . .

"It's your move honey, are you going to make it or give up and keep staring at my chest you filthy pervert?" Temari asked in a bored voice.

Shikamaru shuddered, how long had he been watching her now?

He wasn't the sort of guy to get distracted, he should be able to rise above this, it was just a bit of cleavage anyway, most teen idols showed more skin.

But this was _Temari's _skin, so it was of special significance to him.

He sighed, this was pretty much why he'd lost that game of strip shogi all those years ago and he'd thought that years later, having been with Temari long enough, having slept with her often enough he'd be somewhat immune to her feminine wiles.

The look in her seductive eyes told him he wasn't, he never would be, and she knew it.

He gulped, this was going to be a hard game to win.

"Hey!" Naruto cried suddenly, jumping into the room, "Came to see how you guys were doing, what with what happened last night, you guys cool?" Temari suddenly covered up but Sumiko continued watching the game as if a large spot of orange hadn't just invaded their living space uninvited, but certainly not unwelcome.

In fact Shikamaru saw a solution to at least one problem in Naruto. "Well if it isn't Nartuo. Just the man I've been looking for." Shikamaru said.

"You were looking for him?" Temari asked, putting her right hand on her head with a sigh, and releasing Sumiko who attacked the board again.

"Really? Because it doesn't look like you're looking for anyone, it looks like you're playing board games with your girlfriend while your kid tries to eat one of the pieces."

"Fiancé." Temari corrected, then looked surprised, "Wait, _what_? Sumiko-chan!"

Shikamaru glanced at Sumiko, who had indeed laid hold to another piece and shoved it in her mouth while her mother was distracted by Naruto.

Shikamaru quickly used his shadow possession jutsu and then mimed removing the piece from his mouth, Sumiko mimicked him with a confused and somewhat concerned look in her eyes.

"That's better. Now stop doing that." Shikamaru told his daughter. He turned around and glanced at Naruto, "Anyway Naruto, Temari and I are discussing strategies to keep our daughter safe, playing Shogi is helping us clear our minds, but as you can see it's difficult to stay focused with Sumiko so hungry for the little wooden pieces."

"You just ate too." Temari scoffed.

"She's just a baby, they like to put things in their mouths and explore that way. At least that's what Sakura-chan said once, dattebayo." Naruto said.

Shikamaru nodded, "Yes see, you already know a lot about babies, Naruto. So I need you to watch Sumiko for . . ." He glanced at the game board, then glanced at Temari, evaluating how long he'd need to finish with the both of them, "roughly four hours."

"Wh-what? Me?" Naruto gawked.

"Yeah, him?" Temari squeaked, "We can watch Sumiko!"

"We can but we're too focused on other things right now." Shikamaru said, "Anyway I can't think of a single person with whom our daughter would be safer in this whole village." Shikamaru said.

Naruto beamed, his ego sufficiently stoked he said "Hey yeah, I'm all over it, if I have any trouble or questions I can ask Sakura-chan, or that girlfriend of Kankuro's since they're pretty knowledgeable, you guys have nothing to worry about, dattebayo!"

Temari frowned and glanced up at Naruto, then at Sumiko who seemed to have given up on eating game pieces and was now focusing on Naruto, the look on her face was so incredibly neutral.

"Fine . . . but if you have any trouble, _any _trouble, you get Sakura-san or Syako right away, don't attempt to remedy anything by yourself. Do not give her any sort of medication for any sort of ailment she might seem to have. If a single one of her bones is broken I'm coming after you in the night, if she has a bloody nose when she gets back I'll come after you in the day, and if the first word she speaks is dattebayo I'll kill you outright." Temari said.

Naruto looked nervous now, probably not because of Temari's threat, which Shikamaru could tell had only been two-thirds serious, but likely because he was now considering that under his charge this little child might just suffer broken bones, or a bloody nose or even begin to say dattebayo.

Shikamaru shook his head, "She'll be fine, Temari-chan. We have things to discuss."

Temari nodded and got up, she approached Naruto, then viciously struck him in the stomach.

"Yarg! What was that for?" Naruto asked, putting a hand on his stomach.

Shikamaru was surprised that Temari had only managed to knock the wind out of Naruto. Had she struck _him _like that he'd be doubled over in pain, quite possibly crying or bleeding from the mouth.

Naruto just sort of seemed annoyed by it, not totally hurt, but Temari nodded and handed Sumiko over to him, "I had to be sure you weren't an enemy using the transformation jutsu." Temari explained.

"I . . . see." Naruto said, coughing and holding his stomach. "Well uh . . . good luck with your plans, datte-" He said, but cut himself off from adding a "dattebayo" at the end.

Sumiko glanced back at her mother and father and reached out for Temari.

Temari seemed unsure for a second, then said "Uh, have fun Sumiko-chan, your sort-of-uncle is going to take you to see Syako-chan."

Sumiko's reaching out became more frantic, whether it was due to what Temari said, or the fact that her mother was clearly not reaching back Shikamaru wasn't sure. Maybe it was both.

"Your mom's wrong kid, I'm actually taking you out for ice cream." Naruto said with a wink.

"Hmm, ice cream is good, It tastes much better than wooden shogi pieces, Sumiko-chan." Shikamaru said.

Sumiko looked confused, and hesitant for a moment, then stopped reaching out for her mother.

Temari seemed like she wanted to reach out now, a mother with seperation issues, and who could blame her after what had happened the last time she'd left Sumiko under someone else's care? But she smiled bravely and waved to her daughter, "Can you wave good-bye, Sumiko-chan? Wave?" Temari tried.

The girl giggled as if her mother were doing a hilarious comedy routine, but didn't bother to wave.

Shikamaru waited until Naruto and Sumiko were gone before saying to Temari, "All right we've got four hours, so that means we've got to end this game quickly if we're going to have any time for-"

Temari kicked the board away, "How's that for quickly?"

"Well thought-out my love, now we've got to clean these up before our daughter gets back and finds a wooden buffet lying on the floor." Shikamaru said evenly.

"It's always something." Temari scoffed, she used a summoning jutsu, Tombugiri appeared.

"Oy! You'er not my boss anymore!"

"Clean up these shogi pieces, all of them, every last one and put them away properly or I'll be your boss again. Once you're done though you can terrorize Shikamaru's team."

"That's a deal!" The little weasel snickered and began gathering up game pieces.

"Clever." Shikamaru admitted.

"You, stop wasting time! Four hours isn't a whole lot!" Temari commanded.

"Yeah, I just love it when you get all bossy and controlling. Makes me wonder why I don't just marry Ino though, I can get all that from her." Shikamaru said.

"Next time ask for six, or seven--wait, you were gonna do what? You can _what_? Oh it's going to be rough tonight you . . . you . . . _you_." Temari said, shaking her fist but seemingly unable to think of something to call Shikamaru.

"How rough are we talking here?" Shikamaru asked. "Because I was only kidding."

Temari didn't respond with words, she just jumped on Shikamaru.

"Oy get a room!" Tombugiri complained.

* * *

Naruto walked with Sumiko sitting on his shoulders. It seemed the most efficient way to do things since she was too short to walk with him-he wasn't even totally sure she could walk yet, what with all the laziness genes she'd gotten from her father she might not learn until she was seven-and he ignored the somewhat annoying tugging on his hair by the child who found it a fascinating toy.

"All right kid, let's find you some ice cream so the first promise your almost-uncle ever made to you doesn't end up being a lie, and then let's try to find some safe activity to occupy our time for the next four hours . . ."

Naruto noticed a blur of movement and quickly pulled Sumiko off his shoulders just in time for her to avoid being hit in the face by a ball. A pair of bratty looking kids ran by after their ball, one shouted an apology, the other just screamed not to let it get into the street.

Naruto gulped, he hoped keeping this kid safe and unscratched wouldn't be harder than he'd thought it would . . .

Maybe he needed some backup. Sakura-chan would be good, she was a medical ninja and she could just repair anything that went wrong with the kid.

Yeah, he'd get Sakura-chan. It could be like a date or something, women couldn't resist a guy with a baby, right? Of course he'd need to actually _find _Sakura-chan and that might be a dangerous quest with a baby who felt more and more fragile by the second.

"H-hi Naruto-kun. Wh-what are you doing with Temari-san's baby?" Hinata asked, Naruto glanced over and spotted her sitting on a park bench looking rather shy as usual. She was somewhat averting her gaze from him, and he was pretty sure she was blushing.

He thought about it a bit and said "Say Hinata, you're a pretty awesome medic, right? You want to go out for ice cream with us?"

Naruto felt sorry for asking the moment the words escaped his mouth. Not because Hinata would be unwelcomed company, but because he always felt guilty for making her faint whenever he asked her questions like that. He thought she might be anemic or something.

And sure enough Hinata looked as if she were about to swoon.

But she fought it and nodded her head vigorously, "Y-yes!" she almost shouted, "I-I'd love to!"

"Oh . . . cool." Naruto grinned.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	68. Their Ways

**Chapter Sixty-Eight**

Hinata stared at her bowl of ice cream, not totally sure what to do with it.

The baby, Sumiko, was finishing her second cup of soft frozen yogurt, Naruto was halfway through his third serving and Hinata's first . . . well it was starting to melt.

She didn't want to eat too fast though, Naruto-kun might think she was a pig. But she didn't want to eat too slowly because then he might think her too dainty.

It made her so mad, he'd finally asked her out on a date-kind of-and she'd finally managed not to faint at the question. Now she was acting like dead weight.

"Hey are you going to eat that? It's starting to look gross, you want me to order you a new one?" Naruto asked.

He was so generous, she started to blush. She took her spoon and with a trembling hand scooped up and ate a huge scoop.

It was so melted it slid right down her throat, but not without a bit of trouble.

She gagged and Naruto laughed. It wasn't a taunting, teasing laugh, it was a good natured friendly laugh.

He patted her on the back, his touch sent tingles through her spine, she almost choked on her own tongue, "Take it easy Hinata, we've got another three and a half hours!"

Three and a half hours? He'd really planned this out, hadn't he? She was so flattered . . . she blushed and said "N-Naruto-kun, I'm so . . . happy to be here with you."

Naruto laughed and said "No problem, no problem, datteb-" He said then stopped.

She noticed he'd been avoiding saying 'dattebayo' ever since their date began.

She glanced over at Temari-san's daughter and said "N-Naruto-kun, you never answered me before. Why do you have this baby with you?"

"I'm babysitting, you know since Shikamaru and I are such good friends I'm practically like an uncle to this kid. So I'm watching her while her parents try to think of a way to keep her safe."

"Safe? From what?" Hinata asked.

"Didn't Neji tell you? There's an Iwagakure spy in the village, one with a grudge against Temari and Shikamaru, he wants to kill this kid."

Hinta gasped, the very thought of it sent shivers down her spine, and not the pleasant kind that Naruto-kun's touch did, but the unpleasant and frightening sort.

Who could want to harm such an adorable baby? "You seem pretty calm about this." Hinata said.

"Not even the Tsuchikage could hurt this kid while she's under my protection." Naruto said, "I'd love for this spy to take another crack at it, if he wants to die that is."

Oblivious to the sensitive nature of the subject being discussed Sumiko cheerfully finished her second small cup of ice cream and raised it up for Naruto to see.

The two had established that this was the way to ask for more ice cream. Trying to crawl over the counter was not.

"Are you sure, kid? Two cups is a lot of yogurt for a pint sized pixie like yourself."

The girl raised her cup higher as if Naruto must not have seen it the first time it was offered.

"I think she's saying _she'll _tell _you _when she's had enough." The vendor smiled.

"All right, all right." Naruto said, "If you absolutely must, but don't go telling your parents I spoiled you . . . heh, well that goes without saying doesn't it?" Naruto chuckled.

Hinata blushed because she'd just thought it'd be nice to spend an evening like this with Naruto and . . . well, maybe a few children of their own?

Hinata realized her own ice cream needed to be finished so she went to work on it, still psyched about how incredible it was to be sharing this afternoon with Naruto.

"We'll make this one on the house," The vendor said, handing Sumiko her third cup, "Cute kid. You guys must be very proud."

"Hah! Nah, she's not ours, heck Hinata-chan and I aren't even a couple, we're just friends!"

Yeah . . . just friends. Hinata sighed, Naruto wouldn't even notice her and she didn't feel like she'd ever have the courage to tell him how she felt, just friends was _lucky_ compared to the alternative of him completely ignoring her.

It sort of annoyed her really, though she worshiped the ground he walked on his whole life he'd wanted to get the attention of others, yet he'd never noticed _her_, the one person who'd _always _been paying attention to him.

Just friends.

Well it was better than nothing she supposed.

* * *

That next morning Yomiko stared at the twin blades in her hands. During the exam they'd responded to her without her even using chakra . . . 

So why didn't they work now?

Maybe it only happened during emergencies?

At least that was a possibility, therefore she'd put herself intentionally in harms way hoping the blades would respond.

She'd placed herself in front of city's main gate. When it opened in exactly thirty seconds she'd be smacked in the face and lose all her teeth, or the blades would react and do something really awesome that'd blow up the whole gate or something.

Technically she could also step out of the way of the gate, she didn't want to put herself in an _inescapable _danger, that'd just be stupid. Of course what she was doing might have been better planned out, maybe there were more dangerous escapable dangers out there to boot.

So she waited, counted down in her head.

Nothing happened when she reached zero.

Okay, this was good, the gate would pop open at any second and she wouldn't be prepared so jumping out of the way would be much harder.

It had become a more serious peril now, all right!

She stood there, staring at the gate waiting for it to open and hit her In the face.

"Hey kid! Move out of the way so we can open the gate!" A man in a uniform shouted.

"I was curious to see when you'd move off by yourself but it's been ten minutes now and we've got a schedule to keep!" Another agreed.

Yomiko sighed.

"What the heck are you doing?" Shikamaru asked her, he was carrying Sumiko in one arm and a paper in another.

"I'm training."

"I'm your sensei, it's my job to train you, you look like you're staring at a door. C'mon." Shikamaru said.

"Shikamaru-Sensei can you teach me how to use the knives you gave me?" Yomiko piped. Shikamaru grinned. "What's so funny?" Yomiko demanded.

"Nothing . . . it's just there was a time when you'd have asked a bum on the streets before you asked me. Does this mean you finally respect me as a sensei?" Shikamaru grinned.

"Heck no, its just you had them since before I was born so I thought you knew how to use them."

"Nice." Shikamaru sighed, "Anyway that's what I was planning on teaching you today actually."

"What's the papers?"

"An excuse for Nao, and Kotaro. Seems it's just you and me today."

"What are they sick?"

"They're training with someone else." Shikamaru said, "To be honest I'm starting to get a little jealous."

"Who're they training with?" Yomiko asked.

"Well . . ." Shikamaru said.

* * *

Kotaro fell into the water with a splash. 

"Ah!" Anko cried, "You got me again, one more time and I'm gonna drown your sorry butt! This jacket isn't easy to wash you know, now get on your feet, I know your sensei taught you to do this!"

"I can walk on the water," Kotaro admitted, "But I can't fight on it that well, and you knocked me down!"

"Are you talking back to me?" Anko demanded of her son.

"No." Kotaro said quickly.

"Because if you were I'd-"

"No!" Kotaro pleaded.

"Good. Now lets try this again, from the top!" Anko cried and lunged forward, socking her son in the stomach.

He groaned and fell face down into the water with a splash, "Oh that's it!" Anko cried, "I'm coming for you Taro-kun, for yoouuu!" Her joking threat became an embarrassed scream as her son suddenly grabbed her ankle and tugged her underwater while he himself emerged and made a run for it across the pond's surface.

"You won't get far!" Anko shouted after him, "One of us is a Jounin, remember that!"

"What a pain in the ass!" Kotaro shouted as he ran, "Darn it I already tried that one!"

"_What _did you say, little mister?" Anko roared and she took off after him at top speed.

* * *

Yomiko nodded, she'd met Kotaro's mom once. She was really pretty, but also had a really . . . _intense_ personality. 

She hoped Kotaro came back alive.

"So what about Nao?" She asked, hoping the answer wasn't Naruto.

"Oh Nao?" Shikamaru scoffed, "Well he's . . ."

* * *

"You need speed," Hitomi said evenly, "To pull off my jutsu you need speed." 

"Why are you teaching me this? It seems more like Kotaro's kind of deal, he's good with earth jutsus." Nao asked. He was kind of reluctant to be alone with Hitomi, she made him think embarrassing thoughts.

"To be honest I wanted that Oedo girl, the status report I got from Iruka-senpai said that she's proficient with the Shadow Clone jutsu and the most proficient in her year with _fire _based Jutsus, and that's what this is. However she told me you're even better, so I'm teaching _you _while _she_ is at work." Hitomi said evenly. "You know the Shadow Clone Jutsu so that should help too."

Hitomi was quiet for a while then added "I'm no sensei, I'm not the best teacher all I can do is do the jutsu over and over again and hope you learn it by copying me, that's the only way I know to learn or to teach jutsus."

"Okay . . . so why're we in the forest?"

"To work on your speed." Hitomi said with a grin, she leapt up to a low hanging tree branch, "catch this . . . and don't let a single one sting you."

Nao didn't like the sound of that.

Hitomi hurtled a huge bee hive at him, it slammed into the ground and a swarm of very angry bees emerged.

Nao might have wet his pants, but he was too afraid to do even that. So he ran away, supposing that that was how he was supposed to improve his speed.

"I told you to catch it, now they're _really _mad! Oh, and if you're going to chicken out you can run faster, you don't have to wait up on me you know." Hitomi said, appearing next to him and easily jogging alongside him, "Swat them, swat them, don't _ouch_ that looked like it hurt, I told you not to get-_ouch_! C'mon kid you're a shinobi! Fighting bees without getting stung should be easy."

* * *

Shikamaru shrugged, "So if anything he's mostly on a date." 

"That's kind of a gross way to see it, I mean she's way too old for him sensei." Yomiko scoffed.

Shikamaru grinned, "See Sumiko-chan, that's called jealousy."

"I am _so _not jealous! Jeez sensei, first you think I like Kotaro and now you think I like Naomasa? That's messed up sensei, I'm twelve, I'm not into boys at all!"

Well she was . . . just not the ones on her team.

Actually . . . she couldn't really think of any guy she really liked . . . maybe she was into girls.

Maybe she was too young to have to worry about it, now look what Shikamaru-sensei had done, gotten her head all mixed up!

"So what're we doing?"

"I'm teaching you to use those knives of yours." Shikamaru said and he opened a door for Yomiko. She raised an eyebrow, and he said "Well go in."

"What kind of place is this, sensei?" Yomiko asked cautiously, "You're not selling me to a child labor shop are you? I'm not going to learn to use my knives by chopping wood for rich people's fires am I?"

Sumiko giggled and clapped her hands, Shikamaru shook his head "Yeah she _does _have a real impressive imagination, Sumiko-chan. Just walk inside, Sarutobi, you'll see what kind of place it is."

Yomiko gulped, that made her want to go in all the less.

She took a step into the darkened room and suddenly she felt warmth at her hips.

She quickly drew her twin knives and they caught fire-but didn't burn her-illuminating the darkened room.

A woman sat behind a counter, she looked Yomiko over and said "Hey . . . Shikamaru!"

Sumiko recognized the woman almost right away as Tenten, "Tenten-sensei!" Yomiko squeaked, "What are you doing here?"

"Tenten is the finest weapons master in all of Konoha, this is her shop." Shikamaru said, "Nobody knows weapons like Tenten. You can go to a blacksmith if you want something standard, or if you're knowledgeable enough to make a special order, but if you want something _extra _special, you come here."

"Oh stop advertising me in my own store, it's not going to get you a discount." Tenten grinned.

"Awe man, here I thought this was some cool place where my knives would act up and stuff." Yomiko said. "Hey, why's your store so dark?"

Tenten shrugged, "The windows are shut."

"Yeah but _why _is, I believe, what the girl wants to know." Shikamaru-sensei explained.

Tenten coughed into her fist and said a little shakily, "Neji promised to come see me for lunch today, and I wanted to surprise him."

"He's coming to where he knows you are, at a time you both agreed upon and you wanted to surprise him?" Shikamaru asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Or um . . . well . . ." Tenten said, twiddling her thumbs, "I uh . . . kind of was uh going to be doing it in a rather uh . . . _romantic _way. I was just in the middle of getting ready."

Yeah, Yomiko noticed all the candles lining the walls of the store. This Tenten would have had her work cut out for her lighting them all, but then there was a whole other hour until noon, which was when most people had their lunch.

Shikamaru-sensei smirked, "Nextt time you should hang a 'closed' sign up."

"It's not like I was going to be naked or anything! It was just a candlelight meal all romantic like and . . . hey, why should I explain myself to you? _You _explain yourself to me, what's brought you here? If something's wrong with Asuma's knives I don't do repairs." Tenten said, trying to save face by becoming aggressive.

Shikamaru smirked, "Sorry Tenten, we'll be quick, and we won't tell Neji you're surprising him. Anyway it's troublesome but I need to browse."

Tenten shrugged, "Fine."

Yomiko frowned, "I don't get it, what are we looking for?"

Shikamaru grinned and pulled down a pair of weird looking . . . things. "This." He said and he placed the items on the counter, "I'll take these." He told Tenten.

Tenten raised an eyebrow, "That didn't take long, did you already have an item in mind? I don't remember ever seeing you window shopping. Well anyway that's weird, I mean these aren't exactly your type of thing."

"Sure they are." Shikamaru said, picking up one of them, and Yomiko took a good look at it.

The blade came down over Shikamaru's hand sort of like her father's knives would hers if she held them underhanded, except when she did that her father's knives were sort of like brass knuckles, these blades were didn't merge with their hilt the way her father's did, these blades were sort of like a horse shoe.

They were long and sharp, black as night and serrated at their curves, as Shikamaru held it the knife grew dark and a black aura rose up from it as if it were defying the light emitted by Yomiko's two still burning knives.

"Well they're chakra knives, as you can see. Oedo clan Black Forge, the last pair made before the clan's workshop was burned down during that accident. But I mean they're mostly a decoration blade."

"They feel strong enough for combat." Shikamaru said.

"Well yeah, I mean you can stop a sword with that thing, but they're more like . . . punching daggers. You're not that physical of a person, I mean I don't think you'd be able to throw them or anything like that, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru-sensei smirked, "Don't worry Tenten, I'll be fine. How much do I owe you?"

Tenten shrugged, "Those things have been sitting there collecting dust, just take 'em if you think you can _really _use them."

"You're sure? They look expensive." Shikamaru said.

"Yeah, go ahead, just beat it before Neji shows up." Tenten said and gathered a bunch of matches which she lit by using a light fire jutsu and exhaling superheated air on them, then she threw them all like a flurry of senbon. Each match somehow stayed aflame as it flew through the air, and each one hit a candle, lighting it, and then extinguished itself as it slammed into the wall. "Pretty good, huh?" Tenen grinned at Yomiko, who was standing with her jaw hanging open as she watched the older lady's handiwork.

"Very impressive." Shikamaru-sensei said, setting Sumiko on the counter as he stowed the chakra knives on his belt where he used to keep the ones hed given to Yomiko. "Lets go Yomiko, hurry up before Neji gets here and we ruin the surprise."

"Yeah hurry!" Tenten said. She paused, then as they reached the door, "Hey wait a minute, is that why you wanted the knives? Because you knew no one else did and I'd give them to you for free to get you out of here fast?" Tenten cried after them.

Yomiko glanced up at her sensei who shook his head, "No I wouldn't swindle her like that, if she changes her mind later and want's money for them I'll pay her. I've wanted to get these for a while, I just didn't have any reason until now."

"So what're these, hand-me-downs?" Yomiko asked about her father's knives.

"Consider them an heirloom, anyway the only reason I need new knives is because those ones have become so integrated into my fighting style. Besides I'll need these to teach you how to use yours. We're about to do some serious taijutsu training."

Sumiko giggled and clapped her hands, "No, not you too, Sumiko-chan, but you'll get to watch." Shikamaru grinned.

Yomiko grinned at the idea of Sumiko trying to train with them, a tiny one year old whom-if she could walk, chose not to-trying to wield even a butter knife as two highly trained ninja practiced blade work was absolutely adorable in a bizarre kind of way.

She frowned though, "Sensei why is Sumiko-chan with us? I mean I'm glad she is but wont she distract you?"

"I'll use the shadow clone jutsu. Anyway don't worry about it, let's just say I've got a compelling reason to keep my daughter close lately."

"What about your wife?" Yomiko asked, "Can't she watch Sumiko?"

"She's not my wife yet. Anyway yy troublesome fiancée's training all three of her students today, I'm training just one. I convinced her it'd be too much stress to mind four kids so I got to take Sumiko. It's a chance for me and her to bond, she's too attached to her mother."

At the mention of her mother Sumiko did start looking around expectantly, then with resignation painted across her face stopped and gave a slight "humph"

Yomiko wondered if that counted as the kid's first word, Shikamaru smirked and said "Oh get over it you short little mama's girl."

"Why do you pick on your baby?" Yomiko asked.

"Because she's a troublesome woman--I mean I _do not _pick on my daughter." Shikamaru said.

Sumiko giggled and pulled on her father's hair.

"See?" Shikamaru asked with a smirk, "she picks on _me_."

"Parents who bully have children who bully." Yomiko said sagely.

"First of all that's wrong, secondly . . . I don't care. Let's just find a good place to train you--ouch!"

Sumiko tugged her father's hair again and giggled, Shikamaru sighed.

Yomiko put her hands in her pockets, she hoped Shikamaru-sensei taught her something cool so she wouldn't fall behind Nao and Kotaro.

* * *

Nao fell down onto the ground panting and covered in bee stings. 

Kotaro slumped over a park bench nearby, "You cannot _believe _the day I've had!" Kotaro grumbled, "I'm exhausted and I'm soaking wet!"

Nao stared at him for a moment, "I'm exhausted and covered in bee stings, Kotaro."

Kotaro stared at Nao for a moment, yeah those did look like bee stings. "Okay . . . let's just both agree to tell Yomiko we learned super killer moves and leave it at that." Kotaro said.

"Agreed." Nao nodded and went back to lying on the soft grass.

"Oh get up. I'll take you to see Miyuki and she'll fix you up." Hitomi said appearing suddenly "Hey, Hatake, maybe you could use some of my taining too."

"No, run while you still can!" Nao warned him.

Kotaro heard his mother shout "There you are you punk!" and Nao didn't need to tell him twice, he leapt off of the bench and ran, holding his side and panting.

Yeah, he'd tell Yomiko he'd learned a one hit knock out move or something.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Shikamaru's knives are based off of the ones used by Vin Diesel in _The Chronicles of Riddick_Disclaimer: I do not own _The Chronicles of Riddick,_ by the way the movie is not that old, but I dont know if many of you will remember those wicked cool blades Riddick holds on the movie poster . . . at least I think he's holding them on the movie poster, it may only be on the DVD case . . . anyway the twin pair he uses during the one-step-one-kill scene. I do not wish to discuss the movie, it in and of itself has nothing to do with this story.

I'm not trying to advertise the movie or imply any similarities between Shikamaru and Riddick. I just think the knives were by far too badass, in fact if I were a blade collector I'd probably try to get replicas to hang over my desk they're so badass. Shikamaru having given Asuma's to Yomiko gave me the perfect excuse to set him up with the new pair. (though now that I mention it Hitomi's goggles are also based off Riddick's . . . holy cow and here I don't like copying things!)

And since there seemed to be some positive response to the idea of a New Blood Website I'm looking into it, until then I've decided to leech off of the Forum provided by ever leeching off of our generous hosts. You should be able to reach them through my profile, discuss . . . whatever. Who should live and die, whether the Naruto aspect should be NaruSaku or NaruHina, what have you. I was also really curious about whom everyone's favorite original character might be so check them out. (Right now Akuma leads with one vote)

Have fun!


	69. The Sign

**Chapter Sixty-Nine**

Kakashi stared at the photographs of the crime scene, as did Sasuke, Sakura, and Shizune.

"All evidence suggests that the five dead children were killed by one another," Tsunade said in a soft voice, "There's no sign of the sixth body, except for a severed hand which we believe to be hers."

Kakashi wanted to vomit at the sight before him, "It doesn't feel right."

"No." Sasuke agreed, "But I don't know what you expect us to do about this. Kakashi-sensei and myself that is. We're no longer with the Anbu, and this seems to be their sort of fare."

"I asked our two remaining Sharingan users here because we have a complete list of all the jutsus these six children knew . . . between the two of you you've copied each one. So I want to know if _any _of them could have caused the devistation to the labyrinth that was caused."

"Oh of course," Sasuke said, "I can see that without even needing to know the jutsus. The marks on the walls are from senbon, a weapon favored by the rain country's shinobi. The scars on the walls look like slashes from this metal gauntlet, notice how there's always the same number close together," Sasuke said, pointing to several pictures, "It's entirely possible that these Genin did in fact kill each other. The sole survivor probably fled, thinking that all the blame would fall on her."

"That makes sense." Kakashi admitted.

"Indeed." Tsunade said, "But _that _damage to the labyrinth isn't what I was talking about, and never mind the fact that the girl would never have gotten out of the labyrinth without our knowing and we're certain she isn't still in there." Tsunade handed Kakashi a new piece of paper, "This is the damage I'm speaking of. Tell me what Jutsu might have done that."

Kakashi stared in confusion at the photograph and at first he didn't see what kind of damage Tsunade was talking about.

Had the Hokage gone off her rocker? She was rather old, it was possible.

And then he spotted it.

His eyes narrowed, "So subtle most would have missed it."

"And yet I think it was left there purposely for us to find." Tsunade said.

Kakashi handed the picture to Sasuke who stared at it for half the amount of time Kakashi had before slamming it down on the table, outrage in his eyes.

"It's a threat." Sasuke growled.

"More like a taunt, I think." Tsunade said evenly.

Kakshi looked at the picture beneath Uchiha's fist . . . he stared at the mark left on the crime scene . . .

The ground was singed beneath the water. The water coupled with the poor lighting made the mark almost invisible.

But it was a mark of a samurai's helm, a musical note on the brow. Kakashi knew what came to his mind the instant he looked upon it, and he knew who had left it.

"Hijiri reported that one Genin confessed to commiting the murders, have you questioned the Genin?" Kakashi asked.

"His sensei and mother refuses to allow it until the Raikage is present to mediate." Tsunade said, "But he's under house arrest, and checks in with a group of Anbu led by Aburame Shino, who incidentally has also placed countless bugs in the hotel room, he assures us that nothing is being pulled."

"When the Raikage arrives I want to be there to question the boy." Sasuke said.

"So do I." Kakashi nodded.

"I hoped you'd say that . . . because the Raikage's caravan passed a check point just two hours away, he'll be here very soon."

Kakashi nodded, he'd better go check on his son, make sure the boy's mother hadn't killed him yet.

* * *

Hanabi had insisted on being allowed to walk with her husband through the gates of Konoha, and lord Taiko had "graciously" allowed her to do so. 

She walked hand in hand with her finace as her former home came closer and closer.

"Wow . . . that gate's so big!" Takumi laughed, he sounded like an eager little boy about to enter a festival. It amazed Hanabi what a lust for life this man had, it was sort of annoying really.

He glanced at Hanabi and Tetsuo and said "I'm going to leave you kids to your own devices, I've _got _to sketch that gate."

"Sketch the gate?" Tetsuo blinked, "Takumi you're here to draw pictures?"

"Of course not, I'm here to support my favorite customers, but that doesn't mean I'm going to neglect a chance to make lasting visual memories." The older man smirked, and rushed off, Hanabi guessed to find a good place from which to sketch.

She shook her head, "He's nuts, isn't he?" She asked.

"Takumi? Maybe a bit. He's allergic to alcohol when he's stressed or upset he can't drink like everyone else does. So he finds other ways to deal with depression. Some people shop, or read books . . . he sketches things. Pointless things."

"He seems so cheerful. What's _he _got to be upset about?" Hanabi asked.

"You don't even want to know." Tetsuo shook his head with a light smile. "But anyway Hanabi, before we enter this city there's . . . something I've been meaning to ask you."

"What's that?" Hanabi asked.

Tetsuo was quiet for a moment, and then he whispered "Hanabi I . . . if you had to do something . . . that you knew was wrong--wait, let me try that a different way." Tetsuo's brow furrowed, a sign that he was deeply struggling with what he was trying to say. "If, in order to ensure peace you were forced to do something that the world might see as wrong, if you had to . . . say, kill a person who might not deserve to die, simply because that one death would prevent hundreds, maybe even thousands of others . . . maybe even a whole country, would you, could you do it?"

Hanabi knew she'd have to be careful how she answered this. "Tetsuo is something the matter?" Hanabi asked.

Her future husband shook his head slowly, "Please just tell me, Hanabi. If you were asked to do it, could you?"

"Yes." She said, remembering what she had done to the daimyo of the land of lightning. "I would kill one man without hesitation if it meant that thousands more would be spared. It's better that one man should perish than an entire nation." She said firmly.

She'd been rightto do what she'd done.

She had been _right_.

Was Tetsuo asking her about what had happened? Had he found out somehow?

"And Hana-chan . . . if I . . .if _I _were the one to kill that person who might not deserve to die . . . could you ever forgive me?" Tetsuo asked very, _very _softly.

Hanabi wasn't sure what was going on anymore, was he saying that he had to kill someone? "Yes!" She said without even thinking about it, "Because I can forgive you for anything. You're going to be my husband and the father of my child, we've been in love for far too long, endured far too much hardship to let something like that come between us."

Tetsuo looked very relieved all of a sudden, he smiled at her, it was a little forced, but it was a smile.

"Thank you Hanabi. Your words have helped me to make a very important decision."  
"So . . . why the strange questions?" Hanabi asked.

"Never mind that. It's nothing really. Lets just find Kasumi and congratulate her, then enjoy everything that Konohagakure has to offer."

Hanabi smiled, but inwardly she was terrified.

What was her beloved about to get himself into? How could she help him unless he told her everything?

* * *

Kaori frowned when she saw Takumi break off from the rest of the group and climb up a large boulder. 

Luckily Hikaru hadn't been keeping her on too tight of a leash, and was currently speaking to the Raikage, leaving her and Ami to their own devices during the meeting.

Kaori didn't know where Ami was, she didn't much care either.

She was by herself and free to investigate Takumi's odd behavior.

She followed him and phased through the rock he was now sitting on and appeared behind him.

"Good afternoon." Takumi said distractedly as he rummaged through his bag, "You haven't got a--ah here it is, never mind." He produced a pencil and a pad of paper and he began to very rapidly draw.

Kaori stared in confusion. In the past Takumi had only ever taken to sketching when he was upset about something he had done, or was about to do that had been terribly wrong. In the days before and after his resignation and their separation he'd sketched enough works to make a gallery.

"It's lovely." Kaori said with unintentional sarcasm.

"It's barely anything more than a blank slate, give me some time." Takumi said, seemingly unbothered by her rude tone.

She tried softening it a bit, she had no reason to be mean to him, "Something's the matter?"

"Something's always a matter, why single one thing out and call it _the _matter?" Takumi said with a light grin.

Kaori frowned, "What?" She asked.

"Never mind, it sounded funny in my head." Takumi said, his sketch rapidly taking form, Kaori was amazed at how quickly he managed to make such a detailed work of art.

She knelt down and looked over his left shoulder then said "You're bothered . . . has it got anything to do with Hattori Tetsuo? I've noticed you haven't left his side since we left the village."

"Noticed that did you? Anyway I've left his side plenty of times, you probably just weren't watching."

Kaori smirked, "I've hardly taken my eyes off of you Tak-kun." She said seductively. And it was true, she hadn't taken her eyes off of Takumi, but that was mostly due to the fact that he and Tetsuo seemed to be discussing, maybe even planning something and it was making Hikaru very nervous.

She didn't know why, Hikaru was confident he could kill Tetsuo at any time and Takumi wasn't a ninja any longer. They were probably planning some sort of treat or surprise for Team C, after all Tetsuo's sister was on the team, and Takumi had grown very fond of all three of the team's members.\

But if Takumi were planning something . . . she wanted to know what it was. Hikaru would be so pleased with her if she could find out he might even give her _permission_ to have an affair if the information was juicy enough.

She wondered if she'd have to use her "skill" to seduce this man. He used to love her, she didn't see why she should need to, and really she wondered if she'd be bold enough to attempt it.

She wanted him but she was too nervous, too afraid to take him.

Did he still want her?

Her heart always started to beat faster when he was around, even if she didn't know he was there at first. It was as if her senses were highly attuned to his presence and his mood. She often wondered if it were the same for him, he never seemed surprised to see her no matter how her skills in stealth improved.

She waited for him to say something to her obvious flirtation, but Takumi didn't really respond to what she said, he just kept sketching.

"What are you and Tetsuo talking about? If you don't mind my asking." Kaori whispered, using a bit of her skill to emphesize her desire to be answered.

She used the bloodline inheritance of her clan to control the flow of her own pheromones, a trick that had come in handy on nigh countless interrogations, subtly causing feelings of enamorous affection within her victim and causing them to desire her happiness above all else.

Takumi knew she could do it, he'd probably recognize it if she used too much force.

So she was subtle, just enough to get him to answer her, not enough to plan any enamored, or despicably lusty thoughts.

Takumi however remained focused on his sketch, but at length and likely from his own desire rather than her attempts at interrogation he told her "Tetsuo and I are talking about business, that's all. It's nothing for your master to worry about."

"My master?" Kaori blinked, immediately ceasing the use of her skill.

Had Takumi noticed it and realized what she was doing? Would he be angry with her? Had she ruined her chances of being with him again?

"I'm sorry, your boyfriend. I guess he thinks Tetsuo's asking me to poison his next bottle of sake or something, well he's not. It's all right, I wouldn't get rid of one of my most . . . amusing customers." Takumi said, though the way he said amusing suggested he didn't find Hikaru even remotely funny.

Kaori smiled and said "You know if you're planning anything you can tell me, I . . . that is I do hope you still trust me that much."

Takumi smiled as he came nearer to finishing his sketch, "What Tetsuo and I were discussing isn't of any relevance to you or Minoru, I'm not trying to cut you out of the loop-not that there's a loop-but Tetsuo asked that I not talk about our . . . plan, to anyone else."

Kaori nodded and wondered what she might do to loosen the young man's tongue.

Takumi suddenly and without any provocation on her part said "Kaori if I . . . that is . . . if I told you that I'd been asked to . . ." He was quiet for a long moment and then whispered "If someone asked you to do something you knew was wrong . . . in order to keep peace and order would you do it? If you knew you'd be selling your soul in the process, but helping to ensure that future generations . . . like Yuu, Kasumi and Masa could grow up without this terrible war hanging over their heads . . . would you do it?"

Kaori considered this and then she whispered "What has Tetsuo asked you to do?"

"What do you mean?" Takumi asked.

"You're transparent to me, Tak-kun. Who else but Tetsuo would ask you to do something stupid and wrong in order to preserve peace? If you don't want to tell me what it is that's fine . . . but you know I would do anything to keep Yuu from facing the horrors I've faced, to keep him from committing the sins I've committed in the name of a country that never has felt like my own. If I had to do something unspeakable I'd do it . . . and then I wouldn't speak of it. I'd try to forget it." Kaori took a deep breath, she was about to say something very stupid.

With what she had in mind she would be betraying Takumi . . . or Hikaru. Perhaps both. She whispered as if she spoke conspiracy, "If you really must do something unspeakable . . . and if there is danger involved I beg you to let me help you." She said uneasily, knowing that this was her chance to get all the information Hikaru could possibly want, and endear herself to Takumi.

Takumi closed his eyes for a moment as his sketch finished, "I . . . I can't. You don't understand, I havent been asked to do anything stupid or dangerous . . . I was just curious, it was . . . all hypothetical." He said. "Anyway the convoy is at the gate now, we'd better catch up to them."

Kaori frowned. Now she was hopelessly confused. She wasn't a simpleton, she knew he _had _been asked to do something, and yet when he'd tried to come out about it she'd done exactly what she suspected he would want and offered her aid.

But rather than encouraging him to tell her everything he'd shut up and denied anything was going on even though he had to know she wouldn't believe it. It was like taking two steps forward and six steps back.

She tried to think of something to say to salvage the situation, she smiled and said "It's a lovely drawing . . . it's better than the real thing."

"Huh?" Takumi blinked.

"That gate I see is just a gate, and the sketch is identical to it . . . but the small things show me what that gate looks like to you. While I see just a gate you see the symbols carved above it, you see the flowers growing nearby, the worn road that numberless people have traveled. I see a gate, you see more than that. It's interesting, and it's beautiful." She smirked, "Maybe someday . . . you might sketch me. I wonder what _you_ see when you look at me . . . I hope it's nothing too terrible." She said.

"Nah, only mildly horrifying." Takumi said with a smirk as he shoved his sketchpad and his pencil back into his pack and leapt down from the boulder he sat on.

Kaori smiled . . . only mildly horrifying? Then there was a lot about her that he wasn't acknowledging . . . because of what she'd become and the things she'd done the young Jounin had discovered that nothing scared her more than herself. In truth she gave her own self nightmares.

* * *

Takumi trudged along, trying to catch up to Tetsuo. 

"Mildly horrifying . . . mildly horrifying." He mouthed to himself, too amazed by the stupidity of his own words to waste breath repeating them aloud.

Why would he talk to her like that? She'd been trying to be nice, and granted he'd sensed she had an ulterior motive that'd been no reason to insult her even if she hadn't been offended.

_Idiot! Idiot! _He thought to himself. He always said the wrong thing to Kaori.

Ever since they'd broken up it was hard to know what to say to her. "Thank you, I would love your help with this problem of mine" would have worked for her offer of assistance.

He always thought of the right thing to say long after the fact.

_Idiot._ He decided. But it didn't matter. Pretty soon nothing he said would matter because pretty soon he'd be dead and blessedly free of making such stupid mistakes.

He wouldn't mind drawing Kaori first though, he glanced over his shoulder at her.

She really was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen.

He should have told her that.

But it was too long after the fact.

* * *

Kotaro was panting, but he was successful. 

"Good job, kid." His mother told him, "I guess your sensei hasn't been slacking off as much as I thought."

Kotaro smirked, "Shikamaru-sensei's a great sensei when he actually trains us."

Anko smiled, "All right, lets get out of here. I'm hungry, let's find some dinner."

"H-hello Kotaro!" Kyoko squeaked, and Kotaro froze in his tracks.

Anko raised an eyebrow, "Who's this?"

Kotaro turned towards Kyoko and he was shocked.

She was wearing red instead of purple for starters, a red kimono with a green sash that matched her eyes.

Her hair was let down, it was styled after the Hokage's actually, she looked really pretty.

Well . . . that was an understatement, she looked stunning, beautiful.

"Are you ready for our date?" Kyoko asked.

"A _date_?" Anko grinned, "Why you little brat, going around dating without my permission?"

Kotaro shrugged, "You blame me?" He asked quietly so that Kyoko wouldn't hear it. Maybe his mother would ground him and he wouldn't have to go . . . even though he sort of wouldn't mind now.

"No I don't." Anko admitted, "She's very pretty. Have fun."

"What, you're not mad? you're not going to ground me?" Kotaro asked.

"No, I think its healthy for you to have interest in young girls, especially cuties like her. Oh but you _have _been training hard . . . you need a bath."

"What?" Kotaro asked, then he realized they were still over the water.

His mother shoved him under the water, was she going to drown him before he could have his first kiss? What was this? She was a lunatic!

"There, now you won't smell like sweat!" Anko said.

"Yeah, I'll just be soaking wet and smell like the pond!" Kotoaro cried.

"Oh you big baby, women love the smell of pond scum." Anko said and she poofed away.

Kotaro sighed. That mother of his . . . "Not cool." He decided.  
Hey . . . maybe that'd work.

He swam over to the bank and smiled weakly at Kyoko, she whipped out her fan-he wondered why she was carrying it with her-and suddenly swept it towards him, he was caught in a whirlwind, spinning around insanely.

It lasted for moments but it felt like an eternity, this girl was nuts!

He fell to the ground and coughed, "What was that all about? I havent even done anything to you yet!" He complained.

"I was just drying you off!" Kyoko said cheerfully, "Tonight has to be perfect!"

Kotaro felt suddenly uneasy, "Why? You're not going to sacrafice me to some dark power are you?" He asked.

"What? No! But look at the moon! My mother always said that a full moon that glows a soft shade of blue is a Lover's Moon, it makes everyone feel romantic, and any date you go on will be perfect!"

"Then it shouldn't have mattered that I was wet, the date would have been perfect anyway." Kotaro complained.

"My mother wasn't _always _right about _everything_, I'm not taking any chances!" The redhead said happily, taking Kotaro's hand and leading him away, "Come on, let's go! We can have dinner at that ramen place, it's highly recommended, and I've seen _the _Uzumaki Naruto eat there plenty of times so it must be good!"

Kotaro didn't say that that was just because Naruto was a ramen addict, he wouldn't ruin this night for Kyoko. Besides, hanging out with her . . . might be kind of fun.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	70. Lovers Moon I

**Chapter Seventy**

Tomoko yawned, a long tiring day of work finally finished.

And the last she'd have at the barbecue for a while, the manager had ordered her to take the rest of the month off so that she could train for the final exam.

She frowned when she realized she'd been too excited at the prospect of nonstop training to bother to ask if this would be a paid vacation . . . she doubted it.

But then she could sell the rest of Saizo's books to make up the rent for her off month.

She'd been sort of considering reading them at some point, this Jiraiya was supposed to have been a master shinobi, she'd wanted to see if that was reflected in his reputedly fantastic yet somewhat adult books.

At age fifteen Tomoko felt herself mature enough to read an adult book without getting a nose bleed, she knew all about the birds and the bees, and it wasn't like she'd get grounded for reading dirty books anyway.

But then training was more important than reading, and so was rent so to the pawn shop they'd go.

As she exited the restaurant she spotted a surprising sight, Kurai and Shiroi.

Well it wasn't a surprise to see them together, they usually were lately. Shiroi spent almost all of her time with Kurai, and practically none of it with Tomoko. It made her just a little resentful of Kurai, who did he think he was snatching her best friend away?

Nevertheless what surprised her was that the two seemed to be on a date. They were walking together hand in hand and though everyone had more or less decided the two were a couple they had yet to show any sort of public displays of affection (or at least Kurai had) and they had never been on a date.

This was rather bizarre, Tomoko thought. But then it wasn't any of her business.

They came up to her and Shiroi said in the most bubbly, cheerful, almost intoxicated voice, "Hey Tomo-chan! Did you just get off work?"

"Uh, yeah." Tomoko shrugged.

"Good, good, we were hoping we'd catch you." Kurai said.

"What do you need?" Tomoko asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Nothing, just to say hi." Shiroi giggled.

Tomoko raised her other eyebrow at that. Did Shiroi know how idiotic that statement had been?

Or maybe Tomoko was unduly aggressive because she was jealous, who the heck cared? She kept her annoyance from being visible as she said "Well, hi back at the two of ya."

Kurai shook his head, "Actually she's being obnoxious," he said and Tomoko failed to hold back her agreeing smirk, "we were actually wondering, since you're no doubt weary after such a long hard day of work, if you'd like to join us for the evening and relax a bit."

"Yeah . . . that's it." Shiroi said with a somehow halfhearted excitement.

It didn't take a genius to know that Kurai had pulled that offer out of his proverbial hat and Shiroi wasn't nuts about it.

Tomoko _almost _agreed just to punish Shiroi for neglecting her all this time . . . but she didn't. The very idea of tagging along and watching these two flaunt--accidentally or intentionaly--their newfound romance sickened her.

Or maybe her own jealousy sickened her.

Maybe she was just supremely ticked that it was Kurai, and not Shiroi who'd invited her along.

Whatever the reason Tomoko just smiled and said "No, no, you two have fun. I uh . . . I'm just really tired."

"So sorry to hear that!" Shiroi said with a grateful grin. Was she _that _oblivious that she thought Tomoko was doing her a _favor _in saying no? Maybe she should change her mind.

But she didn't, it wasn't Shiroi's fault that Tomoko didn't have a boyfriend yet. No point being jealous of her best friend's good fortune.

At least that's what Tomoko told herself, as she walked away from the couple without speaking another word.

They said goodbye after her, she raised her hand and waved at them but didn't speak.

She glanced up at the moon, she remembered some old wives' tale about any date happening under a moon that looked like that would go perfectly. Good for Kurai and Shiroi, maybe it was the moon's powers that'd helped her keep her annoyance in check and thereby avoid ruining their evening.

Too bad Tomoko didn't have anyone to date. She wasn't really looking for a boyfriend right now, she didn't see why Shiroi having one meant that she needed to go get one herself. But on a night when a date would go perfectly no matter what, it might have been nice to just have one date.

She remembered then that she was also supposed to meet Nao and Hitomi-senpai for some sort of training but after her brush with her neglectful best friend and her boyfriend she felt all her energy had been drained from her, and what had been a lie about going home and going to sleep seemed like good sense now.

She wasn't in the mood to train at all, it was late anyhow. She just trudged towards home.

* * *

Kotaro stared at his bowl of ramen. "Your hair's really pretty." He said, just to put it out there. 

"Thank you!" Kyoko said, "I uh, I look just like the Hokage, right? I mean if she were my age . . . and a red head. Right?"

Kotaro shook his head, "Why should you look like the Hokage? You look like you . . . and you is good. I mean you _are _good . . . I mean looking like you is good . . . whatever." He glanced at Kyoko to see if she were angry, or devastated by the stupidity of his words.

She was beaming. She ran her fingers through her long hair and said "Me is good, huh? Thank you, that means so much!"

Kotaro shrugged. He thought it meant gibberish, or perhaps an improperly worded sentence, but if it made her happy he supposed there was no reason to change it.

It was kind of funny . . . his dad had said learning the shadow clone jutsu would make him more popular with the ladies . . . and it had been during his training that he'd met . . . well, this girl.

And weird as she was he really did seem to be popular with her at least.

It was almost like he could do no wrong around this girl and it was a really liberating feeling. He'd done nothing intentionally to impress her, he hadn't said anything cool or shown off any rare jutsus, hadn't saved her life from a herd of stampeding animals . . . but for some reason she liked him.

And he liked that.

He smiled at her, it felt a little weird not having his mask on.

Of course he never wore it when he ate anyway, but going without it for an extended period felt really . . . odd.

He wondered, purely out of curiosity if she'd let him kiss her.

Just because he wondered what it'd be like, not because he was a pervert or anything like his dad was.

Anyway she was clearly trying to eat her ramen at the moment so he'd better not try anything, he should wait until after she was finished, maybe until after the date and try to score a goodbye kiss.

He cracked his knuckles and went back to eating his ramen.

But he'd made up his mind, he was totally going to kiss Kyoko before the night was over.

He glanced at Kyoko and said "You've been in Konoha for a while now, right?"

"Seems that way." Kyoko said.

"So I bet you know about all the fun stuff to do around here right? I mean if tonight's going to be perfect we can't just eat and that's it. I mean if that were a perfect date all the adults would be fat."

Kyoko smiled, "You make _some _sense. So what else should we do?"

"Well you've been here long enough, what do you _want _to do?" Kotaro asked.

Kyoko tapped her chin for a moment, then said "I don't know much of what goes on after dark, Temari-sensei usually keeps us on a curfew so we don't get into any drunken bar brawls."

"Wanna get into a drunken bar brawl then?" Kotaro laughed.

He was only joking.

"Absolutely!" Kyoko cried excitedly, grabbing his hand and leading him away.

Oh heck . . . what had he just done? The loveliness of the evening thus far had left him forgetting just how crazy this girl was, after all she liked him she had to be insane!

"W-wait a second Kyoko, you're just kidding right? I mean the bar patrons around here are rough, Temari-sensei was right to make sure you didn't get involved in any brawls." He said, trying to sound calm and cool about it.

"You're so funny, we're Shinobi, we can take on some drunkards."

"A lot of the drunkards are Ninja as well." Kotaro said.

"You know I just realized that both our names start with K and end with O . . . we're made for each other."

Kotaro was quiet for about ten seconds, when Kyoko didn't elaborate he said "But what's that got to do with anything?"

"Just thought I'd mention it. Actually I noticed it a couple weeks ago." Kyoko giggled.

"In regards to the drunks?" Kotaro asked.

"We'll be sober, it's an advantage." Kyoko said.

This girl was as insane as his mother, it was creepy. "They're uh, some are probably our examiners, we might be bad scores if we beat them up."

"Are you saying you're afraid?" Kyoko demanded.

"I uh . . . no, no!" Kotaro laughed, "Me? Scared? Ridiculous. I love brawls, I _love _them!" He declared, rolling up his sleeves and grinning wickedly, "Why if I don't knock a drunk's teeth out at least once a day I have withdrawal symptoms!"

He marched off towards the nearest bar, but Kyoko didn't follow.

Instead she stood there laughing, she grabbed his arm and pulled him back, "You really think I'm a crazed violent lunatic maniac!" She laughed, "You're cute when you're being tricked."

Kotaro could feel his cheeks turning red so he tried to pull his mask over his face.

"Don't do that!" Kyoko said.

"Why not?" Kotaro mumbled.

"Because if you do that _I_ can't--" She began, then leaned forward and kissed him, "do that!" She finished after their lips parted.

Kotaro was certain he was blushing now, "Can I put it on now?" He asked.

Kyoko smiled, "Okay. But you're cute when you blush too."

* * *

Naomasa leaned against the chair he sat in across from Hitomi. 

She tapped her chin and said "You know all my talk about being fast I woulda thought we'd show up before Oedo punched out."

"Well why're we still here? We should find her." Nao said.

"I'm too hungry to train anyone anyway." Hitomi shrugged.

Nao sighed, "I don't have to pay for this do I?"

"Oh I'll pay for it." Hitomi laughed. "You're a poor date though. I'll tell you one thing, you're not ever getting any as long as you keep up that attitude. If you want to impress a girl you pay for everything." She smirked but then added very quickly, "I mean girls your own age. This isn't a date, I was kidding. Don't you twist that around on me later. I'm not going to jail for you."

Nao stared. "O--kay." He said.

Hitomi shook her head, "I was kidding, come on you're so up tight."

"You're talking about sex and dating to a twelve year old." Nao pointed out.

"Right, you poor innocent thing you. I bet you never think about sex." Hitomi smirked.

"Never." Nao lied.

"And I bet you haven't been staring at my chest every chance you've gotten today even when you were getting stung by bees." Hitomi smirked.

"Uh . . ." Nao had no defense for that except a pathetic "No I haven't?"

Hitomi tapped her goggles, "Eyes don't miss a thing."

"Well I wasn't thinking about sex." Nao shrugged. He'd sort of been wondering how she fit those things into her flak jacket since they were so voluptuously large. Nowhere near the Hokage's size, but still pretty abnormally large for such an athletic woman. Seriously, how did she close the jacket on those things?

"It isn't easy you know." Hitomi scoffed.

Nao's heart stopped. Had he just asked that question out loud? "It . . . it isn't?" He asked.

"No." Hitomi nodded. "This Jutsu is going to test you beyond anything the Konoha Genius has taught you."

"You sure?" Nao asked, relieved that it was the jutsu she was talking about and not her huge . . .

"You're staring at my chest again!" Hitomi snapped suddenly, snapping her fingers in front of his face.

Man there was something wrong with him. "I'm sorry!" He said, "I'm not usually like this!"

"I'll bet." Hitomi said, she looked a little annoyed, "You need to get over it if I'm going to train you. Maybe Oedo doesn't mind you ogling her, but I do."

"I don't mean to." Nao said, bowing his head in apology.

"Yeah I know." Hitomi scoffed, leaning back in her chair, "But it gets really tiring you know? Always having people stare at a part of your body like that. Even Hara does it sometimes and he's head over heels for Miyuki . . ." Hitomi bit her lower lip and tilted her head towards Nao, "By the way, if you tell _anyone, _especially Miyuki that I said that . . . you'll die in your sleep. Really I should not even be talking like this in front of a kid."

"Well you're still a kid." Nao pointed out.

"I'm a teenager." Hitomi said.

"I turn thirteen in a couple of months." Nao said.

"Oh well in _that _case I guess it's okay for you to just keep on objectifying me, huh? Stop--hey, _stop_ looking at them!"

Nao frowned, had be been staring at them again? He hadn't even noticed, "Sorry. But look, you don't want to be treated like an object, or a piece of meat, that's understandable." He told her.

"Not to the extent that I feel that way. You know my whole life I've been on three dates, twice with guys and once with a girl, just to see if maybe I was . . . like that. Anyway all three times knocked my date's lights out."

Nao raised an eyebrow, "Uh, why?"

"I _so _hate being objectified I kind of get mad if someone tells me I'm beautiful. Beautiful is a taboo word around me. Call me that and I lose interest, try to press the matter and I'll hit you."

Nao stared at her. "That _is_ kind of weird."

"I just don't like it. My whole childhood I was ugly, I was a freak, then I grow a chest and suddenly everyone thinks I'm beautiful." Hitomi grumbled, staring past Nao into space as if she were recalling some old memory.

"Well it's not just your chest." Nao shrugged.

"Say or imply that I am that taboo word and I'll hit you, I'm not kidding." Hitomi said.

"Well I won't say it . . . but I mean your face has a lot to do with it too. And your goggles make your eyes mysterious and enticing." Nao said.

"You're a shameless flirt aren't you?" Hitomi scoffed.

Nao could feel himself blushing, he knew there was no chance with this girl, she was way out of his league _and _too old.

But he felt like he understood where she was coming from, and he was beginning to understand that there needn't be anything sexual involved in simply understanding women.

Hitomi didn't like being told she was pretty because to her it didn't seem sincere. Nao had grown up without any friends until he joined team ten because he didn't trust others when he'd been wealthy. Hitomi didn't trust others because she'd been told she was ugly a time or two too many. Now she was a knock out and everyone wanted a piece of her, she couldn't be blamed for feeling a little bewildered, even a little aggressive towards people who had in the past mistreated her because of her looks.

But man, talk about _looks_! And anyway she-

"You're doing it again!" Hitomi laughed, "Do I need to use the transformation Jutsu and turn into a man?"

"No, you're training Tomoko too, _she'd _start staring at you then." Nao said.

"Yeah, heaven forbid your girlfriend notice another guy, right?"

"She's not my girlfriend." Nao shrugged.

"See? You're such a child." Hitomi yawned. "Anyway that's good, it'd be a pain in the neck to train a couple rather than a pair."

"What's the difference? It's two people either way you look at it." Nao shruggd.

"A couple is difficult to teach together as they'll constantly try to flirt with each other, impress each other, catch one another's eye. A pair has no sexual interest in one another and so they don't try to impress one another during training, they focus on . . . you know, crazy things like actually training. Naruto-sensei used to say that to us while we were genin, but I'm pretty sue it was Sakura-sensei who was telling _him _that." Hitomi smirked.

"Naruto-sensei really values her opinion huh?" Nao asked.

"Must be, he's spent more than half his life trying to impress her, I suspect they've both advanced the most when they weren't around to distract each other."

"Well you don't have to worry about me getting distracted by Tomoko, she's just a friend." Nao said, emphasizing that he and Tomoko weren't a couple.

He was totally on the market.

"You sound like you're trying to make sure I know you're available . . . and your problem is that I don't care. Drop whatever illusions and fantasies you have about us hooking up through training or I'll drop you as a student. This Jutsu is going to be hell to master as it is, the last thing you need is a distraction . . . and you're staring at my chest again." The older girl added.

Nao didn't bother to stop, "I'm getting it out of my system." He told her.

She hit him.

It hurt.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Fun Fact: **This super long Lovers Moon segment actually ran so long that I cut it into three seperate chapters, it started as one long one that just kept growing. Yes Shikamaru and Temari are involved also, they're just not in this first chapter . . . but you probably already noticed that. For that reason among others I am not happy with the way these chapters ended up after the cutting and I admit the reason I did not post them all together is because I am still tweaking the other two chapters in the hope that I might find myself satisfied with them.

I **do** feel that two more chapters is a long time to wait to advance into the chuunin exams, but try to understand . . . it was seven before I edited it. No, just kidding. But nevertheless, mushy as it may seem the Lover's Moon segment is plot significant, even the parts that arent between romantic pairs. By now almost nothing will happen without a reason.


	71. Lovers Moon II

**Chapter Seventy-One**

Shikamaru stared up at the night sky as clouds slowly drifted over the blue moon.

Besides him lay his soon to be wife, Temari, and between them their daughter Sumiko.

Sumiko yawned suddenly and Temari started.

"She's sneezed, Shikamaru she just sneezed, it's too cold out here for her!" Temari said.

Shikamaru glanced at the one year old girl wrapped up in about four different blankets, if anything he half expected her to be sweating.

He smiled, Temari was such a soft mother. The side of her that tended to Sumiko was protective, worrying, loving, not at all sarcastic, or domineering. It reminded Shikamaru of how she'd once treated him while he was sick, it'd shocked and startled him so much back then that he'd faked feeling better just to get her back to normal.

But with their daughter . . . it didn't bother him. Actually he rather liked seeing Temari's softer side.

He leaned over Sumiko to kiss Temari, and the child made a noise of complaint.

Shikamaru laughed and moved so that he wasn't blocking her view of the moon, and Sumiko relaxed.

"I wanted to spend time with her," Temari said, "But given the way she's staring at the sky just now I'm afraid she's going to become a no good laze like her father."

"Pay close attention Sumiko, I can teach you how to make laziness an art form." Shikamaru smirked. Temari whacked him.

"Okay look you abusive woman, the problem isn't that I'm lazy, it's that you're hitting me in front of the girl, what's that going to teach her? These are her formative years." Shikamaru said, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm teaching her to keep her man in line."

"Troublesome toddler, she'd better not have a man." Shikamaru grumbled. "She's too young, too innocent . . . and too short."

"She's not short." Temari snapped. "And she's not fat either, she's a baby, you stop teasing her."

"I'm not the one who called her fat." Shikamaru said with a smirk, "You just threw that in."

"You've said it in the past." Temari said, hitting him again, and this time Sumiko giggled when she heard the loud whacking sound of her mother's palm striking the back of her father's head.

"Traitor." Shikamaru scoffed.

"She was never on your side." Temari smirked.

"You're the reason she pulls my hair." Shikamaru accused.

"Crybaby." Temari scoffed.

"Bully." Shikamaru shot back.

"Legendary Laze!" Temari growled.

"Most beautiful woman in the village." Shikamaru scoffed.

"Jack a--what?" Temari stumbled over her next insult.

"Got you." Shikamaru smirked.

Sumiko giggled again. "Traitor." Temari smirked and kissed her daughter.

"She was never on your side." Shikamaru smirked, and Temari hit him again.

* * *

Tomoko leaned against the wall of her sparsely furnished apartment. 

Sparsely furnished aside from her ever growing collection of weapons that is.

The apartment had two rooms, a bedroom and a living room, she did most of her living in the living room, the walls of which were decorated with any weapon she wasn't currently using.

There was a small table which she was considering getting rid of since she never used it, and a pair of sitting cushions even though she'd never had any company except for Shiroi on rare occasions.

She had a refrigerator that she'd long since given up on stocking, she never ate at home. There was a restroom that reminded Tomoko a great deal of a closet, and there was a side outlet for cooking in an area of the living room that might pass for a kitchen which she never used because though she wasn't a cook at the barbecue it still reminded her of her second job, and she didn't like that.

In the bedroom she had a bed she hardly ever slept in because team Akimichi took so many field assignments. The bedroom floor was littered with clothes, scrolls, and manuals on ninja arts.

She also had an empty fish bowl on her table because she was never home often enough to tend a fish. But it was one of her ambitions to own one.

She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, using one sitting cushion to sit on, and the other for her back.

She wanted to go to sleep at first but now she found herself unable to sleep. She as too restless, she needed . . . something.

Something to do, something to distract her from what she realized she was rapidly coming to see as Shiroi's betrayal.

It would have been one thing for Shiroi to get a boyfriend and spend a lot of her time with him, that might be expected. But she was almost never spending time with Tomoko now, in fact Tomoko couldn't recall a single time she and Shiroi had been alone together since Kurai came into the picture.

She couldn't talk to anyone about it because she knew they'd think she was jealous. And they would be right, but that didn't mean she wanted to accept the fact.

So she sat in her home, which she disliked, wondering just what she should do to pass the time away until she fell asleep.

She could eat out of pure depression, but she had no food. She could read Saizo's books, but reading romance might make her think of Shiroi and her dumb _boyfriend _and she'd done quite enough of that.

That said it was with no small amount of chagrin that Tomoko found herself in the next moment opening the cover of the second book.

She'd sold the first book to the pawn shop already . . . but it wasn't like she was going to read the whole series, she was just passing time. It might not even be a direct sequel, she wasn't missing anything, she was sure.

So it was that almost timidly she moved to the first page of the prologue . . .

Jiraiya had been a master shinobi, surely in some way reading this book would help her to become a better shinobi . . . right?

She read the prologue without feeling as if she'd suddenly devolved into a raging pervert and decided it might just be okay to move on to chapter one . . .

* * *

Yomiko swept her chakra knives through the dim lit night, practicing movements and routines that Shikamaru-sensei had taught her. 

They'd trained rather vigorously with the chakra knives, Shikamaru-sensei, as it turned out, really knew how to use his new ones.

Now Yomiko was training on, determined not to stop until she felt that she had reached . . . some sort of next level of physical and mental prowess.

She swept her blades through the night, heard them cut through the night air as she executed her routines with speed and precision.

And then she heard them strike something, she raised her eyebrows to see one of Temari-sensei's students, Yukio holding her chakra knife in place with a blade made of sand.

He held one in each hand and said "You won't improve if you only practice the movements, you need to learn to improvise."

Yomiko shrugged and shoved him back, he lunged forward without any warning.

She blocked him and immediately went on the offensive.

These chakra knives of hers were good for more than just blade fighting, but if Yukio didn't know that there was a good chance she could catch him off guard and strike in a way he would never expect.

He was fast though, she'd give him that.

She moved rapidly but she didn't have his speed and her father's blades were still rather new to her.

But when she felt the time was right she pumped her chakra into them as Shikamaru sensei had taught her.  
She used a move that should have elongated the blades with her wind chakra, which she and Shikamaru-sensei had discovered was her element.

But the blades erupted in flame instead, to Yomiko's utter surprise.

Yukio's sand blades dissipated and his hands shot up to his face, blinded by the sudden burst of light from Yomiko's knives. Thinking quickly, as was her talent--she thought--Yomiko dispelled her flames and pressed both blades against the older boy's neck, "I win!" She sneered.

"It was a cheap move." He grumbled, but gave her a crooked grin, "But I guess that's what being a ninja is all about."

"So what're you bugging me for?" Yomiko demanded, putting her knives away.

Yukio kept on grinning, "I want to take you out."

"Hah, but _I _just won, and anyway the way to take someone out is to get them secretly, quietly when they least expect it, not come out and challenge them like some samurai!" Yomiko said, pleased with herself for the victory.

"That's not what I meant." Yukio shrugged.

Yomiko's momentum ground to a halt as she considered what else the rugged youth might mean by "take you out" and it was with no small amount of shock that she realized what he'd meant.

He drove the point home when he said "There's a really good Ramen place if you're interested. I mean you just blinded me, the least you can do is let me take you out to dinner."

"I'm training." Yomiko grumbled.

"So'm I." Yukio shrugged, "But we can take a break for dinner can't we? I mean you shouldn't even be out here training by yourself at night anyway."

Yomiko folded her arms over her chest, "I'm not comfortable with the idea of being on a date." She said.

Girls were expected to "put out" after dates. She didn't want to "put out" until she was older . . . and married.

"We can call it "hanging out" if you like." Yukio shrugged.

Yomiko tilted her head to the side . . . the guy was pretty darn good looking . . . and he had some skills . . . and if it went badly he'd be leaving for Suna at the end of the exams so he'd be out of her hair . . .

And then if it went well Shikamaru-sensei and Temari-san were proof that long distance relationships could work.

She had nothing to lose . . . she nodded and said "Okay, I'll hang out with you."

Yukio grinned, "Good. But you know, since we're just 'hanging out', you're going to have to pay for your own bowl of ramen."

"Yeah uh . . . I kind of got banned from the ramen place for uh . . . well, life. You want to try some other type of noodle?"

Yukio grinned, "Hey, wherever you want to go, you're the one who lives in this city, I'm just a tourist."

Yomiko grinned back now. So she was in charge?

She _liked _being in charge. Looked like this semi-date would go _pretty _well.

* * *

Takumi leaned back against the tree in the park, looking up at the full blue moon. 

It was some sort of omen, he knew. He couldn't remember just now, it probably wasn't significant.

"It's no good just staring at it." A voice said. "Why don't we take a walk under it."

Takumi raised an eyebrow, he knew it was Kaori even before she'd said anything. Somehow he always _knew _when she was around.

Still he was surprised to see his mind hadn't been playing tricks on him, that she was actually standing in front of him. Furthermore she was alone, which was odd because usually even if she wasn't with Minoru and Ami they were always nearby.

But he didn't sense them.

It was just her.

She wasn't wearing her usual outfit, he noticed this because he could see not just her eyes smiling, but her mouth as well, there was no mask.

She was wearing civilian clothes, which was probably a good idea given where they were. But she still wore her forehead protector on her head.

Takumi was impressed, he'd forgotten how shapely Kaori was when she wasn't wearing a slightly baggy uniform and a flak jacket. Instead she wore a pretty, but simple outfit with short sleeves and a skirt that came down about three inches short of her knees in front but went past them in the back, he couldn't be sure of the color in the dim light but it looked like it might be a blue or violet. Her legs and arms were clad in long black leg and arm warmers.

It was an outfit she'd used to say was comfortable, but not meant to impress. It was a wonder therefore that Takumi always thought she looked drop dead gorgeous in it.

Of course he thought she was gorgeous in anything.

Not that he could tell her that anymore . . . she had a new boyfriend now.

Takumi stood up and smiled weakly at Kaori, "What brings you here?"

"Well Ami and Hikaru turned in early tonight, they were bored. But I wanted to take a walk through the park. Since you're here . . . I thought maybe you'd like to walk with me." Kaori said.

Takumi raised an eyebrow, "Your boyfriend might misunderstand."

"I'd ask _him_, but he's not here." Kaori shrugged. "You are, you look bored. Come on, there might be rapists and serial killers in the park this late at night, you've got to protect me." The beautiful woman smirked.

Takumi knew he was going to screw up whatever came out of his mouth next, whatever he said it wouldn't be the right thing to tell her. He'd know what the right thing was _after _he'd said the wrong thing of course.

He said "Don't be silly, you're the Jounin, I'm a bar tender. You'll have to protect _me _from the rapists and serial killers . . . but if the rapists are really cute, you can leave me to my fate."

Kaori smiled and grabbed Takumi's hand. He felt his heart skip a beat and she moved very close to him as they began to walk, "All right. I'll protect you from everything, even _cute _rapists." She glanced off into the distance and then said "Speaking of which . . . I uh . . . notice I haven't seen you with a girl in a while."

"So what, you think I like guys now?" Takumi smirked.

Boy had that not been the right thing to say!

What was wrong with him? It was like whenever he was with her his brain turned to mush. Worse when she touched him, as she was doing now, squeezing his hand tightly and leaning against him all he could think about was how incredibly beautiful she was, and how incredibly stupid he'd been to let her go.

The problem there of course was that he _needed _to be thinking of something to tell her that wasn't stupid.

"Well . . . that girl who works part time in the bar over the winter. She seems to really like you." Kaori said.

Takumi shrugged. "I guess I just want to keep things professional with her."

"Good." Kaori smiled.

"Hmm?" Takumi raised an eyebrow.

"Well I mean you know . . . workplace romances uh . . . never work?" Kaori explained.

"I guess so." Takumi shrugged. Actually he just wasn't interested in that girl because he wasn't totally over Kaori yet.

Kaori's smile was the most alluring thing in the world to him. It was a pity that she covered her face with a mask most of the time.

They walked together and Kaori whispered "You know . . . I . . . I really miss talking to you about things. Hikaru never wants to solve my problems, he thinks sleeping together will take care of everything."

"Does it?" Takumi asked. Idiot. He shouldn't have said that, it sounded sarcastic and rude! Not to mention he really didn't want to hear about her wonderful sex life with the not so wonderful Minoru Hikaru.

"Not as often as you'd think." Kaori shrugged. "I remember we used to talk all the time, if we had something on our minds that was giving us grief we wouldn't just have sex and try to forget the issue, we'd talk about it . . . and _then_ maybe if we felt like it we'd sleep together."

Takumi smirked as he reminisced. He shook his head, "Does Hikaru know you feel this way? Maybe if you tell him you don't feel like having sex he'd talk to you . . . instead of just giving in to whatever he says."

Damn it he was an idiot! She was practically confessing that she was having trouble with her relationship and his first response was to give her helpful advice? He should have been trying to sabotage it and get her back, not help her solve the problem.

"Well I don't want to disappoint him, he'd probably see it as a weakness." Kaori shrugged and Takumi scoffed at her. Why should she care what a man who wasn't even loyal to her thought about her? Why did she care about Hikaru so much?

"But never mind me . . . what about you, Tak-kun?" She whispered. "You're upset, I can tell . . . so we should talk about it. Like we used to. We're still friends." She said.

He sighed, "I can't talk to you about it. It's classified."

So this was what this was all about? She was after the information?

Damn it but he should have known. And here he'd entertained thoughts that she wanted to actually spend time with him simply for the sake of it.

She smiled, "You don't need to tell me what the problem is." She said, "I just want to help you feel better about it. So I've thought about that question you asked me . . . and I have a new answer."

Takumi raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"My answer is this," Kaori said with a smile, "we human beings are not born with a sense of right and wrong, we don't automatically know what is right and wrong. We learn over the course of our lives what is good and evil, and even then it's all perspective. What's evil to us is good to some, what's good to us is evil to others."

Yeah, her decision to choose Minoru Hikaru as her lover was downright vile to Takumi, but Kaori seemed pretty happy with the arrangement.

He shook his head, "So what're you saying?"

"I'm saying that . . . ultimately if your heart tells you it's wrong . . . then it really is. But if something feels right you should do it. I've known you most of my life and after all these years I think you have an outstanding moral compass and you should follow it, even if the rest of the world disagrees. And just know that whatever you choose to do . . . there's at least one person who will applaud you for doing what you felt was right, even if no one else thought so."

Kaori looked away suddenly and whispered, "Now maybe someday I'll be able to get my moral compass working again. Now that the war is ending . . ." she closed her eyes, "maybe a lot of mistakes I've made can be rectified."

"Maybe." Takumi whispered.

What did his heart tell him the right course was? He knew the answer to that question . . . he knew what he had to do and yet somehow facing the difficulty of it was so overwhelming.

Why had such a burden ever been placed on him?

"Takumi, do you think my moral compass is broken?" Kaori whispered.

"Sometimes." He said.

_Oh you damned idiot!_ He shouted at himself in his head. _Why would you tell her that? What went wrong with your brain? You're such a stupid jerk!_

But Kaori smiled, "Well then will you let me borrow yours for a quick moment?"

"Sure." He whispered.

"Just a quick question really . . ." She bit her lower lip then turned to face him, "What does your moral compass tell you . . . when I do this?" She asked, and she leaned forward and kissed him, full on the lips.

He felt her tongue enter his mouth and drowned in the sensation of kissing the woman he still loved. When their lips parted she glanced at him through eyes half closed by ecstasy, she whispered "Was that immoral?"

"Very." He whispered. "Your _boyfriend_ might not be happy about it."

Kaori smiled, "I see. Well thanks for lending me your advice." She put her hands in her pockets now. She walked by his side, rather than leaning against it.

He wanted to say something else, wanted to say something truly provocative to her, but for the first time he was confused as to whether or not he'd said the right thing.

He knew he'd said the moral thing, but his heart, which might not be as moral as Kaori thought, was pounding in his chest and demanding to know why he hadn't tried getting _his _tongue into _her _mouth.

He frowned as they continued their walk . . . he had no idea what to tell her anymore.

* * *

Hitomi shook her head. She was growing rather proud of Naomasa, since she'd hit him he hadn't so much as _glanced_ at her breasts. 

Maybe he really had gotten it out of his system like he'd said. She'd even tried to tempt him by removing her flack jacket but he hadn't so much as blinked.

It wasn't a matter of her enjoying being objectified, or wanting him to stare at her, quite the opposite she'd been considering beating him to a pulp and leaving him in a ditch to die. But now that he seemed to have gotten over her . . . well maybe she could actually _train _him.

At age seventeen Hitomi was ten years younger than Shikamaru-sensei and Naruto-sensei, she had less practice at being a shinobi, and no practice at being a sensei. Jounin were selected as sensei, not Chuunin.

But that boy Akuma had to be dealt with. She couldn't do it. Not directly.

But Naomasa and Tomoko, with their skill in fire jutsu might.

Hitomi understood that the Hokage and some Jounin had questioned the boy in the presence of his mother and the Raikage and the results of the questioning were classified. Having had to step down as a Chuunin examiner in order to train two contestants, Hitomi was no longer in the loop of Chuunin Exam information, but Futaba had told her that Akuma had _not _been disqualified from the exam, at least not yet.

Hitomi frowned at Nao, she might be asking him to do more than he understood. And it was selfish on her part. She could have killed Akuma and she'd stayed her hand. Now she would be asking a child to do her own duty for her . . . because she'd been weak.

She closed her eyes. She had to teach him though. If Akuma was as dangerous as she suspected Nao needed to be properly prepared. At the very least so that he could defend himself.

But she would have to tell him, she supposed. Tell him what it was she needed him to do.

But not yet, she decided, as he began to build a fort out of tooth picks.

For tonight he was still just a child. She wouldn't take that away from him.

But she certainly wondered what it would have been like for her if she'd been able to be a simple, happy child like him.

She was just a little jealous.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note:** This chapter is obviously late, there were connection issues and I was also still editing it somewhat. But fear not, the tuesday update will be on time.


	72. Lovers Moon III

**Chapter Seventy Two**

Shikamaru tucked Sumiko into her crib and glanced at Temari, "I'll take the first watch, you go to sleep."

Temari frowned, "This isn't right. We shouldn't have to take watches when we're not in the field."

"I know." Shikamaru shrugged. "But with an enemy assassin running around . . ."

Temari shook her head, "If I could just see him again . . . I'd make him eat his own heart. Not that he _has _one of course." She scoffed.

Shikamaru smiled weakly, "Don't talk like that in front of our daughter."

"Afraid she'll beat you up again?" Temari smirked.

"Troublesome woman. Our child is lucky that I'm here to help raise her now, you were raising a bully."

Temari shrugged, "What can I say? Maybe if you didn't call her fat, or short, or a crybaby, she might like you."

"I haven't called her fat since the first time I've seen her." Shikamaru said.

Temari smiled, "Well you know I don't know if we should have any more children . . . you don't seem to like babies."

"I love babies. We should have at least one more child." Shikamaru said.

"I'm glad you feel that way. I was starting to get a little worried." Temari said evenly, placing her hand over her stomach.

No . . . not her stomach.

Shikamaru gulped, "A-already?" He stammered.

"We really need to learn to control our urges, don't we?" Temari smirked.

Shikamaru shook his head to clear it and looked into Temari's eyes. She looked back into his and for a moment they connected in a way that required no words, their very souls merged together to form a perfect moment in their lives, and all while they were still fully clothed.

Then he smirked and said "Troublesome lying woman, you're not pregnant."

"Technically I never said I was." Temari smirked back, "Are you saying I'm fat?"

Shikamru's first reaction was to lie and say 'yes' just because trading insults was kind of his thing with Temari, but it occurred to him that she might forget they were just joking and kill him if he called her fat.

So he shook his head and said "Fat? No. Never. I'll bet you didn't even show it when you were pregnant with Sumiko-chan, I'll bet the day you gave birth was the first anyone ever knew you were pregnant."

"Well I wish _that _were true." Temari sighed. She glanced at Shikamaru and said "But how did it feel, thinking we might have a second child?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "It felt pretty good."

"Should we work on it then? I mea we'll be married soon . . ." Temari said, "My youth is fading away quickly."

"It sure is." Shikamaru said and Temari punched him in the shoulder.

Even though Sumiko was asleep, and therefore had her eyes closed, when Temari punched him Shikamaru noticed a smile creep across their daughter's face.

Traitor.

He looked at Sumiko and whispered "I'm not ready for another yet. I just barely got to _meet_ Sumiko, I want to get to _know_ her before she's got a little brother or sister competing with her for attention. I think we can control our urges well enough for that, don't you?"

Temari smiled and whispered "I think we can give it a good old Shinobi effort."

Shikamaru smiled and whispered "Get some sleep Temari-chan, you've got a team to train tomorrow."

"Don't you?" Temari asked.

"I do . . . but they expect a certain amount of napping from me anyway."

"Legendary laze." Temari laughed and headed off towards their bedroom.

Shikamaru smiled and sat down next to Sumiko's crib. "Better a Legendary Laze than a Blond Bully."

"I heard that!" Temari shouted from their room.

* * *

Kiba grinned at Futaba. She was one of the few ninja not from his clan who was actually a dog enthusiast. He'd talked to her quite a few times about her dog, but this was the first time she'd brought the big canine to show to him.

The dog she'd named Gontamaru, so he shared part of Akamaru's name. Fitting, Kiba thought, since it was one of Akamaru's decendants. Probably a son, but maybe a grand son. He usually kept track of whom he'd sold or given dogs away to, and he could have sworn he'd remember giving one to someone as cute as Futaba.

"Does he know any tricks?" Kiba asked her.

"No." Futaba said shyly, "I'm a Chuunin examiner so I'm always doing paper work, all Gontamaru and I can do is play fetch, but I always make sure I play with him at least once a day."

"Playing a simple game of fetch once a day _is _good, it shows your dog you care enough to make him part of your schedule. But dogs enjoy a shake up in the routine too, come on and let me show you some other tricks that'll help you keep him happy. A happy dog lives longer you know."

Futaba grabbed Kiba's hand and squeezed it while blushing like a high school girl, "S-sure, show me." She said.

Kiba grinned, "Sure. Say, afterwards you want to uh . . . see a show in the park?"

"This late?" Futaba asked.

"Oh yeah, my buddy Shino said there's a midnight performance by some fire jugglers in the park. He's an Anbu captain and his unit is in charge of making sure those guys don't burn the whole park down."

"That sounds wonderful!" Futaba said.

Kiba grinned. Wouldn't Shino be surprised when he showed up with a _date_.

* * *

Yuu leaned against a stone wall while Masaru and Kasumi subtly flirted with each other like always.

A part of him felt like he should give the two their privacy and find something else to do so that they could stop being subtle about their flirtations and actually come out and admit that they liked each other.

After all it was so obvious to everyone else that knew them that the only excuse he could think of for _them _not to realize it was that he was always around when they wanted to confess it.

Either that or he wanted to leave them because all the subtle flirting was getting annoying and it was just in his nature to try to think of a noble excuse.

They were all standing in front of a mass of booths all arranged as if there were a festival, and Yuu supposed there was.

With three kages in the village and ambassadors from six nations the people of Konoha were optimistically hailing these as the final days of the war. Yuu rather hoped they were.

He glanced at Masaru and Kasumi, "I'm going to go investigate that booth there," He said, pointing in a vague direction, "Then I'm calling it a night, so don't bother waiting for me. If you two feel like moving on, go right ahead."

"Uh . . . okay. "Kasumi said.

"But Kimiko-sensei told us to stick together." Masaru said.

"What, you think I'll get beat up if I wander off?" Yuu smirked.

"Or mugged. I mean you don't look that strong . . . if I didn't know you I'd bet I could punch your shoulder and make your nose bleed." Kasumi said.

Yuu smiled and shook his head, he headed off.

Escape.

That is uh . . . he was giving them their privacy.

He went over to inspect a sushi cart, wondering how fresh its stock could possibly be since it wasn't from the waterfall or rain countries, and since most of the Fire country's coastal towns were still in possession of the Water Country.

Then he heard a shout over the low roar of the crowd, he couldn't understand what was being said but he recognized the voice.

He tilted his head towards a nearby pawn shop and spotted a girl wearing oversized sleeves who had slightly tanned skin and several long braids. He knew she was none of his business, knew whatever she was doing was none of his business but he'd been helplessly drawn to her ever since he'd first seen her.

And now seemed like a good time to talk to her, he'd just ditched--er given some space to his friends.

He headed over to the pawn shop and managed to catch the last of what the girl was saying to the owner, "--three times what you gave me for it!"

"Well I can't be blamed if you didn't know the value of your book madam!" The shop owner said with a somehow friendly sneer, "And I'm still offering it to you at half it's value."

"It used to be mine!" The girl complained.

"You sold it to me legally, which is more than I can say for your means of obtaining it."

"What? Are you implying that I stole it?" The girl snapped.

"Let's just say you don't seem like the sort who'd be able to afford such a book. A rare first edition, signed by the writer? And not just any writer, one of the legendary Sannin?"

Yuu raised an eyebrow, the girl shook her head, "You don't understand, I _need _that book!"

He strolled over to the counter and glanced at the item in question, "How much is it?" He asked the shop owner.

"Not cheap, not cheap." The shop owner said, "And don't think your good looks will get it for you, little lady."

Yuu kept his face cheerful, resisting the urge to scowl at the man.

But to his surprise this girl he so admired gave him yet another reason to do so when she scowled on his behalf and said "He's a _boy, _jackass."

"And now I'm not selling _you _the book for even _ten _times the value." The shop owner said sharply.

Yuu raised a hand, "Perhaps not, and that is most unfortunate for _her_. But _I'll_ take it."

"You don't know the price." The shop owner said.

"I didn't say that I cared." Yuu said evenly.

The shop owner eyed him suspiciously, "Are ya buying it for her?" He asked.

"Sir do I look like the sort of boy who buys gifts for girls?" Yuu asked, though he nearly choked on the implication of his words. "I am a ninja, I'm competing in the Chuunin exams and a book written by one of the three greatest shinobi of their time would be an asset to me."

The girl looked annoyed and the shop keeper smiled snidely, "In that case it'll be a mere five hundred thousand."

Yuu smiled, "No problem!" He said and he handed the clerk some money.

It was actually more like fifty thousand that he handed the man. It was all he had . . . probably twice what this book was actually worth anyway.

But he laced it with a genjutsu so that no matter how many times this man counted it it'd come up ten times what it really was . . . for an hour at least, and Yuu planned to be far away by that time.

He'd ask Kaori for the money and come back later to pay the man what he really owed him. Takumi might even be able to give him some money, the bar did rather well, and he'd pay them back.

He sort of wished he could control his scent the way his sister could, but that had been a trait exclusive to the women of their clan. Then he might be able to get the guy to give him the book . . . though it disturbed him that he was so ready to seduce a man, he wondered if maybe he really was . . . _that _way.

But glancing at the girl with braids, he was pretty sure he wasn't. He wouldn't think she was so beautiful if that were the case.

The clerk smiled greedily as he counted the money a second time then nodded to Yuu and handed him the book. The girl looked heartbroken until Yuu handed it to her, "Here you go." He said.

Then she looked dumbfounded, she tried to stammer a reply.

"Hey, you said you weren't buying it for her!" The shop keep snarled.

"I never said anything like that." Yuu said, "I just asked if I looked like the sort of guy who would. It's not my fault if you came up with the wrong answer. Anyway try treating your customers with more respect if you want them to come back ever again." Yuu said as he headed for the door.

"Don't you _dare _come back ever again!" The shop keeper shouted.

The girl caught up to Yuu and said "H-hey! Uh . . . why'd you do that?" She asked.

Yuu smiled weakly . . . wow, talking directly to a girl like this turned out to be pretty tough.

"Well I uh . . . didn't feel like he was treating you fairly. And you really need that book right?"

"He ripped you off, that was five times the price he was asking for from me." She told him, and Yuu felt a little better about ripping off the shop keeper.

Yuu shrugged, "It's okay." He said. "You uh . . . you look hungry. You want to maybe . . . get some sushi?" He asked.

Oh boy . . . he'd just asked her out hadn't he?

This wouldn't end well, he hadn't meant to do that, how stupid could he be?

"Sure." She said, "I almost never eat that . . . uh, it'll be my treat okay? It's the least I can do to repay you."

"Don't think you need to repay me." Yuu said, "I was happy to do it."

The girl stared at him, "This is really embarrassing but . . . I know we got introduced once before but . . . I wasn't really paying attention then. I'm Tomoko, what's yours?"

Yuu smiled, "Yuu." He said.

Tomoko smiled and hugged her book to her chest, "Thank you, Yuu. Now lets get that sushi."

Yuu grinned, he was _really _glad he'd left Masaru and Kasumi to their own devices. Masaru would never have let him help this girl out, he'd have pointed out that Yuu might end up fighting her in the exams, that she was an enemy.

And Kasumi would have done all the talking and Yuu never would have gotten to ask Tomoko out in the first place.

But Yuu couldn't help it. She was just too beautiful an enemy and he was to weak to keep her out of his mind. Besides he had sympathy for anyone who care that much about a book since he himself loved to read. "A fan of that series?" He asked. He had never even heard of it.

"Only since tonight." Tomoko said, sounding a little dumbounded, "I . . . I just cant get enough of them, I started the second one and I _had _to go back and read the first."

* * *

Masaru stared at Yuu and that Konoha girl walking together and talking. It annoyed him.

He was all for Yuu having a date, but with a Konoha girl? Plus he'd bet Kasumi a great deal of money he didn't actually _have _that Yuu wouldn't have the guts to ask the girl out when she'd spotted them coming out of the pawn shop and pointed out that Yuu was sort of blushing.

"Jeez Masaru, the way you're staring at them its like you're jealous." Kasumi jeered.

"Not jealous, no way! She's so not even my type!" Masaru scoffed. He liked girls like . . . well he sort of liked Kasumi.

"I meant of Yuu." Kasumi scoffed. "He's on a date, you're not. The guy everyone thinks is . . . you know, _that way _is probably going to get to kiss a girl before you do."

"Yeah, but no one will believe him back home, so there!" Masaru grinned.

"Yeah well he's not the type to tell anyway. You on the other hand, you'd know it because you're watching him, and it'd eat you alive inside wouldn't it?" Kasumi grinned.

"Meh." Masaru scoffed.

Kasumi reached out and pulled Masaru's face towards her, his eyes widened as she leaned in and kissed him on the lips.

There was no tongue, but it wasn't exactly a brush either, she pressed her lips firmly against his for who knew how long, it felt like a mere instant yet Masaru sensed it'd lasted longer than that.

He was a little dazed when they separated, "So you got to kiss a girl first. Now will you stop stalking Yuu?" Kasumi smirked.

Masaru felt his head spinning, "Man we've never even been on a date." He complained.

"So let's fix that and give our teammate some privacy." Kasumi urged.

Masaru smirked now . . . Yuu had better get kissed, because it'd be hard for Masaru not to brag about this later.

* * *

Kotaro gulped when he spotted his father come into the restaurant.

His old man walked boldly over to him and Kyoko, who were still on their date and said "Taro-kun . . . you finished learning your mother's jutsus?"

"Yeah." Kotaro said. "I'm uh . . . kind of . . . can this wait?"

"I can't say much right now, but I have my reasons for bothering you on your date." Kakashi told him. Kotaro frowned, what were his dad's reasons? "Tomorrow you're training with Shikamaru . . . when he's done with you I'm teaching you."

Kotaro gulped, but Kakashi shook his head and said "Trust me, you _want _to learn the Jutsu I'm going to teach you."

Kotaro stared in awe at his father. He couldn't even say it, he could only mouth his question. Did this mean what he hoped it meant?

He father nodded, and slapped his shoulder, "Enjoy your evening son."

Kyoko frowned, "I didn't mean to read your lips, but I didn't understand what you said. What's 'Chidori' mean?" She asked.

Kotaro beamed at her, "It means you were right, tonight really _was _the perfect night!"

* * *

Yomiko swung her legs under the table like a five year old, she'd decided dating just wasn't for her. Yukio seemed to be of the same mind.

It wasn't that they didn't like one another, so far he'd been really cool and Yomiko really could see herself liking a guy like him. He was top in his class, he was god looking, he was being trained by a _real _sensei.

But dating in and of itself was kind of boring. She didn't really get it, and that might be because she was still too young.

But really, all things considered tonight had gone . . . well, perfectly.

She'd won her little sparring match, gotten to talk to someone who didn't feel like her brother, and, she felt, mastered her knives a bit better.

So even though she'd decided she was a bit young for the dating world . . . tonight had gone really well.

"Next time," Yukio said with a grin, "Let's just spar."

"Yeah, that'd be great." Yomiko nodded.

* * *

Nao leaned back into his chair and said to Hitomi "Could what we did tonight be considered a date?" He asked.

Hitomi scoffed, "I wouldn't date a kid."

"Well think about it. We had dinner together, we joked back and forth all night, laughed at each other's stupid jokes, and you even hit me. I think it fulfilled all the requirements of a date, and I'm even walking you home."

"_I'm _escorting _you _back to the barracks because there's weirdos and robbers out at night." Hitomi smirked, "But . . ." She said, "I guess since I didn't have to knock you unconscious, if tonight _had _been a date it would have been the best I've ever been on."

"Me too. And you know a kiss would make it just perfect, don't you think?" Nao teased.

Hitomi shook her head, "Maybe I aught to take back that part about not knocking you unconscious." She said with a smirk.

They laughed and they reached the barracks, Nao glanced at Hitomi and said "At the risk of being beaten up, I've got to say . . . when you _do _meet guys your own age who say that forbidden word to you . . . you should stop holding it against them. Because you're never going to find a man who won't at least say it on accident and you don't deserve to be alone your whole life. Somewhere out there there's the perfect man for you and maybe you've already met him. But whether you have or you haven't, you'll never know if you keep punching his lights out because he tells you you're beautiful." Naomasa told her.

Hitomi smiled, and Nao decided to head into the barracks before she killed him, because he just realized he'd said 'beautiful' to her.

She said "Hey! Turn around."

Nao gupled, here it came, Flaming Hitomi Punch of Anger!

Hitomi did clench a fist, and Nao felt death calling him.

But to his surprise she raised her hand to her face and blew him a kiss instead. "There, now you've been kissed. Perfect night?"

Nao stood dumbfounded for a moment, then scoffed, "No tongue?"

Hitomi stuck her tongue out at him and walked off into the darkness calling "how was that?" over her shoulder.

Nao leaned against the door to the barracks and sighed.

It was just a silly blown kiss but . . . yeah, that had made it the perfect night.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **I'm definitely apprehensive about this chapter. Given the slight cry for Kiba+Hinata scenes I suspect some people won't be totally thrilled that Kiba was sort of dating Futaba (the girl form Konohamaru's class) and given the fact that Nao+Tomoko seems to be a reasonably well liked pairing amongst fans, a few might be annoyed that Tomoko dated Yuu and not Nao.

Some might even wonder why with this perfect chance for a romance chapter, I didn't tackle Naruto's love life, or include Tenten's date with Neji.

All I can say to that is that I've got a method to my madness, the story has been long planned and you'll see eventually how things turn out, maybe even understand why I've done some of the things I've done. This is just how the story goes.

And yes, this is the 500 review bonus chapter, thanks for all your support, and your helpful tips, you guys are great!


	73. Master's Permission

**Chapter 73**

Shikamaru leaned against a tree fighting off sleep as his team went through the jutsu he'd just taught them.

It shocked him that they were picking it up so fast, the shadow clones really were doing them worlds of good.

Not every Genin could summon an item from their shadow, but even fewer could _create _an item that didn't exist and summon it.

This little trick was a jutsu invented by Tenten for those rare occasions when she ran out of weapons, something that happened less and less since she'd invented a jutsu that caused all her weapons to return to her after thirty seconds.

It would be useful during the exams.

Shikamaru had also begun to train them in tactics, had suggested scenarios to them, scenarios he'd played out with small wooden toys and his shadow puppetry jutsu to see if their strategies worked.

As he'd expected Kotaro had done rather well, but he was pleasantly surprised with how well Naomasa and Yomiko's strategies worked out also. He hadn't tested himself against them, there would be no point to that.

He also hadn't tested them against each other. That might cause someone to feel inferior and it was vital that they not feel that way as the exams came closer.

They could be Chuunin, each and every last one of them, Shikamaru had faith in that.

They were talented kids, they were sharp, they were Chuunin-material.

Shikamaru of course always thought several steps in advance and he knew there might be some issues. For instance he wasn't sure if any of them were ready to take a human life.

He tried not to close his eyes as they went through the training routine. He certainly didn't want to fall asleep.

* * *

Anko sat on a stone wall chewing on a bit of straw.

"He learned it faster than you'd think." Anko told Kakashi, "Clever kid. But you sure you want to teach him the Lightning Blade?"

"I have to." Kakashi said.

"He won't be able to control it." Anko said evenly, watching her son train. He was talented but . . . only someone with a Sharingan could use the Chidori properly.

"He can do it . . . if he's mastered _your _jutsu." Kakashi said.

Anko scoffed, "Flirting with me?"

Kakashi watched their son train with his sensei and shook his head, "You haven't been in the boy's presence."

"What're you talking about? I was training him just yesterday." Anko said.

Kakashi didn't look at her, instead he continued watching their son as he whispered "Not _our _boy."

* * *

Kakashi had felt an overwhelming darkness sweep over him the instant he stepped into the hotel room. The windows had all been covered and the room itself was lit by candles that night.

Tsunade-sama bowed her head slightly to the Raikage, who was already in the room along with a pair of escorts, a pair of Jounin, one of whom Kakashi recognized as Hattori Hanzo.

The other Sasuke seemed to recognize as they both tensed up when they saw each other, Sasuke bowed his head slightly.

"A pleasure to see you, Lord Raikage." Tsunade said.

"I am pleased to see you in a peaceful setting, Lady Hokage. I did believe that if we ever saw one another face to face one of our villages would be on fire."

Kakashi smirked under his mask. He knew which village the Raikage _thought _would be on fire, but there was no way that would happen.

Kakashi spotted the boy, Akuma sitting on a stool awaiting his interrogation. His mother stepped forward and said "Now wait a moment, I'll not have my son's mind raped by your grotesque Sharingan!" She said, placing herself between the boy and Sasuke.

"We have no intention of intruding on the boy's mind." Sasuke said stiffly.

"Oh really?" Okatsu growled, "Then why are you here? There's no need for you to be here, go now, get out!"

"Be calm, Okatsu!" The Raikage snapped.

"Don't worry." The boy said, "They can use their freakish talents to read my mind and it won't matter. I'm innocent."

Kakashi didn't need the sharingan to sense the lie.

"You confessed to the murder of six amegakure genin, did you not?" Tsunade-sama had demanded.

The boy had smiled sheepishly and said "I did. But I didn't kill them. I came upon the bodies of the five killed genin. I thought my opponents might have seen them as well and I thought I could use it as a . . . psychological weapon."

"You say you found five bodies?" Sasuke demanded.

"Yes, I found five." The boy said

"Yet you claimed to kill six?" Kakashi asked.

"Well it's no good saying you killed five and one got away." The boy shrugged.

"And the one that "got away" obviously killed her enemies who killed her team and she's fleeing out of fear." Okatsu declared.

"Well that's interesting . . . who told you it was a girl who allegedly survived?" Tsunade-sama asked.

Okatsu's grin wavered and she took a slightly more solemn look, "My son and I had met both teams before the exams began, hers was the only body he didn't find and so it was clear that she must be the one to survive."

"Both of these teams were from the rain country, there was no reason for them to battle one another." Kakashi pointed out, "Neither had a scroll."

The boy shrugged "I didn't _see _them kill each other, maybe they never did fight, maybe someone else killed them. I'm not sure." Akuma said.

Kakasi sighed. Tsunade said "Another issue is that two of the five dead and the missing girl are the children of the lord of the land of rain."

Kakashi nodded, this would definitely hurt the negotiations with the rain country, especially if they couldn't find the murderer or the missing girl's body.

Given that . . . he knew they'd have to be _sure _that the boy wasn't the murderer.

He would have given anything to pry into the boy's mind with the sharingan.

The raikage stood up now and said calmly "This boy is a citizen of the lightning country . . . odd that you would try to pit your new allies against each other."

"What are you talking about?" Tsunade balked, "When did I ever-"

"You obviously can't accept the very notion that a konoha team killed these children, or that they were coincidentally killed during the one unsupervised segment of your training program." The Raikage said coldly.

"Don't be ridiculous, of course we've questioned the Konoha team that came into contact with one of the rain country teams, and we _will _be accepting full responsibility for the tragedy because it happened in our lands during our exam." Tsunade-sama said, sounding a little annoyed at the Raikage's rude statement, "But I know that if it were _my _children I would at least want to know that the murderer was brought to justice."

"Then you'd best look elsewhere for him." Okatsu scowled, "My son is innocent."

"We'll just see about that." Sasuke said sharply, taking a step forward. The Kumo Jounin took a step as well and blocked his path. "You want something?" Sasuke scowled at him.

The Jounin just smirked, "Lets see you start something Uchiha. Both our masters are here . . . I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate it."

"If you two have an issue take it outside!" Tsunade commanded.

"All of you take yourselves outside, I'm weary of your presence." Okatsu commanded.

She was distracted by Sasuke and the kumogakure Jounin, the Raikage was distracted by Tsunade and the Jounin was distracted by Sasuke . . . all according to plan.

Kakashi nodded to the boy, "Sorry to have troubled you," he said, holding out his hand.

The boy smirked and took it, "I hope I've been absolved of this crime."

No. Not yet.

Kakashi gripped the boy's hand firmly with one hand and quickly removed his forehead protector with the other, the Sharingan drilled right into the boy's wide eyes.

And Kakashi saw _everything._

_

* * *

_

Anko recoiled and shook her head, "So the kid's a psycho who wants to kill everyone?

Kakashi shook his head slowly, "I couldn't tell whether or not he killed the amegakure genin, his memories were too vague. By the looks of it he stood by and watched as someone else, a rather large group simply fell upon them. But there aren't that many unaccounted for teams during that portion of the exam, and if he'd been using shadow clones to do the killing he should have received their memories of the event after releasing them, I should have been able to determine his guilt that way."

"So he might be innocent, but you're going to teach my son a Jutsu that would kill him?" Anko reasoned.

"He's not innocent. At the very least he stood by and watched six other Genin get ruthlessly murdered." Kakashi said, "And somehow even though he _might_ not have committed the deed I got a strong sense that he was responsible. I can't even describe the sort of elation that came over him with each death."

"Six other Genin? I thought they only found five." Anko said.

"We _found _five, but the boy's memories . . . in them he stands over the body of the missing girl . . . at least I'm pretty sure that was the body of the missing girl."

"Pretty sure?"

"It was mutilated." Kakashi said flatly. "I suspect the killer or killers had some sort of help. Some one who came in later and hid the body . . . probably to confuse the search." Kakashi said.

Anko shook her head, "Even so I'd kill this kid before I let Kotaro. My son isn't going to become a murderer, Kakashi."

Kakashi pondered that. He could argue that it wouldn't be murder, anything went in the final exam. But instead he just shook his head at Anko and said "_Our _son isn't really _your _concern anymore. He's a ninja now, you gave up your ability to dictate his life when he put that headband on. Now he belongs to the village, to the Hokage to the people of Konohagakure. If he needs take accept the burden of taking another's life in order to protect and keep safe this village I'm going to see to it that he receives the tools he needs to accomplish the task."

Anko glared at Kakashi for a very long time before saying "He's still _my _son, and I warn you Kakashi if _my _son kills during the exam he won't be the only one doing so. I'll hold _you _responsible, you understand? And I'll make you pay. So go on and teach him your jutsu if it'll keep him safe, but if you just want him to kill some poor kid who _might _be responsible for some murders then you're only using him. Using _my _son to do the job you're clearly not man enough to do yourself."

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow at her. That was a lot of aggression, she was practically breathing threats. "He's my son too. Neither of us has any dominion over his life anymore. He's a servant of the people of this village. The best you can do is tell him to clean his room."

"You spill that 'servant of the people' line on me again and I'll cut your throat out." Anko hissed, "You're dodging the real issue, you're throwing blame off yourself and acting as if its his duty to do this. But tell me, do you really want your son to kill another boy, and in plain view of a hundred thousand spectators, in plain view of the very people we're trying to ally with in order to end the war? Did you ever think he might feel personally responsible for what might happen if the Raikage drops the alliance because we murdered one of his Genin?" Anko's expression and her tone softened as she said "This isn't like you at all Kakashi."

That was true, it hadn't been Kakashi's idea to do this.

It'd been Tsunade's. When Kakashi had told her what he'd seen in the boy's head she'd wanted at least one wild card in the exam. Someone who could take Akuma out right from the onset.

Which is why she had decided to rig the matches so that Akuma and Kotaro would face each other first. Kakashi's son would face the most dangerous opponent in the exam in his very first match and there was no avoid it.

And Anko might be mad, but Kakashi would be damned if he didn't do the best he could to prepare his son to do what he might very well have to do in order to survive.

* * *

Akuma clenched his fists and unclenched them over and over again.

He was so angry he could shout.

But that would anger Okatsu-sensei.

Everything angered Okatsu-sensei.

How he wanted to kill her, how her very existence outraged him. How he dreamed of holding his blade against her throat and pressing it down, silencing her for all eternity.

He clenched his fists to tightly he might have been able to crush a stone to dust and he thought in outrage about how the master had hidden the body of the girl he'd killed.

She'd been his proudest work, he'd _wanted _them to find her mutilated corpse, not let her receive all the credit for his hard work!

And obviously her disappearance hadn't thrown all the blame off of him, though he'd been found guiltless it seemed, for the moment.

They'd still suspected him, as he knew they would.

He _hated _so many people and all he wanted was to make them go away. Why were they so rude to him? Why did they go on living when he didn't want them to?

What right did they have to go on living when he didn't want to himself?

The windows were all covered to keep others from seeing inside, Okatsu said, but Akuma knew they were also covered to keep him from seeing the world outside.

And it was just as well, a bit of wisdom on his sensei's part since he knew if he saw a happy family out in the park, or anything that reminded him of _everything _he'd lost he'd go into a frenzy and kill everything in his path.

But he _wanted _that frenzy. He wanted to lose himself in the act of killing. He wanted to end someone's life, reassure himself that his was still going on.

He wanted to envision Okatsu's face on whomever he killed. A few of them he'd envision as that genin team and that woman he'd fought.

The master had told him not to kill again over the course of the exams . . . but he decided to disobey that order.

If he got an opportunity he'd kill any of those three genin and that examiner.

Without hesitation he'd slide his sword right through their guts, he'd hack _them _to pieces so that when and if the master allowed them to find the dead body he'd hidden they'd all know that it _had _been Akuma who'd killed her and the others, they'd all know that he _was _the great and powerful Shinobi who'd slain six enemies in less than an hour, they'd know he was a god of Shinobi despite having been one for less than a year.

They'd know that to cross him was to invite death.

"They read the fallen prince's mind?" The master said, appearing out of nowhere.

"We think so, they were given ample opportunity." Okatsu said, "Akuma made eye contact with the copy ninja."

The master, whose face Akuma had never seen beneath the hood he wore lifted his head enough for the boy to see his mouth twisted in a grin, "Excellent. It's all going according to the plan. Speaking of which, I have news from Iwagakure and our _other_ friends, and I thought you would enjoy it. I'll share it with you too, little prince, since you did such a good job of letting them see what I wanted them to when they peered in that head of yours."

Akuma shrugged. In the end the master had found a way to use what he'd done to their advantage . . . Akuma didn't really understand but he was glad his actions had come in handy in the end.

"What's the news?" Okatsu asked.

"Oh nothing much . . . except that the war is about to end, and not the way these little leaves expect." The master laughed darkly, "Sunagakure will burn in mere months, and Konohagakure will not be far behind. I give them a month longer than Suna . . . and then it'll all be over at last." The master smirked at Akuma, "You'll have to resort to murder in the streets to satisfy your bloodlust, won't you? Better enjoy yourself while you can, before the war ends. Anything goes in the third exam . . . you have my permission to kill anyone you like."

**To Be Continued . . .**


	74. Super Moves

**Chapter 74**

Naomasa stared into the mirror. The day had come much sooner than he'd expected.

Well, after a fashion that is. During all the grueling hours of training with Hitomi and Tomoko he'd thought it'd never end.

But today was the day, Hitomi-sensei was going to teach him the final step of her super powered fire jutsu.

He smiled at himself, he'd really grown . . . not just physically, he was a bit taller now and his hair was getting longer, but mentally he felt like he'd grown as well. Learned some things.

Once the training was finished he'd be going to meet his family. They'd come to witness the Chuunin exams, come to witness _him _in the Chuunin exams.

They'd arrive in the village around sunset, the time that Hitomi-sensei usually ended her instruction since, she claimed, fire Jutsus had more effect, and hand signs could be better copied in the sunlight.

Tomoko had taken to the training rather well, but not as well as Nao, and he was guiltily proud of that. Guiltily because he'd noticed Tomoko get just a tad irritable when he'd mastered the last step before she'd even come close.

But he suspected that came from her being distracted, not from her being inferior. She was almost always reading in her spare time. Before Hitomi-sensei had ordered her to stop Tomoko had also taken to creating a third clone to read while she and her other two clones trained along with Naomasa and Hitomi. Hitomi had told Tomoko that if she were going to make a third clone it had better train too, otherwise she wanted her full attention, not just seventy five percent of it.

Nao wondered what those books were about, but Tomoko always brought them with their covers wrapped so that Nao couldn't tell what they were. Every time he tried to look into the book she'd close it and tell him he shouldn't be reading that kind of book . . . which made him wonder why _she _was.

She wasn't _that _much older than him.

She wasn't even sixteen yet.

He quickly got dressed in a black outfit similar to Shikamaru-sensei's, minus the flack jacket because Hitomi had suggested that since darker colors attract heat they too would help enhance fire jutsus. This, she said, was why she wore all black, she wasn't a depressive person who fantasized about her own death.

Nao had never suggested she _was _a depressive person who fantasized about her own death, nor had the thought even occurred to him until _after _she'd said it, now he kind of noticed she could get depressive.

It didn't matter, he'd found since he'd begun to forbid himself from looking at her breasts that he spent more time weighing her personality . . . but now that he thought of it he wondered how much those breasts weighed.

That was a perverted thought, he'd do well to not think that again.

If Hitomi-sensei found out . . . he'd die.

He nodded to himself in the mirror and he set off, rushing out of his home in the Konoha barracks--an increasingly empty establishment as more and more Shinobi either died, or left to live in homes of their own with the families the war had taught them not to wait on starting.

He frowned . . . his father had always said "wait until thirty to have the first child, that way you've had lots of fun with your youth, and there's no danger of being a grandparent until you're forty five."

Both the women he _might _have an interest in were older than him, if he waited until he was thirty to get married and start having children then he'd have to ask Tomoko to wait until she was thirty three, or alternatively ask Hitomi to wait until she was thirty five . . .

He frowned, he saw no reason for either girl to want to wait that long, especially if he couldn't figure out and confess his feelings to her. True Shikamaru-sensei and Temari had waited this long to get married and had, as far as Naomasa knew, remained loyal to one another (it was none of his business if they hadn't) but that was in large part due to them fighting for different countries in a world war.

They'd probably have gotten married much sooner if they could have.

And Shikamaru-sensei did seem more intelligent than Nao's father . . .

Maybe he should just pick a girl and get started on wooing her now so that she'd be more inclined to wait for him past age eighteen.

Especially if it was Hitomi, he didn't know when her birthday was but she'd be an adult soon and he'd still be a kid.

Maybe it was selfish of him to even consider that. After all he was willing to bet that there were lots of guys Hitomi's own age who'd like her for who she was and not just her looks. And thought _he _liked who she was, her looks were the major force behind his attraction to her.

Maybe was wasn't fit to have a girlfriend at all, maybe he just wasn't mature enough yet.

He considered this until he heard pounding on his door, he opened it up and there was Hitomi.

Wow. She'd come to visit him . . . how romantic.

Wait . . . no, she looked annoyed.

"The heck have you been doing in here?" She demanded, "We've been waiting an hour for you! Am I the only one who wants to get on to the next stage of training? Get your gear and get ready you lousy little punk!" She shouted.

Nao gapped. An hour? He'd spent an hour dilly dallying? He glanced at his clock, was it wrong or something? But Hitomi laughed, and Tomoko, who appeared in the doorway next laughed too.

"Should have seen his face while I was yelling, you just missed it." Hitomi said to Tomoko, "Supreme shock and disbelief."

"No, he's still got it." Tomoko smirked.

"It was more profound at first." Hitomi said. "He's coming around now . . . yeah, there's the slight signs of anger right there."

"What are you two doing here?" Nao demanded.

Tomoko shrugged but Hitomi said "Naomasa . . . I can't deny my feelings anymore."

Oh yeah . . . two hot girls show up on his doorstep talking about feelings? This was going to be a big day indeed.

Hitomi bowed her head slightly and said "I have too much respect for you two as students to disrespect you as people. You're both good kids-"

"Y-you're a kid too." Nao quickly interjected, sensing that the feelings Hitomi had come to discuss weren't the sort he'd taken them for in the first place, but just in case they weren't he wanted to remind her that anything she wanted to do wouldn't be _quite _as illegal as it would be in a few more months.

Yeah, he needed to get his mind out of the gutter.

Hitomi frowned and said "Naomasa, Tomoko . . . before I teach you the rest of this jutsu I think you have a right to know _why _I've decided to teach it to you. I think you deserve to understand what it is you're to use it for should you master it."

Nao nodded.

Hitomi raised her head and said "If you don't want to learn the jutsu after this, I understand. However . . . my purpose in teaching you this Jutsu is not to give you a wild card in the exams . . . I am not doing this out of the goodness of my heart."

"So what is it?" Nao asked, glancing at Tomoko who shrugged.

"She wanted to tell us both at the same time." Tomoko said.

Hitomi nodded and said "I have an extremely selfish reason for teaching this Jutsu. You see . . . there is someone I want you to kill. Naomasa, you have already met him."

Nao frowned. "Kill?" Was all he could manage to say.

Technically as a soldier of his country, and as a ninja it was his duty, his job, his very purpose for being. But he hadn't taken a human life before.

Could he really do so now?

He felt a little weak all of a sudden and Hitomi said "You don't have to decide now. I'm giving you both the rest of the day off to consider this. Talk to your _real _sensei if you two like, that's what they're there for and I know Akimichi Chouji and Nara Shikamaru to be understanding men. I'll see you at sunset for your decisions, and if you're willing, if you're ready you'll learn the final step tomorrow."

Hitomi turned and walked away, Nao wanted to call after her but he wasn't so sure what to say.

Tomoko remained but she seemed a little surprised, she glanced at Nao and asked "Who did she want us to kill? She said you already met him."

Nao frowned. He glanced at Tomoko and said "Does it matter? It's a human life whatever the case." He lowered his head . . . could he do this?

* * *

Shikamaru scoffed, leaning against a tree with Sumiko in his arms watching Temari train her team.

"What's your problem?" Temari demanded, "Don't tell me you're still mad about team ten."

"I'm not _mad,_ I'm just . . . frustrated. I'm not going to make any progress with the shadow creation jutsu if their troublesome parents keep stealing them away."

"This _does _give you more time to spend with your daughter," Temari said, "or you could help me train _my _team."

Shikamaru scoffed again.

Team ten was _his _team, his platoon. Their parents did have some right to teach them, but he wasn't Iruka, he wasn't a school teacher.

He was the kids' commanding officer, and while a parent might have the right to pull a kid out of school for a day they had _no _right to interfere with military training.

The fact that Kakashi and Kurenai were all higher ranking than him, having been Jounin much longer, didn't help matters though.

He'd considered refusing to let Hitomi continue to train Nao, but after much deliberation he chose to let Nao make the decision.

And he'd made it, he'd chosen to learn from Hitomi. He'd said his training had just one more step and it'd be over soon, he wanted to get it out of the way.

But even if that were true Shikamaru was feeling . . . just a tad unnecessary.

"Bothersome as they are they're _my _squad." He told Sumiko. The little girl didn't even bother to respond in any way, she just stared at the back of her mother's head as Temari shouted orders to her Genin.

At least _her _Genin were listening to her.

Where had Shikamaru gone wrong with his team?

He closed his eyes. If he weren't holding Sumiko he'd go find out. He'd march right up to each individual Genin and demand they train under him.

Except that'd be _so _troublesome. And really this wasn't enough to make him _that _jealous. Really the parents of team ten, and Hitomi, were, by spending time with their children, and Nao, giving Shikamaru the opportunity to spend time with his own daughter.

She kind of smelled.

He frowned. Of course with an IQ over two hundred he knew why. He called Temari over, "Hey pigtails!"

"What do you want?" She demanded, "Cant you see I'm working here?"

"Yeah, your baby's broken." Shikamaru said.

"Excuse me? _Our daughter _is what?"

"She's making this funny smell, she's broken." Shikamaru said with a shrug. Sumiko huffed.

"That'd be her diaper in need of changing."

"She still wears those?" Shikamaru scoffed, pretending he'd had no idea that the smell was coming from the girl's diaper.

"Uh yeah, idiot." Temari scoffed. She paused and said "Why? Are they . . . are they not supposed to be after a year?"

"I think they're supposed to be potty trained by one year, yeah." Shikamaru said.

"But I thought I had to wait until she started walking . . . she hasn't done that yet." Temari said, looking concerned.

"Oh well we can't just ignore the fact that she's still in diapers. You've got to do something about this diaper, Temari."

"What? No, I'm training my team, _you _change her diaper." Temari scoffed.

"I'm not qualified. Anyway Sumiko doesn't like me very much, she might use this as a chance to attack me."

"How would _she_ attack-" Temari began, but then she understood and she laughed. "She'd be justified if she did, calling her fat and smelly all the time." Temari laughed wickedly and turned back to her team. "You're changing the diaper, daddy."

"I called her fat once, you keep bringing it up, and this is the first time I've called her smelly." Shikamaru pointed out. "Given that you never let either one rest I think you're secretly thinking both and therefore need to be the one to change our daughter's diaper. I won't even bother adding the fact that you've let her run rampant in diapers all this time."

But Temari just said "You're so incapable of caring for a child . . . we'd better not risk having any more. I can see this is going to be a very celibate relationship from now on."

"I'm changing the stupid diaper." Shikamaru grumbled.

"Good boy."

Shikamaru sighed. "See if I had my Genin I could make them do it." He said. Sumiko glared at him and he gave that a second thought. "Sorry. I guess it's not like you're a basket of laundry I can just shove off on them . . . I guess I wouldn't even trust them with a basket of laundry for that matter."

He shook his head, "What a drag. Okay let's get through this. But you hold your fire until _after _the new diaper is on or I swear you won't _ever _get an allowance. You might not know that that means right now, but it'd be a big part of your troublesome teenage life, and you don't want to miss out on it."

Sumiko did not look as if she felt threatened.

So Shikamaru was just a little reluctant as he went about the operation.

He considered just using his Shadow Possession to make Sumiko change her own diaper, but miming changing a diaper himself wasn;t something he was looking forward to doing, Temari would never let him live it down.

* * *

Kotaro held his wrist and groaned, he glanced at his father, "I did it right?"

"Uh . . . no." Kakashi said with a slight sigh, "You did make sparks fly though, and that's progress."

Kotaro smirked slightly, "I'll get it!"

"Damn right you will!" His mother shouted from the sidelines.

"What are you doing here?" Kakashi sighed, not at all pleased to see her.

"What, I can't see my son anymore?" Anko asked sharply.

"Not when he's training, no." Kakashi said evenly.

Anko scoffed and folded her arms over her rather ample chest. "Well I guess I'll be going then."

Kakashi nodded but didn't say anything. Anko was a raging fire, verbally agreeing or disagreeing with her could be the equivalent of adding fuel to the flame that was her personality.

Apparently so could nonverbally agreeing, but Kakashi hadn't expected it. Anko scoffed and shouted, "But I'm telling the boy something before I go!"

Kakashi shrugged.

Anko turned her nose up at him as she passed and knelt down next to their son and whispered something in his ear.

Kakashi couldn't have read her lips, as she covered them with her hand. She glanced at him as she spoke to their sun as if daring him to try to interrupt her, or demand to know what she was saying and for that reason he chose _not _to interrupt her, or even make a single sound.

He had the strangest urge to clear his throat, but decided he'd best not do so until Anko was out of earshot, least she suspect he was trying to shoo her along.

At length Kotaro nodded and Anko got up and began to leave. "Remember that." She said.

When she was gone, Kakashi asked his son "What'd she say?"

Kotaro frowned, "She said . . . that I should trust your judgment because it's usually good, but that I shouldn't let you force me to do anything. Is there . . . something I should know about why you're teaching me Chidori?"

Kakashi nodded slowly, "I am teaching you this Jutsu Kotaro because you're Konoha's most talented rookie. At least as far as the Hokage is concerned. According to her your sensei claims that your entire team is closely matched but if he _had _to choose one of you to call the best it would be you."

Kotaro stared at his father and then laughed, "No seriously, what's the real reason?"

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, "Son, that rookie from the village hidden in sound . . . he's a troublemaker. He's part of a plot to shame the village. We questioned him and I intruded on his mind and determined that he, or rather his sensei plans to cause an uproar in the final match of the exams, one that would make the leaf village look bad in front of its prospective allies. This may very well prevent or greatly hinder the alliances that could end this war."

"I didn't have time to find out too many details, nor do I think he knew too many details. So our only chance to prevent this without it becoming obvious that we intruded on his mind is to stop him from advancing. The Hokage feels it would prove little to have an experienced genin like Aburame Kurai or Oedo Daisuke take this little demon out of the exams. So _you _have been selected."

"Me?" Kotaro gulped.

"You need to defeat him in the first match of the final exam. Do it and you're guaranteed the promotion, that's the Hokage's offer for you."

Kotaro frowned. "I don't want it like that. I want it because I earned it."

"If you can beat this kid you've earned it." Kakashi said, trying not to let the pride he felt at his son's words show. "That's why _I _have decided to teach you the Chidori, Kotaro. This Akuma . . . he'll come at you with every intention of killing you. He won't stop until you're dead. He _wants _to kill you, and in the final exam anything goes. He'd be _allowed _to kill you. The proctor will do everything in his power to prevent any fatalities, but if he fails to do so the killers won't be penalized for it. Sometimes a fatality is just a part of a torunament like this."

Kotaro nodded. "Won't Chidori kill him?" He asked.

Kakashi frowned, "It's the most powerful weapon I can give you. And I have no intention of letting you enter this match unarmed." He said.

Akuma was above Chuunin fighting level, it was a mismatch. Kotaro would have to dispatch him quickly with the chidori.

Kakashi wouldn't tell his son that of course. He didn't want him to despair while he needed to learn Chidori. Once he mastered it and had a chance Kakashi would explain the true nature of Akuma's level of power.

Kakashi had had one condition to letting his son take on such a dangerous mission of course. That condition was that if Kotaro couldn't master Chidori he wouldn't fight Akuma. Instead Aburame Kurai would face Akuma in the exams. Sasuke had said that he was confident in Kurai's abilities, had suggested the boy might even be above the Chuunin level himself.

But Kakashi was sure that his son could master the jutsu, especially with the help of shadow clones. It amazed him that his son could train with shadow clones when he himself could not.

He shook his head, Shikamaru must have been doing something right.

"Let's get to it, dad." Kotaro said, bringing Kakashi out of his musings.

Though Anko was long gone Kakashi waited five more minutes before clearing his throat.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	75. As The Day Draws Near

**Chapter Seventy Five**

Yomiko watched her mother carefully, but she didn't really seem to be doing anything important.

She was just pacing back and forth.

She had to go about this very gently, her mother, while nowhere near as volatile as Kotaro's mother, could be sharp when Yomiko questioned her authority.

"You know I'm supposed to be learning from Shikamaru-sensei, I haven't really mastered these knives yet. You said you were going to train me today but so far all you've done is pace."

Kurenai glanced at her daughter, "We have less than a month, Yomiko."

"I know, that's why I should be training." Yomiko said.

Kurenai shook her head, "You don't understand, we have less than a month for you to perfect one of your father's best techniques, and you're not even the right element."

Yomiko frowned, "But you can use techniques even if they're not your element can't you? I mean Kotaro uses earth techniques but he's lightning."

"How do you know he's lightning?" Kurenai asked.

"Well because his dad is." Yomiko shrugged.

"Wrong. Hatake Kotaro has been tested, he has both the earth element, and the lightning element. It's uncommon but not completely rare for one his age to have two. But you don't. Not yet. I've taught you my genjutsus but you need something more offensive than that if you're going to make it through these exams. There's no point in building upon your taijutsu, too many of the other Genin are experts."

"So why am I here?" Yomiko complained.

Kurenai scoffed, "I'm weighing our options. I thought you were the right element, you're not. We don't have _time _to train you to use a second element yet and I'm not sure you could handle it."

Yomiko folded her arms but was careful to keep her face neutral. Who did her mother think she was talking to? She was a Sarutobi! How could her own mother doubt her abilities or her potential?

Anything a Hatake could do a Sarutobi could do better. And there was no way she'd let that Ishida outdo her either. "So what are my options?" Yomiko asked. "Because if you brought me out here for nothing there may still be time to learn a few things from Shikamaru-sensei."

"Your options are trying to learn to control a new chakra element, and then the jutsu or I can teach you more Genjutsu. But I don't know how effective the Genjutsu will be, I've learned that you can't win a fight on genjutsu alone."

"Well if that's the case why don't _you _know any offensive jutsus?"

"I do. They're all too advanced to teach you. Now don't look at me that way, it's not that I doubt you or your ability, you know that. It's the sad fact that if you used these jutsus you'd _kill _your opponents, you might even kill yourself. We can't have that. Your father knew lower level offensive ninjutsu, in a better world he'd be the one to teach you." Kurenai folded her arms.

Yomiko felt the knives at her sides warm just a bit but they didn't catch flame. She nodded slowly and said "Teach me the jutsu."

"You're not the right element."

"I won't have to be. I'm not Sarutobi Asuma, I'm Sarutobi Yomiko. I'll take the basics of my father's jutsu, but I won't copy him completely. I'll make it my own and show the examiners something entirely new, develop my own style, and use my own element with it." Yomiko declared. "If I can just use my own element as if it were the fire the jutsu should still work and have the same effect, right?"

"You'll make up your own jutsu in a month?" Kurenai asked.

"Why not? Uzumaki Naruto did it in six hours, I heard!" Yomiko said.

"Actually it was quite a bit longer than that, that sounds like the sort of story Naruto himself would have told you." Kurenai said, unimpressed. "Besides, he had an advantage you don't."

Yomiko's eyes narrowed, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

She put more into it than ever before, far too much to be able to effectively train afterwards but she wanted to prove a point to her mother.

So when eleven Sarutobi Yomiko clones and the original all said in one voice, "We're no Naruto, but we're no slouch either."

Kurenai shook her head, she looked doubtful.

But she said "All right. It's worth a shot. But don't be such a show off."

"What're you talking about?" Yomiko scoffed.

"You don't even have enough chakra to use a substitution jutsu at this point, I'd be amazed if you could walk." Kurenai sighed.

Yomiko scoffed and forced herself to take a step forward and fell flat on her face.

"See?" Kurenai said. "We'll have to figure out what number of clones works for you. But still . . . maybe you _have _got a chance."

* * *

Hikaru leaned back into the rather large comfortable chair. Ami was sitting on the ground next to him like a loyal little dog.

Kaori stood before him, arms folded in defiance as if she'd done nothing wrong.

Hikaru smiled darkly at her, "Been having fun here in Konoha, Kaori?"

"Not really. This place is bland." Kaori shrugged.

"I see . . . so you felt the need to take on a second boyfriend . . . because it's bland here in Konoha?" Hikaru demanded.

Kaori rolled her eyes, "Who said I've got a second boyfriend?"

"Me!" Ami said, "I saw you two in the park . . . you're a slut!" Ami giggled.

"Didn't sleep with him." Kaori shrugged.

"You wanted it so bad." Ami sneered, and Hikaru smirked.

"You kissed the bartender, Kaori. And it doesn't seem like you got a free drink out of it, so tell me . . . why? Is there something wrong with our arrangement? Ami says you feel like we should talk more, so we're talking."

Kaori smiled, "Want to talk? Let's talk about Ami shutting her big, fat mouth before I shut it for good. And maybe I should do something about her freakishly large ears while I'm at it, because what I said that night was none of her damned business."

Hikaru laughed darkly, "Ami's grotesque ears aside-"

"What?" Ami squealed, holding her ears, "They're not big! You're full of crap, Cow Face!"

Hikaru meant to say more but Ami lunged forward for Kaori, drawing a knife.

Kaori let Ami fall right through her and it was over, Hikaru leapt up and got between the two of them before it could get any more deadly.

He held both of them by their throats, he glared at Kaori, daring her to try to phase through his hand.

"You don't pull a knife on Kaori," He said firmly to Ami before releasing her, "and you, you don't go behind my back like a tramp." He said, releasing Kaori in turn.

Kaori glared at Ami, "Big mouth needs to learn when to mind her own business."

"I only told Hikaru what he deserves to know, that _you _are sleeping around behind his back, like a little tramp. Shame on you. Shame." Ami said, and then threw in a third "shame."

Kaori rolled her eyes, "I havent slept with Konjo . . . but I do want to."

"She confessed!" Ami squealed, "Now can I stab her?"

"Maybe." Hikaru said darkly, glaring at Kaori.

It was sort of fun for her to try to deny it and for him to tease her about not keeping it properly secret, it was another all together for her to admit her wrongdoing without any sign of regret.

That wasn't acceptable, he might have to punish her for it.

Kaori glared into Hikaru's eyes without fear, "How _dare _you question my loyalty."

"Is there some reason I shouldn't?" Hikaru asked, "It seems you've just confessed to acting like a cheap harlot."

"For you!" Kaori snapped, "I'm only doing this to get information for you! You want to know what Takumi and Tetsuo are planning, I'm going to get that information. Which is more than Ami's doing spending all her time spying on me just because she's jealous of the _special _relationship we share." Kaori said.

Ami growled, Hikaru shoved her back before she could spring, "Down." He snapped, as if he were speaking to a dog.

And like a loyal dog Ami did back down.

"What's sleeping with the bar tender got to do with anything?" Hikaru demanded.

"I'll sleep with Hattori if you prefer, but he'd be more difficult. Anyway Konjo and I have a history, and I know he'd trust me completely if we slept together. He was _this _close to telling me his plan, I just know it. I couldn't figure out what stopped him but now I'm sure he sensed Ami."

"Sensed me? That's a crock and you know it, he couldn't have sensed me because he's a stupid bar tender, and _you _didn't even sense me."

"He was a Jounin before we were, and I always sense you, you're always around, I probably just didn't realize it was you because I'm so used to you."

"There's a thought." Ami rolled her eyes.

Hikaru glared into Kaori's eyes, "Are you playing me? If you were cheating on me I'd kill you, you know that. But if you're _lying _to me about this I'd kill you _and _your brother. So tell me Kaori, are you lying?"

"It'd be pretty stupid of me to say that I am, don't you think? But of course not. I love you Hikaru, I want to be your slave forever." Kaori said, her eyes shining with honesty, her voice dripping sincerity.

The door suddenly burst open, the Raikage's aid stood there, "Minoru Hikaru, the Raikage demands you meet with him."

So . . . Kaori was saved for the moment by the Raikage . . . Hikaru backed off. He wasn't convinced by Kaori's words, but he'd have to leave well enough alone for now. "All right then. Get the information, do whatever you have to. But _do not _sleep with him. If you do, if he so much as _sees _you naked I'll kill your brother, understand?"

"Yes, of course." Kaori nodded.

"And don't get too attached to Konjo. If he really is plotting with Tetsuo he's an accomplice to whatever it is Hattori is going to do. And whatever it is might get them both killed by us. When the moment comes--if the moment comes--I don't want you to hesitate."

"I won't."

* * *

Kaori nodded and waited until Hikaru backed off.

"And don't get too attached to Konjo." He said. "If he really is plotting with Tetsuo he's an accomplice to whatever it is Hattori is going to do. And whatever it is might get them both killed by us. When the moment comes--if the moment comes--I don't want you to hesitate."

Kaori wanted to vomit at the very thought.

"I won't." She said with a shrug.

Hikaru nodded and left, "Be on your best behavior when I'm gone." He said sharply over his shoulder.

But as soon as he was gone Ami tensed, "You heard him!"

Kaori scoffed. "If I wanted you dead you'd be dead. I saved your life for him, you whom I hate. How can you possibly question my loyalty to him when I've always been willing to act contrary to my own desires in order to fulfill his?"

"Blah, blah, blah, you had "do me" stamped on your face when you were with Konjo!" Ami sneered.

Kaori shook her head, "Talking to you is like talking to a child. A small, small child." She folded her arms. Ami deserved to be repaid for spying on, and then ratting her out. An idea occurred to Kaori, she smiled and said "And anyway . . . if we want two men, why shouldn't we have them? The captain has the both of us, it's hardly fair don't you think? Besides, look how concerned he was at the thought of losing me, just imagine how he'd react if he thought he'd lost _you _to another man."

"Huh?" Ami blinked.

"Well it's obvious you're his favorite, he never threatens your family, but he _always _says he'll kill my brother." Kaori lied, this was actually the first time Hikaru had gone that far.

She wouldn't be with him if this were a regular threat, Yuu was too important to her to risk him. She felt Hikaru had been justified in his anger this time though he had gone much too far in his threat. If he so much as looked at Yuu funny in the future she'd leave him . . . leave him in a pool of his own damned blood.

"So what?" Ami asked.

"Well I bet if he caught _you _cheating on him he'd care more about you. You always whine that he isn't listening to you, well maybe he would if you found another guy who was _really _good at listening to you. Don't you think it's only fair that if he can have the both of us, we should have two men as well? Or even three or four. After all, how many nights have we been left high and dry just because he wasn't in the mood?"

"We could have a guy in every village . . . I mean 'cause there's missions when we're not with the captain and we're on our own!" Ami said excitedly, "And it'll make him so jealous! So jealous he'll freakin' gut us like fish and find new girlfriends who won't give him such a headache! Man you're stupid, who's the little child now, you twit?"

Kaori shrugged. So Ami was either smarter, or more loyal than she'd thought. She felt her estimation of the other woman rise ever so slightly, but then her desire to kill Ami sort of rose with it.

Ami snickered, "That idea's gonna get you killed, Cow Face. But since you _did _kind of sort of save my life that time I'll warn you that I'll never put you over him. _Any _chance I get to make you look bad in front of him, I'm gonna take it. I can't help it, I _want_ you dead. So don't give me the opportunity. I'd hate for him to kill you and get a younger, prettier girlfriend."

"Yeah, I hear your little sister is a real tramp, just his type." Kaori shrugged.

"Don't you talk about my sister that--wait, I don't have a sister." Ami said.

Kaori smirked, "Such a brilliant woman you are." Needless to say this was sarcasm.

Ami shook her head, "You can lie all you want, but I saw you. You really do like Takumi. Hikaru-kun is smart, he's gonna figure out that you're not loyal. And then he's going to kill you."

"Is that concern I hear in your voice?" Kaori scoffed.

"Yeah. Because _I _want to be the one to kill you, Cow Face." Ami shrugged. "Hikaru-kun is mine, just mine. I'm dead tired of you getting in our way."

Kaori rolled her eyes, "Yeah? Then don't you think keeping your mouth shut the next time it looks like I'm moving on might be a good idea?" Kaori scoffed.

"I don't want you to move on." Ami shrugged. "I don't want to see you going off and getting married and having lots of cute little babies with some other guy. I want to see you dead. Dead. You know, absence of life, that kind of deal. Then I want to make you a puppet. You'd be a good one." Ami smiled, "So . . . screw around as much as you like, I'll tell Hikaru-kun and he'll let me kill you. Sound like a plan, slut face?"

Kaori smiled, "If I didn't love Hikaru you'd be dead, psycho. So I've got news for you . . . if he and I break it off, you'll know even before he does. Because you'll be-" Kaori slammed her fist into Ami's chest, and gripped her heart tightly, "dead as a doornail."

Ami's eyes widenened and she gripped Kaori's arm and tried to pull it out of her chest.

"Bad idea big ears . . . you don't even want to _wiggle_ my hand right now . . . it'll sort of result in your death." Kaori smiled, "You're nothing compared to me. You float and you make puppets, me? I'm a literal heart breaker. Pray I keep loving Hikaru or I'll make sure you die before I do . . . clear?"

Ami's eyes narrowed, "Crystal." She said, and Kaori removed her hand. "But you'll see real soon . . . I can do more than float and make puppets . . . and your little phasing trick isn't going to work forever. Your entire clan were able to phase . . . and they're all dead. _Something's _gotta be able to bypass your ability . . . wouldn't it be scary if I already knew what it was? Think on that."

Kaori's eyes glared but her lips smiled behing her mask, "If you knew I'd already be dead . . . idiot."

She turned her back and walked away, but she knew.

She and Ami were going to fight, and soon. And there'd only be one survivor. She couldn't risk Ami knowing what her weakness was, it would endanger not only her, but Yuu as well. Ami was just the sort of person to kill Yuu just for being related to Kaori.

Regardless of how Kaori might feel about Hikaru she and Ami wouldn't both be leaving Konoha alive.

She clenched her fists at her side. She needed to teach Yuu the final techniques of their clan . . . just in case that fight didn't end the way she wanted, or if Hikaru, who always threatened to kill the winner should a fight to the death break out, made good on his promise.

* * *

Naomasa sat on a wall watching the comings in and out of the city.

No sign of his family.

They were late, something that he didn't recall happening often.

No sign of his mother, or father. No sign of his sisters, no sign of cousins even.

But they should be arriving, they'd sent word that they'd come . . .

This was his chance to make things right with them and avoid suffering the loneliness Tomoko suffered.

"Not the safest perch." Hitomi whispered behind him. "You could fall and have a long time to think about how many bones you're going to break." She shoved him forward, but kept a very firm grip on his shoulders, "Saved your life!" She laughed.

Nao didn't think having her as the only thing keeping him from falling to his death was all that funny but telling her so might have to wait until he was back on his won two feet and not leaning so dangerously over the edge . . . but he trusted her not to let go. "You came to find out what I'm going to do?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Did you ask Tomoko?" Nao asked.

"She'd made up her mind before noon." Hitomi said, pulling Nao back and sitting down on the wall. Nao had the strangest urge to shove _her _forward, but he doubted he'd be able to hold her as well as she'd held him . . . she was taller so she'd be harder to hold onto.

Nao sat down next to her instead and mumbled, "She said no, right?"

"No. She didn't." Hitomi said. "She wants to learn. She wants to be a Chuunin."

Nao lowered his gaze. He'd have to talk her out of it . . . it wasn't right.

"She told me what you'd say though. She seems to think she knows you pretty well . . . she doesn't think you'll go through with this Nao. She think's you'll say no, thinks you'll think less of _her _for agreeing to it. Is she right?"

Nao frowned and nodded. "Yeah."

Hitomi smiled slightly. "That's okay."

Nao raised an eyebrow, "You're not mad? You don't feel like you wasted your time?"

"No." Hitomi said. "I think you learned a lot. For example your speed has increased greatly, and you've gotten better with hand signs. And I got rid of a bit of your perverted mindset too, you never stare at my breasts anymore. You sneak a glance whenever you forget that I can see _everything_, but you're not as lecherous about it as you used to be." Hitomi shrugged, "So . . . if nothing else you've learned to show just a little more respect for women. That's worth all the time in the world."

Hitomi sighed, "Anyway I'm sorry. I never should have asked you to do this. You've never killed anyone before, it was Oedo I wanted . . . and anyway it's all my fault I have to ask for such a thing. If I'd just killed that slime bucket when I had him before me this would have been avoided." Hitomi smiled slightly, "If he wasn't guarded by a Jounin at all times I'd take him out myself and teach you kids the jutsu anyway just because you're so talented."

Nao frowned, "I never want to learn your jutsu. It's a killing move isn't it? I'd never have any use for it. I'll never take a human life."

Hitomi put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. "I can respect that. Even though I disagree with what you've just said, in a weird way I hope you can keep that promise Nao. I hope you never find yourself in the position where taking life is necessary."

Nao nodded. He glanced at Hitomi and said "I'm going to go back to Shikamaru-sensei and trust him to get me through the exams. After all he passed even before _the _Uzumaki Naruto. He was the first of the whole Konoha Twelve to become a Chuunin."

"That's probably best." Hitomi smiled.

They sat in silence on the wall of Konohagakure watching people come and go. They watched the sun set and the watched the moon take it's place in the night sky.

Hitomi whispered "It's late . . . they're going to close the gate soon. Let's go. I'll buy you dinner."

There was nothing even remotely romantic about the wat she said that. Nao knew it was just something between friends . . . but that wasn't what he'd tell Kotaro. Kotaro after all had a real girlfriend, had gotten a real kiss even. Nao didn't want to seem . . . less successful.

Nao nodded. "Okay . . . let's just wait until after they close the gate." He said.

He'd give his mother and father until the last possible second . . . even though another semi-date with Hitomi was tempting.

He hadn't realized how much he'd missed his family.

But it didn't seem like they'd felt the same way.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	76. A New Threat

**Chapter Seventy Six**

The four figures stood outside the gates of Konohagakure, staring at them and considering their next move.

"It's closed off , what now?" One girl asked.

"Eri . . . climb over them, open them from the inside." A man with long hair commanded.

"What if there are guards?" Eri asked.

"Why should that pose a problem? Open these gates, girl." The man said with a shrug.

Eri nodded and rubbed her hands together, preparing to climb the sheer, seemingly smooth wall.

"Wait," A third figure said, "what if we tried knocking or something?"

"Psh, leave it to Emi-chan to try to ruin our fun." Eri scoffed. "Am I climbing this thing or not?"

"Life is all about fun, Emiko, damn common sense!" The man scoffed, "Go for it, girl!"

Eri removed her shoes and handed them to Emiko. She then cracked her knuckes, a most unladylike thing to do and she heard the fourth member of their group, who's name Eri had never been totally sure about gasp in disgust and readjust her parasol . . . what a freaking damsel.

"Good luck then!" Emiko said, and Eri dashed off, getting a running start and then leaping easily ten feet off the ground.

She hit the wall a bit harder than she'd meant to, but quickly found a grip for one hand, and then the other before gravity took hold. She slowly, almost sensually felt along the wall with her right hand until she found a place she could hold onto, then she did the same with her left, slowly making her way up the wall.

She smirked to herself, she loved climbing. She had tiny, almost unnoticeable scars all over her legs and arms from times she'd ripped her clothes climbing trees.

She'd spent her whole sixteen year life climbing, she'd even learned to climb before she'd learned to walk. She liked to think she could find a grip on _any_ surface. Who told these Konoha jokers they knew how to build a wall?

She reached the top and threw herself over. She crouched, which might have been pretty unladylike, and glanced at the bottom.

Three guards, that wasn't so bad. A bit under protected really.

She felt a kunai against her neck and a cold voice said "That's as far as you go . . ."

"A bit slow aren't you?" Eri tilted her head back to get a glimpse of her attacker, and she smiled at the Konoha Anbu that held his blade to her throat.

"We knew you were here from the start . . . I was just curious to see if you really could get over the wall." The Anbu said.

"I hope I impressed you." Eri said, batting her eyelashes.

"Indeed." The Anbu said. "That wall is built to repel chakra, any attempt to simply use chakra to cling to it _should _have failed."

"Fascinating." Eri said. What the heck was _chakra_?

"What shall we do with them Captain Shino?" Another Anbu asked.

Shino returned his knife to its holster as a pair of Anbu grabbed Eri by her arms rather roughly, "Lets find out who they work for, and what they came for."

* * *

Toshiie knelt in front of the Tsuchikage's messenger, showing the messenger the reverance he would have shown the Tsuchikage. "What word do you have for me?" He asked.

The messenger said in a gruff voice "Our allies intend to move during the Chuunin exams. A distraction is planned at which point eight teams of sleeper agents will move. You are to rendevous with a team of Jounin spies from our village and take charge of them. Your mission is to assassinate the ambassadors, save the one from Konoha."

"So that it seems as if the leaf village planned it all." Toshiie reasoned.

The messenger didn't respond to his comment, but continued spouting orders, "Once the assassination is completed you are free to eliminate any targets of opportunity, you are however forbidden to engage with the Hokage, the Raikage, or the Kazekage."

"Obviously." Toshiie nodded.

"You are also to avoid conflict with the Konoha Twelve, you are not permitted to kill any of them."

Toshiie's eyes widened, "No!" He shouted, "I _must _kill Nara Shikamaru!"

"Tsuchikage-sama suspected you would respond this way, and prepared accordingly. You are granted permission to kill Temari of the Desert, Nara Sumiko, and the Genin under Nara Shikamaru's command _if _you have an opportunity."

"But why not Nara?" Toshiie demanded.

"Because he dies when Konoha burns. We kill all twelve of the Konoha honor guard along with the Hokage." A new voice said. "You'll be part of that if you survive this operation. Do not approach Shikamaru . . . he knows you're here, doesn't he? After all you attacked my servant Syako while she was caring for the infant."

Toshiie spun around and saw the hooded shinobi standing behind him. He hadn't even sensed his coming, it was unnerving. "You think I can't take Shikamaru?"

"Hey, relax." The hooded Shinobi shrugged, "That's not the issue. Weren't you listening? It's important that all of the Konoha Twelve die together, with their Hokage. That's just how it needs to be. Besides which Shikamaru is a genius, if you face him he _will _outsmart you, and he'll kill you. You threatened his daughter, and ruthlessly murdered three girls he'd known and helped train. He won't show you any kind of mercy."

Toshiie glared at the man who had masterminded the entire strike on Konohagakure and said "You speak as if you know him personally."

"I don't. But I know his reputation, I've seen his handiwork. It's not for no reason that the Konoha Twelve have _all _survived the war up to this point."

Toshiie glowered . . . but he couldn't go against the Tsuchikage just because he didn't agree. If the Tsuchikage had some purpose for Nara to continue living Toshiie wouldn't tamper with it . . . of course if he _had _to defend himself . . . well who knew.

* * *

Nao glanced up at Hitomi, making very sure to avoid looking at her breasts as he did so. He asked "You know I've been wondering . . . why do you always wear those, even in the dark?"

"Protection." Hitomi said.

"Uh-huh . . . from what?" Nao asked.

"Never you mind." Hitomi said. "How's your dinner?"

"It's fine, it's fine, but I mean how can you have any kind of peripheral vision with those things on?"

"I just do, okay?" Hitomi scoffed.

"Do you ever take them off? I mean what about when you sleep? Or shower?"

"I take them off on occasion . . . if I'm alone." Hitomi said.

Nao tilted his head to the side, "So . . . can I see them? Your eyes I mean."

"You'd see me naked before you saw my eyes, and you're _never _going to see me naked." Hitomi said firmly.

"So if I prove you wrong on that some day . . ." Nao trailed off.

"_If, _and that's a mighty big _if _you ever, by some accident, or gross misjudgment on my part, see me without any clothes on at any time you should thank your lucky stars just for _that _blessing, never mind my eyes." Hitomi said evenly.

"You never know, love could strike you any time and you'll be all over me."

"Wrong. There's already someone I like and it isn't you. Anyway it'd be against the rules." Hitomi shrugged.

Nao rolled his eyes, that was a deflection, she didn't like anyone, she'd said so herself already. But her other comment was intriguing, "What rules?" Nao asked.

"There's a simple rule to dating, kid. You don't date anyone younger than half your age, plus seven. So half of seventeen, rounded up is nine. Add seven to it, the youngest guy I can date is sixteen, leaving you S.O.L."

"Soul?" Nao blinked.

"No, S.O.L. straight out'a luck." Hitomi said.

"Well why are you rounding up, why not round down?" Nao asked.

"Fine, the cutoff age then becomes fifteen. You're still out of luck. It wouldn't be okay for us to date until you were eighteen, and I was twenty three, that's with me rounding down."

"I see you've been giving it some thought." Nao smirked.

"No, I'm just good at math." Hitomi said, sounding irritable. "Is every meal I spend with you going to turn into a session of me being hit on by a preteen?"

"Only until I turn thirteen." Nao smirked. Hitomi smirked back, but not with much enthusiasm.

Nao guessed he was pushing this joke too far, maybe she was starting to feel uncomfortable, maybe she didn't realize he was just kidding.

He said "I bet your eyes are your most attractive feature, and that's why you hide them. Because you hate being called beautiful."

"You'd be wrong on that one." Hitomi said.

"Well then if you _don't _want people to think you're beautiful, why not show off your eyes?" Nao asked.

Hitomi frowned and said "Naomasa . . . it's better to be told every day that you're beautiful by people who don't really mean it . . . than to hear every day that you're ugly from people who do mean it. Even if you _know_ you're ugly you don't want to be reminded . . . it hurts."

Nao nodded. He said "I can't see your eyes making that much of a difference . . . maybe you don't know how incredibly--" Nao stopped himself from calling her beautiful. She didn't like it and it wasn't going to help him in the field of helping her realize he wasn't taking this as a date.

He wasn't left with long to think about it when a Chuunin burst into the restaurant and came up to Hitomi, he said "Hijiri-senpai, we're looking for the Genin known as Ishida Naomasa, have you seen him?"

"He's right here." Nao said, and Hitomi nodded.

The Chuunin turned to Nao, and then spoke into a radio, "Target is at the barbecue, over."

"We'll be there in a moment." A slightly familiar voice said over the radio.

"What's going on?" Hitomi demanded. "What's with this 'target' business?"

Nao noticed Hitomi tense, she was ready to spring in an instant. She was far more obvious about it, when Shikamaru-sensei got ready to fight it was hard to notice. Then again, he was a Jounin.

Naomasa gulped. He didn't think he'd done anything wrong but he'd go quietly if something was the matter. He didn't want to ruin Tomoko's workplace, even though she was off for the rest of the month, and he especially didn't want Hitomi getting hurt on his account.

But the Chuunin shook his head slowly, "You'll see in a moment."

"You'll tell me now or I'll--" Hitomi began but the doors to the barbecue suddenly burst open again.

"Oh my, what a quaint establishment." A woman wearing a red and white dress with a symbol Nao knew very well sewn onto each shoulder entered, sweeping her hands through shoulder length black hair. "All right, where's my future husband?" She cast her gaze around the room, her eyes fell on Nao and she smirked.

He tried to hide behind a napkin holster. "Not Eri . . ." He whispered.

"Friend of yours?" Hitomi raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, Nao-baby! I _see _you hiding over there!" Eri said, waving at him with a crooked grin.

* * *

Syako watched Kankuro made some slight adjustments to his puppets, he was very attentive to the work. He could have made a fine craftsmen, or some other respectable profession.

He didn't have to be a Shinobi.

He didn't have to die with the rest of them.

Maybe it was just that she was really starting to get attached to him, but she really felt like there was hope for this man beyond mere ninjutsu. "Kan-kun," she said, "do you like . . . think I'm like . . . stupid?"

Kankuro raised his gaze from the puppet to her and said "No."

"So like you know I'm smart then?" Syako asked.

"Yeah." Kankuro said. "You're even smarter than me. The other day when I couldn't figure out where that restaurant Gaara wanted to meet us at was, you got it right off the bat."

Actually that was because she'd met with Toshiie and the master there to work out the situation with Sumiko. There had been no real resolution, nor had Toshiie even implied that he wouldn't attempt to kill the baby again.

Given the "masters" apparent inability to make a firm decision on _anything _over the course of the first meeting Syako guessed it'd actually been a double, or decoy, someone useless who could hear the grievance and bring it back to the master in his safe place for later deliberation. She hoped that this master was in fact going to rule in her favor on the matter, and let Sumiko be spared.

"So Kan-kun . . . if I'm smart, if I like have an idea you'll listen to it right? And you'll like do what I suggest, right?" Syako asked.

"If it's a god one." Kankuro said.

Syako stared at him. "Marry me." She said flatly. "Marry me and become a Samurai. Stop being a Shinobi."

"What?" Kankuro asked.

"You only need to become a Samurai by cast, not by like profession. You could like carve puppets and make a living that way. Perform shows with like chakra instead of strings, everyone will love it!"

Kankuro laughed, but not _at _Syako. He never laughed _at _her, like everyone else did. "That _is _a good idea . . . and when the war is over maybe I should do that." Kankuro smiled, "But I can't turn my back on my country, and I'm needed right now."

Syako bit her lip, "Kan-kun . . . I don't want _you _to get hurt." She said. "You're like . . . special. You're so much better than everyone else."

"All the more reason for me to continue serving." Kankuro said,

Syako frowned. He really did possess more honor than a Shinobi should, he _should _be a Samurai. He should be her husband.

"Kan-kun . . . Sunagakure will . . . it's going to be destroyed. Down to the last stone, and _everyone _in it is going to die."

Kankuro shook his head and said in a reassuring voice "We'd never let that happen. You know Syako-chan it's top secret but there's a new army being formed, more than ten thousand strong. It's being trained even now, it's going to take back the lands we lost. Everything's going to be okay."

Syako closed her eyes. "Sunagakure is going to burn Kan-kun . . . if you burn with it I'll like never forgive myself."

Kankuro came over and kissed her lightly on the cheek, "Come on, if anything happens to me it's not like it'd be your fault."

Wouldn't it though? Wouldn't it? Syako was almost single-handedly giving the Sound Organization all their information on Sunagakure, she was a major instrument in the fall of the village.

It was too late to mend her ways now, and she didn't want to. It was _right _that ninja should be purged from the land, that at best a small group of them be spared to serve the daimyo, not to act as their own military force.

But Kankuro wasn't like the other filthy, backstabbing ninja. He respected her even when she was pretending to be stupid, he really seemed to care for her even when she'd only been using him at first.

She shook her head slowly, "Just don't die." She said.

"I wont. But as for your other idea . . . how do you feel about getting married as soon as we get back to Suna? I'll ask Gaara to inform your uncle, and everything'll be ready when we get there. What do you say?"

Syako looked at her feet. "If you want me as your wife I want you to make me a promise. Promise me, give me your word of honor that you'll resign the night the war ends."

Kankuro smirked, "What makes you think it'll be night? I always envisioned it being as the sun rises in the sky, or maybe midday. A perfect day."

Syako frowned. She couldn't tell him that the final attack was planned to commence at sunset.

Couldn't tell him that Sunagakure's defenses wouldn't _last _until the sunrise. She'd seen to that, she'd continue to see to it.

But she said "Whatever the case, like give me your word you wont die and you'll like resign once its all over."

Kankuro nodded. "All right. I give you my word, for you I'll resign, and I swear I won't let myself die."

Syako kissed him and then said "Don't you dare forget it."

* * *

Gaara sat in a large, comfortable chair and sipped a glass of water. "This war's ending." He said. "Wind country's ten thousand will be battle ready earlier than expected. The alliance formed today will put Earth and Water in a tricky position."

"Feels good, doesn't it?" Naruto said.

"No." Gaara said flatly. "Something doesn't feel right. Maybe we've been at war too long . . . but it seems too sudden an ending."

"Sakura-chan once said wars can start in an instant but they take much longer to end. I kind of like her being wrong about this one." Naruto said.

Gaara nodded. Naruto felt a certain level of responsibility, he knew because the other countries had used him as an excuse for an attack they had wanted to launch anyway.

Gaara worried that might be clouding Naruto's judgement, "I want this war to end as much as you do. My village has less than two hundred battle tested Shinobi left, we know the rumors of Iwa's thousands are inaccurate, but we're still working with far too few Shinobi. Konoha is how many strong, three hundred?"

"Less." Naurto said. "That's why the war needs to end. Its lucky that Kumogakure sided with us . . . it really shifted the tide."

"Yes . . . awfully efficiently." Gaara said. "They may have had surprise on their side at first but by now Iwa should have been able to mount up a counter attack. Why haven't they?"

"They probably have spies telling them about the ten thousand, they're probably worried that if they shift their forces at all you'll strike. I mean before they had just one front to defend and everything else was free to harass Konoha, now they need to defend all their borders." Naruto said.

"Maybe." Gaara said.

"You've met the Mizukage and the Tsuchikage . . . how did they seem?"

"The Tsuchikage doesn't seem trustworthy . . . the Mizukage is a shrwed tactician, I find it surprising that she'd let her country get beaten back from Konoha so soundly."

Naruto smirked, "You sound like you kind of like Mizukage."

Gaara smirked, "She's about sixty."

"Wow . . . you sure have a type don't ya? Dattebayo!" Naruto chuckled.

"I'm worried about this . . . Sakura is right Naruto, wars start in an instant, they can be decided in a moment, but they usually take months, _years _to end. This is going too smoothly."

"You know Gaara . . . I have a recurring dream. Had it every night since the war started." Naruto said in a soft, serious tone.

"Tell me." Gaara urged.

"In it I'm walking through Iwa, and I'm in chains. People are pointing, jeering, throwing things at me. They say 'see that demon, kill him' and I'm marched to the center of town for my execution. I see myself going willingly because I think it'll save Konoha. In my dream I always think that but I always know in my heart that it won't end anything. And when that thought gets through to my dream self I get mad. So mad I go nine tails."

Gaara raised an eyebrow as Naruto continued, "All nine tails, and I'm full of power, and pleasure. I fight, I destroy everything . . . and then I realize it's not Iwagakure I'm destroying. It's Konoha. I see myself as the nine tails over the ruins of Konoha and destroying everything in some kind of rage, I see all the people I love, Sakura-chan, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei, my team, everyone I care about dead."

"You think you dream is telling you something." Gaara reasoned.

"I used to. I used to think it was a vision of the end of Konoha. A city in flames and myself the cause of them. I used to think it meant I'd be responsible for my friends' deaths if I didn't turn myself in, and it plagued me every night. The thing is, Gaara . . . I havent had this dream since the news came of the Lightning Lord's death. Since we allied with Cloud and Rain and Grass . . . I just have normal dreams. I think . . . I think my mind is telling me that everything's finally going to be okay."

Gaara smiled slightly, "I hope so. And I hope you continue to have pleasant dreams Naruto . . . but remember that a ninja _never _drops his guard."

Naruto smirked, "He shouldn't overstress it either."

Gaara nodded and said "Let's hope that this really is the end of the war. Then maybe you can see about starting a family of your own, founding an Uzumaki clan of Konoha." Gaara said.

"What about you? You can go hook up with that sixty year old Mizukage!" Naruto laughed.

Gaara sighed, "She's also married, Naruto." A widow actually, but Gaara wanted the joke to end before Naruto got it in his head to start spreading it around and it became an accidental rumor . . . like the one that Naruto had started on accident about Lee being Gai's illegitimate son.

"Man you need to meet better girls, don't you? Dattebayo!" Naruto chuckled.

Gaara shook his head and tried to enjoy just sitting with his friend and enjoying the evening sky.

But he couldn't get it out of the back of his mind . . . the war was ending far too easily.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Eri, Emiko, Nagahide and the unnamed fourth member of their group are _exceptionally _rare in that none of them were originally meant to _appear_ in the Chuunin exams. Eri would have had a brief appearance at the end of Arc 4 and then played a role after the time skip, whereas Nagahide and Emiko should never have been anything more than a reference, and the fourth member literally just had a title, no actual name.

It may seem a bad move introducing four new characters (only one of whom holds any real importance) before killing off anyone else. Eri's role for arc 3 is largely a background role. She's got literally one important scene other than her introduction and then that's it, her role in Arc 4 has not been, and will not be changed, so her presence will neither prolong nor detract from the quality of the story.

And I know everyone is eager for the actual third exam to begin, I assure you it's happening soon. Like before chapter eighty kind of soon, and the matches themselves will be announced the chapter before the third exam begins.


	77. Thirty Five

**Chapter Seventy Seven**

Hitomi raised an eyebrow, "Old girlfriend? You really have a type don't you? She barely looks any younger than me."

"She's not a girlfriend, she's something worse. She's . . . my older sister."

"Ah, big sis huh?" Hitomi smirked, "I bet she's got all kinds of stories about you. Like the time you escaped at bath time and streaked the whole neighborhood."

"N-no she doesn't! And I never did that!" Nao said.

"Keep your voice down, girl. A young lady should be seen, not heard." Naomasa's father said, playing with his mustache.

"He _has _got embarrassing stories about me though." Nao grumbled, "That's my dad."

"Neat." Hitomi smirked. "You want me to leave you alone with them?"

That was a tricky question. Nao did want to see his family, but he suspected they'd embarrass him . . . not that there was anything wrong with them embarrassing him in front of Hitomi, it wasn't like he was trying to impress her or anything . . . well maybe on some level he was, he wasn't going to lie to himself.

But no . . . he wanted some back-up for this, he'd been away so long he wanted someone familiar with him for a support of some kind. "If you do I'll never forgive you." Nao whispered.

Hitomi smirked, the Chuunin raised his hand as the next familiar face entered.

It was a member of the Konoha twelve, Nao recognized him as Shino. "I trust you won't be needing my services any further." Shino stated more than asked. He glanced at the Chuunin and they departed, leaving Nao's family on their own in the doorway of the restaurant.

They didn't stay there long, Eri rushed over and took a seat next to Hitomi, "Any cute guys around here, little brother? I _just _turned sixteen!"

"So?" Nao asked, but he was a little surprised he hadn't remembered Eri's birthday. Maybe it was because she hadn't been around to remind him.

"Dad told me I couldn't date until I was sixteen, so now . . . I can do whatever I want." Eri smirked.

"Sixty! I always said sixty!" Nagahide, Nao's father said.

"You _did _say sixteen, father. That was the age for all of us." Another of Nao's sisters, Emiko said. Emiko, or Emi as the other Ishida children called her, was two years Eri's senior, and so she was six years Nao's. She wasn't the oldest, there were five other daughters in the family, all of whom were married to influential samurai or wealthy merchants.

Emi was actually engaged last Nao had heard. To a Samurai of Suna who'd offered their father something extravagant for her, Ichiteru herself had never met the man she'd be marrying.

She hadn't seemed to mind though, she just smiled and said it'd be her honor.

She always smiled, Nao didn't like her. How could it possibly be her honor to have no freedom or choice in her life? He hadn't been capable of living like that, Emiko had a strength--or perhaps it was weakness--he'd never have.

Though they were free to date at sixteen none of Nao's sisters had ever been allowed to _choose _their dates, so it did seem weird that Eri was looking for cute guys. Their dad would never let her date them if it seemed like there was a chance Eri would go to bed with them.

Nao shook his head, "It's uh . . . good to see you."

"We've missed you." The fourth person in the group said, stepping out from behind his father, handing him her parasol as she wrapped her arms around Nao.

He frowned and though a part of him kind of wished his mother wouldn't hug him in front of Hitomi he somehow found himself fighting back tears as he hugged her back.

"And who's this?" Nao's father asked, tilting his head towards Hitomi.

"Oh, this is my . . . uh . . . well my friend?" Nao asked.

Hitomi smirked and nodded.

"Hmm, kiss her!" Eri said lecherously.

"Shut up!" Nao gulped.

"Now look what you've done, he's blushing." Nao's mother said.

"Do you have to point it out?" Nao grumbled. Maybe Hitomi wouldn't have _noticed _it if his mother hadn't gone and _told _the whole world!

"She's got a name, right?" Nao's father asked.

"Hitomi." Hitomi said.

"Sakamoto clan?" Nao's father asked.

"That was my mother's clan before she married my father. My clan is Hijiri."

"I swear you look just like your mother. Sakamoto Jun, the most talented clerk I ever had, she was excellent at math. Are you?"

"Yeah, she's real good at math!" Nao said, glad to throw the spotlight off of himself.

"I-I'm _okay._" Hitomi said, moving a hand over the band on her goggles as if she were making sure they were still there.

"Oh, now _she's _blushing!" Nao's mother said, clasping her hands together, "They're so cute together!"

"I-I'm not." Hitmoi said, sounding confused.

"She's not blushing." Nao agreed.

"Look at how he sticks up for her, it's so adorable!" Nao's mother sighed.

Nao held his head, Hitomi gave him a look. He couldn't see her eyes, but he could guess from how well he knew Hitomi and the expression on the rest of her face that the look said quite plainly 'what have you gotten me into and how do I punish you?'

But he noticed she _was _slightly blushing.

* * *

Shikamaru stood with Tsunade in her office. Sakura and Shizune were flanking her, and while this might not have bothered Shikamaru in the past, this time in particular he felt outnumbered.

"They're my men." He said.

"They're _my _men." Tsunade said. "It's _my _decision."

"You don't know them as well as I do." Shikamaru said. "Kotaro is brilliant, he's a real prodigy, and Yomiko's got more potential than anyone would've ever guessed. Naomasa learns faster than anyone I've ever seen, besides Naruto of course."

Sakura smirked, "Naruto learns _some _things fast. Try teaching him to keep his mouth shut at an official function."

"Well to teach you must first master." Tsunade scoffed, Sakura became very silent and Shizune smirked.

Shikamaru however wasn't amused. "These matchups aren't acceptable. You're going to pit my student against a confessed murderer."

"We have his parent's approval, that's all we need." Shizune said apologetically.

"So what am I doing here?" Shikamaru demanded.

"You're their sensei, you've been slacking." Tsunade said. "You havent been training team ten, their families have."

"Excuse me?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"You heard me." The Hokage said firmly, "They're your students. Kakashi will continue to train his son with the Chidori, but Naomasa and Yomiko are yours entirely, as is Kotaro when he isn't being trained by his father."

"I'm told Yomiko is trying to fashion her own Jutsu based on one of Asuma-sensei's old favorites." Shikamaru said.

"You weren't close enough to Asuma to help her with that?" Tsunade asked with a raised eyebrow.

Shikamaru nodded slowly, realizing that he could indeed help Yomiko. He'd thought it okay to let Kurenai bond with her child but then he supposed he did need to train them.

"Shikamaru, you're a compotent Shinobi, show me that you're a compotent teacher. Becoming Chuunin is more than just possessing powerful jutsus, help them become mentally capable of becoming Chuunin. That is the duty you were charged with when this team was formed and that is the duty you've been neglecting."

Shikamaru nodded. He didn't really feel like he'd been neglecting them, they _had _grown mentally.

He nodded to Tsunade, "I'll take care of it. They'll be ready."

"Time's running out Shikamaru. The pecking order has already been established, you've just seen the list. Understand I'm violating a thousand rules showing it to you."

"I know." Shikamaru said.

Tsunade frowned, "We can't prove that boy was responsible for the rain Genin, and it's put me in a rough position. But you need to understand . . . I won't have it happen again. Your student faces him, if there's going to be a casualty I'd rather it not be a Konoha genin."

Shikamaru lowered his gaze, "My students will be ready . . . they won't let you down physically or psychologically. I swear it."

Tsunade nodded, "I expect nothing less than excellence from the Konoha Genius. That is what they call you isn't it?"

Shikamaru nodded. He wouldn't mention that he was more widely known as the Legendary Lazy Ass Ninja, after all he had no intention of being lazy about this.

* * *

Naomasa saw Tomoko the next morning heading for the park where they'd been training with Hitomi. He rushed up to her and said "Hey, Tomoko! Wait a second!"

Tomoko smirked, "Hey, Nao. I guess I was wrong, you wanted to learn it after all, huh?"

Nao frowned and said "Wrong!" He said, "I never _ever _want to learn that hateful move, and I don't think you should either."

Tomoko frowned back, "Oh. Okay . . . that's too bad, I mean I was kind of hoping you'd be there to help me out . . . you're . . . a lot better than I am." She said, looking at the ground.

Nao shook his head, "How can you?" He exploded, "Not only are you going to learn that Jutsu you _dare _ask for my help mastering it? You're not that kind of person!"

Tomoko looked surprised, "What? What are you--"

"It's a killing move, are you going to _kill _your opponent?"

"Naomasa . . . it's an emergency move, you don't use it unless you _have _to. Part of having power is knowing how to control it, do you think Hitomi-sensei uses this move on _everyone _she fights?"

"Never mind her, _you're_ going to kill someone!" Nao roared.

"Yes, that's the deal." Tomoko said flatly.

Nao stared at her, "But why? How can you?"

Tomoko's eyes hardened a bit, "Naomasa . . . this guy Hitomi wants dead . . . wouldn't be my first."

Nao's eyes widened. He stared at Tomoko and slowly shook his head, "How? How can you? You don't . . . you don't seem like a . . ."

Tomoko folded her arms, "Three years Nao, I've been a Shinobi for three years. How long has the war been raging? Do you think I'd still be alive today if I hadn't taken a life at some point?"

Nao was stunned. He felt so weird inside, disbelief mixed with repulsion. How could she? Why would she? She wasn't the type to kill, she was . . . she was so nice.

Tomoko frowned, "Naomasa I've killed before, and I'd be lying to myself if I said it wouldn't happen again. I'm a ninja, it's . . . what we do."

"How many people have you killed?" Nao demanded. "How many women and children have you murdered?" He screamed.

And Tomoko slapped him. Hard across the cheek, her eyes were furious but he was pretty ticked off too, what gave her the right to be mad now? _She _was the murderer, not him. "You . . . you . . ." She clenched her fists, "I may have killed before but I'm not a murderer. Have some _damned_ perspective when you accuse me of things, or we wont be friends much longer. Just who do you think you are coming here and talking to me like this? You want to question my morality you could at least do it in private, don't you think?" Tomoko demanded, and Nao realized a lot of people were indeed staring at them now.

Tomoko looked around and said "Fine. You want to know Nao? I'll tell you. There was a time when I taught you instead of Hitomi-sensei, remember? Well lets have a math lesson. How many people has Oedo Tomoko killed? I don't notch my kunai, but I've never lost count. So how many men? Soldiers of Iwagakure, and Shinobi of Kumo and Iwa? Twenty three. How many women? Why no fewer than seven. How many helpless women? Zero. Women who wanted me to die, who came at me with every intention of killing me on the other hand?"

Tomoko glared at Nao, "How many children has Oedo Tomoko murdered? How many crying infants in their cribs has she smothered? How many babies has she drowned? How many toddlers has she led to their doom with promises of candy and treats? Can you guess? Zero! Zip! How many ninja rookies has our dear Oedo Tomoko killed? Exactly, _exactly _four. How many times has she seen the life of an enemy of her village ended for the sake of her own village? What's the grand total?"

"Thirty four." Nao said darkly, staring at Tomoko . . . somehow he saw her. He saw the girl he'd become friends with, he saw the clever, sweet young woman who'd come and helped him without ever asking for anything in return, the young woman who'd shared a very private past with him out of trust and friendship, the girl who'd been, frankly his first and still somewhat lingering crush. He saw that, but it didn't register. All he recognized was a stranger who'd killed and would kill again. A murderer who'd admitted to killing women and children. Who cared what the circumstances were? Killing was killing, it was still taking away the gift of life from someone else.

Tomoko folded her arms and said "So you can see Ishida Naomasa, that evil Oedo Tomoko has killed men, women, and even children." Tomoko glared at him and tore her forehead protector from her neck and held it out to him, "So tell me. What do you think this is? What do you think it means? Do you become a man when you put this on? Are you making the same mistake I made those years ago? Are you taking Iruka-sensei's words the wrong way?"

Nao glared at her, hating her. "You're the one who's wrong. That headband isn't a license to kill, it marks you as a proud ninja of the hidden leaf--"

"A ninja isn't some super hero who always saves the day and never takes a life. A ninja _sells_ _their_ _soul_ to the greater good! I've killed thirty four people in three years and that is _mild _compared to Daisuke, or Kyusaku, Chouji-sensei's killed more than all of us put together! I have practically been a coward compared to them, and Saizo from team Uchiha _does_ notch his kunai! I've spared as many lives as I could but it's not always easy, it's not always _possible, _not if you want to survive!" It was Tomoko's turn to explode now.

"But here's the real puzzle," she whispered once the proverbial smoke of her anger had cleared, "let's see if you can answer it given what you know of me. Look at me Naomasa, you _know _me, you know me like you're my own brother. How many did I _want _to kill?"

Nao was shaking, he felt tears running down his cheeks, and anger in his veins, "Thirty _five_ . . . you _murderer._" He said.

Tomoko smiled a thin smile, "So . . . you really _can_ act your age." She said flatly. Her face was emotionless, her voice was devoid of it's usual vibrant tone. "I thought we were friends, but I guess you never knew me well enough to really be able to give me that label. But I gave it to you, maybe it was selfish. Maybe I just wanted a friend who wouldn't look down on me. Maybe I shouldn't have assumed you'd understand me. I'm sorry I ever troubled you." Tomoko said, bowing low.

Nao wasn't going to let her off the hook that easy, "Apologies are cheap, swear you won't kill ever again and we _can _be friends!"

Tomoko just turned around and started walking towards the park, towards Hitomi who Nao saw standing there, disapproval plain on her face. Tomoko wrapped her forehead protector around her neck again and said "When I take this off forever, I'll make that promise. But not to you. I'd better not waste any more of your time, you're not the person I thought you were, and I'm not the person you want me to be. For your benefit as well as my own I _never_ want you to speak to me again. And don't worry, I'm done talking to you too."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Nao snapped, but it was halfhearted and feeble.

And she didn't respond.

He folded his arms. She'd get over it. She'd talk to him. She'd have to.

They might be on a mission together as Chuunin, or she might have to deliver a message to him, or she might even . . .

He glanced at Hitomi for help, but she just shook her head slowly.

And why not? If he was so willing to call Tomoko a murderer in the end what made Hitomi any different? They were both killers, they were murderers, they had taken human lives . . . they were both the same in the end. But he hadn't judged Hitomi as harshly as Tomoko, the mere thought of her committing murder hadn't shaken Nao as much as the thought of Tomoko indulging in death dealing.

And for her to call it mild. Nao tried to imagine anyone living with themselves having killed so many people.

Nao fell to his knees and shook his head slowly. He didn't know how to feel about this. Did that make Shikamaru-sensei a murderer too? He'd killed . . . he'd been there when Shikamaru-sensei had taken life, he'd watched Ino-sensei do it too.

Those times it hadn't seemed so wrong, the people they'd killed seemed to deserve death. But Naomasa couldn't bring himself to believe that a child, any child ever deserved to die. And the one Hitomi wanted them to kill was a child.

How could Tomoko want that?

He felt a hand on his shoulder, he glanced up to see Kotaro of all people.

Nao smiled weakly, "I haven't seen much of you lately."

"Been training." Kotaro said evenly. "Never mind that now. Come with me."

"What for?" Nao asked, "You want to tell me how stupid I was and that she's right and I'm just acting like a stupid kid?"

"Well . . . no. I wasn't listening to that little row of yours, none of my business. I just want you to help me train. You're not doing anything anyway so make yourself useful. While we're training, if you needed to talk about whatever it is that's got you so upset I'd listen without judging you . . . and if you _are _acting like a stupid little kid . . . it might have something to do with the fact that you _are _a kid. We both are."

Nao smiled weakly. "So you think I had an excuse to say what I said because I'm a kid?"

"I said I wouldn't make any judgments. And I wont." Kotaro said. He held out his hand and after some thought Nao took it. "Besides, I'm your friend too, you need to stop spending all your time with girls."

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Heh, okay, okay so I played a bit of a joke with Eri, I couldn't resist. For those who still don't get it she's not Naomasa's fiancée, she's his older sister. Her comment about a future husband was directed towards any hot guys that might have been in the restaurant, but she forgot what she was doing when she spotted her real quarry, her estranged younger brother.

Nonetheless with the story running so close to the 600 review mark looks like you'll be learning what the matchups are today (or tomorrow, depending on how long it takes the chapter to appear online) as 78 will be posted as the bonus.

Enjoy them both! The Third Exam is about to begin, plans are about to come full circle, the mysterious master will reveal himself, the much expected cat fight between Ami and Kaori will erupt, Akuma is let loose on mostly unsuspecting Genin, Toshiie's strike, and Tetsuo and Takumi's dark decision.


	78. The List

**Chapter Seventy Eight**

Hitomi smirked at Tomoko as she gripped her wrist and groaned.

"You're getting it girl." Hitomi said. "You'll have it in time for the exams easy."

Tomoko nodded.

Hitomi tapped her goggles, "You're hesitating though. Have been all day. You're messing up on steps you usually have no problem with."

"I guess I'm distracted." Tomoko said.

"Because of your little lover's quarrel?"

Tomoko looked confused for a moment, then laughed weakly, "Wh-what, you mean me and Nao? No way. We're not . . . I mean we're just--er we _were _just friends."

Hitomi slapped Tomoko's shoulder, "Look, what he told you was out of line. But don't be too hard on him, he's a kid. There's a lot he doesn't understand, you know?"

Tomoko nodded. "But he also sees a lot that I don't. I mean . . . what if he's right? What if despite all my justifications I'm just a murderer?"

Hitomi frowned, "Don't think on it. You're a soldier, so am I. We do what we have to do. You have done nothing wrong."

Tomoko nodded, Hitomi shook her head, "Look, you've done good today, distractions or no. Take a break okay? Go get something to eat with your buddy Shiroi, see if she can't cheer you up.

Tomoko nodded. "Yeah I'll take a break. But . . . I don't really think I have any friends to count on. I just lost Nao and I lost Shiroi a long time ago."

"There's _nobody _who might cheer you up?" Hitomi asked with a raised eyebrow. If she had to she'd go with Tomoko and try to cheer her up, but she doubted she'd be very good at it.

Tomoko looked surprised, "Uh, actually there is _someone_ . . . uh . . . I guess."

"Good. So go hang out with them, and I'll see you here tomorrow. Do _not _let Naomasa's words affect you Tomoko . . . he was _wrong_."

Tomoko nodded, and Hitomi turned away and sped off.

She needed to find Naomasa before he demoralized Tomoko anymore . . . and maybe try to explain to him why what he was saying, while not exactly wrong in the strictest sense was far from right, or fair.

* * *

"So you can make lightning come out of your arm?" Naomasa gapped. 

"Hopefully." Kotaro said. "I haven't actually _done_ _it _yet. But once I do I'll have mastered a jutsu from both my mother and my father. I think I'd be closer to being a Jounin like them, don't you?"

"Well you're definitely smarter than the rest of us." Nao said.

Kotaro shook his head, "I don't think so. I think we just see the world differently."

"Poetic in its way." Shikamaru-sensei said, appearing suddenly with Yomiko.

"Hey sensei, nice to see you." Nao greeted.

Shikamaru nodded. "I love to see you guys training yourselves, but you're back under me now. Kotaro you're still free to learn Chidori when you need to, but any free time you have in-between lessons with your father and the time you spend sleeping is to be spent with me and the team."

Kotaro nodded and Nao said "So you're going to train us?"

"Don't sound so surprised. I _am _your sensei, and the sooner you kids are Chuunin the sooner I can dump you off on some other commanding officer." Shikamaru-sensei smirked. He held up a red envelope, "This arrived. There's one for each of you at your homes I don't doubt . . . but I've brought _mine _here for all of you to see."

"What is it?" Kotaro asked.

"An invitation of sorts." Shikamaru said.

"To your wedding?" Nao asked.

"No. Those were sent out long ago." Shikamaru said.

"Why didn't we get some?" Yomiko demanded suddenly.

"What do you mean? We got some." Kotaro said, "_You _must have been the only one left out, Miko."

Nao could tell he was lying to mess with her, and Yomiko probably knew it too. But the look on her face said that she wasn't going to take that chance, and she gave Shikamaru a very stern look.

"Not one of you three got an invitation, but you're all on the list, we just didn't send actual invitations to you because we didn't want you to feel obligated to come. You're _kids _you know?" Shikamaru-sensei shrugged. "At your age I would have found a wedding too troublesome. Heck if I didn't love Temari as much as I do I'd think my _own _wedding was too troublesome."

"Well I'm going, and I'd like an invitation as a keepsake. It's a wedding, Sensei. I'm a girl. We _live _for that sort of thing." Yomiko said.

"Thanks for setting your gender back about fifteen years, Yomiko. Stereotypically speaking of course." Kotaro smirked.

Yomiko made a hand gesture that mostly just involved her middle finger,

* * *

Yuu leaned back narrowly avoiding Takumi's thrust, without looking at what he was doing he kicked out for the former Jounin's right knee. 

He hit something, and it _was_ Takumi's knee. _Unfortunately_ it was his knee kicking forward, shoving Yuu's less powerful kick back and throwing him off balance.

Takumi grabbed him by the collar before he could hit the ground and smirked, "You lose."

"Lets go two out of three!" Masaru said.

"Then I've already won, this is the second time I've beaten all three of you." Takumi smirked.

"First time doesn't count, that was a warm up." Kasumi said.

"It's true, you did call the first one a warm up." Tosa-sensei smirked.

"I was just taunting them." Takumi laughed.

"That was not made clear, I call the first victory null and void." Tosa-sensi said simply.

Takumi tilted his head to the side, "Arent _you _their sensei?"

"I'm not the taijutsu expert." Tosa laughed. "In fact . . . I'm not really even needed here. I'll leave it to you for the rest of the afternoon, Konjo-san."

Yuu shook his head. Tosa was a good sensei normally, even if she did trick them into paying for her drinks, dinners and . . . well pretty much _everything_.

But she'd seemed distracted since they'd come to Konoha, she kept disappearing.

Takumi just smirked however and said "In that case, since it _is _afternoon let's break for lunch. Meet back here in an hour and a half."

Yuu frowned, "Why an hour and a half?"

"I'm tired." Takumi shrugged. "Besides, looks like someone wants to have a word with you."

Yuu raised an eyebrow and spun around.

Tomoko was leaning against a tree, she waved. Yuu wasn't totally sure what she was doing there, but he'd be glad to find out.

"Oh look, it's Yuu's girl friend!" Masaru chuckled, and Kasumi elbowed him in the stomach.

"How would _you _know that?" Kasumi asked sharply.

Yuu frowned, "I wonder." He sighed.

"Yar uh . . . lucky guess, that is never mind. Uh . . . go get 'er tiger." Masaru said, "I'm uh gonna go get something to eat, coming Kasumi?"

Kasumi looked like she wanted to stay, but Masaru dragged her off.

Yuu shook his head and smiled weakly. Those two . . .

"You shouldn't keep her waiting." Takumi said, "She's stood there a while as it is."

Yuu frowned at Takumi, "Yeah . . . uh . . . what should I say to her?"

"You like her?" Takumi asked.

"Yeah." Yuu said.

"Then you definitely don't want to ask _me _what to say, I do _not_ speak well to girls I like anymore, I just dont see myself giving you good advice." Takumi smirked. "Just go see her, she's been more patient than your sister would've been."

Yuu smirked back, but weakly. He put his hands in his pockets, but Takumi whispered as he turned to leave "and keep your hands out of your pockets, keep them where she can see them" so he took them out.

He gulped and went over to Tomoko. She smiled lightly at him and said "Hey uh . . . I finished my training early and I kind of noticed you guys. I didn't spy on you though, I give you my word."

Yuu folded his arms and leaned against a tree, "You didn't see us get our butts kicked did you?"

Tomoko smirked and held a hand over her chest, "_Me_? See something like that? No way. But uh . . . well if I had I wouldn't let it affect my oppinion of you."

Yuu smirked, "I see. But you weren't spying." He said.

"Spying is a harsh term. I did watch, but I didn't mean any harm in it." Tomoko admitted. "I think your sensei would have said something if she thought I was a threat anyway, right?"

"Sure." Yuu said, but he doubted Tosa-sensei had even noticed Tomoko.

Tomoko smiled and said "I uh . . . I didn't really have any special reason for being here, I just stumbled on you guys. And uh, well I was going to leave and get something to eat when I heard that guy who beat you--uh I mean that guy you were with say that you were breaking for lunch . . . and well . . . I don't know if maybe you want to come with me?" Tomoko asked, her voice wavering a bit at the end. "I understand if you'd rather catch up with your friends or something!"

Yuu could feel himself blushing, "I uh . . . well I mean-"

"Yeah, he'd love to, he'll treat." Takumi said as he walked by.

Yuu shook his head, Takumi should have married Kaori, that way he'd be his brother-in-law and he could slap him on the back of the head without it being strictly considered assault.

Just familial abuse.

Tomoko smiled, "Well I mean you don't have t _pay _or anything. You already got me a really expensive book. I'll pay. If you want to go that is . . ."

_Really _expensive, Takumi had negotiated with the pawn shop's owner and ended up trading the book for a bottle of exceptional sake, two times the amount of money the man had wanted from Yuu, and that was after Takumi had talked him down from _ten_ times the original price.

Yuu would have to pay all that back of course. Takumi hadn't asked, but Yuu wouldn't feel right just taking money from his sister's ex. Takumi was like an older brother in a lot of ways, and if Kaori his actual sibling had loaned him money she'd want it back eventually and he'd pay her. Takumi deserved the same courtesy.

_Especially _since Chuunin got paid a lot more than Genin, and Yuu was determined to become a Chuunin. He would have no excuse not to pay his debts.

"Well uh, yeah. Yeah I'll go. Where did you uh . . . where'd you want to go?"

Tomoko shrugged, "Well I've been to almost every restaurant around here, but you're just a tourist. So . . . why don't you pick a place out. It'll be an adventure."

Yuu smirked, he had an hour and a half to spend with this girl and find out how much he liked her so . . . "All right, let's go."

* * *

Tomoko cast her eyes down towards her bowl of ramen but didn't take her actual gaze off of Yuu. "Yuu . . . what do you think of me?" 

He choked on his ramen, "Wh-what?"

"Well what do you think of me?" Tomoko asked. "Do I seem like an evil person? Or . . . what?"

Yuu coughed into his hand and said "Oh! Oh uh . . . you're not evil. If you were you wouldn't ask."

She frowned, "Yuu, how many people have you killed?"

"What?" Yuu asked.

"I've killed thirty four . . . and I've promised to kill one more." Tomoko said. "Doesn't that make me evil?"

Yuu clasped his hands together under his chin and watched her closely, "Why did you kill them?"

"They were trying to kill me . . . or my comrades. They meant harm against my village." Tomoko said softly.

"Yes . . . I can see why that would seem evil. You stood up for what you believe in, protected hundreds, maybe even thousands and managed to do it by taking a mere thirty four lives. How ever do you live with yourself?"

Tomoko's eyes narrowed, "If you're going to _mock _me-" she began but Yuu interrupted her.

"One hundred fifteen." Yuu looked into her eyes.

Tomoko felt a shock run through her, "H-how could you . . . so many? And you're only a Genin."

Yuu shook his head, "Those aren't my combat kills. That number's still higher than yours though, _that _number is fifty seven, and one man who I did not kill . . . but whose death I contributed to."

Tomoko frowned, "What's the one hundred fifteen?"

"My first mission," Yuu said calmly "we were supposed to defend a border town from a roving band of Konoha thugs. Not even an army, just about a hundred angry farmers who thought they could win the war with makeshift spears and maybe an ancestral katana or two. There were one hundred and fifteen people in the village I was sent to protect. Me and my team . . . you want to guess how the story ends?" Yuu asked.

Tomoko frowned, "You didn't kill them did you? The townspeople I mean."

"Personally? No. Too much work for one twelve year old kid. See the wannabe soldiers, _they _killed those townspeople. Mostly the men and the children, they had other plans for the women but when they were finished with that they killed most of them too." Yuu looked down, "I consider myself responsible because when we engaged their scouting party I captured one of them. An old man. He seemed so old, so frail, so helpless. I couldn't kill him. So I let him go. I made him swear never to raise a fist against the Land of Lightning, and I let him go."

Tomoko frowned, "Maybe he deserved to live. Maybe somewhere out there some little kids were glad that their grandfather came back to them. Why should that once act of kindness make you responsible for anything?"

Yuu smiled wryly, "I didn't say he lived. Oh I killed him. He was the first person I ever killed, but I managed it. I just let him go _that_ time. We were on our way back to the village and called it a night. We assumed, being a ragtag band of brigands they'd settle down for the night, or at the very least attack at dawn. I was with team A then, not team C. My team did not have Tosa-sensei, a tactical genius leading us. She might have known better."

"But the Konoha thugs attacked before the sun rose the next day, Tomoko. That village was well on its way to being completely annihilated when we got there at dawn. So many dead, the women were being . . . ravaged before our very eyes." Yuu's expression hardened, "I found the old man. I was so full of anger . . . I found him and I asked him why he'd broken his oath. Do you know what he said?"

Tomoko frowned, and Yuu told her, "A general must always lead his troops into battle, he said. I spared their _leader_, Tomoko. I let him go and he led them right to the town. His so-called soldiers killed the men, the children, raped the women and it was because of me. So forgive me if I call thirty four minor and do not think that I'm trying to mock you. I'm not. I wouldn't. If a person's hell is defined by the acts they perform in life then your hell will be far more tolerable than my hell. And if we both have to suffer equally for our deeds . . . well I call it unfair to you and I will take some of your hell off your shoulders if you like. Once we're both dead that is."

Tomoko frowned and gently rubbed Yuu's shoulder, "I'm sorry. And I'm ashamed that they were from Konoha."

"I didn't tell you that for sympathy." Yuu said. "I just want you to understand . . . I spared one life and caused more than a hundred deaths, those that _did _survive probably suffered even more having lost their families. Tomoko when you're at war every life you spare . . . every enemy you leave alive has the chance to come back and make you regret it. One harmless looking enemy is still an enemy."

Tomoko shook her head, "Yuu . . . you're not to blame. That old man did wrong don't doubt. He broke his word of honor and her allowed his men to commit the very sort of atrocities that make wars so hard to end. But if you _had _killed him another man would have led their army to that village."

"Another man might have waited until dawn . . . when we'd have been there to protect the villagers." Yuu said.

"And maybe then Yurei Yuu would be dead. And I'd never have met him." Tomoko said flatly. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to know you. And not just because of the book . . . I really like you."

"Yeah . . . well we'll just see about _that _once you've seen _this_." Shiroi said, slamming something down in front of Tomoko.

Tomoko was quite surprised to see Shiroi. Her friend who'd barely been giving her the time of day now wanted to intrude on her belated lunch? "What do _you _want?" Tomoko scoffed.

"Well I don't mean to ruin your little date, Tomo-chan-"

Well actually it wasn't a date per-se, but that detail hardly seemed important compared to the rudeness of Shiroi just barging in, "Then bug off." Tomoko snapped, but Shiroi smirked as if she thought it was a joke.

"You're Yurei Yuu? That's what she called you, right?"

"That's right." Yuu said. "You are?"

"Not interested in carrying on any conversation with you." Shiroi scoffed, she slammed her envelope down in front of Tomoko again, "Read your mail woman! Look at this! Look at it!"

Tomoko scowled, "Fine, if it'll get you to stop being so damn _rude_." Tomoko said, taking the envelope which was indeed addressed to her, "The heck are you checking _my _mail for?" She asked.

"Got it from Daisuke, just read it!" Shiroi commanded.

"What's _he _doing going through my mail?" Tomoko mumbled, she and her brother didn't live together any longer after all. Still she flipped the envelope to open it and noticed the official seal of the Hokage. She broke it and opened the envelope . . .

"Read it out loud." Shiroi said snidely, and Tomoko had to restrain herself from hitting her.

Tomoko examined the paper, "Greetings Genin Oedo Tomoko. Your performance in the Chuunin exams thus far has been impressive. In one week's time you will compete in the third exam, and--" Tomoko's heart stopped, she read on faster in her head.

"Wh-what _does _it say?" Yuu asked.

"Stop trying to get information from my friend cloud-boy." Shiroi scowled. "I know that's why you're here with her, isn't it?!"

_"I _asked _him _out, now shut up!" Tomoko snapped at Shiroi but didn't take her eyes off the paper.

"Oh . . . sorry. But you'll understand why I was so suspicious in a minute." Shiroi told Yuu.

She threw the bulk of the letter aside and got to what she really wanted to see.

The roster.

She swore and passed it to Yuu.

* * *

Shikamaru tossed the sheet to his students. "Read it out loud Kotaro." 

Kotaro nodded and cleared his throat, "First round, Ishida Naomasa and Ryu of Suna."

"Damn." Naomasa grumbled. "I might knock one of Termari-san's kids out in the first round?"

"Or he'll knock _you _out." Yomiko jeered.

Kotaro ignored them and read on, "Round two, Yukio of Suna, and Hyuga Shiroi."

"Their sensei's had something to do with that." Shikamaru said, "The original plan was for Shiroi to face Hattori Kasumi."

"Round three, Oedo Tomoko and Yurei Yuu."

Nao frowned, "If I do well I might have to fight Tomoko." He said.

"Or you'll face Yomiko, because round four is Sarutobi Yomiko and Inuzuka Kyusaku."

"Yes! An easy opponent!" Yomiko laughed.

"Don't believe that for a second, it'll get you knocked out in the first round." Shikamaru warned.

"Round five, Aburame Kurai and Hibiki Masaru . . . that's one of the guys from Kumogakure, right?"

"An interesting decision." Shikamaru grumbled. "Aburame should have been in round seven."

"Round six, Oedo Daisuke and Miura Saizo." Kotaro noted.

"They should have paired Daisuke and Ryu," Yomiko said, "Medic against medic. Then Nao could beat up Saizo for beating up his _girlfriend_."

"She's not my girlfriend." Nao said.

"Right, because she's too old, too hot, and too _smart _for you!" Yomiko jeered.

"Shut up!" Nao commanded.

Kotaro rolled his eyes, "Round seven!" He shouted over the now arguing pair, "Hattori Kasumi and Kyoko of Suna."

"Why don't they have last names?" Yomiko asked.

"That's enough." Shikamaru said. "So that leaves round eight to you Kotaro."

"And round eight. Hatake Kotaro and Akuma of Kumo." Kotaro nodded. It wasn't a surprise to him. He noticed that Shikamaru-sensei didn't seem surprised either.

"Well," Shikamaru-sensei said, "You've got--no, _we've _got one week to get you three ready to win your matches. I've been teaching you to think ten steps ahead, right? Well that's what it's going to take. You need to prepare yourself for everyone in your bracket and everyone in the other. You never know who you'll face if you get to the finals. But we'll get through this. Are you three ready to become Chuunin?" Shukamaru-sensei asked.

Yomiko grinned, "One week? Talk about suspense."

"It'll be over before you know it." Nao smirked.

Kotaro stared at his left hand. He had one week to master Chidori.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**A/N:** Happy Bonus Chapter! Cannot believe we already have about 600 reviews, thank you all for your support, your constructive criticism and your patience with the slow pre-battle arc 3. And that list again . . .

Ryu vs. Nao

Yukio vs. Shiroi

Tomoko vs. Yuu

Yomiko vs. Kyusaku

Kurai vs. Masaru

Daisuke vs. Saizo

Kasumi vs. Kyoko

Kotaro vs. Akuma


	79. Chuunin Hopefuls, the Matches Begin!

**Chapter Seventy Nine**

The day had finally come. Daisuke took a deep breath and exhaled very slowly.

He was ready. He'd trained hard, he'd helped Kyusaku train hard, they were going to go far in the tournament and they were going to become Chuunin.

Tomoko had trained with some other sensei, and Daisuke couldn't say he approved. But he'd wish his sister luck all the same.

He glanced at their father as they walked towards the stadium and said "Bet you're honored to have _two _kids in the Chuunin exams."

"I would be if I had _two _children." Daisuke's father said with a shrug. The blacksmith Oedo was tall and his arms were thick with muscle. His hair was blond and curly like Daisuke's own, but his skin was tanned and dusky like Tomoko's. He had a thick beard but no mustache, and wore the black and green dressed clothing of their clan.

Daisuke was also wearing a black and green suit, he'd suggested Tomoko do the same but she'd left little indication that she'd comply.

Daisuke folded his arms and said "Tomoko deserves respect. She's worked too hard to be ignored."

The older Oedo man didn't answer his son, he simply folded his arms and said "I know you'll do well in the tournament. If I did have a daughter I'd hope that she does well too, but I _don't._"

Daisuke shook his head. "You know three years is a long time . . . if anything ever happened to me she'd be the only one to survive you and pass on our family legacy."

"Our family _has _no legacy, _she _saw to that, _she _gave away our legacy." His father hissed.

Daisuke frowned. "She gave up a scroll. You gave up something much more valuable, your only daughter."

Daisuke's father frowned at him and said "You'll never understand how deeply that girl harmed our family."

Daisuke shook his head, "She'll show you what she's made of. She'll make you proud."

"Enough. I'm proud of _you _son. You've never disappointed me. That girl did so at every opportunity, never mind her, and never _mention _her."

Daisuke nodded.

He closed his eyes and hoped upon all hope that his father would see Tomoko's worth before it was too late.

* * *

Aburame Kurai nodded to Hyuga Shiroi, "You got the match you wanted."

"I don't know that I still want it." She said as they walked hand in hand towards the stadium. "The boy . . . well I just hate to take him out in the first round, he's got spirit."

"Never mind him." Kurai said, "Do your job. You're a Shinobi, and you're going to be a Chuunin."

"_You're _going to be a Chuunin." Shiroi smirked, "Heck, you could be a _Jounin_, don't you think?"

Kurai shook his head, "It takes a lot to be a Jounin. I'm not ready yet, if I were I'd be a Chuunin already."

Shiroi smirked, "Just think about it . . . one of the youngest Jounin in the village. You'd be famous."

Kurai shook his head again, "I don't want to be famous. I just want to . . ." He frowned, though Shiroi couldn't see it under the collar of his jacket, which hid his face so well, "I just want to serve this village to the best of my ability. I don't need to make a name for myself. I don't need to go down in history. I just want to make sure that for those who _do_ there's still a history book to go down in. I want to make sure that Konoha will always be free to record its history as it sees fit."

Shiroi shook her head, "Yeah well . . . I'm going to be famous. So like it or not you will be too."

"Why's that?" Kurai asked.

"Because whenever anyone asks I'm _always _going to say 'my boyfriend's tougher than me' and so you'll go down in history anyway . . . the one Shinobi stronger than the seventh Hokage."

"You want to be Hokage now? And the seventh?" Kurai asked.

"Well the sixth is going to be Sasuke-sensei, he's too incredible not to." Shiroi said, "When he's old and feeble, he'll pass it down to me."

Kurai smirked, "Good luck with that. Do you really think we'd still be boyfriend and girlfriend by that point?"

Shiroi shrugged, "Well we might be married, but I dunno. If we got married your parents might expect me to start producing Byakugan-enhanced bug herders, right?"

"They've mentioned that, yes." Kurai grumbled. It had been the familial discussion topic ever since Kurai and Shiroi had first been ratted out to their parents by Saizo.

Shiroi smiled weakly, "See the thing is . . . I can't. I'm never going to have children . . . so I wouldn't be a very good wife for you."

"No children?" Kurai asked. "Why not? You'd be a great mother."

"That's not true." Shiroi scoffed.

"Yeah . . . it's not." Kurai agreed, "But someday it might be."

Shiroi shook her head, "I hate my mother. That's why. Stupid woman . . . bringing a child into the world just to be a slave." Shiroi removed her forehead protector from her neck and wrapped it around her forehead, covering the symbol of the Hyuga branch family, "Any children I have would be members of the Hyuga branch, and my family is more influential than yours, the children _would _be Hyuga if they had Byakugan."

Kurai closed his eyes and said "_If _we were married . . . I'd fight the entire Hyuga clan to protect our children."

Shiroi smirked, "Then you _would _go down in history . . . as a lunatic who died in ten seconds. But I bet you'd take a few with you."

"Ten seconds? And just a few?" Kurai raised an eyebrow.

"Well you're in trouble once Neji shows up." Shiroi shrugged.

"Thanks for your vote of confidence." Kurai smirked.

"Hey, I think you're talented, but nobody's better than cousin Neji . . . 'cept Sasuke-sensei."

"Uh-huh."

"You'd probably make him break a sweat though."

"Uh-huh."

"Maybe even manage to draw blood on him."

"Uh-huh."

* * *

Masaru smiled at Kasumi and Yuu. "You guys, just think . . . we're going to be the first team from Kumogakure to receive a Chuunin promotion in Konohagakure in . . . well _years_!"

"It _is _exciting." Kasumi said, glancing at Yuu, "But how do you feel? I mean . . . your first match . . ."

Yuu smiled weakly, "I'll give her everything I've got just as I know she'll give me everything she's got. I don't plan on just letting her win."

Kasumi frowned, "Right. I mean it's not like you two even know each other that well, right? You're going to do what you've' gotta do, right?"

Yuu just kept smiling, but Masaru slapped his shoulder--Yuu allowed it and didn't phase--and said "Trust me, she'll respect you if you can beat her. Girls _love _guys who can beat them in a match."

"Uh, no. No they don't." Kasumi said flatly, then she noticed the subtle glare Masaru was sending her and quickly said, "That is uh . . . well _she _might, so give it your all!"

Masaru smirked but Yuu just shrugged, "You guys don't need to worry. In the line of duty I've done worse then defeat a girl I like."

"True." Masaru said. They all had.

"Besides, Tomoko made it this far because she's skilled, I won't take her lightly." Yuu said, he smirked at Masaru, "And your opponent is said to be one of the most skilled Genin in the whole village so don't you take him lightly either. You two . . . together we'll show them our power and make sure they remember it. Whatever happens we're still Team C. Even when we're Jounin leading our own squads we'll still be Team C."

"The C should stand for something." Masaru said.

"Team Chuunin?" Kasumi offered.

"Be kind of awkward when we're all Jounin." Masaru said.

"Nah, it'll be like an inside joke." Kasumi grinned.

Masaru smiled and grabbed his friends around the shoulders, "C'mon then Team Chuunin--until we think of something better--lets go make Tosa-sesnei proud!"

"Hey . . . where _is _Tosa-sensei? I haven't seen her lately." Yuu said.

Masaru shrugged, but Kasumi said "Oh she's got a boyfriend. She's showing all the signs of it, staring off into space with a dreamy look on her face, whispering to herself and giggling, and being really distracted. Plus she's started taking up Shogi!"

"So?" Masaru asked.

"So? So it means Tosa-sensei must have fallen for some old geezer, only old geezers play Shogi." Kasumi said. "Still it's cute that she fell for someone at all."

"You would." Masaru shook his head, "Fine, let's make Tosa-sensei and her geezer proud!"

* * *

Ryu was shaking, "I-I'm so nervous." He whispered.

Kyoko slapped him on the shoulder, "You can do it! Remember that Temari-sensei has faith in you."

"Yeah but if I let her down she might not be able to get married and live in Konoha!" Ryu said.

Temari scoffed, "Don't think that."

"Temari-sensei!" Ryu gulped, spinning around and seeing her standing there. "What're you doing here?"

"Before you go into that room and begin the final exam," Temari-sensei said, nodding towards the balcony from which all the Genin would watch each match unfold, "I just wanted to wish you luck. And on the subject of luck it looks like I was lucky to come when I did. Listen Ryu . . . it's okay if you don't become Chuunin. I know you will of course, I have faith in you. But even if you didn't I'd be okay, Kazekage-sama will work something out."

"But you're with us until we're promoted, and the next Chuunin exam is in six months, if any of us fail you can't be with Nara-san and your baby."

"Actually . . . we decided that Shika-kun and I are going to hold the ceremony here, but we'll live one year in Suna, then one year in Konoha. So I'd still be able to be your sensei for another year. You'll be okay, don't let thoughts of me hold you back. This is _your _day. These are _your _matches, all three of you. I'm sorry if you ever thought you needed to do this for me, because you don't. You're here because you're _ready _to be Chuunin, each of you. Not because I _need _you to be."

Ryu smiled, "All right sensei. We'll do it."

"Sure will!" Kyoko said.

"We'll make you proud." Yukio nodded.

"You already have." Temari-sensei smiled, "Now go."

* * *

Shikamaru smirked at Temari, "You know . . . we really _could _live a year in Suna, then a year in Konoha and back and forth."

"No we can't, it'd be too traumatic for Sumiko to move around so much." Temari said.

"Then why'd you tell them we were going to do that?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because . . . like I said this day is for them. I don't want them to think they _have _to get promoted on my account. When they _are _promoted, as I _know _they will be, I don't want them to think that Gaara pulled strings out of necessity, I want them to know they really earned it. But whether or not they get promoted this is their special day to show the whole world what they can do. They deserve it, and they deserve to have a clear mind while they're doing it. I wanted to make sure they didn't worry about me."

Shikamaru smiled, "You care a lot about them."

"They're like my own children . . . or I guess children I'm too young to have had . . . wait, I'm thirty, they're thirteen . . . hey, I _am _old enough to be their mother." Temari smirked, "Too bad I was waiting for a guy who wasn't old enough to be their father yet. Maybe Sumiko would be Genin-aged now if you'd put out sooner."

"Thirteen years ago I was _fourteen_." Shikamaru said. "Troublesome woman."

"I was ready by fourteen." Temari scoffed, taking Sumiko from Shikamaru, "Daddy's just wimp, yes he is!"

Sumiko giggled, Shikamaru shook his head, "Don't discuss our sex life in front of our daughter."

"A big wimp, yes he is!" Temari cooed to Sumiko who clapped her little hands and giggled.

"Traitor." Shikamaru scoffed.

* * *

Kotaro pointed at a tree, "That's the main goal." He whispered.

Yomiko nodded, "I think I can get it." She whispered back.

Nao frowned, and whispered along with the others, "The battlefield is going to change from match to match, Yomiko and I will have ours long before yours."

"Just take care of that, I'll watch and adjust my plan according to every other change." Kotaro whispered.

"Right." Nao and Yomiko said together.

"So . . . good luck." Kotaro said out loud.

Nao nodded, but there was one thing he needed to do before he could fight.

If anything happened there was one person he wanted to make some things clear too first.

Naomasa smiled weakly at Tomoko, who leaned against a wall and acted as if she didn't see him.

"You know uh . . . you look really pretty in green and black." He told her.

She didn't respond.

"And I like those symbols, is that the Oedo clan's crest?" Nao asked, pointing at a design which looked rather like a sea shell circled by a serpentine dragon biting its own tail.

Tomoko didn't answer, but put her hands behind her head so he couldn't see the designs on her shoulders.

Naomasa smirked, and said "Hey cool, I guess _you _can act _my _age too!"

Tomoko smirked and for a moment he saw a glimmer in her eyes.

And then it was gone, she said "Hey, Daisuke, you're late!"

"They didn't start yet did they?" Daisuke gasped, bursting into the room.

"No, one of them is lollygagging." She said glancing at Naomasa.

Nao frowned and said "Yeah well . . . I just want you to know I'm sorry. What I said was wrong." He said. "I'm not a perfect person, and I guess maybe I shouldn't expect everyone to live their life the way I live mine. The way I _want _to live mine . . . but I've thought about what I said to you and I realize now how wrong it was. But Tomoko what you said is wrong too. You said a Ninja sells their soul for the greater good, right?"

"What of it?" Tomoko sighed.

"Well . . . it's just . . . you've still got your soul. I look at people like my sensei and yours, Ino-sensei and Naruto-sensei . . . they all have souls. And you have your soul. The reason I think is because they know the difference between cold blooded killing and . . . well, warm blooded I guess."

"Are you going somewhere with this?" Tomoko demanded.

"And there's people like Miura Saizo, and Uchiha Sasuke . . . people without souls. People with eyes so cold and empty that it scares you just to see them!" Nao said, "People who really have sold their souls to the greater good, or perhaps to something less worth wile. I understand that I got angry because I was afraid you'd become like them. But I should have trusted in _you_, because I know you're stronger than people like that. I know no matter what you'll always be Tomoko."

"Aww . . . kiss her!" Yomiko shouted.

"D-don't tell him that!" Kyusaku gulped.

Tomoko however said "Uchiha Sasuke is a great hero, he's twice the shinobi most of us here will ever be. If he has no soul that's his business, I for one believe that he does. You have no right to talk about him like that."

Nao tilted his head to the side and smirked, "I know Uchiha Sasuke is a great shinobi and a hero of this village . . . but Oedo Tomoko, you're in a league of your own. There's no reason to compare you to anyone else so don't try to _be_ like anyone else. I don't want you to think you needed this Jutsu to become a Chuunin. Hitomi-sensei came to_ you_, not the other way around. She needs _you _for this mission, you don't need her to be a Chuunin."

"Yeah . . . yet you didn't insult _her_." Tomoko said.

"Wait, he insulted you?" Kyusaku, Daisuke and Shiroi said in one voice.

Nao shook his head and said "Tomoko . . . I really am sorry. I thought of all people you'd know what it's like to want to be forgiven, and I thought you wouldn't make me sweat on it too much. But it's okay . . . because I'll prove to you I'm worth forgiving."

Tomoko looked away and folded her arms, "You've got a match to get to, you're holding up everyone else's."

Nao frowned, and nodded. "Yeah . . . yeah I guess I am."

He turned and stepped to the balcony and looked down into the arena.

Tomoko said "Ishida . . . I mean Nao, be careful. You were out of line before . . . but not by much. My life has its fair share of problems, I don't want avenging one of my best friends to be one of them so don't get killed out there."

"We're still friends then?" Nao asked.

"Don't let it go to your head." Tomoko shrugged.

Nao grinned. Now with a clean concience he could _really _show his opponents what was what.

"We ready?" Ryu asked.

"Let's rock." Nao smirked.

Ryu nodded and swept out a massive fan similar to Temari-san's. The boy leapt onto it and glided down towards the arena floor to loud applauds form the audience.

Nao leapt onto the railing and tried to jump from the balcony into the arena as he'd heard many of the other Genin used to do in Shikamaru-sensei's day--Temari had even mentioned that Shikamaru had survived being pushed over the balcony--but one of the Kumogakure Genin, the one with white hair caught him by the belt and pulled him back.

"There are stairs." She--er _he_ said simply.

"Thank you, Yuu." Tomoko smirked, "And you Nao . . . what did I _just _tell you? I mean I guess I can't avenge a suicide but still . . ."

Nao smirked, "Fine, I'll do things your way for now."

"Just hurry and get it over with," Yukio said, "I've been waiting for _my _match for months."

* * *

Akuma watched his fellow Genin prepare for their match, the soggy mushy nonsense that had just passed between two of the Konoha Genin had made him wish Kumogakure had learned to speak a different language so he wouldn't have understood theirs.

He kept his silence, not wanting any part in or feeling any invitation to take part in the conversation, but he wholeheartedly agreed with the Suna boy who'd wanted it to end.

The sooner the others fought the sooner he could start killing.

He looked at the masked boy from Konoha, his first victim.

Nothing would save that boy.

* * *

Nao stepped into the arena and stood across from Ryu.

Konohamaru appeared and said "The first match . . . Ishida Naomasa of Konohagakure against Ryu of Sunagakure, let the Chuunin exams' third exam . . . begin!"

Konohamaru had barely stopped speaking when Ryu swept his fan out, Naomasa barely had time to roll out of the way.

He came to his feet just in time to see Ryu lunge forward and sweep his fan out for Naomasa again, this time a point blank range, no room for Nao to dodge. In fact if Ryu was even a milimeter closer than he appeared to be the fan might just hit Naomasa outright instead of bowing him away as he suspected it was meant to.

Although the name of the Jutsu that Ryu called out led him to wonder if blowing him away would be all it'd do when the Sunagakure Genin shouted "Wind Scythe Jutsu!"

**To Be Continued . . .**


	80. The First Match

**Chapter Eighty**

Hanabi smiled at Takumi as she passed him in the hallways, "Hello Takumi. Are you going to be sitting with Tetsuo?" She asked.

"No . . . were you looking for him?" Takumi asked.

"Oh, uh no. I've been 'asked' to sit with the daimyo of the land of lightning--rather _our _daimyo." Hanabi said, "Tetsuo is probably already there."

"Most likely. Punctual man." Takumi smiled, "Enjoy the exam Hanabi. Cheer for Team C extra loud, after all they haven't got a home field advantage."

Hanabi smiled back, "I will." She said. She turned to walk away, but turned back and said "You know Takumi . . . there are times that I find it hard to believe you were once a Jounin. You just don't seem the type."

Takumi smiled, "For reasons I won't burden you with, I take that as a compliment."

Hanabi smiled, "As it was meant. You know you can be a little . . . annoying, frankly, with your almost constant cheerfulness . . . but only for those who don't know you well. You're really just a very honest person who loves life, aren't you? I find that admirable."

Takumi's face became somehow less bright, less cheerful as he said "Oh no. No, no, no. That's not me at all."

Hanabi frowned with mild confusion, then laughed, "Oh fine, be sarcastic if you want. Tetsuo and I will find you after this is all over."

Takumi turned away and said in a cheerful voice "Yes . . . I suspect you will."

* * *

Nao was too close to be able to dodge, he had to think fast.

Ryu was close, yes. Too close for Nao to dodge, but he'd also gone too far into his swing to abort it now, or, Naomasa hoped, to change the course of the swipe.

So he reached out for the fan and threw himself over Ryu's shoulders, landing right behind the Suna Genin.

This didn't solve his problems however as Ryu continued the sweep, simply making a full circle.

Nao dove and slid between Ryu's legs to avoid the sweeping razor winds. He reached out for the other Genin's ankle as he did and Ryu fell back with a shout.

Nao lunged for Ryu with a kunai, meaning to press it to the other Genin's throat and demand a surrender, but Ryu kicked out, hitting him in the stomach and hurling him away.

The Konoha Genin spun in the air and landed on his feet, he slid back a meter or so and Ryu leapt to his feet.

For an instant his back was turned on Naomasa, who used that instant to its full advantage, rapidly going through the hand motions for the shadow clone jutsu. Just one would do, he needed to pace himself after all.

He nodded to his clone and then lunged for Ryu while his clone leapt back to begin a Jutsu.

Ryu had had his back turned, he wouldn't know which Naomasa was the real one, or so Nao hoped.

He'd charge at Ryu who'd sweep him aside and focus on the clone, leaving him a perfect opportunity to perform the real jutsu.

And if that didn't work and Ryu focused on him for some reason the clone would finish the jutsu anyway and hit Ryu with it, Nao would win.

He leapt up high into the air and twirled into an aerial drop kick, but Ryu just scoffed and threw his fan at Nao.

"Wind Disk Jutsu!" Ryu shouted as his unfolded and spun like a flying disk of death. It slammed into Naomasa, knocking him to the ground.

He lay flat on his back and saw the disk continue, slamming into his clone and dispelling it in a puff of smoke. Then, as Nao began to suspect that he might be able to attack Ryu while he was unarmed the fan returned to him.

Nao blinked, Ryu was a lot more talented than he'd thought. Sure the kid was a year more advanced, but Nao thought he was a medic. It was a general rule, according to Daisuke that medics generally didn't spend too much time focusing on offense.

Yet Ryu seemed to be all about offense.

So either Daisuke had lied for some reason, or Ryu was more than a typical medic.

Naomasa shook his head, he couldn't just lie here, the fight had barely begun.

He flipped backwards onto his feet and drew out a trio of kunai. He threw them at Ryu, followed by twice as many shuriken. As Nao expected Ryu just swept his fan out and blew the projectiles away.

Naomasa nodded grimly. He knew how he'd win now, but it wasn't the first time he'd thought so. Ryu wasn't a push over, he needed to expect his opponent to have some sort of maneuver in reserve . . . after all he'd spent most of his preparation time neglecting Shikamaru-sensei's lessons in order to attend Hitomi's breasts.

Classes! Attend Hitomi's _classes_, not her breasts.

This was not the time to think of such things.

But he did sort of wonder if Hitomi were here . . . would she see him get defeated?

No. No way. Because he wouldn't allow it.

He nodded to Ryu, "You've got _some _skills." He admitted.

"Don't sound so cocky!" Ryu shouted, folding the fan again and slamming it into the ground. He leapt onto it as if it were a post and began a series of rapid hand signs.

Nao hadn't been trying to sound cocky, he'd meant it as a genuine compliment. But no matter.

Ryu was baiting him by standing on the fan, he wanted Naomasa to lunge for him, and he'd counter.

Nao smirked. The crowd was roaring, it was a little intoxicating.

He'd give Ryu, and the crowd, what was expected of him. He sprang forward.

* * *

Matsuri scratched her chin, "Suna kid isn't half bad."

"He knows his weapon." Hitomi agreed, watching the fight with rapt interest. "He's slow though."

"Well maybe to us, but that's pretty good speed for a Genin . . . or a lower tier Chuunin."

Hitomi shook her head, "He _is _good, but speed is the key, and Naomasa-kun has speed. "

"Looks more like Suna boy is dominating." Matsuri said.

Hitomi shook her head again and glanced at Miyuki.

Miyuki smiled and Hara, who was sitting next to her. She nodded at Hitomi and said "They're close, it's a good match. But when strength is equal speed does help decide a victor, and "Naomasa-kun" has speed."

"He did learn from one of the fastest Chuunin in the village." Hara agreed.

Matsuri smirked, "I can't wait to see what you taught the kid Hitomi. I'd heard you really fancy him, and I can tell now that its true."

Hitomi stomped her foot and shouted, "That's _sick_!"

"What is?" Matsuri demanded, eyes rushing back to the battlefield, had she missed something?

"He's just a child." Hitomi scoffed.

Slowly Matsuri understood her younger friend's meaning and slowly came to realize why what she'd said could be considered offensive, "I meant as a student." Matsuri said.

"I know." Hitomi said, but she sounded dishonest, "What else _could _you have meant?"

Matsuri raised an eyebrow, Hitomi pointed to the arena, "The uh . . . the match. You should be watching it."

Matsuri looked back at the match and groaned, "Ouch! That looked like it hurt. I can't believe I almost missed it that!"

She said this as Naomasa lunged for Ryu, who had baited him by standing ontop of his fan and begun to perform a mock jutsu by using fake hand signs.

He'd easily fallen back and, using his fan as a club swatted Naomasa.

Matsuri kept her focus on the match, but noticed and noted the way Hitomi subtly sucked on her upper lip, something she did when she was overly worried or concerned.

Matsuri smirked. What other ways could she have meant what she said? Well she wondered . . .

* * *

"That's that. Over and done. I'm leaving well enough alone." Takumi said.

Tetsuo smirked, "I'm glad you decided not to go through with it." He said.

Takumi nodded, "I'm retired. Things like this are best left to you youngsters."

"You're not even thirty yet!" Tetsuo laughed.

"Most ninja won't live past thirty six." Takumi shrugged, "If I want to feel old you should let me . . . whippersnapper."

"Whatever old-timer." Tetsuo smirked. "You'll see in the end . . . it's better this way.

Takumi nodded and eyed the stadium, "So I hear the Daimyo himself has invited you and Hanabi to sit with him."

"He has. And Hikaru and his group will be with the Raikage, far away from me so I can enjoy seeing my sister earn her promotion."

Takumi smirked, he knew that Tetsuo had made mention of Hikaru's team not because he was concerned with Hikaru ruining the exams for him, but because he wanted Takumi to know where they'd be.

Takumi slapped Tetsuo's shoulder, "You're a good kid. Be seeing' ya, Hattori."

Tetsuo smiled though it was somewhat forced, "I really am glad you came to your senses."

"Me too." Takumi said. "Now . . . don't you have the soon-to-be mother of your child to get back to?"

Tetsuo smirked, "Yes, I suppose I do."

* * *

"Is it time?" Toshiie heard one of his Jounin whisper.

"Not yet. We wait until the fifth match to move, but we don't act until the eighth."

"Why the eighth, sir?" One of the Jounin asked.

"Because the distraction takes place in the eighth round. When that happens we strike, the Konoha Jounin will be focused on the arena, we'll be free to do as we please."

Toshiie looked up at the box that the ambassadors would be inside.

Those men were all doomed.

* * *

Nao sprang forward, Ryu leapt down off of the fan and quickly grabbed it.

He swung it and hit Naomasa in the stomach a bit lighter than he might have.

Perhaps he was taking it easy on him, showing him pity.

Big mistake.

Nao hugged the fan and squeezed it tight. "Want to see a four foot long fan disappear?" He asked with a smirk.

Ryu either didn't hear him or didn't comprehend his meaning as Nao held fast to the fan . . . and used Shikamaru-sensei's Shadow Storage Jutsu.

The fan disappeared and Naomasa was suddenly holding onto nothing. He and Ryu both fell apart. He rolled and drew forth a pair of kunai, one in each hand, and charged for Ryu, who somewhat slowly raised a knife in his own defense.

Nao struck out with the two knives, easily ducking under Ryu's counter. He heard the wind cut as Ryu's no doubt element enhanced blade narrowly missed his right ear.

He spun his two kunai upside down and held them underhanded, then stabbed Ryu with the blunted pommels.

He struck him thrice before fear of Ryu's further counter forced him to break off and leap back.

Ryu was slow, if this had been a real fight, if Nao were the sort of person who would take another's life, if Ryu served some enemy village instead of a closely allied one, if Naomasa hadn't flipped the knives at the last second and stabbed Ryu with the pommels instead of the blades . . . this fight would be over, and Ryu would be dead.

Ryu ignored this however and struck out at Naomasa as he leapt away, kicking out and hooking his leg with his own.

Nao fell back and Ryu leapt on him, brining his blade for Nao's neck.

Naomasa jabbed him again twice and then kicked him back as Ryu had done to him earlier.

Ryu spun in the air as Nao had, and this time Nao rolled onto his stomach and rose to his feet while keeping his eyes on Ryu.

"You're fast," Ryu said, "I give you that. But any medic knows the human body well enough to disable with a single blow, once I've had that this match will be over."

Nao scoffed, "That little bit of honesty gained you _nothing_. As if I'd let you hit me now!"

"Won't you?" Ryu asked, emerging from behind Naomasa.

Nao spun around, how could Ryu have used a shadow clone jutsu? He hadn't taken his eyes off of him . . . except . . . except for when he'd glanced at his family.

And this clone--or perhaps Ryu himself--had been in hiding the whole time waiting for Naomasa to slip up like this? Well he wouldn't have it!

As he spun he flipped the kunai in his left hand again so that it came up properly, then pounded on Ryu's back with the pommel.

Or he tried to, but his blow passed right through Ryu, and Naomasa realized he'd miscalculated.

He knew Shadow Clones, so did everyone on his team. Naruto-sensei's team, or at least Hitomi, knew it, Tomoko knew it. He'd gotten so used to it he'd assumed it was standard procedure to know it.

He'd forgotten that it wasn't, and his blow struck no flesh and blood clone, and it didn't strike Ryu.

But it passed through his doppelganger instead.

Nao quickly turned his head back to Ryu who had lunged forward with a kunai, he was literally millimeters from Naomasa.

* * *

Temari was on the edge of her seat, Shikamaru shook his head slowly. "You trained him well."

"You did good with Ishida too, Ryu would have won already if he still had his fan. Too bad for your boy Ryu isn't too shabby at knife fighting."

Shikamaru shrugged, "We'll see."

* * *

Naomasa ducked back and rolled away, this back and forth thing was growing too troublesome, as Shikamaru-sensei would have said.

He decided to borrow a trick from Hitomi, he leapt back a few times more and then began a jutsu.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He shouted, a pair of clones appeared on either side of him in a puff of smoke.

His two clones lunged forward for Ryu, each wielding a pair of kunai.

They were meant as a distraction, the weren't meant to defeat Ryu.

Nao wanted that privlidge to himself, and he shouted "Lets see how you like me using your own weapon on you, Ryu! Item Summoning Jutsu!"

Though he shouted one thin he performed another, and a third clone of himself appeared.

Using the insane speed Hitomi-sensei had taught him he transformed into a near if not perfect replica or Ryu's fan.

His clone caught him and unfurled him, "How did you do it?" Nao's clone shouted as his two companions disappeared, Nao knew this because he suddenly got the memory of Ryu delivering a rather painful uppercut, and a rather cheap kick in the groin.

"Oh yes, I remember," The third and only remaining clone said, "Wind Disk Jutsu!"

The clone threw Nao, who flew through the air. He was blind but he'd calculated the distance and how fast the clone would throw him.

He suddenly got a mental image of Ryu sweeping his hand in the air and stopping the spin while simultaneously throwing a kunai that Nao's clone had only barely dodged.

Ryu caught him, just as he'd wanted.

He transformed back in Ryu's arms. "So you _do _care!" He said with a smirk, and quickly and with all his might Ishida Naomasa punched up, hitting Ryu in the chin _hard_.

Nao was dropped and Ryu fell back, he landed flat on his back and didn't get up.

Konohamaru appeared and knelt down next to Ryu.

He glanced up at Naomasa, "He's dead. You killed him."

Naomasa felt the blood drain from his face, "N-no! No way!"

"Yeah, no way, I lied, he's fine." Konohamaru smirked, and Nao suddenly wanted to kill _him_!

Ryu groaned weakly and Konohamaru raised his hand, "This match is over. The winner is Ishida Naomasa!"

* * *

Hitomi relaxed and leaned back in her seat.

She hadn't realized just how tense she'd become as she watched the fight.

And now Matsuri was smirking at her. What the heck did she find so amusing?

* * *

Shikamaru smirked at Temari, "Not bad for a rookie, huh?"

Temari shook her head, "Not bad at all. But I'm proud of how well Ryu did, he really mastered my Wind Scythe, if he'd hit Naomasa it would have been over."

_Could have, would have, should have. _Shikamaru thought, "He _did _do well, that's _some _talent. And his real field is medical jutsu too, that's even more impressive."

Temari nodded, "What do you think his chances are? You were an examiner."

Shikamaru shook his head, "Only time will tell." He said, "It's up to the examiners, what they saw, what they were looking for."

Temari nodded and said "Either way he's come a lot farther than I thought he would have at this point. I'm proud of him."

"That counts for a lot. Maybe not score wise, but in all other things it counts for a lot." Shikamaru told her. "_You _know they're growing."


	81. A Long Time Coming

**Chapter Eighty One**

Yukio stared at Ryu's fallen form and shook his head.

Well now he didn't need to worry about knocking his own teammate out of the exams at least. And Ryu had done very well, there was a chance he'd still get promoted. Yukio had never expected his teammate to do so well, had pretty much figured Ryu was doomed since his skills as a medic wouldn't come into play much in his match.

He smirked, there really was something to Temari-sensei's teaching, and Ryu hadn't looked even the least bit feminine with that fan. Heck, Temari-sensei didn't really look terribly feminine with that fan, not when it came to fighting.

Yukio glanced at Kyoko and said "Hey, my match is up next so I cant, but why don't you go down to the infirmary and see to Ryu, Kyoko?"

The redhead nodded and said "Good luck."

"Don't worry, I'm gonna kill her." Yukio smirked.

Kyoko shook her head mournfully, "I hope not. You'll never be a Chuunin if you cant let go of personal vendettas. Remember that, okay? A real Chuunin is detached and emotionless when they face their enemy. If _she _knows how you feel about this match she can use that against you. You'll lose and you'll never be Chuunin. Do _not _give her anything to work with."

Yukio's brow furrowed, "Go see to Ryu." He said.

Kyoko sighed and walked off.

Yukio glared at Shiroi . . . he didn't _really _want to kill her . . . but then why shouldn't he? She wasn't a nice person in any way whatsoever, except _possibly _her physical appearance, Yukio tended not to find women attractive when they dressed the way Shiroi did. Women who needed the world to know how beautiful they were on the outside generally weren't all that pretty inside, and Shiroi seemed a prime example of this.

He just thought to himself that her attempt to make noses bleed with her outfit would make it so easy to make _her _bleed; she wasn't properly protected _anywhere_. He wondered if she'd even actually _wear _the Chuunin's flak jacket. Konohagakure seemed pretty lax about uniforms. Sunagakure could be somewhat lax on uniforms where more renown Jounin were concerned, but none of the Konoha Jounin Yukio had met wore a uniform, of all the sensei only Temari-sensei's lover and the guy with odd eyebrows even bothered to come close to wearing the uniform as they wore the jacket but not the blue jumpsuit.

He folded his arms and closed his eyes.

Kyoko _was _correct, a Chuunin shouldn't make a fight personal. Yukio needed to let go before he stepped into that ring.

But it was so hard to ignore the way that girl had humiliated him, the way she'd mocked him for no reason.

The thought of shaming her, of making _her _look weak and foolish appealed to him greatly.

He laughed softly and said to his own surprise "What would Temari-sensei do?"

Temari-sensei was a Jounin . . . and he'd never seen her _not _act like a fight was personal!

She could and had killed in a detached somewhat cold manner, but when she fought she would press after her opponent as if they'd insulted her and her whole family, she was a vicious warrior. So maybe there was a chance for Yukio to be a Chuunin and still take pleasure in defeating Shiroi.

If Temari-sensei could do it . . .

He cracked his knuckles and descended the stairs to the arena below, as he did he passed the boy who'd beaten Ryu, Ishida Naomasa, one of Shikamaru-san's Genin.

"Good luck." Ishida said.

Yukio shook his head, there was nothing to say. He wasn't going to hold a grudge for Ryu losing, and he didn't want to be cocky and declare his victory over Hyuga before he'd even set foot into the arena.

So he said nothing and simply walked out to the field.

Shiroi was already there, she must have leapt from the balcony. "Took your time, huh?" She smirked.

Yukio smiled, "I've waited months to fight you, what's the two minutes it takes to go down the stairs?"

Shiroi shrugged, "Shall we begin?"

"_I _will be the judge of whether or not you begin." The proctor pointed out.

"So give the word." Yukio said, cracking his knuckles again. "I've waited a long time for this."

"After a few months what's the ten seconds it takes to start the fight?" Shiroi smirked.

Yukio shrugged and fell into his fighting stance.

"When I'm done with you, you'll be willing to give _anything _for just ten more seconds of life." He said casually.

"Bring it on." Shiroi scoffed, wiggling a finger bidding him come to her.

Konohamaru raised his hand and shouted "Hyuga Shiroi," and the crowd went wild, cheering insanely. Yukio wasn't sure if it was Shiroi's clan, or the fact that she wore a fishnet suit with nothing but a skirt and a vest that encouraged everyone to cheer so enthusiastically for her.

"Yukio of Suna," Konohamaru continued, and the crowd gave a minimal cheer which might even have been nothing but carryover from the enthusiasm with which they met the announcement of Shiroi's name, "Round two of the Chuunin Examiniation . . . begin!"

With that Shiroi came on, she moved so quickly that Yukio hadn't been able to see her begin, but managed to catch sight of her after she'd already started moving.

She leapt into the air, spun twice and brought her leg down in what would be a devastating drop kick to his head.

He smirked and looked up at her, her foot came closer and closer . . . and Yukio swept his hand in the air, the sand from the pouch at his side emerged along with some sand on the ground that he'd coursed his chakra through while he waited for Konohamaru to start the match.

The sand barrier swept out blocking the kick, but also obscuring Yukio's view.

He wasn't surprised however when a dead log fell to the ground. She'd used Substitution, and he felt something gently strike him in the back.

It was her.

She was attempting to seal off his chakra points, luckily for him it wouldn't work.

She struck several times even as he turned to face her.

She moved quickly and fluidly, it was almost like watching a bizarre dance. She was so proficient at it Yukio suspected she must know by now that none of his chakra points were being sealed off.

She leapt back and scowled, "So you've learned some tricks."

Yukio held his hand out and blew on it, letting some of his sand skin fly into the wind so that Shiroi could see it, "To seal off my chakra points you need to be able to make contact with my body don't you? Maybe you can seal it through my clothes, but can you do it through a shield of chakra infused sand? Can you?"

He didn't mention, because it was costing him a great deal of chakra that the shield was just a bluff against physical attacks, what was really holding Shiroi at bay, he suspected, was the wind barrier Temari-sensei had taught him. It shot wind from his chakra points, repelling Shiroi's strikes.

But it ate up a lot of chakra, chakra he needed to use for offense. He could only pray she'd fall for his bluff.

Shiroi scoffed and said "If I could you'd be feeling the effects, so I guess your little sand shield _is _a good deterrent."

"I thought so." Yukio sneered in triumph, she'd fallen for it.

He held out a hand, "Sand really is great fun . . . why don't you try playing with some?" He said and created a sand clone.

This was not easy. Kazekage-sama could do it all effortlessly when he'd been Yukio's age, but it'd taken everything Yukio had just to learn some of Gaara-sama's tricks. None of them were automatic or effortless as they might be for the Kazekage.

But the physical taxation would be worth it in the end.

The clone surged forward, but it didn't last long.

Shiroi lunged forward and began a rapid attack routine, her speed was absolutely blinding.

She struck the clone in a dozen places in just a few seconds and at first Yukio thought it was nothing. But soon he realized what she was actually doing.

She wasn't striking the clone's nonexistent chakra points, but rather she was ripping it to shreds bit by bit.

It might have seemed clever to her since the clone was losing mass, and soon Yukio wouldn't be able to focus on all the flying body parts at once without quite possibly going insane, but her hands were getting covered with sand.

Yukio's sand.

He smirked and held out his hands, "Needle Sands jutsu!" He shouted, and the sands irrupted, his clone of sand became like a giant sea urchin.

Shiroi nimbly dodged the spines, but Yukio wasn't done.

The sand spines became longer and longer, shooting out past Shiroi.

She leapt up into the air to avoid them, but that's when they retracted right back. They became more flexible, like tentacles.

She was air-born when the first got lucky and wrapped around her ankle, another wrapped itself around her waist. She took an angry swipe at the tentacles which only caused it to explode spraying sand all over her.

Yukio smirked. He'd just won.

He allowed his spiny clone to collapse and she fell into it, into the sand.

He wrapped it around her, smothering her in it.

She screamed, he smirked, "No!" She screamed, "No! Oh it hurts! The pain! I cannot breathe!" Shiroi screamed.

Yukio tilted his head to the side . . . she _should _be able to breathe.

And she shouldn't be in any pain, she was just being pinned down by the sand, he wasn't crushing her . . . was he?

He didn't have long to worry about it though because soon she emerged with a blast. Sand flew everywhere and she stood as the dust settled completely unscathed.

"The acting was unnecessary . . . and contrived." Yukio growled, his urge to kill rising.

She'd mocked him again.

Shiroi leapt the twenty odd feet between him, landing millimeters from him she brought her face right up next to his and smirked viciously, "I just want you to feel like you're doing well . . . before I thrash you. You've been waiting so long for this fight . . . don't you want to feel like you might stand a chance?"

Yukio scowled and leapt back, forging a pair of sand blades, "I don't need you to _pretend _I've got a chance!"

"Then show me what you've got, and no more of these lame little sand tricks!" Shiroi said, drawing a pair of kunai from . . . actually where _had _she gotten them from? Shoes, vest, skirt, fishnet. No pouches, no sacks . . . where had she hidden those kunai?

Yukio shook his head, never mind. He'd worry about it later.

He lunged forward, she lunged forward, they struck each other like lightning, and the crowd roared like thunder.

* * *

Kotaro watched carefully as the fight picked up speed. It was so fast that both combatants were blurred.

The audience ate it up, though he would have thought they'd be annoyed at not getting the proper show. He supposed this to them _was _a proper show.

"Your girl's fast." Daisuke said to Kurai.

"She's been trained by Uchiha-sensei, there's no one faster." Saizo smirked.

Kotaro grinned when Naomasa scoffed at that.

"Bet Hijiri Hitomi is faster than Uchiha Sasuke." Nao said in a loud whisper.

"Unlikely, she's just a Chuunin, Sasuke-sensei has years of experience." Saizo said. "I bet she's fast, but so is Rock Lee, so is Hokage-sama, or Hatake Kakashi. None of them are as fast as Sasuke-sensei."

Kotaro shook his head, "I hear Uchiha was fast even when he was a Genin."

"Exactly." Saizo nodded, waving a triumphant hand at Kotaro, "Like I said, no way a mere Chuunin is faster than our sensei!"

"No, I wasn't agreeing with you, I was just pointing out that rank is irrelevant to how fast you are . . . you sort of pointed that out yourself in fact by saying that Uchiha was faster than the Hokage." Kotaro said. "Thought you ought to know."

"Hah, he burned ya." Kyusaku chuckled.

"I see the smoke." Tomoko grinned.

Saizo shook his head, "Well Sasuke-sensei was Jounin level while he was still a Genin. He would have killed Nara-san anyway, your Shikamaru-sensei is just lucky Sasuke-sensei never wanted him dead, or he would've been."

Kotaro shook his head now, "I don't know how we came to be discussing whose sensei could beat whose, but Uchiha is lucky he never had to match wits with Nara Shikamaru. When it comes to brute strength I don't doubt your sensei would beat ours . . . but he'd have to get his hands on him first, and that's one thing his speed wouldn't help him with." Kotaro smirked. "As long as Shikamaru-sensei's tactics held up I'd bet he'd have stood a good chance of surviving."

Yomiko nodded, "He probably doesn't have the brute force to defeat Uchiha-san, but I'd bet survival would never have been a problem. Shikamaru-sensei seems pretty good at surviving. I think he'd think of a hundred and one ways to trick, trap and stall Uchiha so that he, or else someone he might be protecting could escape."

Nao added "And in the real world where they would have been backed up by teams the team with the tactician would have had the advantage and Shikamaru-sensei would have prevailed. Maybe not personally, but prevailed nonetheless. He did after all lead _us _to victory against two Jounin and a pair of Chuunin, to Genin like us how is a Jounin any less frightening than Uchiha would have been to Shikamaru-sensei?"

"Your sensei might be good at running away and stalling for time, but if Sasuke-sensei got hold of him it'd be over in seconds." Saizo scoffed.

"Yeah, I can respect that opinion." Naomasa acknowledged.

"No contest, Shikamaru-sensei's a wimp physically." Yomiko agreed.

"Brain over brawn _until_ brawn gets hold of brain." Kotaro nodded.

"Keep that in mind . . . because it won't take me very long to get hold of you, braincase." The boy, Akuma said with a snide expression on his face.

Kotaro might be mistaken, but he was fairly certain it was the first thing Akuma had said all day. He'd be flattered if he weren't too busy not caring. He just kept focusing on the battlefield as Yukio and Shiroi began to move even faster.

At the rate they were going one missed block would be fatal.

"You're saying you've got no brain." Yomiko sneered at Akuma.

Akuma laughed, "I'll have one . . . when I rip yours out of your skull."

"So you need my brain in order to have one. In essence you're brainless." Yomiko reasoned. "Good to know."

"I'll kill you." Akuma said softly.

"I've heard that before actually." Yomiko laughed softly.

Akuma however lunged forward with a short sword, Kotaro spun around ready to defend himself and Yomiko who was standing next to him.

But before Akuma could come within three feet of Yomiko and Kotaro he was held back by several of the older kids.

The boy with too many clothes, Daisuke, Kyusaku and Tomoko all had hands on Akuma, holding him back. Saizo had his own blade pressed against the boy's throat, and the femine looking boy had taken up a defensive position in front of Yomiko, the girl from the cloud team had taken up a similar position in front of Kotaro.

Naomasa stood alone looking surprised and dumbfounded. "Wow," was all he said.

But Kurai too had not moved to intercept Akuma, was instead watching the fight intently, his eyes following Shiroi closely.

Kotaro supposed he must be worried about his girlfriend, too worried to bother protecting his fellow leaf ninjas--even though Yomiko had provoked Akuma's ire--until he noticed the insects that had covered Akuma's sword hand, long nasty looking stingers poised.

Kurai could fight without even paying attention to his opponent . . . scary. And there was a chance Kotaro would have to fight him . . . super scary.

"Steady on now, what do you think you're doing?" One of the two proctors from before demanded. Udon, who'd spoken, and the other proctor Moegi were acting as guards of a sort making sure the behavior between the candidates remained calm and pleasant.

Moegi strode forth and shoved everyone away from Akuma, "That's enough, you save it for the field."

"Appologies." Daisuke said, "I just couldn't let him harm the young lady, you know it wouldn't have been chivalrous to--"

"Shut up." Moegi suggested.

"Yes ma'am." Daisuke sighed, and Tomoko snickered.

Kotaro was about to turn back to the battlefield when Masaru said calmly "It's over."

Kotaro's eyes widened, he spun around and looked at the field.

"Oh my gosh!" Yomiko gasped.

* * *

Shiroi struck and struck, and Yukio blocked and blocked.

When he struck, she blocked, they moved with the sort of speed Shiroi had never thought the kid from Sunagakure capable of.

And the sort of speed that Shiroi herself was incapable of sustaining indefinitely.

She could only hope that Yukio would ware out before she did.

She struck and struck, the fight was losing all semblance of a shinobi duel, neither of them even tried to use a jutsu, neither trusted the other to give them the chance.

Yukio smirked grimly, "I think you've shown off enough of your speed." He said, in the time it took him to say it they'd moved easily two dozen paces and traded twice as many blows. "Time for me to end this."

Shiroi scoffed and struck out again.

Yukio blocked.

His sand blade exploded, showering her with more sand than she'd thought could possibly be contained in the blade. It filled her lungs as she inhaled, and went into her nostrils, and her eyes.

She fell back and tried to rub the sand from her eyes, she felt something wrap itself around her starting from her legs and progressing up to her waist, "Now surrender," Yukio said, "Or you'll die."

Shiroi rubbed furiously at her eyes.

She needed to get the sand out of them, it burned more than normal sand should.

She coughed and opened her eyes, her vision was blurry, but she could see Yukio.

He came up close to her, "It's useless, it wont leave your eyes because I don't _want _it to. Your lungs won't clear because I'm not _letting _them. If I were really cruel I could suffocate you . . . or permanently blind you. Surrender, you lost."

Shiroi glared through blurred eyes, threatening to blind her had been very much the _wrong _thing to say.

She felt her arm begin to tingle as she gathered the chakra for her one hit kill move.

Damn what Sasuke-sensei had said, she wouldn't let this kid treat her the way that Jounin had before. She wouldn't be called helpless again, she wouldn't _be _helpless again!

She felt tears filling her eyes as the gravity of what she was about to do sunk in to her, and as she recalled her helplessness before and how helpless she was now.

No . . . she wouldn't be helpless now. No matter what her fate was she'd make this boy pay for inflicting this on her.

She felt sand tentacles wrap around her hand, but the sand was burned away by her chakra, "_You _surrender and remove your sand from my eyes or I'll kill you!" She warned, willing to give him a chance to surrender and save himself a grizzly death.

He smirked, "Scared? Are those tears because of the sand in your eyes . . . or because you know you've lost to a little kid?"

Shiroi's eyes flared. She wasn't sure herself what those tears were for, perhaps this match had simply come too close to reminding her of what she didn't want to remember.

Yukio became incased with a thick suit of sand armor, "Give it your best shot. Call it a gift. And when you fail you'll know you truly have lost."

Shiroi roared and thrust her hand forward, her one his kill move would annihilate Yukio.

But he'd lied about simply giving her the blow, she could see that now as he brought his _other _sand blade up along with a wave of sand that slammed into her like a massive wave.

She felt herself being pushed away with more force than she'd ever imagined possible, but her momentum mixed with her proximity to the boy was enough that she'd be able to hit him before he threw her.

Maybe . . .

She felt the sand in her lungs getting heavier, it was harder to breathe but her eyes seemed fine.

For the slightest moment she hesitated, perhaps she could use another Jutsu and spare his life . . .

Too late.

The world exploded in a flash of white light and red sand.

Shiroi's Jutsu didn't draw blood . . . so the sand must have been red because of her. Had she hit Yukio or missed? And what sort of damage had he just inflicted on her? She couldn't tell at all as she fell to the ground. She smirked . . . maybe this fight had no winner.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	82. The Winner

**Chapter Eighty Two**

Yukio staggered forward and put his hand on his head.

His sand barrier fell away, and he fell to his knees.

He looked forward with some effort at Shiroi who had similarly fallen to her knees.

He'd stabbed her with a spine of sand as a last ditch effort to bring her down and she was bleeding profusely.

"Surrender." He mumbled, but his whole body hurt.

She'd struck him with that Jutsu Temari-sensei had been so worried about. She'd hit him right in the face, he was pretty sure his nose was broken.

But he'd survived. His sand had absorbed most of the damage, he lived on.

Shiroi scoffed, "How . . . are you still . . . alive?"

"What'd you do?" Yukio growled when he realized he couldn't actually feel his legs or his arms which was why he'd fallen to his knees he supposed.

He wasn't paralyzed, he could move them . . . but he had no feeling in them, they were completely numb.

Shiroi laughed softly, "I forced my chakra into your body . . . and it exploded like a bomb. You have no reason to be alive . . . my attack should have burnt you alive from the inside out!" Shiroi shouted and clutched her side, "You slime . . ."

Yukio shuddered, he'd thought his sand armor had protected him, he must have been mistaken. But why was he in pain at all? Shiroi's attack should have been fatal, but if it never entered his body in the first place due to the sand shield he shouldn't be suffering at all.

But he _was _suffering, he had no feeling in his arms or legs, his chakra was gone he had just enough to go on breathing, not enough to defend himself.

Luckily it didn't look like Shiroi could defend herself either.

"Surrender." Yukio told her.

"To you? Why?" She sneered, and she struggled to her feet. "I'll murder you here and now." She coughed, "You . . . you would have taken away . . . my eyes."

Yukio rolled _his _eyes at her, "You just tried to kill me, I don't find it an even trade."

"Then you don't . . . know what it means . . . to be defined by your eyes. Or to be part of a clan . . . that could and would kill you . . . with a _thought _. . . if you lost the one thing . . . that made you useful to them." Shiroi said darkly. "Everything I am . . . revolves around these empty, white orbs. Without them . . . I'm not Hyuga. And . . . if I'm not Hyuga . . . I have no valid reason to go on living."

Yukio shuddered at the thought of such a cruel clan, and here he'd heard Konoha ninja were soft compared to their Suna brethren. A bunch of goody goodies.

But what Shiroi had just spoken of wasn't soft or even remotely good, it sounded . . . hard and evil. Sort of like Yukio saw the girl herself . . . hard and evil.

At least he had seen her that way, but now he saw a weakened frightened creature struggling to stand before him.

He smirked, "You've lost."

"You have no chakra left." Shiroi growled. "If I can just lift a kunai to your neck . . . I win."

"You're bleeding pretty badly." Yukio sneered, "You won't make the walk here. You need medical attention right away or you'll die."

Shiroi drew a kunai and lunged forward.

No . . . she fell forward, and Yukio felt his own body give out as well.

They fell to the ground together, Yukio saw the proctor's feet suddenly appear between them but didn't have the strength to force his gaze upwards towards Sarutobi Konohamaru's face.

He closed his eyes, a winner was being declared . . . but he no longer cared who it was.

* * *

Takumi bit his lower lip as he watched the scene in the arena below him.

How unfortunate for those two.

But Yuu was up next. Takumi had headed "behind the scenes" to where the Genin waited to see if he couldn't wish Yuu luck, he hadn't been able to do so before the team set off for the stadium.

And it hadn't been until he'd spoken with Tetsuo that he'd realized how much it bothered him that he might not be able to say "goodbye" to those three.

Takumi cared about all the members of Team C, but he'd known Yuu the longest, and had had a hand in helping Kaori raise the boy so Yuu was sort of like a younger brother to him. He was anxious about all the fights but he felt the greatest amount of anticipation for Yuu's.

Especially considering that Yuu would be pitted against a girl he seemed to be interested in, he wondered if the two would be able to set aside whatever interests they might have for one another and simply fight to the best of their abilities.

He wouldn't blame Yuu if he couldn't. Years ago if Takumi had been in such a situation with Kaori he'd have been unable to even attack her. Of course now things were very different, Kaori was the Jounin and he was a bar tender, if anyone needed to be worried about getting attacked it was him.

_And for _so many _reasons. _He thought to himself. Why if the Raikage knew what he was planning he'd be killed right off.

If Tetsuo knew he was still planning what he was planning there was a fantastic chance they'd both die in the attempt.

As it was Takumi didn't expect to survive to the end of the day . . . so when he saw Kaori in the crowd he decided he'd finally say _something _right.

"Hey Kaori . . ." He said in a strangely uneven voice, "You were going to see Yuu?"

She smiled, "I was. I was turned away, no one sees the Genin."

Takumi smiled weakly, "That's too bad." He said.

Kaori smiled her beautiful smile, which he couldn't see behind her mask. Still he knew her face well enough to know from her gorgeous eyes that she was smiling. "I thought of just _passing through_, but they let it slip that there's a pair of Special Jounin back there with the kids and it just isn't worth the trouble."

Takumi shrugged, "If that's your way of telling me not to tie a rope to the railing and repel down onto the Genin's balcony to wish Yuu luck, don't worry: I forgot my rope at the hotel."

Kaori laughed softly and shook her head, "As if you, a Jounin of Kumogakure would even _need _rope."

Takumi smiled weakly, "So I hear you're sitting with the Raikage. Quite an honor."

Kaori looked around cautiously and whispered "Not really, he rambles."

Takumi smirked, it was true the Raikage could ramble on from time to time.

He smiled at Kaori and said "You know . . . you shouldn't wear that mask all the time."

"Why not?" She asked.

"Well . . . why should you? Are you trying to hide your face from the world? Afraid of breaking too many hearts?"

Kaori shrugged, "I just don't feel comfortable showing my face to my enemies."

"No one here's your enemy."

"The people of Konoha _were _my enemies for three years, I doubt they've just forgiven and forgotten."

"They seem to have." Takumi said, but he wasn't ignorant, he knew beneath the surface there was a slight hostility in this village. He'd ignored the more blatant glares he _had _gotten, but it must have been worse for Kaori, bedecked in a Kumogakure uniform. Most would just recognize him as an outsider, few would realize he was from Kumogakure unless they looked really closely at the sort of clothes he wore.

Everyone knew who Kaori served just by looking at her.

Kaori however didn't seem bothered by Takumi's feigned ignorance, instead she reached out and took his hand, "I think I'll watch Yuu's fight down here, I want to be able to focus on it, I don't want Raikage-sama rambling on about when _he _was _my_ age."

Takumi smiled, "That'd be nice." He told her.

* * *

Shiroi opened her eyes slowly and glanced around the infirmary. In a bed near her was Yukio, unconscious.

And near him was Ryu.

She rubbed her forehead, the third match must not have started yet . . . or else no one had been injured in it.

She glanced over to her left side and spotted someone she had not expected to see.

"Neji-sensei." She said, bowing her head slightly, then falling back into the infirmary bed.

Neji smiled, "There was a girl here but I asked her to give me a moment alone with you. Sasuke was here too but I told him you'd be fine and he left."

"Did he seem pleased?" Shiroi asked.

"Should he have?" Neji asked casually.

"I suppose not." Shiroi smirked weakly.

Neji shook his head, "You and I will discuss your performance . . . or lack-there-of later. But for now . . . when I taught you the Chakra Bomb I made you promise not to use it as a tool of murder."

"He wanted to blind me." Shiroi snapped, "I needed it for self defense . . . and it didn't even work, he's still alive."

Neji shrugged, "I suppose I neglected to mention that in order for the Chakra Bomb to be lethal the enemy's chakra points need to be completely sealed off. Otherwise a large amount of chakra is simply expelled at painful speeds, it doesn't build up the pressure necessary to kill your opponent. The boy is lucky you didn't try to seal his chakra points."

"I did try." Shiroi said evasively.

"Once. Then you ignored the entire issue even when it became clear that he was no longer using his wind defense. Why?" Neji asked.

Shiroi shrugged weakly, "I thought it was an automatic defense . . . that he could activate it whenever I got too close."

Neji frowned, "But it didn't activate when you fought with your blades."

"Well by then I didn't have the chance." Shiroi said.

Neji frowned at her, "What's bothering you, Shiroi? What's the real problem here? From what I saw of him that boy should never have stood a chance out there with you and yet it looked as if he toyed with you. At no point did you intend to win the fight, except _possibly _when you used the Chakra Bomb, and judging from what you've told me now I believe that was done out of fear for your eyes and not out of a desire to win."

Shiroi sighed, "I'm too powerful to remain a Genin . . . but I'm not ready to be a Chuunin."

Neji frowned, "Then what path would you take? If you had won and become a Chuunin I might have been able to secure you a place in the Anbu. Or you might have been able to become a sensei at the academy . . . but I don't think you want either of those things, do you, cousin?"

Shiroi looked at the ceiling, ashamed to look at her relative and teacher, the legendary Hyuga Neji. "I . . . I don't know if I even want to be a Shinobi anymore. The more I think of it the less I want it. I became a Shinobi because it was the path the clan chose for me but . . . no one ever asked me what _I _wanted."

Neji shook his head, "You _really _don't want to be a ninja?"

Shiroi shook her head too, "It's not that I don't want to be a ninja . . . it's that I was never given the choice, and I never got to try anything different. For the past few months I've been doing very un-ninja things, I've been shopping and dating . . . and I've never been happier."

Neji smirked, "You're doing 'girl' things."

"Yeah." Shiroi said softly, "I want to do other girl things. Like wear dresses and buy a small dog and give it an overly weak cute name."

"Like Woofles." Neji suggested.

"Yeah, or Buttons." Shiroi shrugged.

Neji frowned, "What do you want to be, if not a Shinobi?"

"I don't know. A florist maybe." Shiroi said, "To be surrounded always by colorful, beautiful flowers."

Neji smiled warmly, "Then I'm willing to accept your resignation, give me your forehead protector."

"No!" Shiroi shouted, she put her hand over her forehead but her headband was gone.

She looked around franticly for it but Neji held it just out of her reach, "You don't want this. So why can't I have it? Why won't you resign?"

"Because Saizo and Kurai can't enter the Chuunin exams without me!" Shiroi shouted.

"If you resign they'll be assigned a new squad mate, or they might both pass and not need you to continue anyway. You don't want to be a Shinobi . . . do you?"

"I don't want to be _forced_ to be a Shinobi! But I don't want to be forced _out of it _either!" Shiroi shouted, reaching out for her forehead protector but being unable to leave her bed her reach was short. "I'm not ready to be Chuunin, I know that. But I thought if I failed this time I'd have until the next exam to really decide what I want to do. I _don't_ want _anyone _making my decisions for me, though!"

Neji shook his head, "You don't have to be a Shinobi, Shiroi. It's not a burden, it's a _privilege_. If you can't handle it you should go off and do girl things. Wear dresses, arrange flowers . . . get a dog named Buttons."

Shiroi shook her head, "I cant!"

"Why not?" Neji demanded.

"Because then I won't be worth anything to anyone!" Shiroi shouted, "The Main will just kill me!"

Neji smiled and returned her forehead protector, "So we come to the real problem."

Had they? If they had Shiroi wasn't aware of it.

"That's why you chose to humiliate yourself, to fight without effort instead of simply withdrawing from the tournament?" Neji asked. "Out of fear of the Main House?"

"They can kill us with a thought if we don't serve their purposes." Shiroi said darkly, "They chose the life of a Shinobi for me . . . if I stray from it they'll kill me."

"Shiroi . . . your mother and father chose the path of a Shinobi for you." Neji said calmly. "The main family approved but it wasn't really their decision. And no one will kill you just because you've become feminine."

Shiroi held her forehead protector to her chest and closed her eyes, "The main family won't need me if I'm not a Shinobi. They'll kill me. They'll kill me to keep Byakugan from spreading . . . to keep Hyuga's talents and secrets in the family."

Neji sighed loudly, "Shiroi . . . a member of the main family hasn't killed a member of the branch family for years. You won't be the first after so long . . . and as for the seals . . . did you know that any children you might have--hopefully in the _very _distant future--will not have the seals?"

Shiroi turned to Neji, "What?"

Neji stood up, "The Branch is going to be done away with."

Shiroi felt her heart stop, "No . . ." She whispered, "They're going to kill us all?"

Neji shook his head, "Shiroi . . . did you know that Uzumaki Naruto made a promise once . . . that he'd change Hyuga when he became Hokage? Well . . . the Fifth has made a declaration within the ranks. At the end of this Chuunin exam she intents to name Naruto her official successor and retire as Hokage once the war is finally over. Shiroi . . . I trust Naruto to keep his promise."

Shiroi shook her head, "The main family will just kill us off, then they'll have done away with us."

"What did I just tell you? Shiroi the main family hasn't _been _killing branch members. We are a clan, it benefits us nothing to murder each other left and right. If the main family tried to simply exterminate us the Hokage's office would be forced into action, such a mass murder goes against everything Konoha stands for, Hyuga as a clan can't afford war with the entire village. You and I won't ever be free of these seals . . . but your children will never have to wear them. That's why I haven't started my own family yet . . . I'm waiting for Uzumaki Naruto to keep his word. Now he finally can."

Shiroi frowned, "Not if the war never ends. Or if we lose."

Neji laughed, "Well . . . I have no intention of letting Iwagakure win this war. Kirigakure is already reeling, they've lost almost everything they've gained since their initial invasion . . . with the alliances forming its in the best interest of the Earth Country to end the war peacefully and negotiate. If they wont . . . if we have to do things the hard way . . . well we'll need Chuunin then."

Neji folded his arms, "You're a soldier . . . there's a war to fight. You can quit now, resign and few would think any less of you. I wouldn't think any less of you. But you have strength, strength enough to have a hand in ending this war . . . and when it does end we'll _all _need to find ways to spend our spare time . . . maybe even _I'll _take up flower arrangement."

Shiroi closed her eyes, "It doesn't matter. There won't be another Chuunin exam for six months . . . and I've failed this one."

"It's true you're not likely to be promoted . . . but when the next exam comes I expect you'll know how to handle yourself. Besides I heard you saying just this morning that you'd become Hokage."

"You were listening to that?" Shiroi demanded, her face turning red, "Not that it's any of your business but I just thought if I _had _to be a Shinobi I might as well be the highest ranking one there is."

"Yet you're not prepared to be a Chuunin?" Neji smirked.

"My life's complicated and there's a lot of things I'm not totally sure about." Shiroi admitted, "Maybe I was wrong out there . . . but it's over now. What's past is past. I'll never hold back again in anything that I do . . . I just need to figure out what I'll be doing from here on."

Neji smiled, "You'll be fine, cousin."

**To Be Continued . . .**

**A/N: **I'm not happy with this chapter for several reasons. The original ending which is of Yukio being awake throughout Neji and Shiroi's conversation and getting ticked off because she held back was cut due to the fact that I felt Neji would have to be a pretty poor Jounin not to know when a Genin is eavesdropping on his private conversation with Shiroi.

Still in spite of the obvious flaw with the ending I held on to it for a while, feeling it fitting to Yukio's character to finally achieve a sort of victory over Shiroi and then learn that it's a hollow one because she held back.

Another thing I'm not thrilled with is how late this chapter is, I _thought _it was posted on time only to discover as I attempt to post 83 that . . . hey, what do you know: it isn't. My discomfort with the chapter may have caused me to be reluctant about it but forgetting it wasn't posted all together is _pretty _bad.

Just enjoy this chapter, and my apologies. I will try to make time to respond to the ever piling list of reviewed questions on Friday.


	83. Dreamers on the field

**Chapter Eighty Three**

Tomoko took a deep breath. She'd see Shiroi after her match if she could. But right now she needed to focus on herself. "Yuu . . . don't you dare--"

"If you hold back today you'll die." Yuu said flatly. "Show me what you've got. I'm not going to hold back, there's too much at stake and I won't risk it for you." Tomoko blinked at the bluntness of the statement, but Yuu smiled, "What, you weren't about to say something eerily similar?"

"Well . . . yes." She smiled back, "Lets go."

"See you there." Yuu said with a shrug, and he melted into the floor.

"He's showin' off." His male companion whispered and rolled his eyes.

Tomoko smirked and set off, Nao slapped her shoulder and said "You'd better win, or I won't get a chance to fight you."

"Don't be ridiculous, if I lose you can avenge me." Tomoko smirked.

"It's not like you're going to die out there . . . right?" Nao asked.

Tomoko supposed he was freaked out by what had happened to Shiroi and Yukio. She shook her head, "Please. Me buy it in a place like this for a match like this? You don't give me enough credit."

"Tomoko . . ." Daisuke said, "Win. Just win."

"That's the plan, brother, that's the plan." She smirked set off down the stairs and into the arena.

Yuu was standing there, and so was the proctor.

She strode boldly out and scanned the crowd.

It wasn't hard to find her father. She'd had a sense or where he was the whole time, Daisuke had kept glancing in the direction.

Sure enough he was there in the somewhat wealthy seating glaring down at her with bored yet angry eyes.

At least she imagined he was, his seat was rather high up and though she could see him she couldn't see his eyes themselves.

She entered a fighting stance, one of the ones Hitomi-sensei had showed her.

She smirked, "Anytime you're ready . . ."

"Oedo Tomoko . . . Yurei Yuu . . . begin!" The proctor announced and disappeared.

Tomoko rushed forward and thrust her hands out, both claws flew forth and slammed into the ground behind Yuu.

They had gone right through him . . . right _through _him.

She'd expected substitution or something, not for him to just give up and die right off!

But he wasn't dead.

He stood there with a pair of metal chains thrown through his chest.

He reached out and took her left wrist and the chain fell away from her arm.

He reached for her right, and she leapt back, she tossed her right chain around him and let it slam into the left chain and claw which lay on the ground.

She coursed chakra back into the blade and had it return to her, wrapping its end around her arm again.

She retracted both her chains and leapt back several paces.

But Yuu didn't leave her to it, he rushed in and began to perform hand signs.

Tomoko scowled and backpedaled while beginning hand signs of her own.

"Fire Style, Fire Summoning Jutsu!" Tomoko shouted, and blew forth a ball of fire larger than any she'd ever produced.

She smirked, everything was going according to plan.

* * *

Naomasa grinned as Tomoko fought. She had speed, more speed than he could remember and he knew Hitomi was to thank for it.

He gripped the railing, this guy against Tomoko might be able to make things go through him . . . but he couldn't possibly do that forever, eventually Tomoko would lay hands on him.

Nao smirked, "Get him!"

* * *

Yuu leapt back as a huge stallion emerged from the ball of fire, it charged him and he threw himself to the side.

He didn't know what the blazes that thing was and he didn't want to let it touch him.

So this lovely bookworm had some tricks up her sleeves? Well he supposed one didn't study the writings of a legendary Sannin without learning _something_.

He smirked and leapt back a pace and phased into the ground.

He could feel the heat of the flaming stallion above him, but he was truly surprised when the ground around him was suddenly burned away, the stallion itself rearing up onto its hind legs, presumably to take another chunk of earth.

Yuu didn't doubt that feeling the heat of the creature was a bad sign.

He phased deeper under the ground. He then coiled up and sprang out of the ground, becoming solid again once he was clear and landing behind Tomoko.

She spun with great speed to meet him, but he wasn't exactly slow. She thrust out with one hand, a chain erupting from her oversized sleeve.

Yuu dropped to the ground and swept her legs out from under her, she toppled over and brought her chain back with a snap! The metal claw at the end of it ripped into Yuu's shoulder and he fell forward.

He rolled to his feet but the second chain burst forth from the ground, Yuu saw Tomoko had used her fall to send her second chain underground where it'd no doubt burrowed to his location.

It wrapped around him swiftly and he saw just behind her the fiery horse running towards him.

It leapt into the air and Tomoko leapt away.

Yuu's eyes narrowed, and he phased out of the chains.

He began a rapid series of hand movements, if she wanted to play chain games he'd made sure she paid for it.

It wasn't anything personal, but a one trick pony was easy to trump, she'd have to learn to do more than just throw chains around.

"Lightning Clone Jutsu!" Yuu shouted, and disappeared beneath the earth just as the stallion slammed into the ground.

* * *

Tomoko smirked wickedly, if not for the annoyed look on his face just a second ago she'd have thought Yuu was trying to _let _her win!

She saw him go under just as her familiar slammed into the ground, and then emerge on two sides of the steed.

Shadow clones eh? Well it'd be easy to find out which one was the real Yuu.

She quickly put her hands into her sleeves and attached her chains to a new weapon . . . her blades.

She thrust out both hands, one towards each Yuu, and let the chains fly.

The clone would dodge, the real Yuu would just phase through the blade.

She'd then ignore the clone and focus on the real Yuu, since he'd expect her to do just that. He'd try to attack with his clone, but she'd have her familiar take it out while his attention was focused on her.

She laughed sinisterly, he might not want to be her friend after this, but if she let that give her any pause she didn't deserve to be Chuunin!

The thrust her hands out, her blades flew.

One Yuu dodged, the other didn't bother.

She smirked, it was all over n--and pain!

She screamed as the clone exploded into a blinding light, she felt a terrible shock travel up her left arm and into her chest.

She fell back and rolled, holding her left wrist which now felt incredibly weak.

She let her left chain fall to the ground and made a mental note of its location so that she could use it later.

For now she had to move, she'd ignored the real Yuu and dealt with a blasted clone.

But for all her speed she failed to move away before his surprisingly strong grasp took her, gripping her by the left shoulder and sending pain through her whole body.

"That was a millisecond clone, if I'd been able to really focus you'd be dead from the shock."

Tomoko smirked, "Gloating?"

"Warning, we can't afford to play around here, our futures are at stake." Yuu said, drawing a kunai and stabbing for Tomoko's chest.

She deflected it rather easily, "You think that was me playing?" She laughed uneasily. If _he _was toying with _her_ . . .

He smirked, "Give me your best short, I can take it. And if I cant . . . well then you win and there's nothing to worry about."

Tomoko smirked back, "My best will kill you, it's saved for someone else."

"If you won't take this fight seriously you'll lose." Yuu warned.

"Oh please. There's nothing you can do or say that'll keep me from wining this fight!" Tomoko boasted and thrust out her aching left hand, the hand Yuu wouldn't expect her to use--and punched him in the chest.

Her hand traveled through him . . . so what was the trick to this little thing he was doing? She gathered it wasn't earth Jutsu, though that was her original suspicion when he'd melted through the floor before . . .

She was fast, but so was he. He wasn't was fast as Hitomi-sensei, but then neither was Tomoko. She'd trained with Hitomi for roughly a month, Yuu must have been spending years on his speed.

It sort of made her proud that she could match him like this, since she'd never been all that fast before.

She dared to think she could win the entire tournament with this speed Hitomi had given her, she just needed to beat Yuu first.

Yuu looked into her eyes, she felt her heart skip a beat . . . those eyes of his . . .

She gulped and felt her heart return to life, only it was beating much, much faster. Yuu had somehow closed the distance between them, his face was very close to hers, so close she could see the sweat on his brow. Tomoko felt her insides churning but in an oddly pleasant way.

"I don't think we need the pet." He said with a smirk. He also fell beneath the earth, like _that _wasn't getting old.

Tomoko frowned however when she remembered . . . she'd willed her familiar to attack that particular Yuu from behind thinking he was just a clone . . . she looked up and saw her familiar descending through the air, it'd leapt up and it was going to come down on her.

* * *

Nao gasped as Tomoko's familiar slammed into the ground where she was.

He held his breath until he saw her standing on the slightly singed battlefield. She'd dispelled the familiar at the last second.

He sighed in relief, "She's still in it." He said.

"Can't keep my sister down!" Daisuke laughed, "She's got this! It's over!"

"It _is _over." The Kumogakure girl said, leaning over the railing, "For your sister that is."

"What do you mean?" Daisuke demanded.

The Kumogakure girl pointed to the battlefield, "See for yourself."

* * *

Yuu emerged from the ground behind Tomoko, he said casually, "_That _was so you'd get rid of the horse, but _this _is so you don't summon another."

He thrust his hand out into her stomach, the source of chakra for the fire element. He used the Yurei clan's Body Softening Jutsu and imparted a small portion of his own ability to phase onto Tomoko's stomach, making it weaker than normal.

"I've weakened your stomach, if you try to breathe any more fire you'll just burn yourself alive from the inside out."

Tomoko looked surprised, "Liar!" She snapped.

"I don't lie." Yuu said flatly. He leapt back out of her reach, "I'll accept your surrender now."

Tomoko scowled, "I can do more than breathe fire . . ."

Yuu smiled, she had such a fighting spirit. She practically _was _fire, so lively and persistent. "Show me then. I want to see what you can do."

* * *

"No fire Jutsus . . . and the chains aren't working. She really is finished." Daisuke grumbled.

"Blast it." Kyusaku grumbled. "She deserves to win!"

"If she deserves to win then she'll win!" Saizo snapped, "If she can't then she doesn't!"

"Well . . . technically yes, but I don't think that's what he meant." Kotaro said.

"If you can't say what you mean you shouldn't talk at all." Saizo scoffed. "Just sit back and enjoy watching the woman who _thinks _she's worth something prove she's worth _nothing_."

"Slime." Naomasa growled.

But Daisuke smiled brightly at Saizo, "I'm so glad I get to fight you first."

"Ooh, a medic. I'm so scared."

Daisuke just kept on smiling in spite of Tomoko's poor predicament, "You should be. You should be _very _scared." He said. He clenched a fist as he watched Tomoko. "C'mon . . ." he whispered, "Dad's watching . . . show him what you're made of!"

* * *

Tomoko swung her chain and Yuu marched slowly towards her, ignoring the chain completely and letting it phase through him.

He couldn't hold that up forever, she just _knew _he couldn't, it wouldn't be fair.

She wasn't a genius, she wasn't a prodigy, she was just a typical kunoichi.

But she wasn't going to give up.

Yuu neared her and she sprang her trap, snapping her chain like a whip into the discarded chain from her left hand.

It came to life and shot into Yuu's chest.

He sighed, "That might have been painful if I could feel it."

"I'll bet having a chain inside your chest _will _be painful . . . when you do feel it, when your Jutsu wares off . . . or when your chakra runs out." Tomoko said.

"You're willing to bet that I cant--"

"Furthermore there's no way for you to read me without that chain following you," Tomoko added, "You can't attack me."

"I can phase through you." Yuu said.

"In which case I feel nothing." Tomoko shrugged, "You can weaken my muscles and organs but that chain is acting of its own accord now, it'll follow you and stay inside you until you move out of its reach.

Yuu looked at her and the chain, he seemed to be weighing his options.

He put his hands on his hips, "So what happens when I leave its range and wait for _your _chakra to run out?"

Tomoko gulped worriedly, and Yuu smirked.

"I thought so." He said and slowly, casually moved out of the chains range.

She forced a look of distress as she fell into a half kneeling crouch Hitomi had taught her.

_I'm sorry Hitomi . . . but I've got nothing left. It shouldn't kill him, but if I'm right it should hurt him . . ._

She took a deep steadying breath. If she didn't use it now she'd never use it. If she didn't beat Yuu she'd never face Akuma.

_Please live through this._ She thought to Yuu.

He'd been afraid of the stallion, she was willing to bet that pure destructive chakra would hurt him.

If not then he was at least affected by the heat of the flames, his sweat suggested that, though it could have come from overexertion.

No matter. She had to do this.

* * *

Hitomi gasped, "No!" She shouted.

"What?" Matsuri asked.

"It's your Jutsu!" Hara shouted, "You taught her--you crazy--oh-my-gosh she's going to use it!"

"It's fine." Miyuki said calmly.

"No it isn't, he's weakened her stomach!" Hitomi scowled, "She must not realize . . . the fire of the Jutsu might not come out of her mouth but its source is _still _her stomach, and her stomach has been weakened. A Jutsu like this will burn her alive from the inside-out!"

"Oh-my-gosh!" Matsuri gasped.

* * *

Yuu had deactivated his ability to phase, had done so to conserve chakra and wait to see when Tomoko ran out of her own.

Yuu watched Tomoko closely. She was in a good position to spring, and with speed.

But she was too far away, any Jutsu she tried from that range he could counter or dodge.

She held her hands together and screamed at the top of her lungs. It was a scream of agony mixed with determination, it was a warrior's call.

Yuu felt uneasy, was Tomoko attempting a fire Jutsu?

Had she thought he was bluffing?

"D-don't do it!" He shouted, "You don't have to!"

Her eyes were wild and the ground around her began to shake, Yuu could feel all the moisture in the air around them suddenly evaporate.

Tomoko's eyes took on an almost bestial quality, they were fiery and vicious and even Yuu who came from a family known for hypnotic eyes, who had grown up knowing how to force his gaze away from his sister's couldn't look away from Tomoko's.

She sprang with more speed than he'd ever seen, her hands hung limply at her side, was she not going to use them? He blinked his eyes and braced himself, he'd phase into the ground and evade her.

"Fire Style: Incineration Palm Jutsu!" Tomoko screamed and it took a moment for Yuu to realize she'd said it from _behind _him.

She'd leapt behind him literally in the blink of an eye.

She struck so quickly that there was nothing he could do to stop her, nothing he could do to avoid it. He didn't have time to start phasing.

He felt it.

And he fell forward as the blaze of her Jutsu burned him like the fires of the sun itself.

* * *

Tomoko felt her insides burning, she fell to the ground and grunted.

It hurt so much . . . but she saw Yuu stir. He was alive.

She'd been worried that he might not be using his ability . . . she'd wanted to make sure before she let off the incineration jutsu, so she'd hit him and held back the jutsu when she felt flesh and bone.

If her hand had gone _through _him she'd have let it go off and hopefully he'd have lived through it. But he hadn't been doing his trick, and she couldn't kill him.

Which meant with a powerful Jutsu waiting to be unleashed an no one to unleash it on she'd been forced to shove him away and unleash the Jutsu on thin air, which had resulted in a rather blinding fireball, though she doubted that was why her insides felt so terrible.

It must have been Yuu's jutsu . . . she'd thought she couldn't _breathe _fire, but she guessed she should have realized that any fire jutsu would injure her.

But she smiled, "I did it . . ."

* * *

Hitomi was panting, she was half tempted to remove her goggles and look with unhindered eyes at the scene below.

Tomoko had . . . somehow halted the Jutsu.

Done properly when the Implosion Palm struck its foe that foe would feel the effects of a fire jutsu being set off inside their chest, unhindered, unstoppable, they'd burn alive inside.

Tomoko had stalled it somehow, she'd used the Jutsu an instant too late and shoved her opponent away, causing an incineration seed to go off without first being planted in something.

Both stalling it so that it didn't automatically explode once her hand struck something and causing it to go off on nothing were things Hitomi had never done with the Jutsu, when she'd taught Tomoko the Jutsu they'd had to practice on dead logs.

Hitomi fell back into her seat.

Tomoko might not realize it, but she really was a genius. Maybe not the same sort as Uchiha Sasuke, or Hyuga Neji . . . but she was more in tune with fire than anyone Hitomi had ever seen except _possibly _Naomasa.

But she doubted even Nao could have changed her Jutsu.

She just hoped Tomoko lived. "Miyuki I--" she began, but Miyuki was already on the field.

* * *

Yuu struggled to his feet.

After all that Tomoko had shoved him forward out of the way of her own Jutsu?

This girl really was something else, and Yuu would feel sick, would hate himself if he never got to know her any better.

She was lying on the ground and he recognized immediately what was going on. Her pain was his fault.

He dropped down over her and reached _into _her body, reversing his Jutsu and strengthening her stomach, though it might have been too late.

He closed his eyes, "I'm sorry . . ." He told her.

She laughed softly, "I'm . . . not." She said. "I . . . I did it. And . . . you didn't . . . die."

Yuu smiled weakly at her as a woman in white appeared.

She put her hands over Tomoko and said "The damage is severe . . . you tried to incinerate someone with Hitomi-chan's poorly named Jutsu and instead _you_ get incinerated. Ironic I suppose but let's see if we can't stop the damage."

The medic ninja disappeared with Tomoko and the proctor appeared.

"Winner of the third match, Yurei Yuu!" He shouted and the crowd cheered.

Over their roar Yuu almost didn't hear himself whisper "No . . . _she _won." He stood up and steeled his gaze. "That jutsu of hers . . . it burned me, I need to see a medic." He said to the proctor. "I need to go to the infirmary."

"Whining like that, that's not very cool. You should take it like a man and keep quiet about your injuries until after the crowd dies down." The proctor chuckled.

"I don't care what you or they think, I'm going to the infirmary." Yuu said evenly, "I just wanted you to know where I'll be . . . when its time for my next fight."

He headed for the infirmary . . . he had to make sure Tomoko was okay.

If she wasn't he knew who was to blame.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Another chapter I am not totally cool with, though I cannot say why. Enjoy it!


	84. Reconcile or Exile?

**Chapter Eighty Four**

Matsuri whistled, "Whew. She actually used your Jutsu . . . I'm impressed."

Hitomi had collapsed in her seat, Tomoko's defeat carried with it a million and one problems for her, the most pressing was that had Tomoko not known the technique she might not have counted on a fire Jutsu to get her through the match and might have had a different outcome.

The second and by far the more annoying was that Hitomi was going to feel responsible if anything did happen to Tomoko. She already felt an annoying nagging sensation in her head telling her that any pains the girl suffered were her fault.

Third of all it now meant that no one would deliver justice to Akuma . . . unless Naomasa suffered a sudden and rather unrealistic change of heart . . .

* * *

Nao shuddered, "Tomoko . . ." He whispered.

She'd . . . hesitated . . .

He closed his eyes and remembered what Hitomi had told him a while after he'd insulted Tomoko . . .

* * *

_"She's an incredible Shinobi you know."_ _Hitomi said, her hands on her hips._

_"Oh it's _you_." Naomasa grumbled, "Sorry, no kids here for _you _to kill either. Unless you're here for me."_

_He wouldn't really mind if she were . . . he kind of didn't feel like his life was worth much right now._

_Hitomi shook her head and said "Ishida Naomasa, you _will _apologize to her. Who do you think you are to judge her? Think what you will of me for asking you to commit a murder, I _know _how wrong it is and I don't blame you for refusing. But understand Tomoko has a very valid reason for being willing to murder a murderer, and it wasn't a decision she came to lightly."_

_"Because she wants to be Chuunin." Nao shrugged._

_"Yes, she does. She wants it bad. She wants it, _needs _it more than any kid I've known . . . its what she's living for, I wouldn't doubt that its _all_ she's living for. I thought I could use that and force her to decide my way . . . before I could she came to me with her decision. Do you know _why _she's going to kill Akuma?"_

_"I don't care."_

_Hitomi's lips pursed, "You should."_

_"I don't." Nao said. "How can _you _do it? Why do you do it?"_

_"Because I hate." Hitomi said evenly. "I hate the people who want to kill me, I hate the people who want to destroy this village. I hate the people who stole my lunch money as a little girl for that matter, but I won't kill them . . . as long as they're loyal to Konoha." She smirked._

_Nao nodded, "Pretty much what I figured." He said darkly._

_"I hate a lot of people . . . my whole life I've only loved two. My father who raised me and died when I was still just a girl . . . and Uzumaki Naruto for taking an orphaned freak under his wing and making her a ninja. So when I meet a person like Tomoko who loves so many people despite having led a live _almost _as painful as mine I can't help but feel weak. To hear someone insult her doesn't sit well with me."_

_Nao scoffed, "Your life's more painful than hers?"_

_Hitomi sat down next to Nao, he scooted away and she just scooted up to him._

_He tried it again, she closed the distance again, this time she put an arm around him._

_He supposed there were some benefits to being stubborn._

_"Yes it is. She's been disowned by her family, mine was killed. So while she might someday find redemption I'll know only the loss and the terrible truths I learned before I lost my family. Truths that can never be reconciled because my mother and father are _dead_. Tomoko's lived her life being told she was weak, but I've been told worse. The sad fact is that she knows she's not weak, but the things that get said about me . . . I know they're all true. Mostly anyway . . ."_

_"So?" Nao sighed._

_Hitomi bristled, but responded calmly, "So . . . she still has love for the world. She loves her family even though--aside from her brother--they don't care for her. She loves her friends even when she feels neglected by them. And she's willing to die for this village because she loves it. I'm willing to die for it because I've got nothing to live for anyway." Hitomi fell back onto the grass field and looked up at the sky, "She loves you. Maybe even romantically, but then again maybe not. But it _is _there, love in and of itself. She loves you and she wants to protect you. She told me 'let him learn the Jutsu, but don't let him use it on the target' her exact words."_

_Hitomi smiled, "She doesn't want you held back, she wants you to have every advantage she has . . . but she doesn't want you to have to take lives. She said she'd kill the target if I promised to order you not to. She wanted you to learn the Jutsu, but she didn't want you to be forced to use it until you were ready to, and she didn't think you were apparently because of what you said to her when I first told you two about the mission. She wanted to keep you safe out of love, and you called her a murderer."_

_Nao frowned, "I didn't know that."_

_"You didn't care to find out." Hitomi said evenly. "She's poured her heart out to you at least once which is more than most women ever will. She's given to you, and given to you without expecting any reward or recognition and she felt like she could trust you. You proved her wrong. The result is that she's distracted now . . . if this keeps up she could get killed. Akuma, the _real _murderer won't hold back, nor will he have to since killing your opponent is perfectly legal in the third exam. If she hesitates for just a second because of what you said to her . . . well I just hope you realize that while I'll be partially responsible the real murderer becomes you, Naomasa."_

_"Me?" Nao demanded._

_"Yes." Hitomi said flatly. "I know it sounds harsh, maybe I'm being unduly harsh because I don't appreciate your point of view well enough. But if she hesitates it's going to be because she thought of what you said and got confused. You understand she never murdered anyone. She's never taken the life of anyone who wouldn't have killed her. She's a soldier, and we're at war. You know that but you got mad at her because she wasn't the perfect moral pillar you wanted. She's not the woman you dreamed of."_

_Nao scowled and folded his arms._

_"And neither am I." Hitomi said. "Not that you've got a rice ball's chance in the Akimichi family's home with me. But what I don't understand is why you didn't get so angry at me . . . you know I've killed. If you _didn't _know, well now you do. You're still just a kid and you have a right to act like one. But if you're going to be in love with a woman you need to be prepared for the fact that she's going to be different than what you'd expected."_

_She smiled warmly at him and said "I still think you're too young to know what love is . . . frankly I'm not so sure _I'm _old enough to really understand it yet . . . but I do know that hating a woman because she isn't pure and perfect . . . is just as evil if not worse than taking away a human life because you scorn another human being for _living _their life."_

_"So what do you expect me to do?" Nao asked, "Have no expectations?"_

_"You cant control us Naomasa. Women in general I mean. Generations of men have tried, we're a resilient breed, we're not easy to break . . . and we're much more fun unbroken anyway. Tomoko is untamed and I think she deserves to remain that way . . . let her be who she is, don't try to force her to be your vision of perfection . . . because I think she's perfect the way she is already. I also think you owe her an apology."_

_Nao lowered his gaze . . ._

_

* * *

_

Nao lowered his gaze to the arena floor.

Tomoko . . .

* * *

Miyuki smiled a thin smile, "I won't say there's no damage, but my greatest fears are laid to rest. You'll live, and in time you'll have full use of your body again. Had the Jutsu not been removed, and had I not arrived you would have died."

Tomoko nodded slowly. Miyuki shook her head. This girl was in her condition because she'd utterly forgotten the basics of chakra elements. It was forgivable in the heat of the moment to forget minor details but the most basic of the basic?

It really was a shame. Though she'd done rather well otherwise, Miyuki couldn't see Tomoko being promoted. Not after a massive flub like that.

But then again it wasn't as if Miyuki had any say in Tomoko getting promoted. She was the medic, that was all she was. Rock headed examiners might very well say "ooh, Incineration Palm!" and declare the Oedo girl Chuunin material.

It was none of Miyuki's business and she wasn't sure how she felt about it. As a fellow Shinobi she wished Tomoko the best, but as a Special Jounin regularly stationed on the field she would be apprehensive about having such a self destructive Chuunin serving under her.

Miyuki sensed another presence and turned to see the boy who had defeated Oedo.

He looked concerned, but she didn't care. She could tell at a glance that _if _he was injured it was minor.

Nonetheless she nodded, and out of kindness decided to let Tomoko's condition slip, "This patient is going be fine, so let's see what the problem with you is."

The boy nodded but the doors burst open and a new visitor came in.

"I told him he couldn't come back here!" Futaba said angrily.

"Never mind that, go and observe the exams." Miyuki ordered and the Chuunin examiner complied, albeit with a look of annoyance.

Miyuki warily eyed the patron of the Oedo clan and he gruffly demanded "Where's my girl?"

Miyuki tilted her head towards Tomoko and the man stomped over.

"Look at you . . . as much of a disappointment as ever." He sighed.

Miyuki tensed, "Sir if you're here to berate her I have to ask you to leave. She needs her rest."

"She can't hear anything anyway, she's asleep." Oedo scoffed.

"I'm not." Tomoko sighed, opening her eyes.

Her father glowered down at her, "So you're awake. Doesn't mean I take back what I said."

Miyuki withdrew, deciding it best not to interfere with this matter.

* * *

Kotaro looked at Yomiko, "Make sure." He said. "Do it outright."

"I'll try." Yomiko said, "No worries there."

Kotaro nodded. "This is not going to be easy."

"Yeah, well you got his number during the second exam." Yomiko said.

_I sure did. _Kotaro smirked, and he knew how he'd win his match. But he shook his head at Yomiko and said "No, I mean _your _fight. Don't underestimate Kyusaku just because he's a nice guy. He's mastered a lot of the techniques Akimichi Chouji knew and Shikamaru-sensei said if he'd had to fight Chouji-sensei during _his _Chuunin exam he would have forfeited outright."

"Yeah well Shikamaru-sensei's just a quitter, besides I bet the human boulder is too strong for his shadow possession to work. But we'll see how it holds up to my new Jutsu!"

"Be careful." Naomasa said, "He's got years of experience over you, Kyusaku knows what he's doing."

"And I don't?" Yomiko scoffed.

"Good that you can admit it." Nao said with a smirk.

Yomiko shoved him and the three of them laughed, but Kotaro noticed Naomasa's laugh was forced.

"She'll be fine." He told Nao.

"Of course, I'm a Sarutobi." Yomiko grinned and cracked her knuckles.

"Not talking about you this time." Kotaro said, "But yeah I'm sure you'll be fine too."

Yomiko laughed and headed down to the arena.

Kotaro shook his head, "You've won, the second match was a draw but Kyoko says she heard those two proctors talking about considering whichever Genin recovers sooner the winner so you won't get seeded."

Nao nodded, Kotaro said "You watched Tomoko's fight more closely than anyone else I imagine, if Yomiko wins this fight she'll have to take on Tomoko's foe. Watch how _she _fights and then see if you cant think of a way to help her win."

Nao frowned, "But you're the idea man."

"We'll work together to get each other through these exams, just like Shikamaru-sensei wanted." Kotaro said, "And I want your brain gears grinding, because if I lose . . . lets just say I don't think that punk is going to _let _me get to the infirmary."

"You're not going to lose." Nao said.

"I hope not." Kotaro said and examined his right hand.

When the time came . . . would he be able to use _that _Jutsu? Would Chidori work for him if his need became great enough?

* * *

Tomoko sat up on the cot they'd laid her in and leaned against the wall. Her stomach hurt excruciatingly, but she refused to show any sign of weakness in front of her father.

"We're long overdue for a talk . . . you and I." The man said calmly.

"You really think now's a good time for it?" Tomoko scoffed.

"You fight like a lunatic, now might be the _only _time." Her father said with only the faintest traces of a smile tugging at his lips. "I did not come all the way down here and shove my way past the examiners just to stand in silence."

Tomoko nodded, "So what do you want to say? I've said everything I could." She looked down and whispered "You already know I'm sorry. You already know if there were anything I could do I'd do it. You know . . . that I didn't think it would have ended that way. I accepted your decision to throw me away like the piece of trash you think I am."

Her father folded his thick, muscular arms and shook his head slowly, "Tomoko I never wanted to exile you, you chose that for yourself."

"You sent me away." Tomoko glared.

"It was never to be permanent." Her father said sharply, "And I _never _wanted you living alone at your age. If not for your brother I'd not even _know _nor care to learn _how _you've been paying the rent."

Tomoko's eyes narrowed, "Uh-huh. So you take me for a thief?" She laughed, "I guess you've got cause."

Her father smiled an less than amused smile, "Thievery or worse."

Tomoko scowled, "Oh I see. So _that's _what you think of me."

Her father put his hands in a pair of large pockets, "I'm a parent, we're always worried about having 'grand' added to that title."

Tomoko lowered her gaze again and whispered, "I'd never fall that far. I'm a Shinobi, I have my pride." She clenched her fists. "Just . . . tell me what you want me to do."

"What?" Her father asked.

"Anything . . . I'd do anything for your forgiveness." Tomoko whispered, feeling tears lining her eyes. "I'm not a little fool anymore, I'm not . . . I'm not disloyal. I wanted to show you that I could be independent, but I can't."

Tomoko's father folded his arms. "You tell me . . . tell me what you think you should do. What would be proper?"

"I don't know." She whispered. "Finding the scroll?"

Her father frowned, "You suspect that's even possible. Something so precious won't be simply given up, the Oedo Scroll will be a treasure of Iwagakure's war department."

Tomoko closed here eyes and felt tears roll down her cheeks. "Then I don't know."

Her father scoffed, "Typical. You sit there and cry to yourself as if that will solve anything."

Tomoko shook her head, "I can't help it. I just can't be what you want me to be, can I? I try . . . I wanted to win so badly because I thought you'd be pleased."

"Fighting and losing to some foreigner isn't going to impress me." Her father sighed, "How can you be so blind?"

"I'm sorry." Tomoko whispered.

Tomoko noticed Yuu try to stand up as if he meant to say something but the medic shoved him right back down and whispered something Tomoko didn't catch.

She smiled weakly at him. She'd have to handle this herself. "Someday I'll find that scroll and take revenge for our family."

"Our family doesn't need revenge." Her father said in an emotionless tone. "The secrets of the scroll are in my head, I can make a new one at any time, and the fact is having that scroll back won't reverse all the damage. By now its owner must have memorized much if not all of it, and has clearly shared that information with Iwagakure. No little girl, I don't need an avenger."

Tomoko's gaze lowered, she gave up hope.

Her family didn't want her, even if she got the scroll.

Her father suddenly wrapped her up in a massive almost bone crunching hug, "What I need is my daughter back before she pulls some half-insane stunt that gets her killed!"

Tomoko was a little confused . . . no, perplexed would be the word.

She was downright perplexed, "You want me back because you're worried about me?" She asked.

"I have many reasons for wanting you to return home, but is not the fact that you are my daughter enough of a reason?" Her father asked.

Tomoko gulped and nodded, "It's really okay? I . . . I can just come home?"

"Right away." Her father told her.

Tomoko frowned.

This . . . didn't feel right. It felt too good to be true. It felt like she was dreaming in great detail.

She pinched herself just to be sure that this surreal experience wasn't all a dream.

It wasn't . . . she was reconciled with her family . . .

And not because she'd become Chuunin, or a war hero, or because she'd recovered the scroll.

But because they _were _a family.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	85. The Huge Human Boulder!

**Chapter Eighty Five**

Kaori smiled weakly at Takumi, "Yuu won." She said softly.

The bar tender nodded, a smirk on his face, "He went too easy on her. He must really, _really _like her."

Kaori shook her head, "I don't know, she didn't look like a pushover, I think she looks very talented." She smiled, it wouldn't be so bad if Yuu liked such a cute girl either.

But Kaori could tell her brother hadn't acted with his full force, if he had the girl might have been irreversibly injured and she could understand him not wanting that whether he _liked _her or not.

She smiled weakly at Takumi, "So if boys hold back against the girls they like does that mean you never liked me? You never held back when we sparred."

Takumi smirked, "I _always _held back."

Kaori smiled, "Then you really liked me."

"Oh sure, back then I was crazy about you." Takumi laughed, then he looked embarrassed. "That is . . . I mean--"

"So . . . just back then? What about now?" Kaori pressed. "Do you like me still?"

"I consider you an irreplaceable friend." Takumi said, looking away.

Kaori wasn't sure if he wasn't looking at her because he was embarrassed at his feelings, or annoyed at her presumption. "What if I'm not happy being your friend?"

Her chest felt tight, that . . . that had come out all wrong.

"Then I'd have to respect your ever changing taste." Takumi whispered. "Are you telling me--"

"No!" Kaori snapped, "I want you--I mean I want to be with you--I mean I want to be friends with you!"

Takumi smirked, "I want to be friends with you too."

She gulped and looked at the arena, "I . . . should probably be getting back."

"Yeah." Takumi said softly.

Kaori smiled, "Thank you for letting me sit with you." She said.

He nodded and she began to walk away, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Kaori . . . " Takumi whispered.

She stood very still.

She turned to face him and look into his eyes.

If Hikaru could see them together now he'd murder her. Violently.

But just then if Takumi had said 'I love you' Kaori would have done two things.

She would have cried . . . and she'd have thrown herself at him. She wasn't sure which she'd have done first, but she was certain she'd do both.

But he just said: "Th-thanks for sitting with me."

She smiled weakly.

_That was the _wrong _thing to say, Tak-kun . . . or maybe I'm entertaining a hopeless wish._ Kaori thought to herself. She said "You know I . . . I don't have plans after the exams are over. Do . . . you want to take a walk in the park? See a bit more of Konoha before we have to leave?"

Takumi smiled weakly, "I . . . I'll be busy. I _do _have plans but . . . if I can get away early enough . . ."

"Oh no . . . that's okay. "Kaori frowned, "I don't want to inconvenience you." She said.

"Sorry." He said softly.

"Me too." She whispered. _Just entertaining a hopeless wish._

_

* * *

_

Takumi closed his eyes.

He loved her so much. It hurt to act as if spending any time with her wouldn't be the greatest thing in the word . . .

"A pretty girl." A man sitting behind Takumi said.

Takumi looked over his shoulder at a man wearing a black hood. Probably one of the Konoha Anbu. "Yeah, I guess.." He said.

"You hurt her feelings." The man said calmly.

Takumi's eyes narrowed, "Thanks for the info." What business was it of this mans?

"She really wanted you to take that walk with her." The main said with a soft chuckle, and Takumi went back to staring at the battlefield rather sullenly.

He knew Kaori was asking him out, and it just made it hurt even more knowing he wouldn't be able to take that walk with her.

Even though he'd give anything to be able to spend just one more night in her company, walking through the park or even just sitting around doing nothing. Just being with her would have been enough to make it a perfect night.

"Silly really. I guess she doesn't know you plan to _die _today. Isn't it annoying when they ask you out without taking _your _plans into account?" The man laughed softly.

Takumi leapt to his feet and spun around, "What did you--" He demanded, but the man was gone.

There was nothing but an empty seat.

"Hey, don't in front, the next match is starting!" An old woman shouted.

Takumi frowned, but didn't return to his seat. Instead he set off to put his plan into motion early.

If someone knew, if that person whom he _assumed _was a Konoha Anbu knew what he was planning . . . he'd die much sooner than he'd expected, and might not get a chance to put his plan into action.

And worse if that had been Hikaru disguising his voice, or someone who would tell Hikaru what had just passed between Takumi and Kaori . . . well Takumi wouldn't put it past the perverse Jounin to harm Kaori for perceived disloyalty.

Takumi didn't care what anyone did to him today, but he never wanted anyone to hurt Kaori.

He didn't have any time to waste.

* * *

Yomiko stood in the center of the arena, surprised at how quickly this day was going by. 

She smirked at the crowd and tried to seek out her mother but to no avail. The citizens of Konohagakure were simply going wild to see a Sarutobi in the arena along with a relative of one of the Konoha Twelve, a member of the Inuzuka clan.

It was intoxicating and distracting to say the least.

She smirked at Kyusaku, "You're going down buddy, and no song is going to stop it!"

"I wasn't even going to sing." Kyusaku said, scratching his shaggy head.

Yomiko nodded, she'd already won the battle of words, now for the battle of . . . well, now for the battle.

Her cousin Konohamaru appeared, he winked at her and said "Fourth round, Inuzuka Kyusaku against Sarutobi Yomiko . . . fight!"

"Lets rock and **roll**!" Kyusaku roared.

_Oh yeah, like no Akimichi ever said _that _before. _Yomiiko thought. She waited for the last moment and dodged Kyusaku's rolling boulder.

She leapt onto Kotaro's tree and used chakra in her feet to stick to it. She glared down at Kyusaku, _This will be even easier than I thought._

The huge human ball of fat rolled towards her and sure enough he felled the tree.

The complication then became that the tree flew high into the air and spiraled several times.

It was too much for Yomiko, she lost her focus and the chakra in her feet gave out . . . she began to fall towards the ground independent of the tree.

There was nothing she could do to avoid falling and dying . . . nothing.

* * *

Kotaro felt Kyoko squeeze his hand. He'd been so intent on the battle he hadn't noticed her sneak up next to him. 

"Your teammate!" Kyoko squeaked.

Kotaro watched very closely. The fight had just begun and already it didn't look good.

But she had at least taken care of the tree like he'd asked.

* * *

Yomiko gulped as the ground came racing up at her. 

She narrowed her eyes and looked to the tree.

She had milliseconds to make her move or she'd die, it was that simple. The human boulder was still rolling around on the ground and there was a good chance that once Yomiko landed he'd squash her.

Yomiko angled herself nearer to the tree's branches, when it slammed into the ground upright and she fell into them.

They slowed her fall somewhat, and she grabbed desperately for one of them.

She managed to get hold of one, but then the tree was falling over.

She scrambled over the branch and leapt into the air, a bit of a reversal of her previous problem.

But at least now she was low enough to the ground to survive the landing, and at least she'd jumped instead of being tossed.

She rolled as she hit the ground and she quickly came to her feet, looking around for her foe.

It seemed she had time so she clasped her hands together, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" She shouted, creating a single clone.

She nodded to herself, the clone knew what she'd been thinking before she'd made it.

At least . . . she _thought _the clone knew.

They ran off in opposite directions, and then Yomiko saw Kyusaku.

He was rolling around the arena like an out of control pinball, she stood still as he came for her, preparing to leap out of the way at the last moment again.

This time however right before he plowed into her Kyusaku reverted into his human form, and as Yomiko tried to leap to the left Kyusaku caught her by the wrist and pulled her back.

He kneed her sharply in the stomach and she doubled over.

Yomiko thought quickly, Kyusaku was usually shy and sort of sweet, maybe if she pretended to be hurt he'd take pity on her, giving her a chance to strike him.

So Yomiko laid on the ground, curling herself into a ball and cried.

"Y-you big meanie!" She wept, holding her stomach, "Oh it hurts! It hurts so bad!"

"If you can't take a little pain you don't _deserve _to be a Chuunin." Was all Kyusaku said.

Yomiko felt as if she'd been slapped. Sure she was just faking, but what a mean thing to say. It didn't seem like Kyusaku at all.

Yomiko got to her feet and glared at him. She took up a taijutsu stance she'd learned from watching Yukio.

She didn't know the actual taijutsu routine, this was a bluff.

"Come on then, let's see who really deserves to be Chuunin."

Kyusaku clenched his fists, "Nothing's going to stop me from advancing so I can beat the tar out of that guy."

"That guy?" Yomiko raised an eyebrow.

"The one who beat Tomoko." Kyusaku growled, "I'm going to make him pay."

Yomiko scoffed as her clone got behind Kyusaku, if she could just keep him talking . . .

"What are you going on about?" She demanded.

"The guy who beat Tomoko, if I defeat you I can fight him. I don't care what happens after that, so long as I get to fight _him_!" Kyusaku hissed, "So unless you want to get _really _hurt!"

Yomiko smirked as her clone made her move.

"The only one getting really hurt is you lover boy. But don't worry, I'll avenge Tomoko for you, not that she needs avenging. With a Jutsu like the one she used she's probably been promoted, and if you want to talk about killer Jutsus, just look behind you."

Kyusaku scowled and didn't look back, instead he rushed for Yomiko.

Yomiko lunged forward and leapt over the older kid's shoulders and tried to escape.

Kyusaku turned and caught her by her ankles and slammed her into the ground, she rolled face first and tasted dirt and blood in her mouth.

But she'd done her job and gotten Kyusaku to turn and face her clone.

The clone used her Genjutsu, Yomiko slid to a stop and rolled onto her back to see Kyusaku.

She quickly began the hand motions for the Genjutsu herself to be sure that it properly hammered the pudgy Genin.

She smirked when Kyusaku went limp and stood there dumbly.

She drew a chakra knife and leapt forward to press it against his neck, in a real fight on a real mission she would slit his throat and kill him.

Since this wasn't and since he was sort of a friend to her--when he wasn't cranky like this--she wouldn't. There was no need.

But the proctors had to see that this fight was over. Any second now they'd declare it over and her the winner.

Yep. Any second now . . .

She pressed the knife closer to Kyusaku's throat to impress upon the proctor that he could end this fight any time now. But that's when she felt something sharp dig into her stomach.

It was Kyusaku's kunai, the dazed look in his eyes was gone and she realized he'd had that kunai to her since she closed the distance between them.

That was why the match hadn't ended, it wasn't a victory it'd been a stalemate and she hadn't even noticed.

It didn't pierce her skin but she leapt back and away, unwilling to take any chances that he might move it just a centimeter further.

"Blast it!" She shouted, as Kyusaku tossed the kunai away, "It didn't work!"

"Your genjutsu won't stop me, not with the rage I feel now! Prepare yourself Sarutobi, you had your chance to surrender!"

* * *

Shikamaru leaned forward in his seat, "C'mon Yomiko . . . you can do this." He whispered. 

"You trained her well, and her mother trained her." Temari whispered, "She's going to be fine."

"I hope so." Shikamaru whispered. "I owe it to Asuma-sensei to see his daughter through these exams you know."

"She's going to be fine." Temari assured him.

"I hope so." Shikamaru whispered.

"_Know _so. She's your student so she's been trained by one of Konoha's best." Temari said softly.

Sumiko gurgled.

* * *

Yomiko leapt back several paces while using the hand motions for her Jutsu. 

_Her _Jutsu.

"Prepare to face the invulnerable boulder!" Kyusaku roared and he became a giant meat tank.

He started spinning, and Yomiko held her hand out.

Her clones, who'd gone into the Jutsu as well did the same.

Their combined wind slammed into the meat tank like a hurricane, they shouted together "Sarutobi Razorwind Jutsu!"

Kyusaku spun and even managed to come a whole meter closer to the twin Yomikos.

And then he began to be pushed back.

Yomiko put more effort into her Jutsu, though she hadn't designed it to be held out indefinitely. It had been designed for quick busts.

Still she let her winds blow Kyusaku back.

He moved slowly backwards, centimeter by centimeter until finally with a shout he flew back into the far wall, slamming into it hard and leaving a crack in it.

Yomiko fell to her knees and her clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.

She laughed weakly, "I . . . I did it!"

But Kyusaku, who'd fallen from the wall to the ground once the winds died, got to his feet.

"That's right. You've done it. You've made me _really _mad!" He said, rolling up his sleeves.

Yomiko shook her head. "It's not fair. Are you even human?" She whined.

* * *

Toshiie grinned, "One of Nara's Genin . . . lets hope she dies painfully. 

He clenched his fists at his side and noted another of his team head off to prepare.

Soon Konohagakure . . . soon.

But first he'd have the pleasure of seeing this girl die.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **The 700 review bonus chapter, thank you all for your support of this story! A plus to everyone, and no worries, chapter 86 will be on time.


	86. Strike Early

**Chapter Eighty Six**

Yomiko clenched her teeth, "Okay . . . you're forcing me to get really mean."

"Talk is cheep." Kyusaku scoffed.

Yomiko smirked, "So is . . . this bag of potato chips, and its yours if you surrender to me now!" She said, summoning the item with the Jutsu Shikamaru had taught her.

She'd prepared when she knew she'd have to fight this fat ass.

She laughed wickedly, "You cant resist it's mighty alure, surrender now and its yours."

Kyusaku stared at her with a look of supreme shock and outrage on his face.

"Not enough? How about two?" Yomiko offered.

"Y-you little . . . who do you think you--"

"Three!" Yomiko laughed and began to juggle the bags. "Still not enough? Greedy rat, here comes number four!" She said, catching the three in one hand and summoning a fourth.

"Y-y-you . . . how _dare _your insult me like this!" Kyusaku roared, "I was just going to defeat you but now I'm going to _kill _you!"

Yomiko was slightly irked when she heard some obnoxious people in the crowd cheer at that.

Jerks.

"You're going to die!" Kyusaku roared and he did his boulder thing.

Yomiko shuddered and said "Look, I didn't mean to offend you, here, have the chips for free!"

She threw them into the air and they landed in between her and Kyusaku.

He rolled right over them.

Too bad for him.

The first bag exploded, then the second as he rolled over them. The blasts threw him out of his human boulder form and he stumbled over the third.

Yomiko flinched, she'd prepared these explosive bags under the assumption that Kyusaku would be doing his boulder thing and be able to absorb more damage. Being purely human the explosives could cause some serious injury.

Luckily he stepped around it and fell down to one knee holding his head.

"Ugh . . . you little . . ." He groaned.

Yomiko smirked, "Surrender?"

"Never." Kyusaku growled.

Yomiko's eyes narrowed. She grabbed a kunai and threw it, it landed in the third bag and exploded near Kyusaku.

He was thrown easily ten feel and landed in a heap.

She put her hands on her hips, "Done yet?"

Kyusaku laughed and struggled to his feet, "No way. Now I know to just avoid your bags."

Yomiko scoffed, she didn't have any more bags. She'd thought just the four would be a bit much, she'd sort of expected him to be unable to even get up after just three.

The bags themselves were ordinary chip bags lined with explosive tags set to go off when anyone other than Yomiko touched them, a trick Shikamaru-sensei had taught her.

The explosive tags themselves had been a collection of Yomiko's own supplies, her mother's and Shikamaru's, it'd taken quite a few to fill four bags with enough explosive power to stop a human boulder, and even then her estimations had been off and it'd taken two to do what just one should have managed.

She shook her head, "You've got to give up Kyusaku. There's nothing you can do for Tomoko, her fight's over. And you'll never be a Chuunin yourself if you keep barreling on, a Chuunin doesn't just keep marching forward like some pea brained samurai. A Shinobi, a Chuunin would rexamine their situation and think of a new way to win when it becomes clear that their favored way isn't going to work."

_Like I did with the explosive tag bags _Yomiko thought. It wasn't a mental boast, simply a statement that she hoped might help her on her way to being a Chuunin.

"Tomoko fought her fight, you beating her opponent up won't change anything. It's over for her but if you'd kept a clear head you might have had a better chance. Now it's over for you and to refuse to acknowledge that is only going to get you killed. If you were a Chuunin leading a squad in the field this sort of bullheaded offensive would only get you killed."

Yomiko put her hands on her hips, "And that'd be preferable. At least if _you _die your problems are over. But as a Chuunin you'll be leading a squad and getting _them _killed because you don't know when to quit would be unforgivable. So after all this do you really think it's right to keep going? Even knowing that to continue would result in your death? I am not afraid to kill you Inuzuka Kyusaku, though I would regret the loss to Konohagakure."

Kyusaku looked at her for a good long time, and Yomiko was well aware of the fact that she could have launched some sort of attack on him during this time.

She was well aware of the fact that the examiners were probably lowering her grade because of the fact that she wasn't.

But she wanted to make Kyusaku understand why he _needed _to yield. He was going about this all wrong.

A Chuunin wasn't just a talented Shinobi, they were a responsible leader . . . like Shikamaru-sensei.

It was important to care for your comrades, but avenging them at the cost of yourself or your mission was just not going to work. It wasn't a Chuunin quality.

Yomiko had watched Tomoko fight, she'd watched Kyusaku--had had to of course--and she could understand why team Akimichi had the raw destructive power necessary to become Chuunin.

And in the past they'd seemed to have the mental stability necessary by Yomiko's estimation but today . . . they were having a really bad run of it. Tomoko had made a mistake that had almost certainly cost her any chance of promotion and Kyusaku had backed himself into a wall from which escape and promotion seemed unlikely.

And she didn't doubt that Daisuke would take his fight with Saizo very personally as well. He'd said as much.

Unless Daisuke surprised her she suspected that Team Akimichi in general wouldn't have what it took. Not mentally.

It was kind of sad. They were war veterans, they'd learned so much and yet here Kyusaku had given into an almost blind rage against an enemy that hadn't even been the one to wrong his darling Tomoko, and Tomoko had simply fallen apart and worse spared her opponent--by the looks of it--when killing them would have meant an instant and automatic advancement to the next round.

Kyusaku shook his head, "I don't think you can kill me. And even if you can it's probably better than having to face my teammates knowing that I lost to a rookie."

"You lost to a Sarutobi, there's no shame in that!" Yomiko snapped.

Kyusaku just shook his head and stared at her, "Come on then Sarutobi. If you think you can kill me . . . do it. I don't think you can. Anyway what does a man have to live for when he can't even avenge the woman he loves? "

Yomiko shook her head, "Fine." She drew forth a kunai and spun it. She zeroed in on Kyusaku's neck.

She _always _hit what she aimed at.

She threw the kunai.

Kyusaku didn't move.

Yomiko watched the knife fly, considering it her debt to Kysuaku, being the one to take his life, not to close her eyes or look away from his noble end.

The kunai stopped a millimeter from Kysuaku's throat.

In fact it didn't stop, it drew blood on Kyusaku but it went no further than nicking his neck.

Cousin Konohamaru stood there holding the kunai by the hilt, "I declare this match over." He glanced at Kyusaku, "If I hadn't stopped that kunai you'd be dead now."

Kyusaku nodded, but didn't say anything.

Yomiko felt mixed emotions at her first victory.

She knew she'd passed the first round and therefore would have another chance to show off her skills and hopefully sway the examiners into thinking she deserved to be Chuunin.

On the other hand . . . she really sort of felt bad for Kyusaku. Sure he'd been out of control in this match, but his skills were impressive. And maybe, had he fought his desired opponent, he might have been calm and collected, might have displayed the proper fighting attitude of a Chuunin.

There'd be more exams for her, but she wondered how many more times team Akimichi would enter the exams, especially given the fact that they all seemed to be getting wiped out this time around.

_Don't think about it. _She told herself. _You can't make other people's choices for them, and don't feel bad about your own success._

* * *

Chouji closed his eyes and clenched his fists.

"It's just not their day . . ." Ino said gently.

"The first rounds . . . do you have any idea what this is going to do to their self esteem? Tomoko and Kyusaku were always balancing on the edge of a knife before, constantly questioning their self worth. I tried everything to make them see how worthwhile they are, I thought becoming Chuunin would do it."

Ino frowned at her childhood friend, "Cho-kun, they tried their best. Tomoko had no way of being prepared for her opponent, we couldn't predict a blood line inheritance like that, it's as if he's impervious to taijutsu. She did make a big mistake but I didn't expect the Jutsu to affect her like that either. I assumed that since the flames didn't come from her mouth as nearly all proper fire jutsus do, that her jutsu was a highly concentrated from of Genjutsu, actually. She might have made the same mistake, and she chose to display her power and spare her opponent. Maybe she won't be a Chuunin, but those are not acts to be ashamed of."

Chouji nodded, "Tomoko did learn a powerful Jutsu . . . she should be proud of that."

"And as for Kyusaku . . . well look, he's finally gained the confidence to admit how he feels about Tomoko. He's done it in public in front of all these people. That takes confidence, it takes self esteem. He might feel low now, but give it some time and he'll get over this loss."

Chouji smiled, "Yes . . ." He said. "They've really grown."

"Besides that," Ino said with a mischievous grin, "we _know _Daisuke will defeat Saizo."

Chouji nodded, "Yes . . . of course Daisuke's self esteem has never been in question."

* * *

As he made his move to get into position Toshiie felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around and saw the blasted Nara Shikamaru.

"You!" He roared and he struck out.

The illusion disappeared and the hooded master stood there in Nara's stead. "Weren't you told not to kill Nara Shikamaru?"

"I wasn't going to kill him . . . just maim him." Toshiie hissed. "Why would you appear to me as Nara Shikamaru?"

"To test you." The master said calmly. "Anyway there's a complication."

"Complication?" Toshiie sighed.

"Konjo Takumi. You'll need to murder him before the eighth match." The master said breezily, "If you don't he'll ruin everything without even meaning to."

"Splendid!" Toshiie growled sarcastically, "Who is he, why do I care?"

"He is an Elite Jounin from Kumogakure."

"Elite Jounin? Isn't that statement redundant? All Jounin are elite, for that matter Chuunin are elite as well." Toshiie said.

"I'm not here to discuss your opinion of what makes someone elite, though I'll be sure to use that word more often since it seems to irritate you so. Once you've fought Konjo you'll know why I consider him above par."

Toshiie scoffed, "Well he'll be better sport than some ambassadors."

"Indeed. You won't be alone. If my suspicions are correct . . . you'll have a great deal of help. Which brings me to my next order for you. I want you to find a man named Minoru Hikaru . . . he'll be with the Raikage."

"Who is Minoru Hikaru?" Toshiie sighed.

"Another Jounin from Kumogakure."

"And I am to kill him as well?"

"You are to tell him that one of his women has betrayed him and conspires with Konjo. That will be enough for him to lead you to Kinjo . . . though if you do not act quickly you may not have to go far to find him."

Toshiie frowned at the master, "How do you know so much about these people?"

"I have my ways and my sources within Kumo. I've been watching these individuals carefully for some time now and my reasons for it are my own. The boy who fought not long ago . . . Yurei? I engineered the destruction of his entire clan."

Toshiie smirked, remembering the boy and being mildly impressed until he realized the brat wasn't using earth Jutsus to go under ground, but probably some sort of Genjutsu nonsense. "Couldn't stand to kill him eh? Too pretty?"

"My master wanted him. His sister was spared only to care for him." The cloaked man said.

Toshiie raised an eyebrow, "_You _have a master?"

The man laughed softly, "Once. But now I _am _my master."

* * *

Kaori smiled weakly at the Raikage and Hikaru, "I'm sorry I'm late. Yuu's fight began and I didn't want to miss a minute of it so I just watched from the stands."

"An anxious sister." The Raikage chuckled.

"Yes . . . Raikage-sama." Kaori bowed.

Hikaru laughed weakly "Did you by any chance see Konjo?"

"No." Kaori lied.

"Shame. Raikage-sama wanted to speak to him." Hikaru said.

"Really. Well I'm sure I could find him if you like . . ." Kaori offered. What the heck could Raikage want with Tak-kun?

"No need my dear. Come sit next to me." The Raikage said in a soft voice. "You and Takumi-kun were once very fond of each other weren't you?"

"Uh yes." Kaori said, feeling as if that might not be any of the Raikage's business.

"Did you know he's my nephew? He probably never told you." Raikage smirked.

"No he never did." Kaori admitted. So maybe that was why the Raikage felt like talking to her about Takumi, to reminisce.

"When you came to Kumogakure as a wretched--if you'll forgive me--little runaway we received almost immediately word from Mizukage. The land of water had misplaced a pair of fugitives and if we found them they wished us to eliminate them and send their heads to the daimyo."

Kaori nodded slowly, "You spared us Raikage-sama."

"In truth I couldn't have cared. I had no hatred for you and no love for the Mizukage. But you see Takumi took pity on you. He asked that you be spared, and I spared you."

Kaori frowned. She didn't feel comfortable with the idea that she and her brother had been allowed to go on living on a whim of the Raikage, but the idea that that Takumi had saved her out of pity was even more disturbing.

Granted she'd been in a pitiable state back then.

Was that why he'd had such an interest in her? He couldn't have been physically attracted to her back then, they were both too young, but he might have seen her as his responsibility since he'd been the one to ask she be spared.

The Raikage smiled, "You and Takumi . . . you were thick as thieves for years." The Raikage laughed, "oddly enough you separated just as the war began."

Kaori felt incredibly uncomfortable and did her best to keep from looking at Hikaru for his reaction.

If she seemed uninterested in Hikaru's reaction it would appear as if there was no need for an overreaction.

Or something like that.

She noted how very quiet Ami was as well. Perhaps it was the honor of being in the Raikage's presence.

She frowned, "Konjo and I had our differences of opinion regarding the war." She said flatly. "I would rather not discuss it, Raikage-sama."

"Nor do I wish to force you to do so. I did not mean to burden you with bothersome reminiscence."

"Thank you." Kaori said, still feeling oddly uncomfortable.

"When Takumi gets here, I trust you'll act appropriately." The Raikage said evenly.

Well she wouldn't act rudely if that was what the Raikage was worried about. "Konjo and I are on quite good terms." Kaori said evenly, suspecting that this was the cause for Raikage's prodding questions.

She relaxed a bit until the Raikage laughed and said "That's the problem."

"What do you mean?" Kaori asked.

The Raikage smiled, "Do you mind a bit of reminiscence?"

"If it explains something relevant." Kaori said in a tone sharper than one would be wise to take with the Raikage.

She heard Ami snicker, probably expecting her to be punished.

Kaori half expected that herself.

But the Raikage smiled warmly and said "There's an awful lot you don't know about your former lover. Luckily I keep a careful chronicle of the doings of all my servants." The Raikage handed her a scroll, "He was willing to sell his soul to keep you from seeing this."

Kaori took the scroll from the Raikage. She was amazed when she found her hand shaking.

* * *

The master appeared to one of his henchmen, "The distraction of the eight round cannot be counted on at this point. Move _now. _Inform the others, before this match ends I want you all in position."

"Yes sir." The man said, looking unsure. "Sir is it safe to talk this way? So openly about the mission?"

"No one's listening." The master said, "If they were . . . it would be unlucky for them, I'd have to kill them right away."

"Y-yes sir." The Jounin nodded. He disappeared to do his master's bidding.

The master smiled darkly, the mission would commence early. That meant he needed to attend to his part of it early.

He headed to the infirmary, to visit the poor injured Chuunin hopefuls.

* * *

Masaru sized up his opponent. Aburame Kurai looked intimidating to say the least. "It's our turn." Masa told the older Genin.

"Seems that way." Kurai said evenly.

"Good luck Masa." Kasumi said, "Lets score a second victory for Kumogakure!"

Masaru nodded, "Of course." He glanced at his opponent, "He's from a prestigious clan, but," he tapped his chest, using his abilities and allowing his several layers of chakra enhanced clothing to harden like steel while remaining just as flexible as normal clothes would be, "Lets see the attack that can penetrate my defenses!"

"Don't get cocky." Kasumi said sternly, "Don't underestimate your opponent."

Masaru smirked, "No way. I know this guy's going to be tough. You just make sure you win your first match, we'll have a straight flush!"

Kasumi smiled and kissed him on the cheek, "Good luck!"

"Stop saying that, you'll jinx me." Masaru said, trying sound cool and detached even as he tried to hide his blushing cheeks with a scarf.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **My Hiatus . . . yes, that's what I'll call it. Any-hoo my Hiatus will be remodied. A new chapter will be posted every single weekday this week and maybe saturday, it depends on whether or not I can connect over the weekend. But at least five chapters in as many days, more if there's a bonus. Enjoy day one!

And I'm still looking to set aside time to reply to all reviewed questions, remember to leave a way to contact you with the answer to your question if you ask one but don't sign in.

Some questions or issues will be resolved over the course of the story.


	87. The First Death

**Chapter Eighty Seven**

Shikamaru felt a gentle tap on his shoulder and looked up to see Kankuro, "What the-" he began but Kankuro shook his head, "I need you to come with me. Gaara wants to see you."

"Both of us?" Temari asked.

"Just him." Kankuro said, "You're to stay with the baby."

"Okay . . ." Temari said, sounding confused but uninterested. "Say 'goodbye' to daddy, Sumiko."

Sumiko gazed lazily at Shikamaru but didn't so much as burp goodbye.

But her hand sort of twitched, maybe that had been a wave?

Maybe it had been a twitch.

"What's this all about?" He asked Kankuro as they walked towards Gaara's box, which he was sharing with the Hokage but not the Raikage, who'd wanted to enjoy the event in private, or so he'd said.

_Like I care what the Raikage does. _Shikamaru thought to himself.

"Gaara says its classified, he didn't even tell me." Kankuro said. "But he wants you now."

Shikamaru sighed, at least Kotaro's fight wouldn't be for a while. He wouldn't miss that, not for anything.

Because if he had to intervene on Kotaro's behalf he would. If that boy Akuma was as dangerous as he'd heard Shikamaru would have gladly put himself and his career on the line to intervene if Kotaro's life was in danger.

He knew Asuma-sensei would have done the same for him. How could he do any less for Kotaro or any of his students?

* * *

Tomoko smiled at Yuu who apologized again for hurting her.

"Miyuki-san said I'll be fine, but you need to get back out there, Yurei Yuu." Tomoko said, "Watch the matches, you want to win this don't you?"

Yuu smiled weakly, "Y-yes. I do. Uh . . . I'll go but . . . um Tomoko . . ." He frowned looking unsure.

"What is it?" Tomoko asked.

"Do you . . . that is . . ." Yuu looked very worried now, "Do you . . . trust your father?"

Tomoko frowned, "What do you mean?"

"I uh . . . I don't know him, and I know it's none of my business. But he didn't feel . . . sincere, when he was talking to you."

Tomoko's eyes hardened just a bit, "You're right. It's _not _any of your business and you _don't _know him." She said a little more sharply than she'd intended, but she quickly checked herself, "I mean . . . look that's just how he is all the time. That's all."

"Then that's even more reason to be careful . . . all right?" Yuu asked with a slight frown.

Tomoko blushed, "D-don't be so worried about me."

"I'm sorry." Yuu said.

Tomoko tried to hide her blushing cheeks, why did he make her blush like this?

_I mean . . . do I . . . do I _like _him? _She wondered suddenly as he left the infirmary. _Is there any chance he likes me?_

"I think he _likes _you." Shiroi said as if she were answering the unspoken question.

Tomoko blushed, "I--no way! He cant!" She said.

Shiroi laughed, "Funny, you seem more troubled by the thought than I would have imagined."

"Not troubled . . ." Tomoko whispered.

_Just unsure . . . so confused . . ._ she thought.

If she liked Yuu what was she supposed to do about it? He lived in Kumogakure, she lived in Konohagakure, and that considered he might very well just be trying to get her into bed, a vacation time fling so to speak.

Of course would it be so bad if that _were_ the case? He was _really _good looking and she really liked spending time with him. But how much of that was the real him and how much of it was just some guy trying to score with a foreign girl?

_No, he doesn't seem like the sort. _She thought. _He's trustworthy, he wouldn't ask me to do something like that . . . I think._

They _had _just met after all . . . she looked down at her hands, they were shaking.

_If Yuu _is_ trustworthy, then should I be worried about what he said about my dad? I mean he could be wrong without being _un_trustworthy. Maybe it's just a mistake. _She thought.

But then she'd sort of had a weird feeling too, one that was getting weirder and weirder since her father had left.

She glanced at Shiroi who lay on a cot nearby.

"How did you know you liked Kurai?" She asked.

"It was just for fun at first, but I noticed I thought about him a lot." Shiroi said. "Even when he wasn't around. I'd wonder what he'd think of something I was about to do or wear. Eventually I realized my thinking about him all the time meant something. He felt the same way."

Tomoko frowned, "What if you lived in different villages?"

"Nara-sensei and the Kazekage's sister managed it. Even made a pretty cute kid. So I take it you like this guy back?" Shiroi asked.

Tomoko lay back on her cot and stared at the ceiling, "Let's just say . . . I think about him a lot."

_But everything I think just confuses me. _She thought.

Shiroi laughed softly, "We're growing up aren't we Tomo-chan."

"I guess." Tomoko frowned.

"The clock is ticking." Shiroi whispered.

"What do you mean?" Tomoko asked.

"If I don't become a Chuunin soon it'll look bad for my clan." She explained, "I'm getting so old."

Tomoko smirked, "You're a month younger than me."

"I didn't say you weren't old too." Shiroi said. "I've thought a lot about it Tomoko, and . . . I want to pass the next exam. I think you should too. I won't pass this time, I know that."

"Neither will I." Tomoko admitted.

"So . . . if we don't pass and our teammates do . . . lets enter together next time, I mean we'll need a three man group to do it, you and me and someone else who doesn't pass. Sound good?"

"Sounds good." Tomoko whispered. She smirked, "You know . . . I've been feeling really neglected by you lately. I'm a little annoyed that it takes us being put in the infirmary for you to talk to me like you used to."

"I wasn't trying to neglect you I was just distracted." Shiroi said. "By the looks of things, the way you're blushing your cheeks off in front of that guy _you're _about to be distracted too."

Tomoko laughed weakly. "I don't know about that." She blushed and turned away from Shiroi to hide it, "Do you really think he likes me? I mean . . . like romantically?"

"It's what I said, isn't it?" Shiroi smirked.

Tomoko blushed. She had tried not to think about it but . . . she realized she'd _really _liked spending time with Yuu. She felt like they'd connected somehow. And she didn't even mind having lost to him on the field. After all she felt like she'd given him a sufficient run for his money. . . and boy had he ran from her familiar.

"Tomoko . . ." Shiroi asked suddenly.

"Yeah?" Tomoko glanced at the beautiful Hyuga girl.

"Tomoko . . . do you . . . ever think about having sex?"

Tomoko almost choked on her tongue.

"What?" She demanded. "Y-you mean me and you? Now?"

She knew that wasn't what Shiroi had meant, but she was trying to stall and think of some sort of . . . something. She _really _didn't want to talk about such a grown up subject, not in such a public place anyway. The kids from Suna were lying nearby _seemingly _unconscious, they could be listening.

Shiroi laughed, "No, you idiot! I mean with a boy sometime somewhere." come back and interrupt them. "But now? No. I don't want it." She decided. "No matter how I might feel about a boy I'm not going to do _that_."

"You'll change your mind eventually." Shiroi said.

"Eventually. But if I'm ever going to be ready for it, that time isn't now." She shook her head, "I'm fifteen, there's plenty of time for that kind of thing later on in life." She frowned.

"But no matter how long we've lived we're not kids anymore. The war took care of that." Shiroi said.

"It's true war makes a person grow up. So . . . forgive me if I'm in no rush to give up the last vestiges of my childhood." Tomoko said with a thin smile.

Shiroi smiled back, "Well when you put it that way . . . neither am I."

Tomoko smirked, "Growing up's going to be awful."

"It'll be torture." Shiroi agreed.

* * *

Futaba frowned at Kiba-kun's relative, "You'll do better next time. You just need a dog."

He glared at her, "I can't stand dogs."

"Oh." Futaba said. "Sorry. Uh . . . were you bitten as a baby?"

"No." Kyusaku said dejectedly, "I just don't like dogs."

"Oh." Futaba said. She smiled weakly, "You know dogs are a lot like people. You don't always meet the right sort right away . . . but out there somewhere is the one you can be friends with for the rest of your life. If you don't look for them though, you won't ever find them."

Kyusaku's eyes narrowed, "I'm not marrying a dog."

Futaba smiled weakly, maybe she was preaching to the deaf. "Anyway your teammate is in there. She's awake now so I'm sure that should cheer you up." She said, offering him some news he might actually welcome.

"I guess." Kyusaku said softly, smiling weakly. "Kiba kinda likes you, you know."

Futaba smiled, "Really? That's . . . that's nice." She said.

She watched the Genin go into the infirmary and watched the closed door for a moment as she considered what it might mean if someone as wonderful as Kiba-kun really liked her. She smiled to herself. So . . . Kiba liked her . . .

Maybe she'd go sit with him for the rest of the exam . . . or at least for as long as duty permitted before she had to escort another injured Genin back.

She turned around and felt something strange.

She saw something strange.

A man in a black hood stood just inches from her.

And his blade was inches deep into her chest.

Futaba's eyes widened and she weakly reached out for the blade in her chest . . . but her hands were too weak to grip it.

"I'm sorry about this," The hooded Shinobi said, "But . . . you were in my way. I suppose I could have waited for you to leave . . . but they say it's good luck to draw first blood. Consider your life given to and gratefully accepted by a cause greater than you."

Futaba stared in horror as the hooded figure retracted his hand and allowed her to fall down on her back.

She felt blood pooling around her and struggled to scream some sort of warning but all she could do was frantically blink her eyes and try feebly to fight off the tears.

She was a Chuunin of Konohagakure . . . she was from the same class as the heroic Sarutobi Konohamaru and she'd had the honor of meeting the third Hokage. She'd lived a good life.

But that didn't mean she was ready for it to end. And what about the children? What did this man want with them?

What about her dog, Gontamaru? Who would take care of him?

Futaba's eyes grew heavy, but she had to do something.

She had to help the children.

She'd get up, she'd warn them, tell Miyuki-sama!

She just needed to rest her eyes and focus her chakra . . . after a very quick nap she'd help defend the . . .

* * *

The master stood over the form of the fallen Chuunin. He smiled weakly and said "Sorry about this."

He knelt down over her, and easily slid his blade over her throat, "I know you're dead, but I just have to be sure. I can't risk you following me." He explained to the dead and now desecrated young woman.

Her eyes showed no response, the master thought he might close them for her . . .

But what did he care? Besides, it'd be more impacting for whomever found her here to find her with her eyes open in shock and horror. It'd leave a longer lasting impression.

Maybe it'd even give them nightmares.

He stood up and looked to the door, "Ah children . . . children . . . I'm afraid some of you aren't going to be seeing the end of this war after all." He drew his blade again and laughed softly, "But then again . . . better ninja than you have fallen. By the end of the day still more will fall."

* * *

Takumi smiled at the two Chuunin guards, with a trio of Jounin inside he supposed the Raikage felt pretty comfortable with just a single pair of Chuunin guarding the door.

"Anticipating a complete victory for the Kumogakure team," He said, "I've brought a bottle of the finest sake for the Raikage."

The Chuunin raised an eyebrow, "You gotta be kidding."

"Not at all." Takumi smirked, "Oh here, there's some for you too."

He knelt down and made as if to pull an unseen bottle from the bottom of the cart, instead he gripped the hilts of a pair of katanas.

He came up and kicked the cart into one of the Chuunin who unsurprisingly disappeared in a puff of smoke, replaced by a log.

Takumi moved like lightning towards the other Chuunin however and swung both his blades for him.

That Chuunin ducked but as Takumi swept both blades around in a perfect circle he deflected the kunai thrown by the first Chuunin.

"Stand down traitor!" One of the Chuunin warned.

Takumi smiled weakly, "I take it we can't settle this with words."

Both Chuunin came at him, Takumi just shook his head and fought.

* * *

"You see my dear . . . he never resigned." The Raikage said calmly. "Tak-kun as you call him has been my personal assassin for the past three years. He's terribly useful . . . but now his usefulness has come to an end. You see . . . our daimyo was assassinated by rogue agents . . . it came to my attention that a son of the daimyo survived."

Kaori frowned, feeling numb as she read over the long list of atrocities that her beloved had committed.

And all while she'd thought he'd turned his back on violence.

All while she'd thought _he _was the upright one. As she'd thought herself a vile murderous being _he _had been out slaying men, women and children for the Raikage.

Her hands were still shaking with fear but now they shook with rage as well.

_How could he? _She wondered. _Why didn't he tell me?_

She closed her eyes. "Why did he keep this from me?"

"Maybe he was afraid you learning it would cause you to leave him." Hikaru laughed.

"Yeah, the lie sure kept that from happening!" Ami laughed. "Get it? 'Cause you broke up with him when he told you he'd resigned, get it? Haha!"

Kaori didn't open her eyes, she shut them even tighter and stood up straighter. She clutched the scroll tightly and bit her lip until she tasted blood.

"Why? Why are you telling me this?" She whispered to the Raikage. "What the _hell_ do you think you can accomplish with this? Why are you playing with me like this?"

The Raikage was silent for a moment, then he said "Takumi has betrayed me. Knowing that the son of the daimyo lived . . . he thought it better to remain loyal to the daimyo and spare the boy. He didn't understand that the boy's entire reason for living was to destabilize our realm. The current daimyo is in power now . . . a second candidate just confuses things. So I ordered Takumi to kill the boy."

Kaori shuddered. Even now after fourteen years she could hear the screams of the dying, _taste _the smoke from the fires that burned her home and her family . . .

"Takumi," The Raikage said as he attempted to put his hand on Kaori's should only to have it phase through, "doesn't understand. He made an alliance with Hattori Tetsuo to sell me out. To have me killed. Tetsuo would take my place and the daimyo's son would be protected in the event that the current daimyo turned out to be a tyrant."

Hikaru and Ami laughed, "A tyrant!" Hikaru slapped his knee, "Where does he come up with this stuff?"

"Of course . . . since Tak-kun's definition of a tyrant . . . is dangerously close to our new Daimyo, honorable lord Taiko . . . keeping the boy around is out of the question." The Raikage said darkly. "So, unfortunately, is keeping my nephew around."

Kaori nodded. "I understand." She whispered, steadying her lip and wiping the tears from her eyes. She gripped the scroll closely, "Might I ask . . . how you know this? How do you know that Takumi and Tetsuo are allied? How do you know he plans to betray you?"

"Takumi isn't the only man I have leverage over." The Raikage said. "Tetsuo told me everything. He's been my ears behind Takumi's plans since they first began plotting. His wife to be, the woman carrying his child is in fact sitting with the Daimyo . . . and his very well armed guard . . . and should anything happen to her . . ." The Raikage smiled darkly, "Tetsuo knows where his true loyalties should lie. With _me_. Do you know where your loyalties lie, girl?"

Kaori glared at the scroll, at the item that represented all the lies Takumi had told her over the years, "I couldn't be more certain Raikage-sama. And when Konjo _does _show up I can _assure _you I shall act appropriately."

"Good." The Raikage said. "Now if you'll excuse me, lord Taiko has graciously offered me a seat besides him. I must be going. But Takumi should be here very soon. Do see that he's properly greeted and oh yes, brief him on the situation. Do let him know _who _betrayed him. Offer him a chance to admit he's wrong . . . but kill him anyway. I have a new assassin now."

Minoru smirked and slapped Kaori on the shoulder, but she let him phase through her.

She didn't want anyone touching her. No one.

Ami sneered at her, Hikaru said "We need to stay with the Raikage . . . but you won't be alone."

"I wont?" Kaori asked.

"No." A gruff voice said and a man with a long katana appeared. He was a Jounin of Iwagakure, "I'll be here to help you kill him when he arrives."

Kaori nodded.

"This is Toshiie of Iwagakure . . . it is thanks to him and his master that we know Takumi has decided to push his plans forward early. It's because of that fact that I don't have time to fully explain things to you, my dear child." The Raikage said. "I had planned to execute Takumi in the eighth round. But it seems we must be moving along with the plan early."

Kaori nodded.

The Raikage and her teammates disappeared, she looked at Toshiie, "Just stay out of my way." She warned.

Toshiie laughed and suddenly the door burst open, a dead guard fell into the room and slid across the floor, stopping right in front of Kaori.

And there he stood, as fearsome as the day she'd met him. Takumi, dressed in his old black uniform and the flack jacket of Kumogakure.

He wore the headband, but the symbol was scratched as if he were a missing nin.

"Kaori . . ." He said softly. He saw the scroll she was holding and his expression hardened, "Where's the Raikage."

"I'll tell you when I'm through with you." She said calmly, taking up a fighting stance.

Takumi frowned, "Half of what's written there isn't true." He said.

"You acknowledge that half of it _is_ true." Kaori said coldly.

Takumi fell back into a fighting stance of his own, holding two blood stained katanas.

Kaori saw Toshiie stealthily move behind Takumi, his own blade drawn.

The Iwagakure Shinobi leapt forward, he struck out and Takumi blocked the blow with one blade and made a swipe with the other, narrowly missing Toshiie.

"Nice." Toshiie smirked, "But you cant put as much power behind a one-handed swing."

Takumi didn't respond, he didn't have time.

Feeling a tear roll down her cheek Kaori sprang forward and met his second blade with one of her kunai.

Their eyes met and with her free hand she removed her mask, wanting him to see her face, wanting him to know the woman he'd saved, the woman he loved was now clashing blades with him.

Takumi's eyes were hard but there was a sorrow there that mirrored her own. He loved her, she could tell.

And she loved him.

She forced a smirk that should have been pure bravado but instead was pure acting, "Going to go easy on me, Tak-kun?"

But calmly, coldly he said "No Kaori. Not this time."

**To Be Continued . . .**

What's Gaara want with Shikamaru but not Temari? What will happen in the next match? What will happen to Takumi? Could Tetsuo really have betrayed him? What about the injured Genin? Heh, with an ending like this arent you glad I'm updating once a day all week?


	88. Top Genin

**Chapter Eighty Eight**

Masaru smirked at Kurai, "This is the main game buddy, the top Genin of our respective countries. You got what it takes to take me on?"

"Only one way to know." Kurai said calmly.

"Aburame Kurai of Konoha, and Hibiki Masaru of Kumo . . . let the battle begin!" The proctor shouted and the two lunged for one another.

Masaru tore two of several belts from his waist and straightened them into swords.

He came at Aburame with speed and power, he cut into him, slicing the other Genin in half at the waist.

But Kurai didn't fall apart at the waist. Actually he crumbled to the ground.

And became a swarm of insects, much to Masaru's distaste.

Masaru Noted that insects were also crawling over his swords and up his arms, he swept them away as the bugs took form again behind him.

He swept his hand back and knocked the other Genin's head off. but the result was the body, still made up of insects swarmed over him.

They tried to bite and sting him, but his chakra enhanced clothes protected him.

He laughed, "Nice try but this bug clone is useless against me. Maybe a thousand stings could kill a normal opponent but against a Hibiki it's nothing. Our steel clothes stop any blow!"

Masaru leapt into the air and swept the bugs off of himself, "What next Aburame?" He shouted as he scanned the trees for some sign of his attacker.

The proctor would not have begun the match if Aburame himself had not been standing in front of Masaru, so he surmised Aburame had used substitution when he'd first attacked and that it had not been a clone. Instead of a log he'd traded places with a swarm of bugs, the bugs then became a clone.

He had to be hiding in the trees watching Masa and waiting for a chance to strike.

As Masaru descended to the ground from his leap he spotted a flash of moment.

He went after it and then felt something trip him.

A hand sticking out of the ground.

Kurai emerged from beneath the earth, bugs crawling all over him like some sort of nightmarish corpse. "Sorry," he said, "I'm only just learning the Headhunter Jutsu."

Masaru laughed to hide his own bewilderment.

What was it with this guy and bugs?

Of course . . . he _was_ Aburame, they were all about controlling bugs.

Masaru had to stay on his toes or he'd lose this match. He wasn't fighting just one opponent, he was fighting thousands.

* * *

Shikamaru bowed before the Kazekage and the Hokage.

"What is it, Hokage-sama, Kazekaeg-sama?" He asked.

"We require your military brilliance." Tsunade said dryly.

"I've used the sands in Konoha to communicate to me the movements of many things since the attack on Sumiko. I did not however find any clear candidate for the assassin sent after my niece. Just some suspects."

Shikamaru nodded, "You want me to narrow it down then?" He asked.

"No." Gaara said. "I've been using a Jutsu I call "The Thousand Eyes" Jutsu to observe various places in the stadium, places where the shortage of Anbu and the wealth of spectators make security troubling, or as you would say, troublesome. The Thousand eyes simply imbeds sands into various locations to act as eyes, I control them mentally. Really there's only about a dozen of them and I can only watch two at a time."

Shikamaru nodded, "But you've noticed a situation with one of them." He reasoned.

"Precisely." Tsunade said.

"One of my suspects is acting very oddly." Gaara said. He swept his hand in the air and the sand from his gourd took form as a small hooded figure, "This man has been eluding my eyes with an annoying level of skill, and every person he's spoken to thus far as rushed off about something, going to a place where we have no Anbu and I have no eyes. We've noted several individuals from Konoha and Kumo disappear after speaking to him. We want to know why."

Shikamaru nodded, worrying about Temari and Sumiko, "What about my fiancée?" He asked, "If there's danger I want her here with me."

"Now that he understands the situation I'm sending Kankuro back to guard her and Syako. She'll be safe with Kankuro, and she's not exactly helpless." Gaara said. "You will watch me replay each instance where this hooded man has spoken to an individual and then--"

"Faster to show me the individuals and the locations where he spoke to them. I'll look for a pattern there first." Shikamaru said.

Gaara seemed surprised, "All right then. Understand you might not have much time. If this has something to do with the plot Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke uncovered we will only have until the eighth match . . ."

"I'll keep that in mind." Shikamaru said evenly.

He was also racing against time because if there was a mission to be performed he needed it to be over with before Kotaro's match, not just decided on.

* * *

Miyuki raised her gaze as the infirmary doors opened. "Another one already?" She sighed, exasperated.

At this rate she'd _never _get back to the exams to watch them with Hitomi and Hara-kun.

The door opened but there was no one there.

She frowned, "Who's out there? Come in already."

"Thank you for the invitation." A cold voice said behind her.

She felt something bite into her back and her legs gave out.

She crumpled to the floor but threw her legs over her head and flipped.

Her legs were like jelly though, completely numb and they wouldn't support her. She fell onto her chest and looked up at her foe, a man in a black hood.

"The blade is poisoned, you're not paralyzed permanently." The man said. "Of coruse you won't be surviving either so--"

"Hold it right there!" Hyuga Shiroi snapped, leaping out of bed and taking up a fighting stance, "Who are you, what is this?"

The master spun around and smiled, "Ah my pretty little girl . . . this is what some might call an extermination of small annoying pests. Namely Konoha Genin."

The other girl, Oedo leapt out of bed and along with Inuzuka took up a fighting stance though they both seemed barely able to stand.

The man in the hood laughed, "Silly twits. You don't stand a chance."

Miyuki focused her chakra on healing her injury and expelling the poison, she willed the children to last that long at least.

They weren't just children, they were ninja of Konhoa.

Their comrades, the team from Sunagakure got up as well, or at least one member did.

Ryu got up and took the fan that had been brought in with him. He swept it out and held it in an intimidating manner, "Four against one, you can't be all that tough."

Miyuki sped furiously to heal herself and make it five against one. If she could do that they might stand a chance.

But this person had snuck up on her, to do that he had to be at least a very skilled Special Jounin, or else he was a Jounin. Either way the Genin alone would be in trouble.

To her surprise he spun around and viciously kicked her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and interrupting her healing jutsu.

He kicked her again, and then his third kick landed on her face.

He viciously kicked her in the face, his foot striking her cheek with such force she was certain he'd shattered her jaw, the searing pain seemed to back up the young doctor's prognosis.

"You stay out of this." The hooded figure said with a smirk.

He threw his hooded robe away but Miyuki didn't see what he looked like.

Instead she blacked out.

* * *

Shiroi glared at the enemy Shinobi. He was tall and had grayish white hair, tied in a long ponytail.

He wore a black jumpsuit with a purple rope belt. It wasn't a ceremonial sash or anything like that, simply a violet painted rope wrapped around his waist.

She wondered if it were supposed to symbolize something.

Shiroi noted that he wore a forehead protector, and though she could not see the symbol with his head turned towards Miyuki-san, she could guess by the musical notes on his shoulders and back that it had the Sound Village symbol on it. She nodded, "You must be connected with that Genin from Oto."

"I am. I am his master." The Otogakure ninja said.

"Lets take him." Tomoko said.

"No." Shiroi said. "You're all injured . . . Tomoko if you use any fire jutsus it could kill you, you're still recovering."

"I'll die if I don't fight anyway." Tomoko said.

"She's right you know." The Otogakure ninja said with a bright smile. "She'll die whether she fights or not."

Shiroi scowled, "I'll hold him off, you guys go get help."

"You'll hold him?" Tomoko gapped, "What about your injuries?"

Shiroi smirked, "_What _injuries? I took a dive Tomoko, now _you _run."

"I'm not leaving you." Tomoko said, "You're my best friend, we stick together."

"And I won't leave you either." Kyusaku agreed.

"Then you get help." Shiroi told Ryu.

"Our chances improve if we all stick together." Yukio said, emerging from his cot. He clenched his fists and drew his blades of sand. "Took a dive. I hate you even more now." He glared at Shiroi, "But I can respect you too . . . for being willing to give your life for our escape. That's worth us being able to fight side by side at least once."

Shiroi took a deep breath. "You're all too badly injured to fight."

"Too badly injured to win maybe, but if we're going to die anyway we can die fighting." Ryu said.

"Well spoken." The sound nin said calmly. He turned his head and Shiroi saw his complete face.

It was horrifying.

"Look into my eyes an see the eyes of the snake . . . feel yourselves paralyzed with fear. You've had your chance to escape, and now it's passed."

Shiroi glared into his eyes and said "Byakugan! You look into _my _eyes and see your death!"

* * *

Masaru leapt backwards as Kurai threw a shuriken at him.

He spotted a bug riding on the shuriken and knew it was some sort of a tracer, he'd heard the Aburame used them.

He whipped out his own shuriken and knocked Kurai's out of the air.

With expert precision he also killed the bug, impaling it on one of his shuriken's points.

Kurai lunged forward and struck him several times, but fell back holding his hand.

"Hah! Like punching steel isn't it?" Masaru chuckled, "My clothes are chakra enhanced and hardened, stronger than any suit of armor and far more flexible. You're finished if the best you've got are stingers and taijutsu."

Of course Masaru had every right to be smug since he knew this enemy had about no chance of hurting him. That didn't mean that he should be smug, that'd get him killed.

He was a Shinobi, he was ready to be a Chuunin. He had _not_ come this far making stupid mistakes or taking his enemies too lightly.

Aburame deserved watching . . . careful watching. Masaru had to assume the enemy Genin would have some trick up his sleeve.

* * *

Shiroi lunged in and struck out at the enemy Shinobi with all the speed and power she possessed, but he dodged every strike.

He thrust his left arm forward as if he meant to punch her in the stomach but she'd leapt out of his reach.

Or so she'd thought, somehow, impossibly his arm seemed to extend.

She leapt back again but the arm suddenly diverted itself and went for Tomoko.

Shiroi rushed forward and pulled her friend out of the way before the freakish appendage could strike her, only to see it suck back into the Shinobi's shoulder.

Ryu swept out with his fan, and Shiroi noticed that Yukio threw sand into the wind so that it sped along its way to the enemy Shinobi.

Kyusaku lunged forward to block the man's escape from the whirlwind.

Shiroi watched with grim satisfaction as Yukio's sands suddenly pulled together to form razor bladed shuriken, the whirlwind tore the enemy ninja apart.

She smirked for an instant, allowing herself the slight moral boost of a false victory.

Beccause even before she sensed his presence behind her she knew he'd used some sort of clone, or subsitution.

The whirlwind did a great job of destroying that clone or substitute . . . but it also destroyed much of the room, and the lights.

It was dark again.

Shiroi's eyes, her greatest asset were hampered.

She narrowed them, this wasn't complete darkness like that jutsu, she could still see well enough to fight, she wasn't helpless.

She'd never be helpless again.

"Come on you slime bucket, show me what you've got!" She shouted, spinning around and feeling his hand catch hers.

"You are a spirited one." He said darkly.

* * *

Kurai clapped his hands together and made a trio of illusionary doppelgangers. They separated and surrounded the Kumo Genin in four directions.

The Kumo Genin held out his belt katanas threateningly, and Kurai and all three of his doppelgangers charged forward together.

The Kumo Genin struck out with great speed, cutting through illusionary foe after illusionary foe, and even cutting into Kurai.

He weathered the pain, it was just a scratch, and he struck out at the Genin with his fist.

The Genin leapt back but slowed down.

"Felt that one, huh?" Kurai said with a grin that the other boy couldn't see because his collar blocked it.

"What the . . . you must have _some _strength!" The other boy said in surprise.

Actually Kurai had snuck a small legion of insects onto the other boy's body during the initial attack when he'd used an insect subsitution jutsu.

They'd been sucking the chakra from the other Genin's clothes all throughout the match, making them simply normal clothes.

"That's good. I was worried I'd kill you if I went full contact." Masaru said with a chuckle, "Now I know I can really be myself, you're strong enough to take it."

Kurai didn't like the sound of that.

Hibiki Masaru leapt up into the air and came down so hard his feet made craters, but those were nothing compared the one his fist made exactly where Kurai had been standing.

The crater left by the other boy's fist must have been six feet deep, _Almost like a grave, _Kurai thought.

_Aburame Kurai, what _have _you gotten yourself into this time? _The Konoha Genin wondered.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	89. Takumi and Kaori

**Chapter Eighty Nine**

The Iwagakure assassin glanced at his comrades.

Two mixed teams of Jounin and Chuunin disguised as citizens of Konoha.

One Chuunin leaned against the door, gently nudging the unconscious Konoha guard.

They'd left the Konoha guards alive so that it'd look even more like a Konoha plot.

The mission was to assassinate the ambassadors from the other four countries and spare the Konoha ambassador.

It would seem as if Konoha had assassinated the ambassadors.

The Jounin supposed.

It would seem as if Konoha had thought that with the dead ambassadors the other countries would be urged to fight more devotedly at Konoha's side against Iwagakure.

Of course any idiot knew that Konoha leaving its own ambassador and guards alive would only outrage the other countries, and even if it seemed like an obvious plot the other countries would be pushed to outrage over it all the same given that Konoha had allowed it to happen.

The Jounin opened the door and entered, two more "poofed" their way into the room, while the others filed in.

The five ambassadors sat quietly watching the Chuunin exams.

"Time for Konoha to lose this war." The Jounin smirked.

* * *

Tetsuo nodded to the Raikage and most of team Minoru. "Where's Yurei Kaori?"

"She's getting to know Takumi better." Ami snickered.

"You're okay with that?" Tetsuo smirked at Hikaru, and then he realized what that really meant. "Oh no . . ."

"What did you _think _would happen?" Hikaru said with a rude grin. "_You_ sold him out."

Hanabi looked shocked, "You did what? What are they talking about?"

Tetsuo kept his face calm and said "I did nothing wrong, Hanabi-chan. Understand that."

"Very right. Takumi was a traitor." The Raikage said, "He planned to assassinate me. My far more loyal servant Tetsuo exposed the plot to me and now Jounin Yurei and an ally of ours are executing the traitor."

"Wh-what about a trial?" Hanabi gapped, "Takumi couldn't have done anything so insane, he couldn't have thought to assasinate you, he must have been set up or-"

Tetsuo took Hanabi's hand, _Please don't, you'll get us both killed_ he thought, but he said "Takumi is no typical bar tender, you know he used to be a Shinobi. He's almost as powerful as I am, he thought that with my help he could kill the Raikage, he would have then made me the Raikage and he would have been my trusted advisor . . . he'd have controlled me like a puppet."

"No." Hanabi said, "That's ludicrous."

"If you don't believe it go to my booth, ask him yourself . . . if he's still alive." The Raikage said calmly.

The daimyo held up a hand, "My dear I've known for some time now that Konjo was part of a secret organization aiming at destabilizing our realm, his activities grew more bold with the death of my father. You see with my brother in their custody and with one of their own as the Raikage they would have been free to do away with me, enthrone my brother, a mere child and control both the political and military arms of the land of lightning. End the alliance with the land of fire, see it destroyed. For that reason Konjo must die . . . after he tells us who his master is. You and Tetsuo will be instrumental in rooting out these rebels and maintaining the alliance . . . can I not trust you with this?" Taiko asked.

Tetsuo looked at Hanabi and thought _Please my love, please just believe him._

It was a lie. If there was any such organization they most certainly didn't have the patriotic Takumi as a member.

Prince Shinno _was _alive, that much was true. The Raikage had ordered Takumi to kill him in order to eliminate the threat he posed to Daimyo Taiko's rule. Taiko, according to the Raikage, would be unpopular for making peace with Konoha . . . but Tetsuo knew better.

He knew Taiko would be a tyrant, he'd seen it in the Raikage's eyes. He didn't know why the Raikage was supporting Taiko and not Shinno until he'd glimpsed the boy in Konoha.

Though well protected by his cousin Okatsu the boy's violent temperment, his homicidal tendencies were all too obvious. Better a tyrant than a maniacal tyrant.

Tetsuo could vaguely understand why Takumi would refuse to murder the child . . . but that didn't mean much when the Raikage had questioned him.

When the Raikage had threatened to relax Hanabi's security and expose her to her own clansmen.

Or worse . . . some of the members of Tetsuo's clan who'd snuck into the city. Some of the Hattori who had no love for the Hyuga, who would kill Hanabi just for being one.

Hanabi's safety was guaranteed only so long as Tetuso went along with the Raikage's wishes . . . even if that meant betraying Takumi.

Had Takumi been sincere and called off his attack they'd have both been in the clear, no harm no foul.

But Tetsuo shook his head, it was better this way, he was sure.

But things would be much harder now, especially for Hanabi.

He squeezed her hand and said "This is just a small problem . . . it'll be over soon."

"Kumogakure and the land of lightning must remain secure." Taiko nodded, "Your husband has helped ensure that. Though he is a Shinobi I plan to publicly offer him all the honors I would bestow upon a samurai."

"And he will officially become my heir and second in command." The Raikage nodded. "Because of his unwavering loyalty to his country, and to me."

Tetsuo noticed Hikaru flinch at that statement. Likely Hikaru had hoped to be named the Raikage's successor.

There was some small pleasure in seeing Hikaru so uncomfortable.

Tetsuo smiled at Hanabi, "See? Everything's going to be okay."

Hanabi shook her head, "This . . . this is . . . so much to take in. I need to lie down."

"Ami, take her to her room." Hikaru said, "Protect her with your life. Don't let her so much as stub her toe."

Ami nodded and led Hanabi off.

_Good. She'll be safe now . . . _Tetsuo thought.

"Today is a glorious day for the land of lightning." Taiko said with a broad smile, "Our genin will sweep through the exams, and traitors shall die today. With any luck my younger brother will be returned to me safely, is that not right, Raikage?"

The Raikage nodded, "I have already put plans in motion to recapture the boy. A strike team of Hattori Shinobi have been _shadowing _Okatsu for some time, in her presence now is also Tosa Kimiko, when the time comes Hikaru will abduct the boy and Okatsu will be executed for her treachery."

Tetsuo blinked, could it be the daimyo didn't know his brother was set to be executed as well?

No it made perfect sense . . . Takumi had been doomed from the start, had he gone through with the murder of the child the daimyo would have had him executed. To refuse had obviously resulted in the Raikage making a similar order.

The daimyo had already suffered the death of his father and mother, no one could blame him for being concerned with safety and maybe taking away a few rights that endangered himself and his people. But to lose his brother would be even more tragic, the daimyo didn't want that.

And here Tetsuo had thought he was a tyrant . . .

Taiko smiled, "Let Shinno fight his first battle, then take him. I want to see what my brother has learned."

Tetsuo tensed, he had until the eigth match to somehow tell the daimyo what the Raikage really planned.

* * *

Takumi grunted as the Iwagakure swordsman struck out at him.

He leapt back, narrowly avoiding the blade.

He saw Kaori move in, her kunai coming within a hairsbreadth of his neck.

He brought his left katana up and would have cut her arm off at the elbow but she'd phased it.

"You're Konjo eh?" The Jounin said, "I'm Toshiie. Tell me, how did a man with such pathetic skill live so long? Why did your mother not drown you as an infant and spare me the trouble of doing her dirty work for her? I'd sooner find a challenge in killing a fly."

"If I'm no challenge shut up and kill me." Takumi scoffed, his right katana blocked Toshiie's strike, "I don't have time to play with you," He warned.

The katanas were chakra blades, and he allowed flame chakra to course through his left blade, causing Kaori to leap back while wind chakra coursed through the right blade.

As the two wind swords, Toshiie's and Takumi's clashed their cutting powers struggled, both trying to repel the other but the owners of both were pushing more and more force against the blades, forcing them against each other.

Takumi threw himself backwards, Toshiie, who'd put all his force behind his blade lumbered forward into a wall after running right through Kaori who phased to avoid having him slam into her blade first.

"Do you know why you've been trapped here?" Kaori asked as she leapt forward with a pair of kunai and matched Takumi blade for blade even though both his katanas coursed with chakra and her kunai did not. "Do you know why you're fighting us, instead of assassinating the Raikage as you planned?" She asked.

"Who said I planned to assassinate the Raikage?" Takumi smirked.

Kaori smiled, "The same person who is responsible for you facing the two of us instead of the Raikage. It was Tetsuo. He _betrayed _you." Kaori drew a second kunai and spun them in her hands, "I asked you, I _begged _you to trust me instead. If you had . . ." Kaori shook her head, "If you'd told me you were in the Raikage's service instead of telling me you'd resigned . . ." Kaori's eyes were filling with tears "I'd never have . . ." She shook her head, "Never mind. The past is past . . . now you're an enemy of Kumogakure."

"Seems that way." Takumi said, keeping one eye on Toshiie who seemed to have recovered already.

"So you know what I have to do, don't you?" Kaori asked in a soft, tired voice.

"I know what you'll _try _to do." Takumi said. "I won't let you succeed."

"What makes you think you have any choice?" Kaori asked.

She lunged forward and their blades met, she became a chair thanks to the substitution jutsu.

Takumi swept his blades backwards, expecting Kaori to strike him from the back and when he saw her suddenly phase out of the ground he brought both blades in to cut her down.

But she was too close and she moved too quickly.

She thrust her kunai into his chest, into his heart.

He stood there dumbfounded staring at her, "Kaori . . . you're--" He whispered.

"I . . . love you." She said, her left hand shaking so badly that she dropped her second kunai.

But her right hand, the hand that was very firmly holding the kunai in his chest didn't so much as tremble.

Takumi smiled weakly, "I love you too, Kaori." He said.

She smiled as tears rolled down her cheeks.

* * *

The Iwagakure Jounin stood behind the five ambassadors and nodded to his teams who got into position.

The two who'd poofed into the room stood on either side of the row of ambassadors, swords drawn.

"Hey, you're blocking the view . . . dattebayo." One of the ambassadors said.

"Those are nice swords . . . I'll have to add them to my collection." Another, a female said brightly.

"Seven Jounin for the five of us? Insulting." Another ambassador said, standing up and cracking his neck, "Well . . . I guess it's a good thing I left my dogs at home or there'd be _no _fun in this."

"Wh-what's this?" The Jounin demanded, feeling fear creep into his very soul.

As the five ambassadors turned to face him he felt his heart stop.

To the far left stood Rock Lee dressed as an ambassador of Taki. To the far right stood Inuzuka Kiba, dressed as an ambassador of Kusa.

To the right of the center was Haruno Sakura, dressed as if she came from Ame, and to the left of the center was Tenten, dressed as the ambassador from Suna.

In the center stood the ambassador from Konoha. The alleged ambassador anyway.

In truth there was no mistaking the face of Uzumaki Naruto, the Demon of Konoha for an ambassador.

The Jounin gulped. "R-run!" He told his comrades.

"Not quite." An Anbu said, appearing in the doorway with a pair from the Hyuga security detail.

"Ah Shino!" Kiba shouted, "They're ours! You're only supposed to show up if we really need you!"

"You need us." Hyuga Neji snapped, "Tell them why, Hinata."

Hinata scoffed and took up a fighting stance, "Seven extra shadows."

Seven members of the Hattori clan emerged, each from a shadow of one of the task force members, though the Iwagakure Jounin hadn't known they were there.

"Declare your side." Uzumaki snapped at the Kumogakure Jounin.

The Iwagakure Jounin knew these Hattori could have said they were following suspicious individuals, killed them now and been spared Konoha and Uzumaki's wrath.

They had a problem though. They weren't supposed to be in the village at all, and that might have been forgiveable. They could have made up an excuse to explain that.

But the Iwagakure Jounin wouldn't give them the chance, "Hanzo-sempai," He said, recognizing one of them, one standing not far from Naruto as Hattori Hanzo, "Hanzo-sempai what do we do? What are your orders?"

Hanzo did not appear to have any intention of defecting though. Instead he turned to Uzumaki and looked at him without fear. "How did you know about the plot?" Hanzo asked Naruto.

"Many things. We knew extra Hattori had been smuggled in, we allowed it thinking the Raikage wanted extra security for the daimyo. You were carefully observed. When we saw you connect with individuals we suspected of being Iwagakure moles we surmised something must be wrong."

"And then I figured out what." Yet another member of the Konoha twelve, Nara Shikamaru said.

"We're missing the Chuunin exams because of you." Uchiha Sasuke pointed out, strolling into the room.

"All twelve of the Konoha Twelve," Yamanaka Ino said coldly, "Against thirteen nobodies and _the _Hattori Hanzo. Odds arent in your favor."

"What do you have to say to that?" Akimichi Chouji asked. "Seems overwhelming doesn't it?"

But Hattori Hanzo only smirked. He looked at his clansmen and his allies and the Iwagakure Jounin did feel a bit of courage knowing that the Hattori was not concerned.

"Kill them." Hanzo said.

And the Iwagakure Jounin dared to believe that maybe, just maybe they actually could.

The odds _were _fourteen to twelve . . . granted they had the disadvantage of having a few Chuunin members.

They could do it.

"Attack!" The Jounin roared to his comrades and he lunged forward.

He _tried _to lunge forward.

"Please . . . are you so scared you're forgetful, or are you just _really _stupid?" Nara Shikamaru said with a smirk.

The Jounin was _allowed _to look down at his shadow in horror.

The Hattori ninja however all melted _into _their shadows, the lines leading back to Shikamaru's shadow grew broader and then like lightning seven Hattori Shinobi appeared surrounding him.

"Are you overconfident in your abilities and ignorant of ours, or are you just _really _stupid?" Hanzo asked Shikamaru.

The Jounin from Iwagakure smiled, free of the shadow possesion Jutsu. Maybe they really could do this . . .

* * *

Ami smirked, now was the time.

Kaori would be alone and exhausted after fighting Takumi, the Iwagakure Jounin was unimportant, might even get killed by Takumi.

Hikaru wouldn't be there to protect her and Ami could say that Takumi had killed Kaori . . . she'd be in the clear.

"Hey uh Hyuga-san," Ami said, "Can you make it there yourself? I've got to ah . . . do something. It's important."

Hanabi nodded and Ami rushed off for the Raikage's box.

To end her feud with Kaori once and for all.

_Now that I know your weakness you don_'_t have a chance!_ She thought.

* * *

Takumi fell back, free of Kaori's kunai and landed roughly on his back.

Kaori knelt down over her true love and felt an unstoppable wave of tears.

Tears for things she had done, tears for things she knew she was about to do.

She pressed her forehead against his and said "You must have known there was only one course for me to follow once you became an enemy of Kumogakure . . ." She told him.

Takumi didn't say anything. Kaori straightened up and took her kunai, raising it to her own neck.

"Hey now!" Toshiie said, picking himself up off the floor, "It's not that I particularly care, but you won, don't follow him in death! At least not without a witness to tell Raikage-sama that I wasn't the one who cut your throat."

Kaori ignored the muscular Joinin and kept her eyes focused on Takumi.

She put the blade of the kunai to her neck . . . and then raised it to her forehead protector.

She cut a gash across the symbol and said "When the man I love becomes a fugitive what can I do but follow him? What can I do but help him to kill his enemies?"

Toshiie grunted in confusion and Kaori raised the kunai for him to see.

The kunai that she had apparently plunged into Takumi's chest.

The kunai that didn't have so much as a drop of blood staining it because she'd phased it, making it _look _as if she'd stabbed him when in fact she'd done no such thing.

Takumi smirked and disappeared.

So he'd been a shadow clone . . . interesting.

Or perhaps a lightning clone, Kaori supposed it was lucky for her that she'd phased the blade through him instead of stabbing him, had she stabbed a lightning clone she'd have been electrocuted.

The real Takumi appeared behind Toshiie and stabbed his wind katana through the Iwagakure Jounin's chest.

Toshiie roared in pain and gripped the blade, cutting his hand in the process, "Why you!" He roared.

Takumi's second blade erupted from Toshiie's chest and caught flame, "I've just barely managed to avoid your vital spots. Don't think I'm through with you yet. I _wonder _what an Iwagakure Jounin is doing in Konoha . . . I wonder what the Konoha Anbu will give for your live capture . . . citizenship to a fugitive perhaps?" Takumi smiled at Kaori, "And to his accomplice."

"You . . . planned this . . . the whole . . . time?" Toshiie gasped.

"No." Kaori said, "I had no idea when I woke up today that I'd betray the Raikage . . ." She clenched her fist, "Or try to kill him. But love does strange things to a person. You'd never understand."

Toshiie growled but fell forward. "Kill you both . . ." he grumbled, and then sliped out of conciousness.

Takumi kicked the larger man off of his blades, Kaori, being careful to phase as she approached him, appropriated Toshiie's katana and slung it over her shoulder, "Let's go my love," She told Takumi, "I feel like committing regicide, don't you?"

"I _really do _love you." Takumi smirked.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	90. The Tricky Bug Herder

**Chapter Ninety**

Kotaro watched as Kurai and Masaru fought.

Masaru's brute force was amazing, he was leaving craters everywhere.

Impressive to the crowds but it'd be difficult for Kotaro who'd have to memorize the size and location of each crater for his fight with Akuma.

He clenched his fists, one of them had better win or lose the match . . . and soon..

* * *

Tomoko's expression became hard as she tried to see in the darkness. 

Though she fought to keep her calm inside she was beginning to panic.

If she tried to go for the door she juts _knew _this foe would kill her. If she stood where she was she'd die.

But she couldn't fight in the dark, not with so many friendly combatants around. She couldn't trust her ears because this Shinobi was making very little noise and it sounded as if her comrades were making as much as possible.

She gulped.

She could _try _to use the noise they were making to judge where not to strike but then she might just be attacking blindly until she hit something.

She felt something heavy slam into her and for a moment she feared it was all over, that she'd be killed.

She yelped in surprise and in terror when the space above her became illuminated with lightning.

In the flash of light she saw the attacker standing before Shiroi and Ryu, she saw that it had been Kyusaku who'd knocked her down to avoid the lightning bolt but she didn't see Yukio.

She gasped as Kyusaku got up and practically pulled her arm out of its socket bringing her to her feet, and it was dark again.

"Keep moving!" He said, and she could hear traces of panic in his voice, "No matter what don't stand still!"

* * *

Masaru leapt into the air following Kurai, the bug herder threw a flurry of shuriken to prevent Masaru from attacking him midair. 

Masaru could have trusted in his clothes to protect him, and protect him they would.

But he was sure it would impress the examiners more to _not _get hit.

He used the substitution jutsu instead, then from the ground leapt up again behind Kurai.

Aburame used the substitution jutsu as well with the same log Masaru had used, Masa had to admit the guy was slippery.

But that'd only last so long.

One good punch, was all it'd take to end the conflict for good.

He just needed one . . .

* * *

Temari cuddled Sumiko slightly as the little girl began to fuss over something. 

"Like, let me see her?" Syako suggested.

Temari was a little reluctant. Syako was an excellent sitter and made Sumiko happy with relatively little effort . . . but having had Shikamaru stolen away from her by Gaara for some unknown purpose Temari didn't like the idea of handing her daughter over to someone else.

It felt as if doing so would leave her completely alone.

But after some hesitation she handed Sumiko to Syako.

Sumiko made a slight noise, not quite a word but it might have been an attempt.

Temari assumed her daughter was overjoyed and smirked at Sumiko, "Traitor." She said.

"Wh-what?" Syako squeaked.

Temari shook her head and gently rubbed Sumiko's, "Oh it's a habit, we call her that over everything."

Syako gave Temari a very disapproving look, "If you're not careful that'll like, be her first word."

"Oh no . . . we're pretty sure _that's _going to be 'troublesome." Temari smirked.

Kankuro chuckled but Syako gave her a disapproving look. "Most little girls learn words like 'love' and 'mommy' first."

"Sumiko's not like most little girls." Temari said with a smile, "She's _my _little girl. When she's ready to talk I'll be proud of whatever she says. So long as it isn't dattebayo."

"Here here." Kanukro said.

"I can see the reason in that." Syako admitted. "But your first word is going to be 'mommy' isn't it, Sumiko-chan?" Syako cooed. "Say 'mommy' Sumiko-chan, say 'mommy!"

Temari smirked when Sumiko lazily looked at her.

"Well she knows _who_ mommy is." Kankuro said with a shrug, "That's impressive."

"Or she just wants to go back to Temari-san." Syako pouted, "Maybe there's too much pressure, too many people."

"I don't think one year olds can talk anyway." Temari said.

"Not full sentences I suppose," Syako said, "But a word or two would be nice. And I know one year olds can _walk _and Sumiko won't do that either."

Temari's eyes narrowed, "Are you suggesting that I'm not raising her properly?"

Syako looked surprised, "No! No Temari-san, I would like, _never _say or even mean to like imply that!"

"I'm joking." Temari sighed. "You're strung awfully tight today, Syako." Temari said with an appraising look.

Syako frowned, "There's like . . . something in the air. I don't like it, you know?" Syako said.

Temari frowned, she felt the same way.

She wondered where Shikamaru was.

What Gaara had wanted him for.

"Hey, if you've got Sumiko under control I think I'll go . . . to the rest room." Temari lied.

She was going to talk to Gaara.

"Uh sure." Syako said.

"Wait, I'd better go with you." Kankuro said.

"To the women's room?" Temari raised an eyebrow at her younger brother, "You're not a _pervert _are you?"

Kankuro seemed embarrassed, "W-well I didn't mean _inside _with you, but Gaara said I should protect you."

"I'm a Jounin. You should stay and protect Syako."

"Yeah!" Syako squeaked, "stay here with me and Sumiko-chan, Kan-kun!" Syako said.

Kankuro returned to his seat, defeated.

Temari set off to see her lordly younger brother.

* * *

Ami was just a little surprised when she saw Kaori walking towards her, "Finished Takumi already, Cow Face?" Ami asked, a little annoyed that Kaori didn't seem even remotely hurt. 

"Why don't you go back and check for yourself?" The Iwagakure ninja suggested with a smirk.

Ami frowned and noticed something odd.

Kaori was holding Toshiie's katana and Toshiie held two different ones.

Ami considered this for a moment while the two advanced on her.

She spent so much time thinking about how she'd kill the obviously healthy Kaori she didn't have time to react when three katanas suddenly buried themselves inside her chest.

She gapped and stared at the bloody wounds in her chest. She gagged and fell to the ground.

"Oh Cow Face . . . how could you?" She asked dramatically.

"You go on . . . take care of the Raikage, Tak-kun. Ami and I . . . we've got some unfinished business." Kaori said darkly, slinging the bloodied katana over her shoulder.

Ami noticed Kaori had ruined her forehead protector. She was less than surprised as Konjo dropped his transformation jutsu and tilted his head towards Kaori.

"She looks finished to me." He said as Ami clutched her wounds and moaned pitifully.

"She's playing. This is a puppet." Kaori said.

"Ah you ruin my fun." Ami's puppet growled.

"I've known you long enough to know the stench of these sick twisted corpses you call ninja tools." Kaori said coldly. "Today's the day Ami, today you die."

Ami glared, "Well we'll just see about that, won't we Cow Face? You have to find the real me first, dummy."

"Shouldn't be too hard for someone who can move through walls." Kaori said.

Takumi glared at Ami, she felt a shudder run through her body . . . this wasn't the pushover bartender she'd grown to know and loathe, this was a Shinobi . . . somehow this made him a lot sexier. "Do you want any help?" He asked Kaori.

"I'll be fine, my love." Kaori said standing over the Ami puppet she raised the katana, "Ami hasn't got what it takes to defeat me, she's too stupid." Kaori said and slammed the katana down onto the puppet's skull.

Ami's vision went black, she opened her eyes.

She took out every scroll she had, "All right Cow Face . . . I'll show you who's stupid." As she summoned forth all of her remaining puppets Ami giggled, "Shadow Clones are for losers."

* * *

"Well now Raikage-sama knows I'm alive." Takumi said. "Ami will report right to him." 

"She's not with him," Kaori said, "And no, she's not smart enough to go running to him either."

"We don't have time to look for her, have to take out the Raikage." Takumi said.

Kaori smiled. "Finding her will be easy, I'll kill her and then come help you Tak-kun."

Takumi hesitated and said "Are you sure?"

"She's strong enough to keep Hikaru interested, but not smart. She's easy to push to anger, easy to trick into making a mistake. I'll find her quickly, kill her, and then I'll come help you finish off the Raikage."

"Kaori don't help me with the Raikage." Takumi said.

"What?" Kaori frowned, "I know you're talented but against only Hikaru or Tetsuo I'd still fear for you. The idea of you facing the two of them and the Raikage? I cannot take it. You do not know the full extent of Hikaru's skill, neither of us knows Tetsuo's and I cannot even begin to fathom the Raikage's."

Takumi smiled, "You've got to trust me."

Kaori frowned. She trusted him, but only so far. She trusted him to do his best to defeat the Raikage, but he hadn't known Tetsuo would betray him, couldn't have known. She didn't believe that Takumi could possibly defeat three of the finest Shinobi in Kumogakure.

"You can't die." Kaori said firmly, "You understand?"

Takumi squeezed her hand and said "Neither can you."

Kaori swallowed a lump in her throat, "We . . . we might just flee. Become missing nin."

"And live for less than a week before the hunters find us?" Takumi shook his head, "No. Anyway I'm not just doing this for myself, I'm doing this for our entire village. For our county. The Raikage has proven with the order to execute the son of the daimyo that he has an agenda contrary to the best interests of the nation, I wouldn't doubt that the Raikage had some hand in the assassination of our previous Daimyo in the first place, just because he didn't send me doesn't mean he didn't send _someone_."

Kaori nodded. For all she knew Tetsuo himself was in the same boat as Takumi, maybe _he _had killed the Daimyo.

"The things I know from my years as his personal assassin, the list of people I've had to kill supports the idea that the Raikage is playing some game to his own ends. If I fail, Kaori, I don't want you to think this was done for the sake of power or money. I don't _need_ money, I don't _want _power. The Raikage is an evil man and he needs to be stopped, understand?" Takumi asked.

Kaori nodded. She didn't say it, but she understood her obligation in the matter.

If Takumi didn't make it back, though he wouldn't ask her, it would become her duty to take revenge.

To kill the Raikage in his stead.

She didn't tell him she felt this way, _he'd_ be obligated to tell her not to do it.

But she would. If the Raikage killed Takumi she'd kill the Raikage.

If Tetsuo did it, she'd kill Tetsuo and any Hattori that stood in her way, even Hanzo himself.

And if Hikaru did it . . . well she'd just have to kill him too.

She pitied whomever fought her beloved today. To lose would be to die, but to win would be to invoke her wrath.

She kissed him lightly on the lips, "Come back to me safe."

"Well much more mush and he's liable to slit his own wrist." Ami sneered.

Kaori spun around and glared at the pair of Ami puppets. She smirked, "I thought lowering my guard like that would get you to come out of hiding."

"Who's hiding?" Another pair said, Kaori and Takumi were surrounded.

Takumi glanced at her, but Kaori shook her head, "This is my fight, Tak-kun. She's had this coming for a long time now. You go."

* * *

Masaru lunged forward again, expecting the nimble Konoha Genin to leap out of the way again. 

He didn't.

Kurai nimbly dodged, then punched Masaru hard in the stomach.

Masaru groaned and staggered backwards, he put his hand to his stomach and felt something . . . odd.

His clothes were soft.

And there was something weird too, like small pebbles and as he pressed his hand against his shirt and pressed his shirt against his skin he slowly came to the realization that there were bugs crawling through his many layers of clothing.

This whole fight they must have been sucking the chakra he used to strengthen his clothes right out of them.

He glared at Aburame, he'd deceived him, had misdirected him.

"You've led me on this whole fight waiting for my defense to weaken, haven't you?"

Aburame didn't answer, instead he drew a pair of shuriken.

"So what next? You kill me with some throwing stars?" Masa scoffed.

Kurai again chose not to answer, and instead threw the stars.

They flew in swiftly, Masaru threw himself to the side to avoid them and rolled to his feet.

Aburame came at him, charging forward with a swarm of flying insects emerging from his sleeves, the insects swarmed towards Masaru.

He raised his hand as if in surrender.

And Aburame slowed, but didn't stop.

The insects didn't react at all to Masa's upraised hand.

Masaru noticed the proctor stand up, preparing to end the match, he didn't have much time.

He brought his upraised hand down onto the ground hard, shattering the ground, "Earth Burst Jutsu!" He shouted.

The ground around him erupted, rock flew into the air everywhere and a huge crater was formed which Masaru fell into.

He looked up and saw the flying insects had suffered greatly from his jutsu, the swarm had been packed tightly together and the rocks had knocked bunches of them out of the air.

But it hadn't gotten them all, and through the dust he could see them coming, he could hear the buzzing.

He knew he had few options left, his whole fighting style relied on not having to worry too much about defense, most of his best jutsus involved using his clothes as a weapon.

He'd lost his ninja tools and frankly even if he won this match he'd have no chance in the next one, his clothes took weeks to enfuse with enough chakra to make them useful.

He really didn't have any option other than to surrender.

But it irritated him greatly.

He was the best in his squad, and his squad was the best Kumogkure had to offer.

And he'd lose on his first match?

Well at least Yuu had won, and Kasumi would have no trouble with that girl from Suna.

Being a Chuunin was all about being a leader, if they'd been on a real mission and his teammates had completed their objectives and he couldn't complete his the wisest course would be to fall back, survive, rally the team and try again.

But this was an examination, there was no trying again, there was no regrouping, if he couldn't win this fight on his own he obviously wasn't fit to be a Chuunin.

And maybe Aburame was worse off than he seemed.

Maybe just one more trick . . .

Masa tore several layers of clothing off as he waited for the flying bugs to attack him. He shook, or swept off the chakra sucking bugs, most of them were enormously fat, like sickening ticks he stomped on several of them.

he examined his clothes quickly, having mere milliseconds to react if those bugs suddenly attacked, then took two that had had the least amount of chakra sucked from them.

He leapt into the air and swung the shirts around like flyswatters, sweeping away dozens of the flying bugs and emerging from the crater.

Masaru glanced at the crowd and at Kasumi.

He smirked at her, if this didn't work he'd lose . . . he hoped she'd still like him if he wasn't the best.

He flipped in the air and threw his first shirt, blasting a bit of chakra though it so that it hardened just a bit, he formed it into a disk and threw it with all his might at Aburame's back.

Aburame had tried to follow Masaru since his leap from the crater and he turned in time to see the deadly disk flying towards him.

He leapt into the air to avoid it.

Big mistake.

As Masaru descended towards the ground Aburame rose into the air.

Masaru took careful aim with his shirt and threw it at Aburame.

"You made one mistake, and that's all it takes in a Shinobi battle." Masaru whispered with a dark grin.

Aburame was rising into the air, Masaru had judged his position and his rate of climb.

His shirt flew straight and true, there was nothing Aburame Kurai could do to dodge it as he rose into the air.

It would slice him in half at the waist if it'd been at full strength, but it wasn't.

Instead it would bruise him terribly, and cause him to fall to the ground, giving Masaru the chance to get ontop of him and put a blade to his throat, demand a surrender, and threaten the other Shinobi's life if so much as a single bug tried to bite, sting or even touch him.

Yes he'd come out on top . . . if that was the real Aburame Kurai.

Somehow as the body rising into the air became nothing but a collection of bugs Masaru was less than surprised.

He took the only article of clothing that he knew the insects hadn't tampered with, his forehead protector, and straightened it.

Holding it like a knife he spun around, his blade found the throat of the real Aburame Kurai, and the real Aburame Kurai's two kunai crossed in front of his throat.

Masaru knew it was the real Kurai because he'd accidentally broken the skin of the other boy's neck. Just a scratch really, blood wetted his forehead protector, but didn't flow down the Konoha Genin's neck in torrents or anything.

Masaru smiled. A minor victory perhaps, and unintentional but he _had _drawn blood. He supposed that would do.

He raised his hand, "You've been one step ahead of me throughout this match, and even if I advance now you've ruined my defense and hampered my offense, so I'd stand no chance in my next match no matter who its against. So . . . I give up."

_Good luck Kasumi, and good luck Yuu. You're representing our nation on your own now. Don't be too disappointed with me._

**To Be Continued**

**Note: **Bonus chapter for 800 reviews incoming. I'm simply amazed, you're all more loyal than I deserve.

Also, as per recommendation I am advertising our forum. Visit the New Blood message board, you can find the link to it in my bio. There you can vote on your favorite characters, who should pass the exam as a Chuunin and who should fail, leave suggestions and interact with the other readers, so on and so forth.

Eventually we'll get a real website set up with message boards, a section for fan work and so forth, until then enjoy the message boards on this site.


	91. Flight of the Hattori

**Chapter Ninety One**

Hitomi stood up, and both Matsuri and Hara reached up and pulled her back down.

"Sit down." Matsuri said, "The next match is about to start."

"I want to check on Tomoko, Miyuki would let me in." Hitomi lied.

Actually her eyes, her cused eyes which never missed anything had noticed a lot of Anbu suddenly move in both the direction of the Ambassador's box, and of the infirmary.

Something was up, and though it was none of her business if there was something going on in the infirmary she wanted to know what danger it posed to her friend and to her student.

Hitomi took her seat though and sat uncomfortably, "You know Hara, this would be a great chance for you and Miyuki to be alone . . . so to speak. I go down there, I promise to watch over things and you guys spend a few minutes talking . . . or whatever it is you feel like doing at the time." She said evenly.

Hara just shook his head and whispered, "I don't like it any more than you do. Just stay out of their way."

Hitomi frowned and nodded.

Of course Hara had noticed the sudden flow of movement by the Anbu. He didn't have eyes like Hitomi's but he _was _a Jounin.

She frowned and sat back in her chair, "I give it five minutes Hara, if it's not resolved by then I'm going."

"You won't be alone." Hara nodded.

"Hey you two!" Matsuri laughed, "Quit whispering over there, Miyuki would be jealous if she saw you two like that."

"No she wouldn't." Hitomi scoffed. She and Hara had never been interested in each other, Miyuki knew that.

And Miyuki was doing her best to keep her relationship with Hara strictly professional anyway.

Hitomi smiled weakly at Matsuri, "So who's up next?"

* * *

Daisuke strolled leisurely into the arena, Kurai and that Kumogakure genin sure had left it a mess. 

It didn't bother him though, he nodded at Saizo, "I'm going to give you five moves to beat me, if you can't do it after that I'll defeat you."

"Bravado like that will cost you your promotion on its own!" Saizo laughed, tossing his pet Oro-Chi on the ground, the little black snake suddenly began to grow into a massive one.

"We'll see." Daisuke said with a smirk. He had a plan all worked out, and the examiners would forgive him for his declaration once they saw it come to fruition.

Provided Saizo didn't beat him in those five moves.

"All right, let's do this, Oro-Chi!" Saizo shouted, and he bit down on both his hands, drawing blood he smeared it on the ground and summoned a pair of massive snakes twice the size of the twelve foot long monstrosity that Oro-Chi had become.

And these ones started to grow too.

"Unleashing your serpent and summoning two more, that's two moves Saizo, use the last three wisely." Daisuke warned.

He smiled, it was time to beat this guy down.

_So you won't have to do it yourself later, Tomoko. _He thought.

* * *

Shiroi swept her hands through the air quickly, the sound ninja was always just out of her reach. 

She used her ears more than her eyes, which she wasn't used to.

It was torture.

She had just one option, and that was to find some way to shine some light into the room.

Tomoko using a fire Jutsu was out of the question.

So that meant another source of light had to be found. Kyusaku had no fire jutsus and Ryu and Yukio seemed to rely on wind and sand.

Shiroi frowned, a thought came to her.

She weaved through the confused battle and grabbed Ryu roughly by the collar.

He yelped and she pulled him back away from Yukio, who nearly decapitated them both with a long sand blade.

"You're a medic?" Shiroi said in a barely audible whisper in Ryu's ear.

"Uh-huh." He whispered back.

Shiroi grinned, she could kiss this kid just now for knowing the skills she herself had never card enough about. "Get to Miyuki-san and treat her injuries if you can."

Ryu's gulp was louder than Shiroi's whisper.

But he went.

Shiroi remained close.

One of two things would happen now.

The sound Shinobi would attack Ryu to keep him from Miyuki, in which case he'd be running right into Shiroi and her gentle fist routine, or he'd ignore them, focus on the others, and give Ryu a chance to revive Miyuki, hopefully up to fighting status.

Shiroi guarded Ryu as he moved, and she waited to see which outcome she'd face.

* * *

Ino and Chouji moved like lightning, Ino pulling Shikamaru away as Chouji, expanding the size of his hands slammed them down on the Hattori. 

Rock Lee threw off his disguise and threw himself at the nearest Otogakure Shinobi.

The sound nin had no chance, Shikamaru smirked as he and Ino rolled to safety.

He saw Hattori shadows emerging from under Chouji's hands, one of them sped past Ino and emerged into a masked Hattori Shinobi, two kunai drawn he struck out at Shikamaru whose Chakra blades shot out to block.

"Finally a chance to try these out." Shikamaru smirked at his foe.

Shikamaru smiled, everything, including the Hattori melding into his shadow, was going according to plan. Soon they'd understand just how doomed they had all been from the start.

"You, Demon Fox!" Shikamaru heard Hanzo shout, and he glanced at the impressive Hattori Hanzo standing in the middle of the room unscratched as if no one could, or had yet tried to touch him. "You're the real prize here. The Konoha Genius' powers are useless against me, the Uchiha was nearly matched by a whelp who thinks he can call my son rival, and my daughter-in-law would be cross if I personally killed her cousin and sister. These others mean nothing to me."

"Nothing huh?" Kiba scowled, "Let me show you 'nothing!'"

Kiba charged at Hanzo but Naruto appeared between the two of them and held up a hand to stop Kiba.

"What say you and I leave these nobodies to their slaughter, what say you and I fight alone elsewhere one against one, as true Shinobi."

"You and I alone? And leave my friends?"

"I am leaving my family, who's risk is greater, who's loss would be more grievous?" Hanzo scoffed.

Naruto tilted his head to the side, "Dattebayo! Just call off this lovely ambush and let you fight someplace where you're more comfortable?"

"Would you not want to _truly _test yourself against me, Demon Fox?" Hanzo asked darkly.

Battle raged around them, Naruto and Hanzo fought one another with Kunai as Shikamaru watched them.

Though he had his attention focused on the Iwagakure Jounin he was fighting now, his ears listened only to Naruto and Hanzo.

Naruto snapped at Hanzo, "You're supposed to be our allies."

"Kumogakure is your ally. The Hattori clan is your ally for the most part, but as you can see . . . some of us serve a different master."

Shikamaru glanced at Hanzo to see he was pointing with his kunai at his forehead protector.

Hanzo's forehead protector was not that of the village hidden in clouds, but of the village hidden in sound.

Shikamaru scoffed, "A scapegoat. Just in case you get caught you blame it all on someone else."

"Perhaps." Hanzo said. "What say you Uzumaki?"

Shikamaru saw Naruto's eyes dart towards him and he nodded.

It was fine, Naruto could go.

They had this under control.

Naruto however said "All right . . . I'll fight you."

"Splendid. Meet me on top of your mountain monument, on top of the head of your current Hokage." Hanzo laughed, he glanced at the other Shinobi who were currently struggling for their lives, "Children, do play nicely."

Hanzo and Naruto disappeared, Shikamaru decided to finish his opponent.

One of the Hattori laughed however, "Hah! That fool Uzumaki fell for it! Disperse!"

Shikamaru was just a little annoyed when suddenly the Hattori all leapt onto one of their allies and dragged them into the shadows, the remaining enemy Shinobi all fled.

Those who were still able to flee that is. Rock Lee had taken one down, whether he was alive or dead Shikamaru wasn't sure.

There was no question as to the survival status of the Otogakure Shinobi with a gapping Chidori wound in his chest, curtesy of Sasuke, and Neji's opponent, a Hattori had obviously suffered the unfortunate side effects of having too many chakra points sealed to escape with the others.

"That's new." Neji said, "They've never been able to Shadow Walk with guests before."

"I saw Hattori Tetsuo do it at Kusa." Sasuke said.

"He probably taught his clan how to do it." Shikamaru said, "It doesn't matter."

Shikamaru glanced at his comrades, the Konoha twelve had suffered no losses, though Ino's hair was a bit mussed and _that _would be an earful when everything was sorted out.

'Didn't your master plan take into consideration the fact that my hair would be _ruined _if I had to save your butt?' Ino would shout at him later.

And he'd ignore her and let Chouji awkwardly try to say that her hair was still pretty.

"Shikamaru, your shadow possession jutsu works on them when they become shadows, so why didn't you stop them?" Sakura demanded, "They're going to target Naruto now!"

Shikamaru shook his head, "Right now the Hattori think they're immune to my shadow jutsus, I want them to go on thinking that for the time being."

"But Naruto!" Hinata said urgently, "Naruto-kun is in danger!"

"Naruto isn't their target, they just wanted him out of the way. They cant have set a trap because they didn't know he'd be here. Hanzo said where he and Naruto would fight in front of us, he _wants _us to think his clansmen followed after him, he wants us to follow and leave the arena unprotected. To be safe, Hinata I _will _need you to go there and observe the battle. Don't get involved if you can help it."

"Just Hinata?" Neji asked.

"We need your eyes to spot the Hattori, Neji." Shikamaru said. "The rest of us need to _fight _the Hattori. We need to find out what their real target is and we need to get there before they strike. Odds are they're still looking for the ambassadors but they might try for the Hokage and Kazekage. If these Hattori really are traitors, which I doubt, they might go after the Raikage also."

"So what's the plan?" Sasuke asked coldly.

"The remaining ten of us will split up into groups of five to hunt them down," Shikamaru distributed tags to everyone, "When you find them activate these tags and we'll know who needs us and unless we've made contact too, we'll come."

"Problem." Ino said, "We've only got _one _Neji."

"Solution," Shikamaru said, growing impatient knowing that by now the enemy shadows could have completed their mission for all her knew, "Kiba can smell them, Shino's bugs can track them because I know he possesses bugs that can see chakra, Sasuke and Neji can both see through their shadowy disguises."

"That's enough for four groups." Sakura pointed out.

"I know, but I'll be surrounding the fifth possible target with my own shadow, if anyone comes near I'll know it."

"All right, what're the groups then?" Kiba asked.

"The Daimyo of the lands of Lightning and Fire are here, I understand the Lightning Daimyo may be unpopular for making peace and there'd be no better place to assassinate him than in Konoha, it'd make him look like a fool for allying with us, this may be a stunt by the land of Lightning to kill their own Daimyo using the disbanded Otogakure as a scapegoat for any rebels that got captured, for that reason I want the Lightning Daimyo guarded too. Kiba and Ino, you're going to guard our daimto. Shino and Lee, the daimyo of the Land of Lightning. Sasuke and Sakura, I want you to check on the Raikage, and note that he himself might be hostile,"

"Understood." Sakura nodded.

"Neji and Tenten, you're to check up on the Hokage and Kazekage. Chouji, you're with me, we'll protect the ambassadors."

"Wait a second. We didn't know the enemy would be Hattori, we didn't know they'd run off either, so how'd you know to prepare these tags for us?" Kiba asked.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, and Kiba laughed, "Oh right, the whole two hundred steps ahead thing, right . . ."

Actually Shikamaru had designed these for team 10 and a training situation he'd planned to put them through as they awaited the results of the Chuunin exams.

He just happened to have enough for this operation.

But there was no need to mention that little detail.

* * *

The master smiled at the silly children. 

For them to think they stood any chance against him was adorable and pitiable.

He held their lives in his hands, at any moment he could choose to simply slay them, and that was true power.

But he did not let it carry him away, did not let it blind him to the fact that Anbu were closing in on the area.

He could kill the children now and escape.

But that was never the plan.

Oh he'd kill children.

It was just fortunate for them . . . well _some _of them that he did not plan to kill all of them.

Fortunate that two in this room would serve him in the future, even if they didn't know it.

The others were expendable. They would all die.

But his two chosen ones . . . those he'd let live, though they would be injured.

But his real goal here was to provide a distraction, to lure as many Anbu away as he could and fight them for as long as he could while his other loyal servants did his bidding in the battle above.

The distraction in the eighth round and the plan to follow were meant for the people of Konoha and the Hokage. The Anbu would only complicate things.

Konoha's ninja strength was down to about two hundred according to the master's spies, and he doubted more than a score of those would be Anbu, Anbu were an exclusive enough club in the best of times.

He smiled, even though the children were putting up a more spirited fight than he'd suspected, given that they were supposed to be injured, it didn't concern them.

Spirited fighting wasn't always _good _fighting, they still didn't stand any chance.

* * *

Temari glared at Gaara and the Hokage. 

Well 'glare' might have been a strong word for it, but her expression couldn't be pleasant.

"What do you mean you _don't know _where my husband-um _future_ husband is?" Temari asked in a voice shaking with surpressed rage.

Surpressed because she was still just a wee bit afraid of Gaara, and because it would be wrong to adress both the Kazekage and the Hokage with disrespect.

"Shikamaru formulated his strategy," Tsunade explained, "And took with him the Konoha Twelve."

"And you two really don't know where he went?" Temari demanded more sharply than she should have.

"We know where he went, what we don't know is where he is now. I've been trying to find out." Gaara said. They engaged the enemy in the ambassador's box . . . and now there's no one in there."

"They couldn't have just walked off." Temari said.

"You're marrying the man," Tsuande chuckled, "You should already know that with Shikamaru and his strategies _anything's _possible."

Temari nodded, Gaara said "And you're not going after him Temari."

Temari tensed, "Why not?" She asked, deciding it would be wrong to lie to her Kazekage, and just downright pointless to lie her younger brother.

She had no problem with lying to the Hokage, she wasn't a citizen of Konoha _yet._ But it had been Gaara who'd asked so . . .

"If find that there's danger . . . I promise you _I _will go and see that my future brother-in-law is brought back safely myself, you have my word. But I won't risk you getting injured, you must know that you showing up would only complicate your lover's plans When the Anbu find them we'll decide how to proceed, but know that he's with the best Konoha has to offer, he himself _is _one of the best Konoha has to offer . . . he's likely to be all right."

Temari nodded. "That doesn't make me any less nervous. _You _are the best of Suna, but that didn't stop a rogue stone Shinobi from kidnapping _you_."

Gaara didn't say anything as Temari left, but Tsunade did.

"Shikamaru has the ability to be Hokage, he only lacks the desire to actually claim the title. Whenever I send anyone on a mission there is a level of fear and concern involved. However I have never doubted any of the Konoha Twelve, not since this war began. Do _you _doubt your future husband?"

Temari shook her head, "I don't doubt him. But I've spent three years telling myself that he'd be just fine, that this war wouldn't ever be able to touch him." She said and she noted that Gaara nodded slightly as if this were the right way to think.

But she added, "And I've spent the last three years _agonizing_, always wondering if I'd be proven wrong. Always wondering if I would be the one to slip up, never knowing if the last time I saw him would be the last time I'd _ever _see him. Now you send him into more danger, and I understand that it's his duty. But what about me? Why can't I go too? Why can't I be part of whatever it is he's part of? Why do I have to wait and wonder even longer when I have the power to be _sure _he and the others will be all right?"

Tsunade frowned at her, "It was the Kazekage's decision, you're still under his jurisdiction. But I agreed with it."

"Why?" Temari demanded both of them.

Gaara answered her.

He frowned, and said somewhat cautiously, "Because you'd only get in their way." Temari's eyes narrowed. "I'm not questioning your skill," Gaara added in a soothing voice, "but when Shikamaru organized the team he wanted for his strategy you were unfortunately not part of it. He ordered that no one should interfere with them."

"But maybe he didn't know the full details of what they were up against!" Temari shouted, "Maybe he didn't _know _he'd need me!"

"Or maybe he's spent the last three years wondering if _you _would be okay, wondering if _you _would be the next to die. Maybe he deliberately chose to leave you behind to be _damned sure _that you and your daughter would be safe." Tsunade said with authority. "You're soon to be a soldier's wife Temari, worrying is all part of it. There's no avoiding the pain, all you can do is have faith. Don't let yours wane."

Temari bowed so that the Kazekage and Hokage could not see the outrage in her eyes.

She did a very professional about face and marched coldly out of the room.

Her way of reminding them that she too was a soldier.

But she did not ask to be dismissed.

Her way of reminding Gaara that she did not always need his permission.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **This is the bonus chapter for 800 reviews, though it was ready a day ago I wanted to post it at the same time as a regular chapter so it feels more . .. bonus-like. Yeah . . . anyway enjoy it and know that you're all awesome x800.

And do try out our forum if you haven't already, the link to which should be on my bio page.


	92. Name of the Monster

**Chapter Ninety-Two**

Shikamaru stood near the ambassadors and waited.

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" Chouji asked.

"I let those Shinobi escape us for a reason." Shikamaru said, "They'll make their true target known."

"What about the Genin? Why wouldn't they target them?"

"Why would they?" Shikamaru asked, though he'd thought of several reasons he'd written the Genin off as safe.

Anyone attacking them would have to get through the exam proctors, Udon and Moegi, both of whom would raise a general alarm if they were attacked.

The ambassadors were the most likely targets.

He closed his eyes and waited, sensing for Hattori chakra, and using the shadows that surrounded the ambassadors as a sort of sensor.

If anyone set foot within these shadows he'd know it and know who it was.

If the Hattori, traveling within their own shadows entered the radius he'd know it and be able to stop them right away.

Until someone else made contact it was the best he could do.

* * *

Shiroi ducked to avoid a kick from the enemy Shinobi.

She was starting to get the hang of this fight.

She'd sealed off two of his chakra points already, an accomplishment given how difficult it was just to lay a single finger on this one, he seemed to be able to strike her with his fist beyond what should have been the length of his arm.

But now she had her plan prepared.

The problem was communicating it to Kyusaku and Tomoko without giving it away.

It wouldn't be impossible, but odds were any Shinobi worth his salt would realize she had something cooking.

She leapt back from the enemy and grabbed Tomoko roughly by the shoulder.

Under the pretence of pulled Tomoko out of the way of the Shinobi's next attack Shiroi whispered hastily some instructions to her comrade.

Then she spun away and into Kyusaku, whom she quickly gave instructions to.

She leapt back and got on the left side of the Shinobi, he struck out and she let him hit her in the face.

She could feel her nose bleeding and she fell backwards in a heap.

"It's time I ended this game, the exercise has been lovely though." The Shinobi said, "It's time for you all to die. Any last words?"

"Tomoko now!" Shiroi shouted.

"Here!" Kyusaku yelled.

Tomoko thrust out her arms and her chains flew to Shiroi and Kyusaku.

Shiroi caught one of the chains and sprang to her feet.

She ran towards Kyusaku and leapt over his head.

They made a circle around the enemy Shinobi, Shiroi shouted, "Ryu, Yukio, destroy him!"

She threw herself flat on the ground as Kyusaku did the same.

They'd wrapped Tomoko's chains around the enemy Shinobi and suddenly Ryu swept his fan.

Yukio threw his sand into the whirlwind.

"Sand Shuriken Jutsu!" Yukio shouted.

"Wind Scythe Jutsu!" Ryu shouted.

The enemy Shinobi screamed, Shiroi felt terrible vibrations on the chains she held as sand shuriken and razor winds tore it him to shreds.

Shiroi smiled grimly as the enemy was reduced to nothing but a corpse.

She stood up and kicked the dead body gently, just to be sure it was down.

She laughed uneasily, "We did it!"

"We did it?" Kyusaku gulped.

"It's over!" Yukio laughed.

Shiroi smirked, "Ryu, see to the medic, and Kyusaku, open the door, send some light in here." Shiroi went over to Tomoko who seemed shaken as she retracted her chains. "You okay, Tomo-chan?"

Tomoko fell back and shook her head, "Some ride, huh?"

Shiroi laughed, "We did it Tomoko."

"Would have been better to take him alive . . . for questioning." Tomoko said.

Shiroi shook her head, victory was intoxicating, "He was too dangerous for us to handle, we're just Genin, he was obviously Jounin level."

"That said I'm surprised none of us died . . ." Tomoko whispered.

"Well we are near-Chuunin." Shiroi shrugged, "I guess five Chuunin on one Jounin equals victory."

"Yeah . . . not always for the Chuunin. And not usually so complete I think." Tomoko said. "It was like he was toying with us until the end."

Shiroi shrugged, "So? His mistake."

Tomoko nodded, "I guess so."

Shiroi smiled, "You okay?"

"I think so. I'm just a little shaky." Tomoko said. "I wish I could have done more."

Shiroi smiled, "You'll be fine." She squeezed her best friend's hand, "Next time you'll really get 'em, you're just weakened after your fight."

Tomoko shook her head, "A true Shinobi should be dangerous in any condition."

"You are dangerous, he was just more dangerous than you." Shiroi consoled.

Tomoko smiled weakly, And Shiroi helped her to her feet, "Come on . . . let's get somewhere safe just in case there're any more."

Suddenly there was a gasp, Kyusaku said "There's a d-dead body out--" And then he doubled over.

He fell forward and Shiroi thought at first that he was vomiting over the sight of the corpse.

But then as the light from the hallway shone in on the Shinobi they had killed Shiroi saw to her horror that it was no longer the Sound Village Jounin . . .

It was a Chuunin Examiner, Shiroi was pretty sure her name had been Futaba.

It didn't make sense.

She looked to the hallway to see the dead body Kyusaku had been talking about but even before she'd fully turned her head she knew.

Futaba had been in the hallway . . . and the Jounin had used her for substitution somehow.

Shiroi wasn't surprised when she looked and saw the Sound Jounin standing in the doorway, standing over Kyusaku's doubled over form.

He placed a foot on Kyusaku's back and raised a katana in the air as if he meant to decapitate him. He smiled and said, as he looked into Shiroi's eyes, "I underestimated you . . . you're far too dangerous for a mere exercise. I'd better treat this like a proper battle . . . and take no prisoners. "

"What the hell?" Yukio snapped and fell into a fighting stance.

"No!" Tomoko screamed as the Jounin raised his blade.

Ryu swept his fan out, a gust slamming into the Jounin but not Kyusaku.

The Jounin fell back and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

A shadow clone? Or had he substituted again? If there was any substitution item behind Kyusaku's doubled over form Shiroi couldn't see it.

But whatever the case the Shinobi appeared again between her and Tomoko.

Shiroi's eyes blazed and she lunged forward.

"Run!" She ordered the other four, "Run away, no argument this time. Get to safety, get help!"

Tomoko shook her head, "I can't leave y--"

"Go!" Shiroi roared, grabbing Tomoko and shoving her into Kyusaku, she glared at Yukio and Ryu as she backed away from the katana wielding Jounin, "Grab the medic, drag her if you must and go!"

Yukio glared at her for a moment, then bowed his head slightly and with Ryu's help grabbed Miyuki-san and ran for it.

The Jounin smiled darkly at Shiroi, "You've only delayed the inevitable. I'm going to be through with you before they get far. But in truth you don't matter . . . you're not one of the two I came for. Submit now, surrender and I'll leave you alive. No one will blame you, you were injured, remember?"

Shiroi scoffed, "I'll die before I let you pass through that door."

"And which of them warrants that loyalty?" The Jounin asked casually, "Which of them is it that you're willing to die for?"

"I'd die for all of them!" She hissed.

"Why?"

"Because I'm a Shinobi."

"Slave." The Jounin said. "I know what you are. A slave. A Hyuga slave . . . that seal on your head can cause you pain or even death on the whim of a member of your main family . . . you're nothing but an item to Konoha."

Shiroi scoffed, "The finest Ninja I know has one just like mine."

The Jounin put his hands on his hips, "You're a talented youth, even if you don't realize it yet. You're stronger than the rest of them. You could have easily won your match."

Shiroi wasn't comfortable with conversing with this foe, but it was keeping him occupied, it was buying her friends time.

"I didn't want to win." She said.

"I understand." The Jounin said calmly. "My name is Kabuto."

"I don't care." Shiroi said.

"You should." Kabuto said, "Because soon . . . you'll want to know everything that I know. I see it in your eyes. You're like a caged bird . . . Konoha and the Hyuga main family restrict you from true power, true freedom."

Shiroi scoffed, "So?"

"So? So come with me, and I'll break your cage open." Kabuto said.

Shiroi laughed, "And in exchange I suppose you want me to kill my friends, hmm?"

"Is that a problem? Then perhaps you're not yet prepared." He smiled, "In time you'll seek me out."

"And why would I do that?" Shiroi scoffed.

"Because I have two things that you want. First . . . the ability to make you the greatest Shinobi this village has ever seen, the ability to make you a Jounin before your seventeenth birthday so that you can follow in the footsteps of your hero Hyuga Neji. Yes, I know he's the one you referred to earlier. I can make you stronger than him, I can make you stronger than any Hyuga."

"A story that sounds too good is often fiction." Shiroi said evenly.

"Indeed, but I speak truly." Kabuto smiled. "The other thing I offer you . . ."

And suddenly he was standing behind her, he placed a hand on her forehead gently and said "The removal of this unsightly seal . . . and the freedom that comes with it's loss."

Shiroi's eyes went wide, both because of the fact that he'd just gotten behind her, and because of the mere implication of his words.

She gulped . . . he was offering to remove her seal? "C-can it even be done?" She whispered, and she felt shame fill her entire being just for asking. She felt sullied and unclean just for daring to wonder . . . for daring to hope.

"Not in Konoha. But if you seek me out the freedom is yours just for the trip." Kabuto said casually. "You'll stay for the power, I know."

Shiroi gulped.

"Will you join me?" Kabuto asked.

Shiroi was disgusted with herself for not saying 'no' right away.

But . . . what he offered her . . .

She could lose the symbol . . . and then leave, return to Konoha. He'd said he'd remove it just for seeking him out . . . right?

It wasn't like there was any other way to remove it, if there were the main family should have done it already, since Neji would make such a better heir to the main bloodline than Hinata.

But Shiroi shook her head slowly, as much as she wanted her seal removed . . .

There was too much to lose. She loved Kurai and Tomoko and all her friends and family in Konoha, deep down she even loved the Hyuga main family.

She shook her head with greater certainty, "No. No, I won't join you."

Kabuto chuckled softly and said, "Yet. But you'll come around . . . I've got a way of telling that sort of thing. For that . . . I'll leave you alive."

Shiroi felt a sharp pain as Kabuto punched her viciously in the back.

She screamed and fell to the ground.

Everything went black.

* * *

Saizo grinned as his two giant snakes threw themselves at the ground, burrowing beneath the earth.

Daisuke looked at the ground, uncertain as Oro-Chi slithered in close to him.

Saizo sat down on the tree that had been knocked down in the last match and smiled, "Come on Daisuke, you started out so confident. Are you still waiting for my five moves?"

Saizo laughed as his twin summoned snakes erupted from beneath the earth, throwing Daisuke into the air.

He fell into one of their holes and Oro-Chi slithered after him with speed, Saizo laughed hysterically and the crowd gasped and some cheered as Daisuke was heard screaming within the tunnel.

He emerged and ran like a frightened rabbit as Oro-Chi came out, tearing after him.

Saizo laughed madly as Oro-Chi and the twins made Daisuke run around the ring, he laughed as Oro-Chi sprang for the Oedo medic again and missed sinking very deadly fangs into him by millimeters.

Daisuke leapt onto Oro-Chi's head and then from there onto the head of one of the other snakes.

He then ran along that snake's back, Saizo groaned as that snake's twin sprang forward to bite Daisuke and bit its comrade instead.

Both the summoned snakes began to battle each other, only Oro-Chi remained focused on Daisuke.

Saizo reached for a scroll, "Fine, I'll just summon more!" He said.

Daisuke leapt high into the air, "I don't think so!" He roared and he prepared an elevated drop kick which Saizo easily leapt out to the way of.

Daisuke rolled as he hit the ground and charged after Saizo, who ran backwards while sneering at him, "Too fast for the doctor?" He asked.

Daisuke didn't respond with words, he just kept on running.

The twins were still quarreling but Oro-Chi was hot on Daisuke's heels.

Saizo whipped out a scroll and said "I really think I will summon more for you."

Daisuke glared.

Saizo pressed his thumb down on the blank scroll to frighten the medic.

But Oro-Chi sprang forward to strike, and as Daisuke slowed to punch the worthless scroll out of Saizo's hand he'd slowed enough that Oro-Chi's strike would hit.

Oro-Chi came on, Daisuke came on, Saizo had won.

Daisuke's hand swept through the scroll, and he disappeared.

Saizo blinked, "D-doppelganger?" He wondered.

He got his answer when his beloved Oro-Chi suddenly bit into his arm and the weight of the giant serpent threw him onto his back and pinned him.

Oro-Chi would _never _do that, not even by accident because the Jutsu that empowered the snake would automatically fail if Oro-Chi attacked Saizo.

Which meant the snake biting him wasn't _his _snake.

The fangs in his arm became two shuriken and the snake pinning him became Daisuke.

Daisuke punched him hard in the face, Saizo could taste blood. "You slime!" He shouted, "You said I had five moves to win!"

"You're a gullible one, aren't you?" Daisuke said cheerfully, "Deception is the tool of the ninja, a ninja is the embodiment of lies and deception . . . I just used some basic ninja arts on you, you fell for them splendidly. Oh and your real snake? Unconscious in one of the tunnels. Don't worry, I wasn't as rough as I'm going to be with you."

Daisuke must have dealt with and transformed into Oro-Chi very quickly, because should have noticed the delay in the tunnel chase if there'd been any real struggle. Saizo glared, "You-you-"

Daisuke hit him again, viciously, Saizo heard the cracking sound of a broken nose.

And everything faded to black.

* * *

Kyusaku led the other Genin, screaming for help as they went.

Tomoko was taking up the rear, he wasn't pleased with that but she kept looking over her shoulder for Shiroi and so Yukio and Ryu had managed to pass her by even though they were carring the injured Special Jounin.

Ryu and Yukio were in the middle, they were nearly to the end of the hallway.

Someone had to be hearing their screams.

Kyusaku looked over his shoulder, he didn't want Tomoko in the rear, "Tomoko," he said, "Hurry--"

He never finished the sentence.

The enemy Jounin appeared just then right in front of Tomoko.

She'd been looking over her shoulder, she ran right into him.

She fell back and screamed in horror and in anger when she saw him. "You bastard!" She roared, "If you hurt Shiroi I'll--"

"Die like the helpless nobody you are? I agree." The Jounin said, and slammed his katana into Tomoko's chest.

Tomoko gagged, Kyusaku saw blood poor from her mouth as she slumped forward.

The Jounin tore the sword free and blood poured down her chest over her stomach.

Kyusaku's eyes filled with rage and tears as Tomoko's body fell to the ground. The enemy Shinobi smiled brightly at him and the two Suna Genin and said in a cheerful tone, "So . . . who's next?"

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Author's Note: **These chapters are a day late, I'm sorry. The next one though, shall be on time (Friday), no matter how many hours of sleep I end up lacking to be sure that you get it.

And remember our forum, the link to which is in my bio. Cast your votes . . . I think I might start a "who's next to die" poll and see what everyone thinks, but who knows what I'll do.


	93. Counter Attack

**Chapter Ninety-Three**

Naruto stood atop the head of Tsunade's monument, he swept a bit of sweat from his brow.

"I am Hattori Hanzo," The ninja wearing a sound village headband said calmly as he stood across from Naruto, "I am the head of the Hattori clan. Descended from a line of Ninjas that dates all the way back to the very first Raikage and beyond. I have vanquished many foes, but today Uzumaki Naruto your death will make a long life well worth living."

Naruto shrugged. They were about to see who'd be dying.

"Indulge me, Uzumaki, before I kill you . . . why did you agree to come? I have acted fairly and honestly, but had I lied I could have ambushed you."

"Not an ambush yet I couldn't fight my way out of." Naruto said with a shrug.

Actually he'd only come because Shikamaru seemed to think it was okay, he _had _nodded his permission.

Shikamaru wove plans within plans, so Naruto figured this must all have been part of Shikamaru's plan.

He nodded to Hanzo, "Before I slay you," He said, "Answer me one question. Who sanctioned this attack on Konoha, the Raikage, or the Daimyo? Was it both?"

Hanzo laughed, "Don't be silly, the attack was sanctioned by neither. I told you, we split off." He tapped his forehead protector, "We are from the village hidden in Sound, can't you tell?"

"That village no longer exists." Naruto said.

"Then perhaps I seek to found the new one." Hanzo shrugged. "If you don't mind I believe we've stalled long enough, don't you?"

"Dattebayo." Naruto scoffed and got into a fighting stance.

There was no starting bell, no timer, but both he and Hanzo leapt forward at the same instant.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted.

"I'd heard you were a one trick pony, Uzumaki. I'm disappointed to see that its true!" Hanzo yelled and leapt into the air, "Shadow Clone Jutsu, Hattori Style!"

Naruto watched as Hanzo performed the same move, but with a slight difference.

All of his clones were blank, black creatures. They had no faces, no features, they were just black shadowy figures.

Disturbing to say the least, and Naruto would have to assume that they had some sort of special quality about them, he'd have to be careful dealing with them.

He nodded to Hanzo, "The problem is," He said, "I know exactly which of you is the real you, the clones don't provide even a little cover."

"Neither do yours, not for Shinobi of our level of expertise and power." Hanzo retorted.

Naruto nodded, "True enough." Just for that he'd make sure to use his clones to trick Hanzo before he beat him.

But he also had to remember to leave him alive for proper questioning.

A baker's dozen of Naruto, himself and his twelve clones, cracked their knuckles at the same time, and in one voice said "All right, lets see what you've got!"

* * *

Yukio saw Tomoko get stabbed and fall down, he gulped and hardened some sand into blades.

This didn't look good. He'd taken out Oedo as if she'd been a rag doll.

He lunged forward but the enemy Shinobi just spun around and kicked him, sending him skidding across the floor for about ten feet, straight into the door they'd meant to reach.

He could open it now, he could escape.

He could call for help!

He reached up for the knob but suddenly he felt himself being pulled backwards towards the Shinobi, "Not so fast. I'm not through with you three."

He heard Ryu shout and saw his friend lunge for the enemy Shinobi, battle fan ready to be used as a club the way Temari-sensei sometimes used hers.

The Shinobi, whose arm seemed to have extended to grab Yukio, easily deflected Ryu's swing with his katana.

"You would have done well to stay quietly out of my way. Being a fellow medic I may have let you survive with minor injures, I can respect those who take the time to learn the healing arts after all, we are so rare." He threw Yukio into Ryu, Yukio grunted as he slammed into his friend.

Ryu groaned and rolled to his feet, Yukio did as well.

Kyusaku roared and charged in for the enemy, but the Shinobi nimbly stepped aside and cut the large boy's thigh as he passed, "Come one now, you can do better." He kicked Tomoko, "_She _was more of a challenge than you!"

"Is that why you had to _kill _her?" Kyusaku roared, he thrust his hand forward and it expanded.

The sound ninja used substitution with Tomoko, and though the girl was probably already dead Kyusaku stopped short of smashing her through the wall as he'd meant to do to the Sound nin.

Yukio leapt in under Kyusaku's arm and sliced out at the sand Shinobi who rolled away form him and rolled to his feet.

He leapt into the air, katana raised, he came down on top of Kyusaku and swung the blade in for a killing blow.

Kyusaku, his leg cut, couldn't have run away in time.

He'd die for sure, Yukio couldn't stop the guy and Ryu wouldn't be able to swing his fan in time.

Yukio yelled in anger and frustration as the blade descended.

But it never landed.

Moegi and Udon held the Jounin back, "That's enough!" Udon said forcefully.

"Y-you came!" Ryu gasped.

"Half of Konoha can hear you screaming for help," Moegi said, "And the Anbu have been moving into position ever since examiner Futaba failed to return to her duty post."

"You obviously didn't think this through, I suggest you surrender now." Udon said grimly.

But the enemy laughed, "Surrender? Now that things are finally picking up? Send you Anbu, send everything you possess, clear the stadium of your Shinobi and send them to me." The rogue ninja laughed, "You're all just playing right into my hands!"

* * *

Hinata snuck near to Naruto and Hanzo.

Near enough to watch them and be sure that no one was about to ambush Naruto, but not near enough to get caught in the crossfire.

She didn't want to distract Naruto-kun, he needed to keep focused.

He needed to win.

And she'd be there, silently cheering him on.

Though if she could help him, she would. They were Shinobi and even if her lending aid at a crucial moment wasn't fair it didn't matter.

Ninja didn't usually play fair anyway.

* * *

Kotaro frowned at Kyoko as she took a deep breath. She smiled at him, "Wish me luck?" She asked.

He considered it and nodded, "You'll do great. Go out there and win."

"Count on it!" Kyoko said, "I'll win this one for you, okay?"

"Win for yourself." Kotaro said, she looked a little crestfallen so he said quickly "You don't need to impress me, remember that if we both win our fights we'll be up against each other, you'll have plenty of opportunities to surprise me when we're fighting. For now focus on yourself, win for yourself, because _you _want it, not because of anyone else." Kotaro told her.

Yeah, that sounded good.

And Kyoko did smile, "I'll do my best."

Kotaro nodded. Kyoko swept out her fan and glided down to the center of the arena.

Her opponent sank into shadow and simply moved from the balcony to the arena that way, reappearing in the center.

The two girls stared at each other and Kotaro knew that his match would be coming next.

But he was on the edge of his proverbial seat, he wanted Kyoko to win.

He wanted her to become a Chuunin, she deserved it.

Sure she was a little creepy, sure she spat on all her food, but . . . well she had her good qualities too. He gulped and squeezed the railing as the proctor, who seemed a little distracted said "Begin!"

* * *

Though Yukio rushed straight in Ryu didn't have sufficient room to use his fan so he hung back and began to tend Kyusaku.

"Never mind me," Kyusaku said, "T-Tomoko. Check on Tomoko."

Ryu gulped.

There was a task he wasn't looking forward to.

Because odds were she was already dead, or else she'd soon be.

He gulped and told himself she was just injured.

He could help her if she was just injured.

He couldn't help her if she was already dead.

So she had to be injured, she just _had _to be.

He needed to ascertain her status, if necessary--no if _possible_ he'd do what he could to keep her from dying.

But he had little hope.

Unless that Katana had somehow avoided every vital spot, and she had simply fainted Ryu lacked the level of skill that'd be required to heal her.

But maybe he could stabilize her.

He reached out for her and felt her neck.

She was cold and at first he gave in to despair, he touched her pulse and felt nothing.

But then he felt a faint beat, a faint trickle of life.

He gulped, "We have to get her out of here," He said as the two proctors fought viciously against the Jounin.

"Yukio nodded and Kyusaku struggled towards them but shook his head, "You two get her away form here . . . I can't go with you."

"Don't be stupid, you're coming." Yukio said flatly.

"You have to carry Tomoko and the medic, you couldn't lift me even if you didn't need to worry about them, and I can barely move with this leg!" Kyusaku said.

"Barely moving is still moving, now _get _moving!" Yukio commanded.

* * *

Gaara stood up and turned to Tsunade, "It is the one known as Kabuto."

"I thought as much." Tsunade said, "And here we've sent all of the Konoha Twelve on another mission."

"He's toying with the exam proctors right now. The Anbu are moving into position, but they too will stand little chance against him." Gaara said.

"It doesn't matter to him, winning that fight isn't his plan. He must be trying to distract our attention away from the assassins the twelve are dealing with." Tsunade said, "We need to send a small group to deal with him, the Anbu _need _to find the twelve."

"I will personally deal with Kabuto." Gaara said evenly.

"We need you here to keep your eyes on things." Tsunade said, shaking her head, "Leave Kabuto to me. You have command of my Shinobi, direct them well." She turned to an Anbu standing nearby, "Alert our Jounin, Kazekage Gaara may need them. Most of them have probably already noticed what's going on but they'll wait for some sort of sign from me before they act. Tell them instead to act on Gaara's word."

Gaara frowned but bowed his head slightly to Tsunade as she poofed away.

To the Anbu he said "Bring me as many Jounin as you can spare without drawing attention. We don't want our enemies to know we know they're here. Have a detachment watch the Raikage, his decision not to sit with the Hokage and myself is becoming more and more suspicious."

The Anbu nodded and disappeared, Gaara stood and looked down into the Chuunin exams battleground.

The exams couldn't be interrupted, the enemy mustn't think that Konoha was wise to them.

But what if not interrupting the exams was exactly what the enemy wanted?

* * *

Kabuto smirked wickedly at Moegi and Udon.

He'd made his decision.

They were going to die.

He struck out quickly for Moegi, knowing that she'd use substitution.

However he'd positioned himself in such a way that Udon's view of him would be blocked by Moegi, and when she used her substitution Jutsu the smoke it created would keep poor Udon from seeing Kabuto's attack.

Kill Udon, kill Moegi, then just for good measure kill the Genin that hadn't escaped.

He wasn't one of the ones Kabuto wanted.

The Anbu should be arriving any moment now, Kabuto, whose only purpose was to distract them, would have his hands full.

He did not doubt that he would survive, the confined hallway would nullify their numbers, even if they surrounded him.

He'd planned this all, he'd planned to fight here.

When the time came to escape he would do so without trouble.

It didn't even seem as if the Konoha fools had _tried _to stop him.

If he'd wanted he could have killed all of those Genin, even the Hyuga girl, though she'd surprised him enough to warrant at least a temporarily continued survival.

He lunged in for Moegi, his katana leading the way.

She used substitution, just as he'd expected.

Kabuto dropped to his knees and spun around, sweeping the katana behind him in case Moegi showed up there, he held out his other hand for Udon.

The hand gained serpentine qualities and surged forward, his fist becoming a snake's mouth, its fangs dripping with a venom Kabuto had prepared for use with this jutsu.

Udon screamed and Kabuto felt his serpent arm injecting its venom into the Special Jounin.

"Udon!" Moegi screamed, appearing out of nowhere with a kunai she slammed the blade into Kabuto's arm.

The arm came free and Kabuto grinned.

The arm that had fallen away became a long serpent and wrapped itself around Udon, constricting the life out of him.

Not that it mattered, his poison would see to the bespectacled examiner's end.

As for Moegi, who had so stupidly tried to injure him, he swept his sword out as she stared in confusion at what should have been his impaled arm.

He didn't kill her with the stroke, hadn't intended to.

She leapt back, her ninja reflexes serving her well.

She leapt back and hit the wall, the confined space of the hallway serving Kabuto well.

Kabuto thrust his hand out to pin her against the wall as he thrust his katana forward, aiming for her heart.

The fat Genin slammed into him and deflected the blade from piercing Moegi's heart, it buried itself deep in her shoulder instead.

Kabuto was frustrated to say the least, he should never have been _touched _by a Genin.

He'd gotten carried away in the slaughter, that _other _side of him was causing him to get careless.

He released Moegi, who fell to the floor holding her shoulder. She made a feeble attempt to kick his knee as she went down, he easily avoided it.

He backhanded the Konoha Genin, whose head hit the wall so hard he fell unconscious.

He wasn't dead.

Yet.

But now he was bleeding from his head and the cut in his thigh, Kabuto could let him die slowly of blood loss, and turn his attention back to Moegi.

He heard Udon gurgling as his serpent crushed his bones and injected still more damning venom into the doomed Shinobi's blood.

Kabuto grabbed Moegi's face and looked into her eyes, seeing himself reflected in them.

He could see his eyes filled with excitement he couldn't suppress, Moegi struggled, punching him in the stomach with her good arm.

He could viciously snap her neck and end her life, or he could spare her.

But then what hero ever spared the villain? Was Kabuto not a hero of the sound village? Was he not facing the vile villains of Konoha?

"No quarter asked." He told Moegi, her eyes filled with dread as she came to realize she wouldn't escape his grip, "And none given."

He began to twist her neck around but suddenly a surprisingly strong hand ripped his away from the young woman's face.

Kabuto knew who held him before he saw her, he smiled snidely, "Good to see you, madam Hokage. We do so enjoy seeing our old friends."

Tsunade glared into his face, "It's time for you to die once and for all, Orochimaru."

Kabuto laughed, "I'm hurt. Do you really think it's Orochimaru who calls the shots? No Madam Hokage . . . I'm a whole new monster."

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **A few hours late, but I had issues with this one. Udon's death for example, didn't feel right. It's not because Tsunade arrives to late to save him, I mean it's pretty bad luck that he should die while Tsunade is on her way to rescue him, but that's life, sometimes people are too late. What bugs me is that he doesn't put up the proper amount of fight a Special Jounin backed by another Special Jounin should, even if he is facing down Kabuto.

I have reasons for giving him a lackluster death, and allowing Kabuto to kill him in the exact manner that he did, and I console myself by considering that Anko was not all that much more effective against Orochimaru, none the less I nearly cut it from the story in favor of sparing him for a little while longer.

But it would have made no sense, he was going to die before the arc's end anyway and I've already extended or allowed so many scenes to run long this just didn't feel like it needed to be one of them. Team Konohamaru fans (if you exist) don't hate me, it was nothing personal against the character himself.

But if you want to mourn him the message board would be a great place to do so, links through my bio, enjoy it! Those disapointed that it was Udon and not one of our more regular Genin characters that died just now need not worry, that is coming very soon (very soon indeed) but then again, maybe that _is_ reason to worry.


	94. Ami and Kaori, The Final

**Chapter Ninety-Four**

Hitomi shifted uncomfortably, "Do you feel that? Something's strange, it's making me feel uneasy." She said.

"Yeah . . ." Matsuri admitted, "Do you think it's the competitors?"

"Well one of them is a Hattori." Hara said.

Hitomi shook her head, "I don't think so."

Suddenly an Anbu appeared next to them, "Jounin Hara Masamune, your services are required by the Kazekage."

Hara frowned, "What could the Kazekage want with--"

"Now, if you please." The Anbu whispered sharply.

"Coming." Hara said, sounding a little confused. He glanced at Matsuri, "Don't let Hitomi wander off."

"Aye." Matsuri nodded.

Hara left with the Anbu, Hitomi stood up, "Something's up."

Matsuri frowned at her, "I think so too. It's obvious really. So where're you going?"

"I'm going to get Miyuki." Hitomi said, licking her lips.

"We are." Mastrsuri shrugged.

"We?"

"Hara said not to let you wander off. But I suppose it's not wandering if I'm with you." Matsuri shrugged.

Hitomi nodded, "All right. Let's start with the infirmary."

She felt along the band of her goggles . . . she had a strange feeling about this day.

* * *

Hara appeared before the Kazekage and was surprised by whom he saw there right away. 

Hatake Kakashi and the Hokage's assistant Shizune stood together in one corner, then Mitarashi Anko and Yuhi Kurenai stood together in another.

Gaara, with his arms folded nodded to Hara, "Greetings, Hara Masamune. You studied under Uzumaki Naruto." Gaara stated, he didn't ask.

Hara nodded, and Gaara nodded back.

And apparently that was as far as the conversation was going to go. Not hat Haara minded at all, the Kazekage was an incredibly imposing person.

"What's the situation?" Kakashi asked.

"Just a moment longer." Gaara said calmly.

"What are we waiting for?" Anko grumbled.

"One more Jounin." Gaara answered. "I want two teams of three. Hatake Kakashi will lead one consisting of himself, Shizune and Hara. The remainder will be led by Yuhi."

"I don't understand," Shizune said, "What is our mission? The Konoha Twelve are dispatched, the Anbu are on the move, and Hokage-sama is dealing with the intruder in the infirmary."

"Infirmary?" Hara demanded, "Wh-what about Special JouninYamamoto, is she all right?"

Gaara waved a hand for silence, "She's alive, her exact status is unknown at this time."

Anko slammed her fist into the wall, "What happened to her? What's going on?"

Gaara gave everyone a very calm look, "When our final team member arrives we-"

"I'm here!" Inuzuka Hana reported, appearing suddenly, "Is there an emergency Hokage-sama--er Kazekage-sama? Is an animal injured?"

Hara frowned. "This is our uh . . . sixth Jounin? She's . . . forgive me Kazekag-sama but she's a _vet_!"

"Yes of course!" Hana said, "The Anbu said it was an emergency . . . where's the animal?" She asked, looking around and probably smelling for a scent.

Gaara shook his head, "There is no animal. I require you six for a mission of incredible importance. You see it seems that someone has decided to attack Konohagakure."

"Now?" Kakashi asked, "How? We would have seen any invading armies."

"We did see this one." Gaara said, "We let it in. By the looks of things Kumogakure is to blame, or else one of the other countries. I'll remind you that Waterfall came here due to pressure from its neighbors, _it _still has amiable ties to Stone."

Hara clenched a fist, "What happened in the infirmary?"

"One unknown Shinobi attacked the infirmary, subdued a Special Jounin and murdered a Chuunin Examiner, as of now several of the already injured Genin have had their conditions made worse, though to my knowledge none are dead."

Anko slammed her fist into the wall again and shouted "The infirmary isn't far from where the other Genin are watcing the matches, my son is out there!"

"The Hokage herself is dealing with that situation." Gaara said calmly, "The Konoha twelve were dispatched earlier to deal with an unknown threat . . . we have not heard back from them yet and my efforts to locate them have proven thus far unsuccessful."

Hara was shaking a bit. Miyuki was hurt, could be dying, and Naruto-sensei probably didn't even know it.

It was up to him then, "You want us to extract the Genin and take them to a safe place." Hara reasoned. _And by extension, Miyuki. _He thought.

"No." Gaara said flatly.

"Then obviously you want us to end these examinations, it's insane to continue them under these circumstances." Kurenai said.

"No." Gaara, and Kakashi said together. "The Fifth was adamant that the exams not be stopped." Gaara explained.

"So what're we supposed to do?" Hara demanded.

Gaara glared at him, or perhaps he was just looking and his eyes always seemed to have a glare to them, "The Anbu are currently indisposed to deal with this threat. But there are other threats to be considered. Whatever is delaying the Konoha Twelve, I want to know what it is. Go to their last known location, the private viewing box of the five ambassadors and ascertain the situation. If the Twelve aren't there, find out where they went."

"Six Jounin for that?" Hara demanded, "I could lead a team to aid the Hokage!"

"Agreed." Kakashi said, "Lady Tsunade--"

"Will have _my _aid if things look even remotely dire." Gaara said, "You will _not _have a repeat of the exam fifteen years ago, you have my word, Suna will need a new Kazekage before Konoha requires a new Hokage."

Hara felt uncomfortable, "So we just find the Twelve, right?" He said, "Then our time is our own, right?"

"Hara Masamune," Gaara shook his head, "As a Shinobi, especially as a Jounin of Konohagakure you must understand that your time is never your own. Treat this as a combat situation, expect to run into a fight. Also do not allow anyone who may be an enemy--and that's _everyone_--to be alerted to the situation, remain stealthy and do not draw attention to yourselves. Once you've found the Twelve bring me news of their situation, their plans . . . or their fate." Gaara said.

Hara nodded. "Anything else?" Anko demanded.

"If you encounter _any _resistance . . ." Gaara's expression hardened into what Hara immediately knew as a _real _glare, "Bring them to me. Alive if convenient."

"And if it isn't?" Anko scoffed.

"Do your duty." Gaara said coldly.

Anko smiled darkly, "Yessir!"

She was the first to disappear.

Then Shizune, then Hana, the final ones to leave were Hara and Kakashi.

Hara considered going to the infirmary instead and taking care of Miyuki . . . she mattered more to him than . . . well, _anything_ else.

He closed his eyes. In his position he knew she'd do her duty to Konohagakure, to the Land of Fire. He'd do her no honor by disregarding his duty now.

He poofed away with Kakashi and the others to the place where the Konoha Twelve had last been.

* * *

Tsunade punched the wall but without her usual strength. 

Kabuto knew that with an injured Genin and a petrified Special Jounin Tsunade wouldn't dare risk bringing the whole stadium down on them.

He'd planned the place of the battle well.

Though luck had given him the chance to cut that Genin in way that prevented him form escaping.

If the Special Jounin came to her senses, or if the Anbu appeared and removed the boy Kabuto could find himself facing a much more challenging Lady Tsunade.

He couldn't allow that to happen.

He'd have to keep a careful eye on the boy, and fight Tsunade with just enough of his strength to leave her convinced that there was no need to unleash her full force, regardless of the risk to her subordinates.

As long as Tsunade _thought _that _she _had the situation under control, Kabuto _knew _that _he _did.

* * *

Sai leaned against the wall, the Hokage was fighting on the other side of that door. 

He nodded to his team, they'd tried to convince the Special Jounins not to go in early, but it sounded as if, with Lady Tsunade there the crisis had been averted.

None the less he tapped his ear, waiting for the team that had circled around to the infirmary to tell him that they were in position.

When the time came a barrier would be set up to prevent any escape by Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, and the Anbu would flood the hallway, eliminating the scoundrel.

Sai forced a smile at the children, "It will all be over soon, buckaroos." He said, using a cheerful word for "child" in order to lull them into a sense of security that he hoped wouldn't prove false. "You keep tending to those injured." He told his medic.

The masked Shinobi nodded, and the boy from Suna with the tattoos likewise carried on tending to the injured Genin girl.

The other boy from Suna, the one with short black hair just stood as if he expected to be attacked at any moment. "Shouldn't we move them to a safer location?" He asked.

Said frowned, "You look as if you are ready to drop, kiddo," He said, trying to sound cheerful, "and no, we cannot move the others. They are too badly injured. To move them any further, sparing an emergency situation, would not be wise."

The boy from Suna slammed his fist down, "I cant stand this!" He shouted.

"I understand." Sai said, "But it is just for now. Please remain calm."

"He had a Sound village headband, just like the one on the kid who fights in the eighth match, you _can't _let that match go on!"

"On the contrary . . . to stop it is to invite the wrath of our displeasure." A cold voice said.

Sai's eyes narrowed as a half dozen civilians entered the room. They stood spaced apart and one of the Anbu said angrily, "Civilians aren't allowed here!"

"Yeah," One of them said, holding up a bloody sickle, "That's what the two at the door said too."

"Lucky we're not civilians." Another nodded, drawing some kunai.

"Your Hokage is waiting for reinforcements that won't ever come . . . because you're going to be dead." A third said eagerly.

"Don't worry though, our Master isn't planning on killing her . . . your mission wont be a _total _failure." A fourth giggled, "I hope that comforts you."

"Just remember, spare the Genin, Master wants some of them alive for something." The first told his team.

The civilian clothes practically evaporated as the Sound Village Jounin rushed forward.

Sai quickly drew forth one of his scrolls and let a huge ink dragon come to life.

"This is an emergency situation, you may now move the injured!" He told his medic, still trying to maintain a cheerful tone.

He bit his lower lip, _Hokage-sama . . . hold on until we can finish these ones._

_

* * *

_

Hitomi appeared inside the infirmary.

It was dark, there was no sign of Miyuki.

Matsuri whispered some Jutsu and a ball of light appeared in her palm, she held it out like a torch.

Hitomi didn't need it though, she could see what had happened well enough.

The dead bodies of four Anbu, and three unknown ninja.

She could hear the fighting as two remaining Anbu held off the three Shinobi that remained of the enemy force.

She turned to Matsuri who was already drawing a pair of short swords and nodding to her.

All of these invaders were going to die.

With a shout of outrage and frustration Hitomi rushed forward, quickly delivering a sharp blow to the back of one of the enemy Shinobi she sneered, "Incineration Palm Jutsu!"

She hadn't done the Jutsu of course, but it, along with the fact that he probably hadn't expected her to be there to attack him, gave the enemy Shinobi pause as he fretted over what might happen to him if a Jutsu with such a name had been performed on him.

Enough of a pause that Matsuri, leaping over Hitomi who crouched, cut both his arms off and kicked him to the side.

If he survived the pain and the loss of blood--unlikely--he could be questioned.

Hitomi moved on to her next opponent before that man had even hit the floor, she began a blinding attack routine and with each strike she also performed a hand seal.

Too fast to be seen by her opponent this time she did perform the Incineration Palm.

One enemy to question was enough, these cretins _had _killed four Anbu after all.

* * *

Takumi felt his hands shaking as he stood outside the door of the Raikage and Daimyo's box. 

He nodded to the two guards, disguised as the Jounin of Iwagakure, "I am here to see the Raikage. Toshiie is my name, he is expecting me."

"Your family name, sir?" The Chuunin guard asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I did not give it to the Raikage, he would not know it." Takumi bluffed.

If he'd offered it Kaori would have told him . . . and he didn't remember Toshiie telling him himself.

The guard nodded, "Of course. Well you must be welcome if you know the Raikage is there."

"Indeed." Takumi nodded with a scowl.

"Yeah, after all who would try anything stupid with us at the door and the Raikage within?" The other guard laughed.

"Who indeed." Takumi laughed without mirth.

_For the good of our country. _He told himself.

He felt a tear roll down his cheek, he wiped it away and smiled weakly.

_Take care of yourself, Kaori . . . just in case I can't anymore. _He thought.

There was a fantastic chance he wouldn't be walking out of this room alive.

* * *

"Who's that?" Sakura whispered, "It's a Stone Ninja!" 

"No." Sasuke said calmly, "It's genjutsu . . . he's a missing-nin . . . but his katanas are bloodstained."

Sakura shuddered, "Do we move?"

"Not yet." Sasuke said calmly, "The Daimyo is flanked by three high level Shinobi . . . if we move now we may very well find ourselves in the cross fire. Besides your Genjutsu is keeping them from seeing us now, let's not ruin it and reveal ourselves."

Sakura nodded, "Right. Uh . . . let me know when it's time to move."

"You'll know . . . because _I'll _move. Keep one eye on them and one on me."

"You got it." Sakura said with a slight grin, "There was a time when both would be on you anyway."

Sasuke said nothing, he wasn't going to pursue conversation at this point and not on that subject.

They were on a mission, stupid jokes about their sordid childhoods weren't necessary.

Focus was.

* * *

Kaori slammed an Ami puppet halfway through a wall, then stopped phasing it. 

There was a terrible cracking sound as the puppet split in half down the middle, the wall also fared less than perfectly when it suddenly had to occupy the same space as the puppet's body.

Kaori spun Toshiie's katana in her other hand and deflected a kunai strike from one of Ami's other clones.

She lunged in and slammed the blade into the puppet's neck then twisted it around and with all her might tore up on the blade.

She wouldn't be able to rip the puppet's head off, that was ridiculous, but she did inflict a serious blow to it, reducing it to uselessness.

But she couldn't retrieve the sword.

It was too firmly lodged, she rolled away from it and the puppet as one of the Ami puppets came over and took the blade for herself.

Kaori smiled, _Like _giving _candy to a baby. A stupid baby_. She thought.

"Ami," She said in a reasoning voice, "I don't want Hikaru anymore. We don't need to fight."

"This isn't about him anymore. But I'm glad you admit defeat in that area." All of the Ami puppets said in unison.

Kaori smirked, "Come on, with all this ruckus don't you think Konoha's Anbu will come to investigate?"

"You'll be dead before they do." The puppets said cheerfully.

Kaori continued to back away towards the wall.

She smirked when she heard the noise behind her, Ami lunged forward.

Kaori phased, she'd let Ami run right through her and impale herself of the sword her puppet held out so boldly.

A fitting death for such a stupid woman.

But something went wrong.

Ami's kunai slammed into Kaori and _didn't _go through.

"Wouldn't it be so scary," Ami whispered in her ear as she twisted the blade imbedded in Kaori's side, "If I already knew your weakness? Bitch."

Kaori felt her teeth chattering, she felt her hands shaking and she felt tears coming to her eyes.

So Ami had found out.

Somehow she'd found out what it was that'd allowed Shinobi and soldiers of Mist to annihilate her clan.

The one solid material they couldn't phase through.

As if to rub her face in her defeat and Ami's accomplishment the puppet she'd thought to impale Ami on swept the large katana through her chest, as if drawing a design inside her over her heart.

Because she was still phasing that blade didn't hurt her.

But unfortunately the blade inside her side, the blade she _couldn't_ phase through was still very much imbedded in her, and Ami was still twisting and plunging it deeper as if she meant to rip Kaori's insides apart with it.

"Don't you want to know how I know?" Ami sneered in her ear. "Don't you want to know how I figured it out? How I, the woman you _thought _a fool, figured out how to kill you?"

Kaori reached back and grabbed Ami's neck.

Ami laughed at her weak grip, but she wasn't planning on _strangling _her. She had almost no strength but she wouldn't need it.

All she needed was to be able to hold onto something.

She phased her hand into the other woman's neck and took a firm hold of her spinal cord, "You can . . . tell me . . . in hell." Kaori said and with what might she had left she tore the spinal column from Ami's body, the Jounin didn't even have a chance to scream.

The body fell, but the incorporeal spinal cord did not, Kaori still held it.

She threw it at the puppets, it fell to the ground at the feet of one of them.

Kaori fell forward.

She heard footsteps as her vision began to blur.

Ami crouched down over her and tore the weapon from her back. She licked it and said "Your blood is delicious. I've waited so long to taste it."

Kaori reached out, desperate to rip Ami's heart from her chest.

Ami smiled and shook her head, "Shh, shh, enough now, sweetie," She said in a sickeningly soothing voice, "Sleep. Sleep forever, you stupid whore. Sleep in hell. But I'm not without gratitude Kaori. Thank you for slipping up so I could kill you. Thank you for underestimating a _real _Jounin of Kumogakure."

She raised her cursed blade in the air, about to bring it down on Kaori's chest.

Kaori closed her eyes, there was nothing more she could do.

Her world was spinning.

She smiled weakly and thought that at least she'd black out before Ami delivered the blow.

"Thank you," Ami laughed manically, "For saving me so that I could be the one to kill you! Thank you for dying so easily! And most of all . . . thank you Kaori, for being the only friend I've ever had."

"Friends . . . don't kill . . . friends." Kaori said coldly.

With every fiber of her being Kaori sat up and slammed her hand into Ami's chest, she gripped the other woman's heart.

Ami screamed and slammed her knife into Kaori's shoulder, but Kaori didn't let go.

"W-wait!" Ami screamed, "Wait! You don't know how I knew! You don't know! Let me tell you! P-please s-stop!"

"Knowing now . . . won't . . . save me. Or . . . you." She squeezed Ami's heart, "Die . . . once and for all! **Just **_**die**_!" Koari roared, ripping the heart free.

Ami's eyes were filled with tears as the light of life left them. This was the real Ami, Kaori was certain.

The puppets rushed in to help but soon stumbled and fell over each other.

Without Ami to control them they began to revert to their true forms, young beauties from different nations.

Women Ami had murdered just for their bodies.

Kaori smiled weakly. Ami would never have hers, and she would never murder again.

It was finally over between them. Yurei Kaori took comfort in that fact as the world faded away and her eyes closed.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Though Kaori did not care to find out, and though Ami did not have the chance to tell, how Ami obtained the knife she used and how she knew it would work will be covered. Don't forget our message boards, just check out my bio to find them.


	95. Kyoko's Offensive

**Chapter Ninety-Five**

Kyoko gulped and prepared herself for the fight.

This was her fight to lose, the Hattori girl was older, physically stronger, and had a bloodline trait, something Kyoko didn't.

She gulped again as the match began.

But this time with her gulp came action; she slashed her palm with a kunai and smeared the blood on her fan while leaping into the air to avoid whatever initial attack the enemy might launch.

"I need you now, Kamatiri!" She shouted, summoning the weasel with a sweep of her fan, "And you Tombugiri!"

"Oy, you're not my boss!" The smaller weasel complained, then looked at the ground he was flying towards and wailed, "Oy, I hates women, you always wants insane things!"

"Just roll with it, runt!" Kamatiri ordered.

The two weasels descended to the ground and charged towards the Hattori girl.

"What's this? Another summoner? Why am I not afraid?" The girl laughed.

Kyoko smirked as she shoved her fan beneath her and began to glide on it, but maybe she should have kept her face passive.

The Hattori glared when Kyoko smirked and sank into the ground, into her own shadow.

Kamatiri and Tombugiri struck the ground where the girl _had _been, cutting deep gashes in the earth.

"Oy, did we kill 'er?" Tombugiri demanded.

"Shut it!" Kamatiri ordered, "Keep on yah!" The weasel wailed as it was pulled into the shadows by a pair of feminine arms.

"On me what? On me toes? Don't worry about tha . . . eh . . . chief?" Tombugiri asked, emerging from the crater he'd made and looking around, "Eh . . . chief, you were sayin' something?"

And then a very dazed, unconscious Kamatiri was thrown from the shadows, and Kasumi cartwheeled out after him, flipping into the air and landing behind Tombugiri.

Kyoko frowned, no cuts, no scratches no bruises.

_So when she's a shadow she can't be injured._ Kyoko thought, "All right, let's try another!"

She leapt from her fan and swept it out again after wiping more blood on it, "I need you now Naginata!"

Another weasel, smaller than even Tombugiri emerged from a cloud of smoke and spun in the air as she and Kyoko descended, becoming a razor disk.

"Oy, you'll cut me in half!" Tombugiri squealed and scampered away. Kasumi Hattori threw herself backwards into her shadow again.

Kyoko hit the ground and began moving, not wanting to present a stationary target for her enemy, and not willing to go near the shadows, "Tombugiri, Nagi, keep your eyes peeled for moving shadows, keep her on her toes! Her chakra has to run out some time, I'll try to use a Jutsu to flush her out!"

"Aye boss!" Naginata chirped happily.

"She's not our boss." Tombugiri scoffed, but Nagi snapped her sharp teeth at him and he said "But that sounded more like a suggestion than an order, and I'm _always _open to suggestions, heh-heh!"

Kyoko gulped and began the hand seals for her Jutsu.

"I can do more than just summon!" She told herself.

She'd never had much luck with any other sort of Jutsu . . .

But this was her Chuunin exam, her chance to be promoted, her chance to show the world and herself that she really did deserve to be counted among the elite of Sunagakure.

She couldn't mess up, she wouldn't let herself.

"Wind Style, Twin Vortex Jutsu!" Kyoko shouted, and thrust out her hands.

A pair of miniature tornadoes emerged from her hands; she willed them larger, willed them stronger.

But they started to shrink instead.

_You just summoned three minions, no one will think you're weak because of this! _A voice in her head, _her_ voice said.

_No! This isn't bout being weak or strong! It's about being worthy!_ Kyoko chided herself, "I'm worthy!" She roared, and the vortexes increased in size and strength.

She swept them through the trees, pulling trees out of the ground and towards her.

She kept an eye on the shadow of each tree, certain that her enemy would try to use one of them to attack her.

"Be ready, crew!" She shouted to the weasels, "She can't hide forever!"

Kyoko gulped. She knew the other girl couldn't hide forever . . . but her own chakra would ware out before Kasumi's did.

Kyoko just hoped Kasumi knew that too.

She counted on the other girl to want to try to finish her off once she looked her weakest.

So she began to act and gradually appear to weaken as she kept her eyes on the shadows of the trees as she pulled them towards her one by one.

* * *

Takumi bowed before the Daimyo and the Raikage, "My apologies for interrupting your . . . whatever it is you people do." He said, trying to show less than proper respect in an effort to properly play the role of Toshiie, who'd seemed somewhat lacking in honor. 

"Why is a Stone Shinobi standing before me? And why are my body guards not attacking him?" The Daimyo asked in an amused voice. Clearly he'd already deduced that Takumi, disguised as Toshiie was no threat due to the lack of reaction from Hikaru and Hattori.

"Everything is taken care of?" The Raikage asked.

"Everything." Takumi nodded.

"I see you claimed his swords as your own."

"Mine was damaged in the struggle, but his are capable of radiating chakra. I dislike them, but they will have to do until I am safely away from Konoha."

"Where's Jounin Yurei?" Minoru suddenly snapped.

Takumi detected not a single trace of concern in Hikaru's voice, just annoyance.

"She fell. You wish me to take you to her body?" Takumi asked casually.

Hikaru scoffed, "I know where it is. Anyway it doesn't matter now anyway does it?"

Takumi shrugged, "As you wish. With your leave, lords . . ."

"Yes, you may go. Give your master our thanks." The Raikage said, waving his hand.

Takumi bowed and began to put his plan into motion when suddenly he felt a kunai at his back.

His eyes narrowed and he turned to see Tetsuo, "What trickery is this?" He demanded.

The Raikage laughed, "I am not sure," he admitted, "but your life _is _worthless to me. Indulge yourself if you wish, Hattori, but do provide a reason after you're done."

"Raikage-sama," Tetsuo said, "This man serves the organization that murdered our former daimyo and kidnapped prince Shinno, does he not? He aided us once, but that's no reason not to question him, find out what he knows! He might even know _why _they kidnapped Shinno!"

The Raikage nodded slowly, "Wise, Hattori, but unnecessary. Their plans will be foiled before these exams are over."

"Just a moment," The daimyo said, looking rather amused, "I'd rather _like _to know why my father and mother were slain, but my brother was left free to escape."

Tetsuo prodded Takumi's side, bidding him move forward.

Takumi glared at a smirking Hikaru and amused looking Raikage.

He said "Well I do not know a great deal of my master's plans . . . I do not believe in his cause."

"What do you believe in?" The Raikage asked.

Takumi smirked, "Justice." He said, allowing his genjutsu to melt away, revealing his true self.

He dropped to the ground and swept Tetsuo's legs out from under him, then rolled in front of the Raikage and lashed out with all his speed as he came up, his blade of wind coming within millimeters of the older Shinobi.

Takumi smirked when the Daimyo said "It seems you missed rogue."

"No." The Raikage said with a smile, "He did not."

Takumi was quite pleased to see the Raikage remove his hat, the front of which had been sliced cleanly down the middle.

Had Takumi been just a nanosecond faster in acting, and the Raikage slower in dodging that cut along the front of his hat would have been the older Shinobi's entire head and a good portion of his chest.

But the old man had skills; Takumi would never have denied that.

"Fool boy." The Raikage said darkly, "Is it worth it just to kill me? I who showed you such great favor? You became my left hand, my shadow assassin, and now you've slain a man who might have had the answers to the questions our Daimyo wishes to have answered, as well as the love of your pitiful life. Was it worth it?"

Takumi spun the blades in his hands and backed away from the recovering Tetsuo and the Raikage.

Hikaru had stood silent throughout it all, though Takumi saw him casually going through his deck of Jutsu cards and smirking.

Takumi glared at the three Shinobi and knew that the two Chuunin guards at the door could be called up at any moment.

Wondered, in fact, why they hadn't been.

Takumi smiled warmly at the three Shinobi and the Samurai before him, "Worth what exactly? My life? Preserving the true ways of the Land of Lightning is worth my life . . . and the lives of everyone in this room. This is why no one will leave this room alive.

The Raikage raised a hand, "A bold threat. But I do believe Minoru here owes you some punishment for murdering one of his whores."

Takumi flinched at the words but said nothing.

There was nothing to be gained by words, or allowing himself to be angered.

He needed only to kill the Raikage, and then whatever happened to him wouldn't matter.

Hikaru however laughed and said "You'll enjoy this one, bar tender. It made one of the Konoha Twelve sweat! Since you seem to like holding two blades, let's see which of us can do it better!"

Hikaru held out his Jutsu card and laughed maniacally as his jacket suddenly ripped open and as a pair of wings began to grow.

"I won't use my darkness, don't worry," Hikaru laughed, "The Daimyo and the Raikage will want to see your death. And I want Tetsuo to see my _true _power!"

With that black markings began to draw themselves over Hikaru's body.

Takumi smiled weakly, "It doesn't matter how your body changes Min, you're still the coward I knew as a child, hiding behind women, hiding behind shrouds of darkness and now hiding behind the idea that if you mess up the Raikage will save you. The problem is I won't give him the time, you'll be dead before his eyes register my stroke."

"Tough talk. But you _are _awfully fast, I'll give you that. Must be why Kaori dumped you eh? Too fast for her? I know she likes a man who takes his time and really makes her scream."

"Shut it." Takumi scoffed, "I'm not interested in hearing any more of your perversion. With you it all comes down to who's stronger, and who you're going to lay afterwards to celebrate your victory. Well I've got news for you buddy . . . Ami is dead. I killed her on the way here. Not that it matters, you're not going to have anything to celebrate once our fight is over, and you're dead."

"Oh please. Do you really think those whores were the only two I had at my beck and call? I've been with practically half the women in our village. Kaori and Ami were just the only two worth regular performances."

"I think that makes _you _the whore, Hikaru. At least Ami loved you enough to be loyal." Takumi said with a shrug.

He was a Jounin, so was Hikaru.

Both knew words were pointless. They wouldn't even need to declare Jutsu against one another because this battle would be all about speed and viciousness.

But they were both stalling. Takumi knew why _he _was stalling, but he wasn't quite sure why Hikaru was being so accommodating. Though Hikaru liked to play with his victims, he should have known better than to do so with Takumi, especially since his grotesque transformation was complete.

As if to voice Takumi's own thoughts the Daimyo said in an annoyed voice, "Am I watching a Shinobi battle, or a tragic romance play? Stop talking about your love lives and one of you kill the other quickly!"

"Do not misunderstand Taiko-sama," The Raikage said with an amused smirk, "They're going about it. But they're two of the most powerful Shinobi in our village; both are skilled enough that one misstep means death. When they _do _move to kill each other it _will _be over quickly."

"This is very unentertaining." The Daimyo sighed, "The brats running around on the field are better than this drama."

Hikaru laughed, "I don't expect a Samurai to understand."

Takumi smiled darkly, the time to stall was over.

What he'd been waiting for was finally happening.

He sprang forward and lashed out with his katanas, Hikaru met him with his own blades.

Then they both twisted as a pair of kunai sailed in. One of them struck the floor in front of them, Hikaru leapt back and Takumi did the same.

_Damn it Kaori I told you to . . . no, that wasn't her . . ._ Takumi thought as he glared at the kunai stuck into the stone floor.

Kaori didn't use Kunai with the Uchiha symbol on them.

"Uchiha Sasuke, why am I not surprised to find you stalking me?" Hikaru laughed as a pair of Konoha Shinobi appeared.

They did not wear the typical Konoha uniforms, but then they didn't need to anyway.

Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura were members of the Konoha Twelve, _everyone _knew their faces.

"I see you even brought me someone new this time, well won't I be the popular one once I've slain _two _members of the Konoha Twelve."

Takumi glared at the two Konoha Jounin, "You fools." He hissed.

The Raikage however laughed as he eyed the kunai between him and Tetsuo, "Now, now Hikaru . . . they're here to help, aren't you? For my safety."

"Other than the third exam's participants there will be no violence in this village for the duration of your stay." Sakura said.

"You're under arrest for assault on the Raikage's person." Sasuke said to Takumi, "And I'll take _you _for brawling." He added, pointing at Hikaru.

Takumi pointed a blade a Sasuke, "If you get in my way you'll get hurt."

"Do you really think you can stand up to one of the Konoha Twelve?" Sakura scoffed, "Now come with us, all of you. For your safety, Raikage-sama the Kazekage _insists _that you join him in the Hokage's box."

"I think not." The Raikage said evenly, "The Daimyo needs my protection."

"The Daimyo is invited of course." Sakura said.

"Then by your leave, my lord?" The Raikage asked.

"No." The Daimyo laughed, "A ninja is no one to order me around, and I rather want to see how this plays out."

Sasuke drew his own sword, "This is not going at all the way I envisioned."

"Tell me about it." Takumi snapped, "Of course in my case it's because of your meddling."

"Yes, we do that a lot." Sakura said, then activated an earpiece, "Shikamaru, Sakura here. We've encountered a missing ninja attempting to assassinate the Raikage. What should we do?"

Takumi didn't hear the response.

He didn't wait to listen either, he sprang.

Blades lea dinging he moved for Hikaru who, somewhat faster than Takumi was happy with, spun around to meet him.

And before either of them could strike Uchiha got between them.

Normally Takumi would have cut right through him, but the twin balls of lightning he held in each hand stopped him from moving any further.

He glared, Uchiha was going to ruin everything.

"It can't end like this." Takumi whispered, "I can't fail."

"You already have. This doesn't have to become a fatal situation." Uchiha warned.

Takumi's eyes narrowed and he avoided looking into the Sharingan.

"You think because you've got power you can do whatever you want?" Takumi snapped at the Raikage, "You can't! _I _won't let you. I've done your bidding long enough, but today, regardless of the cost to me or anyone else you'll die."

"Brave words as you stand in the protective custody of the Konoha Twelve." The Raikage said.

Takumi smirked, "Indeed."

And Tetsuo, who'd moved closer and closer to the Raikage ever since Uchiha and Haruno showed up, who'd moved in as if he meant to guard the Raikage . . . struck out with a kunai, slamming the blade into the older ninja's side.

The Raikage fell forward in surprise and pulled the blade from his side.

Sakura rushed to him, but Tetsuo launched a kick that would strike her square in the face and keep her from the Raikage.

He would have, but Uchiha abandoned Takumi and Hikaru to stop Tetsuo, and the two began to struggle as Sakura rushed over to administer aid to the Raikage.

Takumi glared at Hikaru, "I never meant to attack the Raikage alone. I knew he'd threaten Hanabi to get to Tetsuo, told Tetsuo that when he did it'd prove everything I'd been telling him. He _pretended _to betray me so that he could get close to the Raikage. We both knew that alone we'd stand no chance, but together the old man wouldn't last. You weren't part of the plan, but I'll kill you too if you don't stand down."

The Daimyo stood up now, "This is outrageous!" He shouted, "An assault on my Raikage, threats from a lowly missing nin? You stand down if you truly are a servant of the land of lightning!"

"Afraid I can't do that, not until the Raikage is dead." Takumi said, eying Tetsuo's struggle with Uchiha.

It didn't look good, and Haruno was beginning to examine the Raikage's stab wound.

"He's been mortally wounded, he'll be dead soon, so stand down!" The Daimyo snapped.

"Yes, it does seem that way doesn't it? Odd that someone like the Raikage would die so easily." Takumi said.

"He's not dying, not if I have anything to say about it, traitor!" Sakura hissed.

"Oh please. I think you'll find he managed to twist his body in such a way that the blade pierced nothing but meat." Takumi scoffed. "It's an act. Pretend to be old, frail and shocked. He's juts fine . . . and he's going to defend himself right now!"

Takumi leapt into the air, above Hikaru's blades.

He came down on the Raikage, both blades igniting with his wind and lightning chakras, one would slice the Raikage, the other would fry him.

The Raikage's eyes, half closed in agony suddenly opened, his face twisted into a disgusting smile as he rolled out of Takumi's way.

Takumi struck out at the old man as he rolled to safety and sprang forward to put some distance between himself and Haruno.

Not fast enough.

Sakura lunged forward and grabbed his ankle with a crushing grip that brought him to his knees.

He twisted and tried to get free, but her grip was too strong.

He pulled as she dragged him towards her, he glared at the Raikage who was getting to his feet and performing the hand seals for a Jutsu even as Hikaru slowly advanced, laughing maniacally.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note:** This chapter is late because every time I tried to upload it the site sort of froze. Anyway now that it works here it is, chapter 96 will be posted tomorrow.

Dont forget the message boards! Smiles all around!


	96. Master Duel

**Chapter Ninety-Six**

Eri leaned back in her chair and sighed, "Now the redhead is summoning a third weasel," she explained, "thing's spinning like a top . . . or a disk, or something. The Lightning chick is still hiding in the ground."

"Eri, shut up." Nagahide said, leaning forward in his seat, "You're ruining the show."

"You're a little _too _excited by this violence," Eri said, waving her father's words away, "I thought you were a pacifist."

"Don't be a nitwit, I enjoy a good competition as much as the next man, I simply don't approve of using the skills demonstrated here to slaughter entire towns of innocent people, which is about all that comes from Shinobi wars. Never mind that though, stop talking, you're ruining the ride."

"I can't, the gentlemen sitting next to us need me to describe things for them." Eri said, and then whispered, "They're blind."

"They're not blind, they're Hyuga." Nagahide sighed.

"We told her that." One of them said irritably. "She kept talking anyway."

"I don't care what the exact condition is called," Eri rolled her eyes, "I'm being nice."

In addition, one of the guys was kind of cute.

"No, I mean they're the Hyuga clan, they're not blind. They just have special eyes. Heck they see better than we do! If anything I'll bet they could see right through your clothing . . . hey, Eri lets switch seats." Nagahide said, quickly swapping chairs with his daughter.

Eri pouted, her sister smirked and her mother shook her head at the both of them.

Her father however shouted, "Pound her face into the ground weasel girl!"

Eri sighed, "When's Naomasa-kun going to fight again? I mean that's the only reason we're here isn't it?"

"I don't know if he will fight again." Her father sighed, obviously annoyed that she was still speaking, "His next opponent should have been either the Hyuga girl or the boy from Suna, and both were eliminated."

"Ishida will pass on to the next round unhindered," A somewhat elderly Hyuga said, "This gives him a great advantage as he'll have more time to rest and restore his chakra."

"You know dear, if we're going to allow Naomasa to remain a Shinobi," Eri's mother spoke up, "perhaps you could set up a shop in Konoha, after all this is a large village simply bristling with commerce. Naomasa could run the shop when he's old enough, I hear most Shinobi have two jobs, he could be both a merchant and a Shinobi."

"I tried opening a shop in Konoha once before." Nagahide said calmly, "I'll never bother again, I'm only reminded of my failures. Besides that, I do not intend to allow Naomasa to remain a Shinobi. When he loses this competition we'll drag him back to the capital city with the rest of us."

"What if he wins?" Eri asked, the Hyuga had said Nao had an advantage after all, and he really seemed happy in Konoha. Heck, he even had friends now, granted they were all Shinobi and therefore the type of friends that were likely to encourage him to remain a Shinobi, so their father probably secretly disapproved of them.

"If he wins I'll think of something else." Nagahide shrugged.

"Would you be proud of him at least, father?" Emi asked.

Nagahide laughed, "Don't be silly, I've always been proud of the boy. Even now, he has proven himself a reasonably skilled ninja and he really seems to be thriving in this place. I mean have you seen his girlfriend? If I were thirty years younger _I'd_ probably . . ." Nagahide paused as he noticed the rather venomous look his wife was giving him, "Eh . . . probably . . . have to tell her that we could never be together because my heart belonged to another. Did I mention today, how very much in love with you I am dear?"

"Creative, father." Eri smirked. She supposed, being married as long as they had her mother and father pretty much knew how to talk their way around complications. "But you know I don't think she's his girlfriend. I mean _he _can't get enough of her, but _she _doesn't really seem carnally interested in him."

"He's thirteen, of course she isn't carnally interested in him." Nagahide scoffed, "But he'll get older. What other reason could she have for spending time with him when not training him if not some kind of emotional interest?"

Eri shrugged, "He's actually still twelve, Dad."

"Don't you think I know that?" Nagahide squawked.

Eri raised an eyebrow, "Well . . . did you?"

"Pshaw, he doesn't remember most of your birthdays half the time, that's what I'm for." Mother smiled.

"Yes well it's easier for you, you went through incredible pains to bring us into this world." Eri shrugged.

"No, he suffered too . . . I saw to that." The Ishida matriarch's smile took on a more sinister quality.

Nagahide held out his arm and showed Eri a group of deep puncture wounds near his wrist, "These marks here are from where she stabbed me with her nails as you were being born, Eri. I blame you for this. My ear hasn't been the same since she screamed into it when Ichiteru was being born."

"What about me, father?" Emi asked. "I hope I caused you no pain with my birth."

"I can't show you where I was made to suffer when you were being born. Suffice it to say she attempted to end our child making capability while she was giving birth to you."

Eri raised her eyebrows and felt a new respect for her mother, who had always seemed so passive. "Wow," was all she could say.

* * *

Naruto leapt high into the air, and one of his clones leapt onto his shoulders and kicked himself higher while still another clone trailed after that one so that he could leap even higher.

"Uzumaki Demon Wind Strike!" Naruto's top clone screamed.

The clone descended towards Hazno, creating a strong gust of wind as he descended.

The wind began to swirl around the clone, taking on the razor sharp quality of wind chakra.

Like a falling star the clone, surrounded by a lethal Jutsu descended, slamming into Hanzo, who did not attempt to dodge.

Naruto scowled, had the old fool just given up?

His clone staggered to his feet, "Dattebayo!" He laughed.

That's when Naruto spotted a moving mass of shadow charging for him, but his attention was drawn away from it when suddenly one of the Hattori style shadow clones leapt onto Naruto's shadow clone.

The clone screamed in agony, but did not die. If he had, Naruto would have received all of his experiences, including the pain he was suffering.

Naruto scowled, why wasn't the clone disappearing? The Hattori shadow clone just kept it trapped and suffering.

He couldn't even dispel it himself, for some reason the Hattori clone shielded it from being simply dismissed.

Naruto however did not forget the shadow rushing towards him.

He gathered some chakra in his palm, "Lets see you resist Rasengan!"

He was strong enough not to need the clones to form Rasengan, however they did allow him to create it much faster than he could have on his own. He slammed the ball of swirling chakra into the Hattori shadow, the ground erupted and Hanzo flew into the air.

No, he was thrown. Naruto smirked and waved two of his clones after Hanzo before he could retreat into his shadow.

His clones leapt into the air and began to pummel Hanzo, who twisted and turned, struggling to fight off both at once.

Naruto saw two more of Hanzo's torture clones rushing to his air, and nodded to two more of his clones.

The clones began to form Rasengan of their own, because the clones were perfect splits of Naruto's immense chakra, creating a powerful jutsu was well within their capabilities.

They both leapt forward, one of them thrust his Rasengan into the shadow Hanzo, dispelling it in a whirlwind of power.

The other however was tripped up when a third torture clone emerged from the ground and wrapped itself around Naruto's clone, forcing another scream of agony from the clone.

Naruto scowled, Hanzo's methods were beyond cruel, he wasn't killing the clones he was torturing them, and if he got one of his clones wrapped around Naruto himself, he would torture him too.

Though one of the two clones attacking Hanzo directly was spared the same fate as two of his brothers, because the second rescuing clone had been trapped before it could use Rasengan on its target the second clone attacking Hanzo was defenseless against Hanzo's distracting attack, and the torture clone that trapped it.

Naruto now had to hear the screams of three of his clones as they were tormented, forced to suffer incredible agony, but _not _death.

For some reason however, Hanzo did directly attack the clone that continued its assault on him, thrusting his hand forth and shouting "Shadow Spears Jutsu" a series of long black spikes emerged from his finger tips and shot towards the clone, whom Naruto chose to dispel rather than risk those spears torturing as well.

"If your torment is meant to make me angry it won't work!" Naruto had one of his clones shout, "A ninja leaves his emotions behind when battle begins."

"Well said." Hanzo smirked, "But allow me to illuminate you, Uzumaki Naruto," He said, glaring at the clone who'd spoken as another of his shadow clones engulfed the clone who'd successfully used Rasengan on its earlier target, "Your clones are currently suffering a terrible Jutsu usually used for interrogation. But I, in my genius, knew it could be used against you, who so favored Shadow Clones."

"To what end?" Naruto demanded, surprised that Hanzo would just tell him as much as he already had.

"When your clones die, their experiences will go back to you. However, we have discovered that through this Jutsu your clones will not die until I kill them. If I kill them all simultaneously . . . well you might not feel the pain directly, but you will be assaulted by the experience of it. Magnified by two it would be enough to knock you unconscious, three clones would be lethal." Hanzo counted, "Oh my, looks like I've got four." He sneered. "Any time I choose . . . you die. If _I _die, my clones die, your clones die, and _you _die. You see Uzumaki Naruto, I knew exactly how to kill you from the moment this fight began."

Naruto quickly dispelled the other clones, and glared at Hanzo as the remaining torture clones closed in on him.

He smirked at Hanzo, "You really think that it'll be enough to kill me?"

"I know what's inside you, Uzumaki." Hanzo said coldly, "I know you might think the demon's powers will help you. Nevertheless, you are only a vassal for that incredible power, and the vassal is . . . only human. The evil powers within you may rapidly heal bodily wounds you suffer but against a mental assault of this magnitude you'll stand no chance."

Naruto took up a fighting stance, "Well then . . . why am I still alive? Were you expecting information or something? 'Cause you won't get it, dattebayo!"

Hanzo smiled, "I don't want information. I just wanted to you know how genius I am. Goodbye Uzumaki!" Hanzo clasped his hands together, "Release!"

Then the word "agony" did not come remotely close to describing what Naruto suffered.

* * *

Hinata gasped when Naruto fell to the ground.

He looked . . . he _looked _dead.

But he couldn't _be _dead.

She rushed out from her hiding place. Her medical ninjutsu should be able to help him, she was sure of it.

She ignored the fact that Hattori Hanzo was still on the field, that he would still be able to attack her.

She saw Hanzo's clones suddenly dog pile Naruto, who screamed in agony.

Hinata felt her heart stop, Naruto was alive and now he was being tortured further.

"He shouldn't be alive . . . but don't think that means I'll let you save him, Hyuga." Hanzo said coldly. "What have we here? Why it's the heiress of the Hyuga clan. Your sister had the gall to join my clan with the Daimyo's blessings, so I cannot kill her . . . publicly. But every time I look at you disgusting beings," Hanzo hissed, appearing right in front of Hinata, "I want to rip your disgusting eyes out of your heads!"

Hinata glared, "Get away, you're supposed to be our ally!"

"I get that a lot from you Konoha punks." Hanzo scoffed. "Stupid girl, Lightning and Fire may be allies . . . but Hyuga and Hattori cannot exist together."

Hinata fell back into her fighting stance, "Release Naruto so that I can help him, or I'll kill you and help him anyway."

"No, I don't think I will. The screams of that evildoer are music to my ears. I did expect him to die, but since he has not . . . well at least I can listen to his melodious suffering while I murder you. I knew you were here the whole time of course, and I looked forward to finally being able to have you under my power once I was finished with your demon. The heiress of the Hyuga clan. The future of the Hyuga clan . . . and mine to kill." Hanzo laughed maniacally. "Konoha may fall in five months, or in five years . . . but when it does, your disgusting clan will be long, and completely extinct. Even your sister. The daimyo and the Raikage may want a Kumogakure Byakugan, but _I'd_ rather see your disgusting genes removed from the face of this world."

"You call Naruto-kun an evildoer, but the only evildoer here is you." Hinata said. "My sister and your son understand the beauty of diversity, but you're nothing but a bigot. We Hyuga fought the Hattori because you were enemies of our village, and we are the ones best suited to face you, but it has never been personal. _You've_ made it personal; _you've_ begrudged us for being able to see through your shadow abilities."

Hinata activated her Byakugan, and glared at the new image before her, at the flowing chakra of Hattori, and the dwindling chakra of Naruto, "It scares you to know that the leaf's greatest clan may be greater than yours so instead of embracing us as allies you hate us simply because we're different. Or is it because we're not _inferior _to you? Either way your hatred is repulsive to me. You are the worst kind of evil in this world. Whatever Naruto-kun has inside of him, it's nowhere near as disgusting and vile as the monster that resides within _your _heart!"

"Sticks and stones." Hanzo said, "I'll break your bones, but your words will never hurt me."

Hinata scoffed, talk was cheap, there was nothing more to say. She needed to help Naruto.

Besides, Hanzo was right about one thing.

She _was _the heiress of the Hyuga clan. Not Neji. She was a Shinobi, she was a Jounin, and she might not be quite as powerful as Neji was, but she was strong. Naruto had taught her to believe in herself long ago. That he, and all of her other friends believed in her gave her a strength that Hanzo couldn't ever understand.

It gave all of the Konoha Twelve strength; it was why they had all survived the war thus far.

Their enemies, especially enemies like Hanzo, only knew how to hate, while they knew how to love.

Hinata rushed forward, striking out at Hanzo, who skillfully deflected _most _of her strikes.

But not all.

And she only needed to strike a chakra point once to seal it.

* * *

Kasumi smiled in her shadowy refuge.

She hoped her father was watching. Hoped he would be proud of her like he was of Tetsuo.

She was going to win this fight. She knew she could.

The Suna girl had to be running low on Chakra after summoning three weasels and using this Jutsu of hers, Kasumi just needed to play the waiting game.

No need to get flashy, no need to beat her foe to a pulp.

The Suna summoner would defeat herself if Kasumi gave her enough time.

But Kasumi would spend less of her own chakra striking at the right time, and that was what being a Shinobi was all about: knowing the right moment to strike.

The girl uprooted trees in an attempt to lull Kasumi out of hiding, assuming Kasumi was hiding in the shadows of the trees in the first place.

Buy why bother with that? After all the shadow of the gliding fan had worked equally well, and the smoke cloud created when the third weasel attacked her had provided a wonderful cover.

So Kasumi waited patiently in the shadow of the Suna girl herself, knowing that the fight was hers to end at any time.

But she would wait until just the right moment, and make her father proud.

* * *

Shikamaru felt a chill run down his spine, "Chouji . . ." He said.

"What is it?" Chouji asked.

"I'm about to ask you to do something incredibly selfish." Shikamaru said softly.

Chouji frowned, "What is it?" he repeated.

Shikamaru glanced at the statues of the Hokage, something felt incredibly wrong. "I . . . I trust Temari, but for some reason I can't stop worrying. Chouji I want you to check on my daughter . . . make sure she's safe and if she is come back here."

"I'll do it." Chouji nodded, "But what about the assassins? What if they show up while I'm gone?"

Shikamaru shook his head slowly, "If they come here I can hold them long enough for the others to arrive. I just need to know Sumiko is safe right now."

"I understand." Chouji said.

"Thank you, Chouji. You're a true friend." Shikamaru said as his fellow Jounin disappeared.

He glared at the mountain.

What was going on up there? Why did he suddenly feel such a negative vibe from the place?

Had Naruto . . . lost? Or was it something else . . . could it possibly be something worse?

Shikamaru _could _think of something that might be worse than Naruto simply losing.

* * *

It was dark.

The world outside was tumultuous, a sensation he distantly recognized as pain tugged at the edges of his consciousness, but inside this, his sanctum of sorts, he was free of all that.

He stood in front of a pair of large broken gates and looked inside at the monstrosity he'd long since made peace with. It was, after all, a part of him now.

"_**It has been a long time**_" The demon fox said calmly. "_**But you've come to me at last**_"

Uzumaki Naruto nodded.

The fox smiled wolfishly, his massive head came into view as he emerged from the cell that once held him.

The bars had been broken years ago, Naruto no longer remembered which of them had broken them but he recalled the battle they'd fought, recalled that in the end the Fox had remained contained without need of bars, that the Demon Fox had been made to quietly slumber until he was needed.

The war had kept him quiet, there had been enough violence, enough chaos, and almost enough death to satisfy him, or so it had seemed but standing before him now Naruto understood that though the Fox had lived vicariously through him, enjoyed battle through him, such an existence would never be enough. A caged animal needed to stretch its legs.

"_**Come on then**_" The Demon Fox said, "_**There is work to do and fun to be had . . . my friend**_"

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Before anyone complains about Naruto _needing _to rely on the nine tails, before cries of "what about his Wind Rasengan, or the toad clan" or anything else let me assure you he does not _need _to use the nine tailed fox . . . I just _wanted _him to.

And don't forget our message boards. You're always free to open up a new topic if you think of something you want to discuss that isn't being discussed.


	97. The Raikage's End?

**Chapter Ninety-Seven**

Takumi struggled and pulled with all his might, feeling as if no progress were being made against Sakura's grip.

He twisted around and kicked her roughly in the face, but she just caught his foot with her other hand.

She twisted his ankles is opposite directions, and he shouted in pain.

"If you don't give up, I'll have to get really mean." Sakura hissed.

Takumi glared at her, "I wanted to spare your life, but if you continue I'll have no choice but to kill you, and Uchiha."

"You're insane if you think you've got what it takes to defeat Sasuke-kun!" Sakura laughed.

"I have an advantage. You're fighting to live, I've already accepted the fact that I'm going to die. As long as the Raikage dies first, I couldn't care less." Takumi hissed. He clasped his fingers together as if he'd just performed a Jutsu.

"Well if you want my respect--" Sakura sneered but Takumi cut her off.

"Your respect means less than nothing to me, you're a fool and a pawn, you're holding me back, defending a man more worthy of death than many you can name." Takumi said.

"Well, none the less you'll have to get free before I take you seriously."

"Fool." Takumi smirked, "I already am free."

He glanced over Sakura's shoulder, as if looking at something behind her.

Sakura, lying flat on her stomach holding his ankles twisted and rolled slightly to the side to look behind her.

She saw nothing, but for an instant she brought Takumi's legs closer to her face.

And with all his might he lashed out, kicking viciously to free his legs, rather than to damage Sakura.

He could do _that _once he had his weapons again.

His legs came free and he immediately began to make hand seals, "Lightning Clone Jutsu!" He shouted, and a pair of clones appeared next to him.

One rushed towards Sakura, the other, and Takumi himself rushed towards the Raikage.

The Raikage sat next to the daimyo, watching the festivities without any concern, but when he noted Takumi charging for him the assassin was a little pleased to see the smile on the Raikage's face slowly wither away.

The Raikage seemed to materialize out of his chair, rather than step from it. He lunged forward and struck Takumi in the chest, throwing him back several feet, "Lightning Style, Repulsion Jutsu!"

Takumi was familiar with that move, he felt the numbing electricity course through him, paralyzing him so that the Raikage could finish him off.

The Raikage had guessed that Takumi was Takumi and not a clone, but he'd improperly guessed the clone's nature.

He'd assumed that Takumi had spoken truthfully and that it was just a lightning clone, easily done away with using the right element of Jutsu.

The clone leapt at the Raikage who swept his hands out in a wind Jutsu that would have split the clone in half had it been a true Lightning Clone.

Instead the clone grew larger, and erupted in flame, flames that swept over the Raikage and bound him.

They couldn't kill him, Takumi hadn't put enough chakra into the Flame Trap Clone for that.

But they would hold him while Takumi finished him off.

Takumi felt feeling returning to his body and quickly looked for his swords.

He took them, using a sort of soft summoning Jutsu he'd carved into them, allowing them to always return to his hands at his call.

He leapt to his feet and ignited them both with fire chakra, and rushed for the Raikage.

He lunged forward, praying that Tetsuo held Uchiha off, hoping that Haruno hadn't already defeated his second clone, hoping against hope that what he was about to do would work.

"Sacrificial Jutsu, Twin Blade Assassination!" Takumi roared, twisting his flaming swords around and connecting them at the pommels, he stabbed one into his own chest and the other drove into the Raikage's.

Flame coursed through them both for an instant, flame that would burn them alive from the inside out, glorious flames signifying Takumi's success.

He'd done it.

He'd killed the Raikage.

As fire consumed him, he thought it nothing compared to the hellfire that awaited him for doing that man's bidding for so long.

But then it stopped.

The assassination Jutsu had failed . . . neither of them was dead.

The Raikage laughed and Takumi noticed the hand grasping the hilts of his swords.

The hands of Uchiha Sasuke.

He tore one lade free of the Raikage and said "Very sloppy of you, not using Substitution Raikage-sama."

"I wanted the boy to think he was doing well." The Raikage smiled. "I taught him the Twin Blade . . . Tak-kun my child . . . did you really think it would work on _me_?"

Takumi glared and tried to back away from his own sword, the tip of which was still imbedded in his chest.

Too late.

"Chidori Nagashi." Sasuke said without emotion, and lightning coursed through Takumi's body.

He fell back, gasping, he felt the Raikage step on his neck and raise his second sword into the air.

Takumi held out his hands and the Raikage laughed, "See him plead! No Konjo Takumi . . . or should it be Ronin Takumi, you have neither the dignity of a Shinobi nor the honor of a clan, you're lower than Shinobi trash, from thus on I see you as a weak Samurai Ronin. Does that not fit you?"

Takumi stretched his hands forth just a bit more, reaching for his swords.

The Raikage laughed maniacally, "Fear not child, you'll not have long to live with your shame!"

He swept out to slay Takumi, but Takumi called both his swords back to his hands.

Before the blade in Uchiha's grasp could make the meter-long trip from the Konoha Jounin's grasp to Takumi's hand, Takumi had already taken his first sword from the Raikage.

Igniting it with wind chakra he cut before the Raikage even realized it wasn't in his hands anymore.

His second sword reached his hand as the Raikage stared dumbly at him.

"You missed." The Daimyo scoffed, "He stands right above you, and you missed."

"No he didn't." Sasuke Uchiha said coldly as the Raikage's upper half fell down onto Takumi, and his legs fell backwards. "I told you to use substitution Raikage-sama . . ." Uchiha sighed. "You won't get away with this."

Takumi smirked and stood up.

He dropped his swords and raised his hands, "I . . . don't . . . care." He said.

Pure lightning chakra began to appear in Sasuke's hand, he knew it was the Chidori.

He just smiled, "Do it. My work is done . . . my mission is accomplished."

"Wait!" The daimyo shouted, but Sasuke charged.

Takumi briefly wondered where Tetsuo was, why he wasn't fighting Uchiha, but then it didn't matter.

He'd already prepared himself for death, he'd made peace with the wrong he'd done in his life and he had only one regret.

He wouldn't see Kaori again.

* * *

Tetsuo _had _struggled against Uchiha, _had _fought with everything he possessed and found himself a rather even match for the legendary Shinobi. 

And then, quite to his horror Hikaru had come into the fray, and Uchiha had left to stop Takumi.

Tetsuo wanted to shout a warning but Hikaru had kept him too busy fighting for his life.

He dodged and weaved, avoiding the scythe-like blades the had sprouted from Hikaru's back.

He sank into the shadows, avoiding Hikaru's strike.

He emerged behind Hikaru and slashed him across the small of his back with a kunai.

The wound resealed almost instantly, the two bladed arms Hikaru had summoned for himself swept back to slice Tetsuo in half.

He sank into the shadows again, growing frantic.

He'd have to use a lot more chakra than he'd thought in order to win this fight.

He emerged from the shadows and leapt into the air, he struck his hands together and shouted "Fire Style, Dragon Stomp Jutsu!"

He spun around several times, becoming a ball of flame to an observer, but within the fiery sphere he was safe.

He dropkicked Hikaru's head, Hikaru used substitution to escape, the chair he'd swapped places with was shattered as Tetsuo stomped it into the ground.

He slapped his hands together painfully as he began to perform hand signals a little too rapidly for his comfort, "Lightning Style, Stagger Shock Jutsu!" He shouted, leaping backwards and letting the rings of lightning that suddenly surrounded him zap anything that might have been trying to ambush him.

He heard the sounds of something heavy hitting the floor and knew Hikaru had substituted again.

Now Hikaru was right in front of him.

"Earth Style, Ground Spike Jutsu!" Tetsuo shouted, and the earth itself erupted in a series of deadly stalagmites which impaled Hikaru.

Tetsuo gulped, those were all his most powerful Jutsus.

He glared at Hikaru, who was standing on the ceiling with a snide smirk on his face.

Tetsuo was about to leap up to try once more to deal with him when he suddenly spotted something that horrified him.

Hanabi!

Hanabi rushed towards him, "Tetsuo-kun!" She screamed with tears in her eyes, "Help me! My clan has come for me!"

Tetsuo's eyes widened and for a moment the enemy on the ceiling was forgotten, he wrapped his arms around Hanabi and said "Don't worry . . . I won't let them take you."

"Oh Tetsuo."

"After all . . . your life is _mine _to destroy!" Tetsuo shouted in her face.

He stabbed Hanabi in the back with his kunai, burying it to the hilt.

Her eyes went blank, her head rolled back.

Tetsuo felt pain rip through his body as her blades punctured his back.

As Hanabi changed from the beautiful woman he loved, to the monstrous Minoru Hikaru.

The Hikaru on the ceiling fell towards Tetsuo but disappeared, nothing but a clone.

The real Hikaru, whom Tetsuo had stabbed in the back and had in turn been stabbed in the back by, felly to the ground, dragging Tetsuo, still stuck on the bladed arms with him.

Hikaru roared as the kunai, already deep inside him was shoved even deeper when he fell.

"You might have . . . killed your woman. What . . . if you'd . . . been . . . wrong?" Hikaru asked in gasps.

"I wasn't. Hanabi is more to me than someone to share my bed with. She's someone I can talk to, someone I can listen to, someone I know as well as, if not better than I know myself. I love her, which is an emotion you'll never understand. I know how she is, I know that if her clan were after he she'd give herself up to protect me, try to hide it from me so I wouldn't get involved, she'd never come running up to me in tears asking for my help in the matter no matter how much I want her to. You showed me what I wanted to see Hikaru, but you didn't show me reality, and that is your failing."

Hikaru laughed weakly, "Love is . . . nothing but a word . . . people use . . . when they want to . . . think that their . . . carnal urges . . . mean more than . . . they really do. In . . . the end . . . we're all just . . . animals. We kill . . . we eat . . . we mate . . . we die. Love is . . . nothing."

"Love saved me, and killed you." Tetsuo said with a shrug, painfully removing himself from Hikaru's blades, and Hikaru was too weak to stop him, "It must be something special."

"You . . . got . . . luck--" Hikaru gagged and closed his eyes before he could finish his final word.

Tetsuo stood up, ignoring the searing pain in his body.

He was bleeding badly, he doubted he'd be able to escape.

His vision was blurring, he supposed what he'd said about love saving him hadn't proven true in the long run. But it had saved him in that moment from dying by Hikaru's hand so he still believed it was something.

For that reason, he couldn't just die.

He glared at the Jounin Haruno Sakura struggling to avoid one of Takumi's clones.

He rushed forward and thrust his hand forward, using a weak but sufficient water jutsu to dispel the clone, he staggered to his knees in front of Haruno.

"Save me," He said, "and I'll tell your Hokage _everything _she wants to know."

Haruno was already treating his wounds before he finished the sentence, which was very kind of her. He could understand why Konoha's people so loved their Twelve. The Twelve, even the arrogant Uchiha Sasuke, were, at their core, good people.

He'd see Hanabi again.

* * *

Kyoko was panting as she canceled her Jutsu, she was exhausted beyond words. 

But she was still determined to win.

The other girl emerged from the shadows in front of her, kunai in each hand.

"Giving up" Kyoko asked, as she spotted her weasels rushing in to attack.

"Hardly." A voice behind her said, the weasels leapt and slashed through the doppelganger, nothing but a genjutsu clone.

Hattori Kasumi held a kunai to Kyoko's neck and punched her viciously in the back, "A Shinobi who expels all their strength is nothing."

Kyoko however never felt that punch to her back, she sat in one of the trees she hadn't uprooted and whispered "A Shinobi who can't use substitution is nothing."

Tombugiri and Naginata charged for the Hattori girl, whom Kyoko had rightly guessed had run out of chakra.

She didn't retreat into the shadows, she didn't have enough chakra for that Jutsu, and her physical movements were sluggish.

Kyoko sat back and waited for her weasels to do her job for her.

"A Shinobi must know the proper time to strike." Kyoko smirked.

Kotaro would be proud of her.

She frowned when Tombugiri and Naginata both leapt at the Hattori girl with spinning attacks that would stun and defeat her.

But as they struck her she exploded, or rather became a large flash of electricity that shocked the poor weasels to unconsciousness.

Kyoko shuddered and covered her eyes from the bright blast.

The next thing she knew she was falling. She fell from the tree suddenly, and landed roughly on her side, she rolled and came to her feet as the Hattori girl leapt from the trees down on her.

"Proper use of the clone Jutsu is the ninja's bread, butter, and honeyed water!" Hattori Kasumi shouted, descending on Kyoko.

Kyoko swept her fan out at the girl, tossing her back, and rolled to her feet.

"Here I thought this match was ending." They both said at the same time.

They laughed uneasily.

"Well . . . let the proverbial round two commence." Kasumi sighed, feeling terribly exhausted.

Both girls lunged for one another.

* * *

The Raikage dusted himself off and glanced at his elite squadron of masked Shinobi, the Hishu. "My servant Minoru Hikaru is still there, injured or dead. Either way bring him back to me. The corpse I left there, be sure it is not too thoroughly inspected, claim that you are ensuring that my bloodline's secrets remain secret." 

The Hishu commander nodded, but said nothing.

"And of the traitorous Tetsuo and Takumi . . . if they still live, leave them be. Let them think they've won. It is Lord Taiko's wish."

The commander saluted and the four masked Shinobi disappeared.

The Raikage donned a Hishu hood and mask himself and walked slowly, calmly out of Konoha.

His work in the city was done, Lord Taiko's plans were pushed a little further. Now he needed only fade into the background until it came time to spring the trap that the Land of Lightning was so carefully laying.

He turned back to Konoha before leaving through the magnificent gates.

The next time he saw this city . . . would be at the head of an army of trained soldiers and the finest Shinobi in the world.

In just a few months the trap would be sprung, and Konohagakure, as well as Sunagakure would be annihilated down to the last screaming child.

Let Tetsuo and Takumi think for the moment that they'd won and done away with him.

All too soon they'd learn the truth . . . and he pitied them when that happened.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Wow, we're nearing chapter 100, and that sure feels amazing. For that matter a bonus chapter is soon to be called for. Heads up though, because the action isn't over yet. There's still more to action to come from our Konoha Twelve, and our Genin, yes more action than you can shake a stick at!

A stick . . . with "action" written on the side of it that is, because this story is just that action packed! Yes this action packed series is full of action, and you can never have enough action, because action is an action, which just makes it awesome.

Yeah, anyway enough nonsensical joking about action, to say that there's more coming soon goes without saying. Don't worry, Nine-tailed-Naruto is coming up, along with more from the Konoha Twelve, as well as the eighth match, and don't forget our message boards!

**Hishu**The idea of the Hishu is only partially mine, on a message board I stumbled upon a discussion wherein it was suggested that the Anbu and Hunter-nin might just be different countries' variation of the same basic thing, the question of whether or not the other villages had their own variation came up and I thought that if they did it'd be a great idea for New Blood. The Hishu are Lightning's version of the Anbu, like the Anbu they're an exclusive group and they wear masks, unlike the Anbu they're much more numerous because Lightning has expanded its borders so much that it needs a large secret police force, it also has the numbers to be able to keep a large secret police force populated and stuff.

Earth and Wind both have Anbu equivalent units too, and even if this is proven false in the Manga, I like the idea too much. New Blood takes place _almost_ sixteen years after Naruto begins, so I'm going to do this anyway, you'll just have to let me get away with it.


	98. The Nine Tails

**Chapter Ninety-Eight**

Her heart was racing, she moved with every bit of speed she possessed and still it was barely enough.

She had always thought her father would be the one to fight this fight, this was after all Hattori Hanzo, the master of the Hattori clan, the greatest Shinobi in his village aside from the Raikage, and some said his son.

Nevertheless, she needed to do this, and she needed to win.

She was the future of her clan, the Hyuga were strong and she would not disappoint them.

Hyuga Hinata lunged for her foe, thrusting forth with both hands in a desperate bid to seal more of his chakra points, but he easily sidestepped.

As she had expected him to.

He brought a hand down on her neck, she quickly used a substitution Jutsu, switching places with a rock--they were in abundance on this mountaintop--and appeared behind him.

She hoped he hurt his hands when he smashed right through the rock.

She fought not only to seal off his chakra points, but to keep from leaving him enough time to summon more of the clones he was using the torment Naruto-kun.

She didn't blink; she didn't close her eyes for even an instant. In a fight like this, all it might take to get oneself killed was a single blink.

They were Jounin, the elite of their villages.

They were reputed professional killers as well. Hanzo rated high in Konoha's bingo book, Hinata did not doubt that she rated high in Kumo's.

They were like titans, other Shinobi could not compare to them. Even Naruto-kun had fallen to the Hattori, and Hinata would prove that the Hyuga were greater than the Hattori . . . greater than anyone was.

Why was she so afraid of Naruto?

Why should she feel unworthy of _him_?

She was Hyuga. She was worthy of whatever she set her eyes on.

Konoha would have fallen long ago without her clan, she was--

No! Such thoughts of grandeur would not do. The Uchiha had spouted a lot of that nonsense and now only one of them was known to still be alive.

Hinata, the Hyuga couldn't afford to think themselves greater than their enemies, or their allies.

Hinata couldn't for even a second think herself greater than Hanzo, it was what he wanted. For all she knew those very thoughts were his doing, a genjutsu perhaps her eyes had certainly been open long enough for him to use one on her.

She glared, "You are a formidable opponent Hattori-san, but I have things to fight for _worth _fighting for, worth _dying _for it I must, you fight for nothing but yourself."

"I'm glad your cause is worth dying for . . . because very soon you shall die for it." Hanzo smirked, "But before you do, I'll rip those disgusting eyes out of your skull . . . and the Raikage will have his Hyuga eyes . . . and then have no need for your sister. Does that knowledge please you?"

Hinata smirked, "My sister is safe . . . because your son loves her. He'll be head of the clan when you're dead . . . and for hurting Naruto-kun your punishment _is _death."

Hanzo laughed and seemed about to speak when suddenly he faltered.

However, Hinata didn't take advantage of it; she herself was frozen in her tracks.

She felt cold; something terrible was traveling through her veins.

She shuddered, and Hanzo lunged for her.

She twisted out of his way and kicked him in the stomach as he passed, only to have him use substitution on her, her leg slamming into a boulder.

She felt herself spin around, and fall flat on her face.

She tried to get up, and fell again, her leg hurt so much the pain was almost maddening.

She looked at it, knowing it was broken, Hanzo descended on her, she twisted again, rolling on the ground and kicking out at him with her good leg, but he easily dodged.

She threw shuriken, which he deflected with a kunai he'd presumably drawn as she was flat on her face.

Too many of his chakra points were sealed for him to finish her with a Jutsu, so he'd use the kunai.

Or perhaps he just wanted to make good on his threat of blinding her before killing her.

Either way Hinata didn't want that knife coming within a meter of her; she threw herself backwards and came to stand on her one leg, rapidly beginning the hand seals for a Jutsu when she and Hanzo faltered again.

This time the cold feeling inside her was stronger, so strong her teeth chattered for an instant.

It felt as if an icy chill had passed through her like a shockwave, and she kept one eye on Hanzo but let Naruto enter her peripheral vision . . . was this some trick of the torture clones?

No . . . if it were Hanzo wouldn't be hesitating whenever it happened.

She'd worry about it after the fight was over. Hinata, barely able to stand did not stop her Jutsu as she diverted her attention to Naruto, and when she focused on Hanzo, again she unleashed hell.

* * *

Kabuto blinked and the Hokage nearly punched his head through a wall. 

He dodged and kicked the wall so that a cloud of dust rose up, providing some cover.

"Tsunade . . . you're so old and useless, surrender to me now . . . for old time's sake," He said in his best impersonation of Orochimaru-sama's voice.

Tsunade's answer was to punch the ground out from under him.

He laughed, "You put your Genin at risk," he warned her but her strike was worrisome.

If she was coming to the point where the Genin, and the very building mattered less than killing him he might have to ease off and let her win a bit more.

But it wouldn't matter soon. Soon the eight match would start, soon his plans would come to fruition, and after that it didn't matter if the Chuunin exams ended, his message would have been delivered, Konoha would know that it would fall.

He smiled and said in his own voice, "One month after Sunagakure is burned to the ground . . . Konohagakure will follow. Lord Orochimaru cared something for your pathetic village, wanted to spare it . . . but I am not my master. I am greater."

"You'll always be a second rate tyrant to me, a sniveling brat looking to follow in a maniac's shoes!" Tsunade hissed. "Orochimaru was twisted, but you're just evil."

"Those words might sting more if you knew me better." Kabuto smirked, dodging a punch from Tsunade, who was making more and more dust as she demolished walls around them.

He laughed to himself; she was making a ruckus so her Anbu would know to move in.

After all . . . they were overdue.

Moegi was proving useless against Kabuto--in fact she lived only because Kabuto feared the Hokage might be whipped into a rage if she died--Tsunade wasn't winning as easily as she probably hoped . . . the madam Hokage must be getting nervous.

Kabuto smirked and let Tsunade clip his shoulder, just to make her feel better.

He screamed as if she'd hit him hard and without him expecting it.

"There's more where that came from." Tsunade taunted, apparently having fallen for the trick.

Kabuto smirked, "We'll see old woman."

* * *

Sai threw himself back as the sickle slashed the air right where his head had been. 

He glanced at his dead medic, who'd been killed before he could escape with the children.

The children his other Anbu were now trying to defend.

The children were a liability; they were going to get the entire squad killed.

It wasn't their fault of course, he didn't blame them or anything, but the facts were the facts.

He might have used a Jutsu to alert the whole village, surely the Shinobi in the stadium must have realized by now that something strange was going on, but were waiting to act.

Sai didn't want to cause a panic, he could handle these people and though it'd happen faster with help, either way it _would _happen.

Sai leapt onto a wall and unfurled a scroll, he summoned a new familiar, this one was a hawk that flew around the room.

"What's that?" One of the sound nins shouted.

Sai lunged forward and cut that man's cheek with his sword, "Something you really should have worked harder to prevent," he said cheerfully, though inside he was a bit annoyed.

He should have slashed the man's throat, not his cheek, this Jounin was quick.

The hawk surged forward into a stoop and clawed at the eyes of the speedy Jounin.

The Jounin easily used substitution but the damage was done, the ink that had dripped onto the Jounin without his notice as the bird flew about the room was enough, now Sai knew exactly where the enemy Jounin was.

He spun around and swiped with his sword, cutting a bloody line down the man's face.

The enemy fell back, holding his face and screaming, Sai lunged and stabbed him in the chest, but even blinded by the blood flowing down his face the Shinobi managed to use substitution before Sai could finish him off.

But because of Sai's Jutsu, and the ink that stained the Jounin and his comrades Sai had a perfect comprehension of where each of them was. The ink had a strong smell that only he recognized, and though it was currently spattered on several different sources, he could still tell the location of each. The ink used in the jutsu was designed to emit a different smell according to the blood type, and gender of the person it spilled on--and no smell at all when it landed on the ground or in some other way missed its mark.

So Sai knew where everyone was, substitute as much as they liked, they were only delaying the inevitable. There was nothing they could do to escape him, eventually he'd win . . . but the kids were more and more in danger the longer this fight dragged on.

He'd have to find a way to end it quickly.

* * *

Hinata unleashed her Genjutsu on Hanzo, the image of her father and Neji suddenly appearing on either side of her and lunging for him projected, both struck out at him with swords, and he attempted to dodge them. 

They swept through him causing no damage, but the shuriken Hinata threw would be quite lethal.

Unfortunately they went right through Hanzo as well.

She gulped.

A doppelganger?

When had she given him time to use that Jutsu? How had he managed the chakra for it with so many of his points sealed off?

She felt prickling on the back of her neck, her hairs stood on end and she spun around on her one foot, nearly falling again.

Hanzo was there, a pair of kunai in his hands, he threw one as Hinata was turning and with just one leg she couldn't dodge in time.

It slammed into her shoulder and she did fall, coughing as she rolled and ripped the blade free.

Hanzo leapt into the air and came down right on top of her, "No more running brat!" He roared, raising the blade into the air.

He brought it down swiftly, but it stopped a millimeter from Hinata's eye.

What was he . . .

Hinata gasped when Hanzo roared in pain and suddenly went flying.

Naruto-kun stood over her, glowing red.

His eyes were different . . . was this some sort of bloodline inheritance?

Naruto growled as he turned back towards Hanzo, who rolled to his feet and clutched his hand, which looked burned.

Naruto took a step towards Hanzo, and Hinata saw the ground beneath Naruto crack, she saw where the earth had split as Naruto had gotten up from the torture clones' embrace, saw the long footsteps between that spot and where Naruto had saved her, realized that he must have gotten up and reached Hanzo in an instant.

Speed that even Uchiha Sasuke might have been hard pressed to match.

Hinata gasped, "N-Naruto-kun . . ." She said, "Are you . . . are you all right?"

Naruto glanced over his shoulder at her, his look was menacing and dark.

Hateful.

Was he mad at her for getting hurt?

"I-I'm sorry!" She whimpered, "I did my best . . . don't be upset with me Naruto-kun!"

"Fool!" Hanzo roared, "He's not Naruto anymore! He doesn't know who you are, he doesn't _care_!"

Hinata shook her head, Naruto would know her, Naruto would always know her.

Because she'd always know him, no matter what. He _had _to know her.

She looked at him, her expression pleading for some sign of recognition.

She didn't get it. But then she realized this wasn't Naruto.

It was something else, something terrifying.

But Naruto had to be in there somewhere, "N-Naruto-Kun . . . please . . ." She whispered.

For an instant his eyes returned to normal, for an instant he _was _Naruto.

He winked at her, then he was the beast once more.

He threw himself at Hanzo, howling like a wild animal.

Hanzo roared like a wild animal himself and actually charged for Naruto in turn, hands rapidly forming seals for a Jutsu, "Even if I fall there will be more like me, you'll never know true peace, Demon! You'll be hunted and Konoha will be hated as long as you dwell within its walls! Your only escape is death, and I will provide it for you now, Demon of Konoha! In the name of Kumogakure and all its inhabitants, in the name of my clan, for the sake of my children and my people I will banish you to the hell you spawned from, or die trying!"

Hinata could already tell that even Hanzo knew he'd die trying.

The sheer power of Naruto was terrifying, and his chakra was ever darkening to the point where he himself was becoming indistinguishable beneath it.

He had tails too, Hinata noticed, four of them.

As he and Hanzo clashed a flash of light seared into Naruto, Hanzo's Jutsu.

But Naruto seemed not to notice at all, he swept one clawed arm out at Hanzo and the Kumogakure Jounin went flying.

* * *

Shikamaru glanced at the mountain where Naruto was fighting. 

He scowled, feeling a weird sensation from it, "Hurry up you worthless, bothersome assassins," He whispered, "I don't have all day."

Matters didn't improve when a black bird suddenly flew into view right above the exams stadium and exploded in a brilliant flash, the words Infirmary appearing in black ink within the flash, somehow discernable from any vantage point, a masterful genjutsu.

The ignorant masses cheered at the light show, but Shikamaru noticed every single Konoha and Suna Shinobi from Chuunin to Jounin level get up and walk towards, or simply poof away for the infirmary.

He spoke into the radio to the Konoha Twelve, "Hold your positions. Sakura, what's your status?"

"The situation is under control now, but the Raikage is dead, we weren't able to save him. The Kumogakure Anbu have shown up to apprehend the assassins, but one of them is offering us information, what do you want me to tell the Kumo Anbu?"

"By all rights they have no valid excuse to be in this village, Sakura." Shikamaru said.

"That had occurred to me. I even thought they might be some of the phony sound ninjas" Sakura admitted, "But Sasuke says they're not the Shinobi we're looking for."

"In any event their presence is suspicious." Shikamaru said, unable to believe that so many Shinobi had snuck into the village without Lady Tsunade knowing.

What had the Hokage been up to allowing all this?

"That prisoner with information _must _be brought before the interrogation squads, don't chance him anywhere near the Hokage and Kazekage, if he was able to kill the Raikage--"

"It wasn't him--" Sakura said, but Shikamaru continued.

"Irrelevant, give him to the interrogators. Protect the daimyo and consider those Anbu to be dangerous."

"What about the Jounin who was protecting the Raikage?" Sakura asked.

"What about him?" Shikamaru asked.

"He . . . he has a curse mark." Sakura whispered into the radio.

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed, this was turning out to be quite a day . . . "Report to Hokage-sama, ask her for instructions, take the daimyo with you, coax him if necessary but make it clear that for the sake of his safety he has no real choice."

"Understood." Sakura said, then began to repeat Shikamaru's instructions to Sasuke.

Shikamaru tapped his earpiece and said into his radio, "I want everyone to double their efforts to find the fake sounds, the sooner the better. Split up if you deem it safe, but do whatever you have to do to locate them." Shikamaru frowned. "Oh . . . never mind." He said as he sensed several alien shadows entering into his shadow radius. Maybe he shouldn't have sent Chouji away.

"I have them . . ." Shikamaru said, sensing the Hattoris and quickly calculating their numbers. "Come out of hiding." He smirked at the Hattori ninja as he forced them from the shadows, from his realm, "Your shadow tricks are impressive, it's true. I wouldn't mind learning a few under different circumstances . . . unfortunately, you're using shadows to travel. I use them to trap. You're the flies, and I am the spider."

The Hattori glared at him, "We slipped out once, and we can do it again."

Shikamaru laughed, "You didn't slip anywhere. That was me letting you think you'd slipped out." The Konoha Jounin scoffed.

The Hattori glared at him, "We won't be denied."

The ambassadors glared at Shikamaru, "I daresay," The Kumo ambassador said, "Wh-what is all this?"

"Doomsday." A new voice said, Shikamaru spun around only to feel his radio and earpiece torn away and thrown away by a Shinobi who'd come in from the light, where his shadows couldn't detect her.

His eyes narrowed and he forced his shadow to engulf this new foe.

He glared, "And how do you work into all this?" He asked as the Kumo Jounin, who pressed her kunai against his neck.

"Only villains give away their plans," Okatsu said darkly, "I'm serving a righteous cause. You learn nothing." The woman laughed then faltered.

"Tell me your plan or don't . . . it still gave you enough pause for me to trap you with my shadow." Shikamaru smirked.

Okatsu smiled warmly at him, "And just how long can you hold all of us? What do you think we'll do to you when we're free? And you without your radio, how can you possibly hope for help?"

Shikamaru just smirked, "Well why don't I show you a puppet show depicting how I plan to win?" Shikamaru asked, and sweeping his arms through the air forced a pair of Hattori to draw their short swords, he smirked at Okatsu, "Feel like playing the villain and spilling your "righteous" plans for me? Or do you want to be part of my puppet show?"

Okatsu smirked as Shikamaru forced her and everyone else to raise their hands into the air.

He waited to hear the kunai that she'd put to his neck clatter to the ground, but it didn't.

He felt a prickling on his skin and glared down to see that the blade had sprouted insect-like legs and was perched against his throat, ready to plunge itself into his neck.

He smiled wryly, "Interesting."

"And quite real, no genjutsu involved." Okatsu said. "The fact that we suffer the same pain as you while under this Jutsu is all that keeps that blade from plunging into your throat. So you see we are at a stalemate . . . if I'm about to die in your puppet show I'll kill you too, see? Moreover, when your Jutsu times out I'm free to kill you while my comrades here fulfill their mission. What do you think of that? Have I outthought Konoha's Genius?"

Shikamaru shook his head slowly, "Not quite . . . but I'll admit I didn't consider this likely."

"You couldn't have predicted this." Okatsu scoffed.

"This specific situation? No. But the outline of it? The loss of my radio due to an extra enemy at or around Jounin level, and a jutsu to take me out even if I have everyone under my shadow possession? Yeah, I considered that. I even considered that one of the ambassadors might attempt to help you in my murder."

"Clever boy. Well if the master didn't want you and the rest of the Twelve spared I'd kill you just so that clever mind of yours could never be used against me . . . alas, orders. But tell me, clever boy, how will you escape this situation?"

"Let me illuminate for you just what it means to be the Konoha Genius . . ." Shikamaru smiled as his own shadow crept up his neck and, taking corporeal form a shadow tendril reached up and snatched the blade and held it, waving in front of Okatsu. "Real genius isn't knowing a complicated solution to every problem, real genius--or at least my lazy brand of it, is solving the problem with as little effort and chakra waste as possible. Have any other trump cards, Okatsu?"

Okatsu smiled grimly, "Kill me if you like . . . my master's plans are already underway. My death here and now will gain you nothing."

"Gains me a bit of satisfaction." Shikamaru said, and waved one of his unwilling Hattori shadow puppets to Okatsu.

The puppet stabbed Okatsu, and screamed as lightning coursed through his body.

Shikamaru severed his link with the Hattori for the instant of the strike, knowing that there was no way the Hattori could abort the attack, nor would he notice, and now Shikamaru was glad that he'd done so.

He'd suspected Okatsu of being a clone, but he didn't expect it to be a lightning clone.

As his puppet roared in pain, pain that he realized would have been transmitted to him had he not been cautious enough to sever his link to the Hattori, he smiled and said "Clever. Clever indeed . . ." He had his shadow tendril shake the insect-kunai in the air, "Not nearly clever enough, Okatsu. By the way, when this is over, you'll be singing like a bird about this so-called master."

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **I recently moved, upon arrival we discovered to our annoyance that our internet service provider didn't cover the area we'd moved to, though they had said they did. There was confusion obviously. So anyway whilst on the market for a new internet service provider in our area I've been unable to deliver the updates you all deserve (unpacking and organizing doesn't help either) and right now the matter is still unresolved, however that doesn't mean I haven't been writing.

Enjoy Chapters 98-100, with the already completed 101 to be posted on time with my apologies. Do not forget our forum.


	99. Kyoko and Kasumi

**Chapter Ninety-Nine**

Kyoko threw herself backwards as the Hattori girl's shuriken sailed over her.

Had she not moved they would have carved her torso to bits.

Kyoko continued throwing herself backwards and rolled, coming up on the ground.

She was just about out of Chakra, but she'd die before she simply gave up.

What a lot of others didn't understand was that being Chuunin wasn't _just _about being a leader, it was also about being a soldier, a warrior of your village.

A warrior needed to be willing to die for that village if necessary.

At least that was what Kyoko believed.

She understood now, this wasn't about proving to a bunch of strangers in gray suits that she was a Chuunin, this was about proving to herself, _believing _she deserved to be a Chuunin.

She leaped up and swept her fan out, throwing her higher into the air with its power.

She twisted it around as she began to descend.

Hattori leapt into the air, a fatal mistake.

Once off the ground she'd put herself at the mercy of Kyoko's winds.

"Wind Scythe Jutsu!" Kyoko shouted.

Her winds blew down on Hattori Kasumi.

And Kasumi disappeared.

A shadow clone? No, it was substitution.

Kyoko landed on the ground and quickly sprang away, guessing that Kasumi might be waiting for her at the landing spot.

"Run all you want," The Hattori girl said, "You can't get away from your own shadow."

"How?" Kyoko squeaked as Kasumi grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her backwards.

"The time it takes your fan to pass over your eyes, the instant that I disappear from your field of vision is enough time for me to create a shadow clone and dive into your shadow," Kasumi explained.

Kyoko scoffed and swept her arm backwards in an attempt to hit Kasumi, her summons were rushing to her aid but it would be over before they arrived.

Kyoko let Kasumi pull her backwards, then kept going, rolling backwards, wrapping her legs around the older girl's neck.

She could twist violently and kill the Hattori girl, win by default and show everyone that Sunagakure hadn't lost any of its ruthlessness, that its Shinobi were rough as ever.

But . . .

"I'm ready and willing to die to become a Chuunin . . . but I doubt _you _are." Kyoko said, thrusting forward with her fan, slamming it into Kasumi's stomach.

Kasumi however drew a pair of kunai from her waist and slammed them into Kyoko's legs.

"I'm not willing to die, but you are. Sounds like we can both get what we want, eh?" Kasumi sneered.

Kyoko's legs gave out, their grip on Kasumi relaxed and she was shoved away.

But she wasn't done.

"I'm not that easy!" Kyoko shouted, sweeping her fan out and blowing Kasumi into a far wall.

The crowd was going wild, Kyoko felt herself drowning in their euphoria.

But she couldn't stand now, she couldn't fight.

She couldn't see how she'd win this match.

But that didn't mean she was giving up.

"Sunagakure doesn't train quitters!" She shouted, tossing her fan out and flipping onto it.

With what chakra she could muster, she forced it to rise, drew her shuriken and let them fly quickly, while Kasumi was still dazed.

She didn't even breathe as the shuriken flew, she didn't blink.

She willed them to hit on target, to eliminate Hattori Kasumi . . .

But the girl fell into her shadow and sprang out, into the air towards Kyoko.

She could hear Kasumi panting, she could see the beads of sweat pouring down the older girl's forehead.

Saw Kasumi leap towards her, a kunai drawn.

She drew her own Kunai, ready to fend off the attacker.

They struck, Kyoko stabbed for Kasumi's neck and missed.

Kasumi slammed her kunai into Kyoko's fan.

As she fell away she cut the fan in half.

And then Kyoko was falling.

* * *

Matsuri dusted herself off and glanced at the surviving Anbu, "What's the situation here?"

"You're poking your noses where they don't belong . . . but thanks." The Anbu captain grumbled. "We were ambushed, we were supposed to aid the Hokage."

"The Hokage?" Matsuri demanded, "Where is the Fifth?"

"Just outside that--" The captain said, indicating the door but Hitomi had already kicked it open and rolled through it.

Matsuri gulped when she saw the battle that was unfolding on the other side of the door.

There was so much power, so much raw chakra it was like a sort of humidity in the hallway. Unconscious lay a Genin and dead lay Proctor Udon.

Proctor Moegi seemed torn between taking vengeance for her comrade, and staying out of the Hokage's way.

And the Hokage . . . Matsuri had never been so incredibly afraid of the old woman in her life.

"Hitomi . . ." Matsuri warned, "You don't want to--"

It was too late, Hitomi dove into the fight with all the speed she had, and it was still barely enough to avoid being plastered by the two more powerful opponents.

"Hitomi!" Matsuri warned.

The Anbu captain grabbed her arm, "The other team hasn't shown up, they were probably ambushed too. We can't help the Hokage, this is beyond us, but we might be able to help the other team, together _maybe _there'll be something we can do. We need to go, leave your friend."

Matsuri scowled.

But she was a Chuunin, she knew her duty. Watching out for Hitomi wasn't her job, protecting the village was. Hitomi probably had a good idea of what she was doing, she wouldn't have done it if she didn't, she was a clever girl.

Matsuri spun her blades in her hands and followed the Anbu captain, carefully running past the titanic combatants towards the far door, "Good luck kid," Matsuri thought aloud as she passed Hitomi.

She'd need it, because if the enemy could survive, let alone hold his own against the Hokage, the chances of Hitomi standing any chance were astronomically dire.

* * *

Kabuto scowled when a new Shinobi entered the fray.

It wasn't one of his.

A tiny annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless.

He glared at her, "I suppose you killed my ambush squad. Pity, they were useful." It also meant that Kabuto, without any sort of backup at this point might have to retreat early.

The young woman didn't respond, instead she began to perform hand seals faster than Kabuto could keep track.

Flame erupted in her hand, sort of like Sasuke-kun's chidori, then it gathered and collected into one small perfect sphere in her palm.

Kabuto raised an eyebrow as the attack was launched, he used substitution and appeared behind Tsunade who spun around on instinct and tried to smash his head.

There was no time to chat, not with three opponents trying to kill him, but he did want to berate this newcomer for using such a deadly Jutsu.

At the speeds they were moving, in the closed quarters such a move could have easily hit dopey little Moegi.

"What have you done with the children!" The newcomer roared.

"I hid them in my pockets. They've gone elsewhere you nitwit." Kabuto jeered.

"Stay back," Tsunade commanded, "I can handle him."

"If that were true he'd be handled, Hokage-sama." The woman snapped.

"I don't need a Chuunin's help, Hijiri. The situation is just far too dangerous. Get Moegi and the injured Genin out of here!"

"Hijiri?" Kabuto scowled, "Well now you can't leave."

"What?" Tsunade demanded, "What do you want with--"

He ducked under Tsunade's thrust and jabbed Hijiri in the stomach, only to find himself striking thin air.

She was fast . . . faster than he was.

That bothered him.

"You're one of Naruto-kun's students, your death would be a fine message to him, letting him know that I'm finally ready to kill him and Sasuke-kun." Kabuto said, preparing a genjutsu that would keep Tsunade distracted long enough for him to quickly murder the Chuunin.

She might be fast, but speed wasn't everything. He could deal with speedy opponents, he'd already had a plan and a jutsu in mind for taking out Sasuke-kun.

Hijiri probably wasn't as fast as Sasuke-kun, and she certainly wasn't as powerful so the jutsu he had in mind would be overkill.

And he rather liked the idea of leaving Naruto-kun's student in bloody tatters on the ground, it'd encourage the literal demon within Naruto to come out.

* * *

Kasumi was on her knees, but her enemy was on her face.

She looked the girl over, she was unconscious but she wasn't permanently damaged.

Kasumi had been very careful when stabbing her legs not to leave the limbs useless after, but she was worried when she had to destroy the girl's fan leaving both of them to plummet to the ground.

Because Kyoko's legs were useless her landing couldn't have been soft, but Kasumi had been out of chakra, out of resources and out of options.

If it was either she or Kyoko she would rather it be Kyoko.

Still she hoped the fiery girl was okay, there were few enough talented kunoichi as it was, she didn't want to be responsible for disabling or worse killing one.

"The winner . . . Hattori Kasumi." The proctor announced.

Kasumi shuddered as she was led away by a medic and taken to the balcony with the other Genin.

The balcony, not the infirmary.

She'd have guessed they didn't think her injured enough, though she was bruised her true weakness was exhaustion and low--no nearly _depleted--_chakra reserves. But when they brought unconscious Kyoko too, Kasumi felt concern creep through her.

She noted that Miura Saizo, still unconscious, was there too.

"Why aren't these kids--" Kasumi began but she was cut off.

"They're perfectly fine, our medics here can take care of them." The Chuunin examiner Kouji said. "No need for concern."

Kasumi frowned, she glanced at Yuu who nodded subtly.

"I don't feel well. I think I should go to the infirmary." Kasumi said.

"No, your next match may come before you return, in which case you'll forfeit." The examiner said.

"Well what if I feel so ill I need to forfeit anyway?" Kasumi asked cautiously.

"Then you'll be taken to a hospital." The examiner said.

Kasumi frowned, "Is something going on?" She asked.

"No, nothing to worry about. Look, the next match is starting, go watch it. And you," He added, glancing at Yuu, "Stay put."

Yuu smiled lightly, "Of course."

He must have noticed Yuu beginning to phase through the floor.

Kasumi frowned and glanced at her teammates.

There was something going on in the infirmary . . . she was sure of it.

* * *

Chouji smiled at Sumiko, "Yeah, your daddy's gonna be back real soon. Just finishing up some paper work."

Syako, who seemed to be the only person with Sumiko at the moment frowned at him, "Maybe this is all too much excitement . . . I think I should take Sumiko back home, these fights are terribly violent, and I know its Temari-chan's decision but . . ."

Chouji nodded, "Yeah, get her out of here, that's best."

He wasn't telling her to leave because of the violence of the exams, but because of the violence that could ensue if the Hattori attackers slipped past the Konoha Twelve.

Yeah, sending Shikamaru's daughter away would be safest.

"Get out of here," Chouji nodded, "It'd be best for little Sumiko to rest at home."

"Thank you." Sumiko said. "Do tell Kankuro and Temari-chan where we've gone."

"Right, where are they?" Chouji asked.

"I'm not entirely sure." Syako admitted. "I haven't seen them for some time."

Chouji frowned.

This wasn't good.

He'd better find Temari . . . before she found Shikamaru.

* * *

Yomiko glared at Naomasa, "Kotaro's next."

"A straight flush for our team." Naomasa nodded.

"Yeah . . . well . . ." Yomiko frowned, "He has to win first. Now this kid stood up to a Chuunin examiner."

"Kotaro can do it." Nao said.

Yomiko nodded. She watched Kotaro walk into the center of the arena, "I think he can. But we should still cheer him on, make sure he remembers that he can."

"Do what now?" Nao asked.

"**KICK HIS BUTT KOTOARO!**" Yomiko screamed so loud that it seemed like Naomasa had to hold his head to keep it from exploding.

"Come on," Yomiko told him, "Cheer for our teammate!"

Nao smirked.

* * *

Kotaro stood in the center of the arena just a meter away from Akuma.

They glared at each other, Kotaro gulped.

He had scanned the crowd, he couldn't see his mother or his father.

He couldn't see Shikamaru-sensei.

But when he looked up at the balcony, he _could _see Naomasa and Yomiko, both of whom stood side by side watching him with confidence.

He smirked. He supposed they could go without strangling each other every once in a while. To put up a confident front up.

He knew they were worried.

He smiled at them, they didn't know what he could do.

Neither did Akuma.

He'd show them all.

The battlefield was set up, very little damage had been done to the field as he'd needed it.

The tree was in place, the field had been battered which would make his earth Jutsus harder to detect.

He understood that he was facing a homicidal lunatic.

He understood what the Hokage and the Kazekage expected him to do.

And he was ready.

"**Kick his butt, Kotaro**!" Yomiko yelled from the balcony.

"**Trash the psycho**!" Naomasa roared.

"Ignore them. You're going to die." Akuma told him, "I'm going to kill you."

Kotaro shrugged. "Only if I can't kill you first."

Akuma sneered at him, and then charged, but the examiner stopped him, a kunai to his throat.

"Wait for the proverbial bell, all right?"

Akuma nodded, but he glared at Kotaro practically frothing at the mouth.

Sarutobi Konohamaru nodded once and raised his hand. "Begin."

Kotaro smirked, Akuma charged for him.

He tore his headband off and sidestepped, wrapping it around Akuma's sword wrist, and viciously kicked him in the stomach.

"Just an opener." He told him. "Let's really get started."

Akuma growled and charged again.

Kotaro watched him, trying to remain calm.

He had to win this fight.

He needed to kill the sound Genin.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **The writer wants to apologize, as this Bonus chapter hardly feels Bonus-like coming as late as it has. None-the-less here is your bonus chapter for reaching 900 reviews (awesome!) Thanks to everyone who reviewed every chapter, thanks to everyone who reviewed just once, thanks to everyone who never reviewed but thought about doing it, thanks to everyone who read chapter one and decided never to read it again. Thanks all around to everyone for making this the most successful story I've ever written.


	100. The Demon and the Prodigy

**Chapter One Hundred**

Tsunade was more than just a little annoyed that Naruto's former student, Hijiri Hitomi.

Not just because the girl had leapt into the fray, but because she was holding her own.

Or seemed to be.

This suggested that Kabuto wasn't fighting at his best . . . and given that Tsunade was very near her own top form, the mere idea of that scared and enraged her.

The other possibility was that Kabuto was too distracted by fighting three opponents to eliminate the weakest one, and that was unlikely.

Standard practice in a fight where one found themselves outnumbered was to eliminate the enemy weakest by weakest. Several Shinobi preferred to eliminate the stronger opponent, but almost invariably this would lead them to forget the weaker ones, leaving those ones--if they were skilled enough--to take advantage of a blind spot or some such thing to eliminate the enemy instead.

Kabuto was focusing on Hitomi, but she wasn't being beaten.

A Chuunin should be no trouble for Kabuto, he had after all killed one Special Jounin and injured another without taking any serious injury himself, only Tsunade's best efforts, and the fact that he'd ignored Moegi had kept that girl alive.

Kabuto wasn't ignoring Hitomi, but she wasn't dead.

It didn't bode well for the fight if Kabuto was just toying with them, and with Naruto and the other members of the Konoha Twelve chasing down assassins . . .

Tsunade had to remain calm, she had to protect Hijiri and Moegi if Kabuto suddenly became too violent, protect herself and the injured Genin as well for that matter.

How much simpler it would be if she were alone . . .

* * *

Kotaro leapt into the air and threw a pair of kunai at the ground, easily missing Akuma. 

Twisting in the air he threw still more kunai, littering the entire battleground. Akuma actually went through the motions of trying to dodge them, which made it more difficult because Kotaro, aiming at specific patches of ground rather than Akuma, might very well hit the sound Genin without _wanting _to hit him.

He'd expected Akuma to notice that the kunai weren't aimed at him and remain still, like the typical wannabe badass.

Of course the fact that Akuma might run into a kunai not aimed at him was amusing.

Kotaro could hear Yomiko and Naomasa cheering him on and he smirked to himself.

They'd won their matches, now it was up to him to win his.

Akuma stopped moving when one kunai came too close to hitting him, and Kotaro landed on the downed tree.

This was the centerpiece of his strategy, though the tunnels and craters left by the other combatants would do nicely also.

Actually he was a little curious as to how they managed to restore this place every time there was a Chuunin exam.

Kotaro drew out some shuriken now, and began to throw them at Akuma, hoping to urge him to climb aboard the tree.

Akuma walked right into his hands, leaping onto the tree and charging for him, sword drawn.

Kotaro threw a few more shuriken, letting Akuma deflect them with his short sword.

And Akuma deflected them sloppily, knocking them aside when a skilled ninja might have caught them and thrown them back, or deflected them back.

Akuma was _too _sloppy.

Kotaro understood immediately that Akuma was trying to lull him into a false sense of superiority.

There was no way an opponent who'd survived every exam so far _alone _and defeated several enemy Shinobi _alone _could possibly be this bad.

Sure it was passable performance for a Genin, but not for a Chuunin, and from their encounter before Kotaro knew Akuma to be above Chuunin level.

He smirked. Yeah, he'd seen Akuma before, which left the slight possibility that Akuma wanted him to notice his poor performance and believe that he was pretending to fight poorly and therefore try to end the fight quickly before Akuma got serious.

Not going to happen.

Kotaro had his strategy and it'd work even _if _sound boy got serious and stopped fooling around.

If he _didn't _stop fooling around, Kotaro wouldn't have to worry about it anyway because his plan would be just as effective against a slow, sloppy Akuma as it would against one at full form.

So he said nothing to taunt Akuma into more serious action. It didn't matter to him how this went and frankly he'd rather it be easier anyway.

He saw Akuma reach into his pouch and pull out some of his marbles, he threw them on the ground all around Kotaro.

The smoke cloud created kept Kotaro from knowing how many Akuma clones there were, but that didn't matter.

He used his own, natural Shadow Clone Jutsu and leaving his single clone in his place he lunged forward and slashed the throat of one Akuma clone as the dust settled.

He then charged for Akuma while his clone tried to fall back to the safety of the tree's branches.

Akuma laughed and backhanded him, sending him flying off of the log.

As he hit the ground he let the sound and the smoke cloud of a transformation Jutsu make it appear as if he'd been a clone.

And then Kotaro the kunai, stuck in the ground like a score of his identical brothers and sisters--so to speak--did what he did best, and used the headhunter jutsu to burrow under ground while Akuma and his clones, still acting rather sluggish and sloppy, chased his clone through the downed tree's branches.

The whole reason Kotaro had needed the tree knocked down was so that its branches would mask a good portion of the ground on the battlefield.

So that when he made his move Akuma wouldn't be able to see it coming from under the ground.

His clone however needed to hold on until he was finished. Reaching into his pack he took his last remaining shuriken.

He slid it gently over his right palm. He'd need that hand and he didn't want to damage it too severely.

He let himself bleed for a moment, in the darkness of the underground tunnel he'd burrowed into he couldn't see himself, and he needed to work in absolute silence as he performed his summoning Jutsu . . .

He really wished he'd had more time to practice it though, he wasn't even sure it'd work.

But then being a Chuunin wasn't all about acting only when the outcome was certain, a Chuunin needed to be able to take risks.

So Kotaro took a big one . . .

* * *

Temari had been looking for Shikamaru, but had gotten sidetracked when she began to watch Kotaro's fight. 

The boy had talent, she was impressed. He moved quickly and cleverly, as if he'd memorized the entire battleground beforehand, and she supposed he'd had ample opportunity to do so.

At least a small portion of it anyway, he was keeping the fight within the branches of the tree, using them to stealthily eliminate shadow clone after shadow clone, even score a few good hits on the real sound Genin himself from time to time.

However Akuma wasn't acting at his best, Temari could see that. He was exerting very little energy, especially since the Shadow Clones hadn't been summoned using his own chakra. Meanwhile Kotaro was obviously going to tire out soon.

Temari felt for Shikamaru's student, but she also felt for her own, and it was disappointing to know that none of them had survived their first matches.

Kyoko had come close, and she thought personally that Yukio should have won his fight through the sheer grace of the fact that the Hyuga girl had obviously--for anyone paying close enough attention--thrown the match.

Ryu had done well, Yukio had taken his opponent with him and Kyoko had left her opponent with barely any chakra for her next match, Temari was pleased with her students.

But her opinion wouldn't matter, only the examiner's opinions would.

She frowned at Shikamaru's student on the field, and the two in the booth.

They were the rookies here, the underdogs and they'd either won or appeared close to winning their matches.

Yomiko and Naomasa seemed pretty fit for their next rounds as well, and provided that Kotaro hadn't inherited his father's tendency to overexert himself, he too would probably move on in good shape . . . if he won.

Temari was jealous. What did these kids have that hers didn't? Her team had really given it their all, and she'd thought they had what it took.

She still thought that . . . but she worried how they'd take it. They'd all lost. Yukio would probably take it the hardest, probably say that there was _something _she hadn't taught them.

And Temari wondered if he wouldn't be right to say that. After all how could her _entire _team get wiped out?

She was torn, Shikamaru might need her, and she wanted to find him . . . but her boys were in the infirmary, and Kyoko was probably going to be taken to the infirmary soon . . .

Temari's eyes narrowed.

Kyoko was being tended by some medics on the balcony, _not _the infirmary.

Miura Saizo, similarly was on the balcony.

Hattori Kasumi, who probably could have done with a brief checkup after her bout with Kyoko was standing in a corner talking to her teammates.

No one from the last few fights had gone to the infirmary, and Temari _knew _it wasn't overfilled already.

Something was up, and it seemed like whatever it was it'd started around and about the time that Shikamaru had been called away.

"The infirmary." She said to herself coldly. If nothing else she could claim she was going to see her students, and as Gaara's older sister she could easily claim to have the Kazekage's permission.

No Chuunin examiner could deny her if she had Gaara's permission . . . even though technically she didn't.

She glanced back at her students . . . she'd take care of them, but first she needed to make sure her future husband didn't need to be taken care of.

* * *

Matsuri laughed weakly, slapping Sai on the back, "Looks like you got 'em all." 

"Yes . . ." The Anbu captain whose mask had come off during the fight said. He glanced at the children, "We Anbu need to aid our Hokage, but could you tend to the Genin?"

Matsuri shook her head, "I left Hijiri back there, and we need to get her."

Sai forced a frown, "You seem awfully calm about that."

Matsuri shrugged, "Hitomi's skilled, and I think she must have had a plan. She's not enough of a patriot to sacrifice herself for the Hokage. With Hokage-sama there she won't be in too much danger."

"That is very poor logic." The Anbu captain that Matsuri and Hitomi had helped pointed out.

"It's all I've got while we wait here." Matsuri said irritably, "You just said yourself the Hokage needs help, why aren't you guys charging in?" She asked Sai.

Sai shook his head, "The hallway would nullify our numbers, we need a plan. We can easily summon more help, but I suspect having the Kazekage and the Hokage in the same room might be a disaster."

"What do you mean?" One of the Genin, Yukio, demanded. "The Kazekage would waste any opponent!"

"Simple strategy," His teammate said as he tended to Oedo Tomoko's wound, "If your ruler is in a dangerous situation, don't put _more _of your rulers into the same situation, if it's all an attempt to assassinate the Hokage and the Kazekage the Hokage may be alive now only because the Kazekage isn't there with her. That enemy doesn't have to be skilled to be deadly, he could be a living bomb ready to go off for all we know."

"No bomb could beat the Kazekage." Yukio scoffed, but Matsuri exchanged worried looks with the two Anbu.

She hadn't considered what Ryu had, but it was obvious from his all but expressionless face that Sai had and that was why they hadn't acted.

They needed to be able to call for help, but they didn't know who to call.

Matsuri did. "Aid the Hokage, she's not a young woman anymore, no matter what she looks like. I'm going to find Uzumaki Naruto-san."

Sai frowned for a moment, then nodded and reached into a scroll pouch, a he opened it a small flock of little black birds flew from the parchment, "These will help you find him, they know what he looks like anyway." Sai smiled lightly, almost naturally, "You and the rest of Konoha will know I've died if these birds suddenly turn back to normal blobs of ink and rain down on the city."

Matsuri nodded, "Send them out, I'll take the kids to safety and then I'll start looking too. I'll send him here as soon as possible."

She just hoped Uzumaki Naruto, _the _Uzumaki Naruto would be enough to do what Lady Tsunade didn't seem capable of doing now.

* * *

Akuma had waited for Hatake to notice his sluggish movements and respond by trying to speed things up, but if anything it seemed Hatake was operating slowly too. Akuma was thrilled to know that he might win the fight without expending too much energy. 

He had his master's permission to kill, and he intended to use the right.

He laughed as he emerged from the tree's branches, then shuddered as his last clone was defeated.

Not by Kotaro though, his eyes were quite firmly on Hatake. His clone must have gotten careless and made some sort of fatal mistake.

He frowned, unable to remember anything in the tree that might have been fatal.

He glanced at the ground where his clone had been defeated, barely able to see it through the gloom of the tree's thick branches.

Then suddenly he heard a shout as a second Hatake Kotaro erupted from the ground.

"Suction Snakes!" Kotaro roared, and a group of serpents emerged from his sleeves, flying towards Akuma.

Akuma threw himself backwards but the snakes bit into his clothes and pulled him towards Hatake.

Akuma rebounded by poising his short sword to slam into Hatake's chest.

But one of the snakes ripped the blade from his hands and sent it flying.

Kotaro punched him roughly in the face and the snakes dissipated, allowing him to roll on the tree trunk and come back with a handful of . . .

His clones were gone!

Kotaro tossed the pouches containing Akuma's clone marbles into the air, Akuma hoped against hope that a marble or two would fall out due to his enemy's bravado, but it didn't happen.

He glared, "Think you're winning now eh? I have not yet begun to fight."

"That was your decision; you've already begun to lose." Kotaro said, raising his hands.

Another snake emerged from the ground.

It was about six or seven feet long, nothing compared to the monstrous behemoths Miura had summoned earlier.

But it wrapped itself around Akuma's legs and struck out, biting one of his hands and pulling it to his side.

The snake then constricted, holding Akuma in place as Hatake Kotaro began to gather chakra for an attack.

Hatake had a cold, intense look in his eyes. It was like looking into the face of death.

For an instant Akuma felt at peace, as if death held the finality he needed.

But he knew better, almost instantly Okatsu-sensei's voice rang in his ears demanding he not give up, warning that there would be consequences for failure _worse _than death and that with the master's Jutsus he'd know no rest in death.

So he hardened his gaze and glared at Kotaro as the Konoha Shinobi summoned up his Jutsu.

Akuma couldn't move, he had only one free hand, not enough to fight or form hand seals with, and that hand he was using to try to kill the snake constricting him so that he could free himself. A task made difficult by the fact that the snake's body was covering his kunai and shuriken holsters and he had no other blades.

His fist and nails weren't doing much to the snake. He was rooted to place with no chance of avoiding the attack about to come.

It was so powerful that it looked as it lightning was gathering in the boy's hand, bolts of it lashed out at the ground around him, at the leaves of the tree. Akuma shuddered when he realized the tree would catch fire, and with him held in place as he was even if by some miracle the attack failed he could be burned alive.

The snake was no doubt a summoned being and would have a greater resistance to the fire than a regular snake would, _it _would probably survive long enough to ensure his death.

He stared in awe at the Jutsu about to be used on him, and felt an odd respect for his opponent.

"I _really _want you to die." He told Hatake, "I'm going to make sure I kill you."

Hatake didn't answer; he just continued gathering his chakra.

And then, in the blink of an eye he sprang forward like a predator pouncing on its prey.

With a shout of "Lightning Blade!" he charged, and Akuma was unable to move because of the snake.

He might have tried to counter attack, but he had no weapons, he couldn't wind up for a good enough punch to throw Hatake off trajectory, and anyway Hatake's ball of lightning would slam into him before he could hit Hatake anyway, since the slightly taller boy had longer arms.

He glared. He wanted to kill Hatake so badly. He wanted to kill that woman Hitomi too. He wanted to kill Okatsu; he wanted to kill so many people.

He glared at Hatake as the boy ran closer, thrusting his ball of lightning forward to plunge it through his chest and kill him.

Still Akuma glared, meeting his death with open eyes, hardly able to believe that he _could _die, not after everything he'd been put through.

There was just no way he was even mortal.

_Kill me, Hatake. Because if you can't I'll kill you and everyone close to you,_ was what Akuma thought.

He didn't have time to form the thought into words before Hatake Kotaro and his Chidori reached him.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**NOTE: **Well how's that for chapter 100? Thanks for all your support, all of you. This story has come this far only because of the interest its readers have displayed for it, without you I would have given it up (or at least stopped sharing it with the public) long ago.

Those agonizing for the fate of Takumi and Kaori, Shikamaru, Sumiko, Shiroi, the conclusion to 9-Tail Naruto vs Hanzo, etc. we will be revisiting them soon.


	101. Dalmatians

**Chapter One Hundred One**

Yomiko stared in awe as Kotaro's Chidori blazed, setting alight the fallen tree that Akuma was bound to thanks to the snake Kotaro had summoned.

It was amazing to see such an act from a Genin, especially one from her own team. Kotaro had summoned a snake--which surprised her since she'd thought the Hatake clan specialized in dogs--bound Akuma, and then used Chidori, a Jutsu that made the wildly difficult Shadow Clone Jutsu seem easy.

She smiled; Kotaro had this fight in the bag.

Her team was incredible. A good deal of it was from their parents, their genes . . . with the exception of Naomasa, Team Ten came from great ninja stock.

But part of it really was Shikamaru-sensei. He'd taken them through their missions, helped them and taught them.

By causing them to fail he'd taught them to work even harder to win, and now Yomiko could see that though it was his parents' Jutsus that Kotaro was using, it was the strategic thinking that he'd mastered under Shikamaru-sensei that had helped him throw it all together and win.

Well, he hadn't won yet, but as he sprang forward with his Chidori blazing in his hand victory seemed imminent.

* * *

Tosa Kimiko, the sensei of Team C was feeling rather proud of her team. 

Kasumi had expended a bit too much of her chakra, but Yuu had performed splendidly, and Masaru, though defeated, stood a fair chance of advancing anyway.

She could think of reasons that he might not, but to do so left her feeling like too much of a worrywart, and so she tried to put them out of her mind.

Her team was doing fantastically, and they were competing against a tough bunch.

Even the rookies were deadly in this batch; Tosa supposed it made sense though. Suna and Konoha's numbers had suffered such attrition through this war the saying 'only the strong will survive' seemed overwhelmingly appropriate.

It struck the intellectual as odd, her own country would come out on top having first carved a chunk of the Fire Country's lands away, a chunk that, for the most part they would keep, and then they had been given leave to demolish the Water Country. With the villages of Waterfall and Grass providing a buffer for them against retaliations by Earth Country, the Lightning Country was going to come out the big winner of this war.

But in regards to Shinobi on the other hand . . .

The Samurai clans might bluster for a bit about their war achievements, but the conscripted peasants would return to their farms and villages once the war was over. The Shinobi would again be the only military power the great countries needed to maintain in peacetime, and most countries, having just fought a nearly four year war would want quality over quantity to save the expenses of maintaining a Shinobi village.

Konoha had quality due to natural selection, Iwagakure's quantity might very well strangle them once the war ended and loot and plunder stopped rolling in to pay the Ninja's fees.

Kimiko smiled slightly to herself, Konoha had suffered terrible losses but things might just work out in their favor. They would have a small, battle hardened, elite force . . . even amongst their Genin.

It was wise indeed of the Daimyo and the Raikage to make peace with Konoha, Tosa didn't want to imagine the sort of death throes this village would have put up, the number of soldiers and Shinobi that would have been lost trying to conquer this village.

"Attention, Jounin Tosa Kimiko." A hooded form said suddenly, appearing next to her in the seat that had been Okatsu's.

Kimiko hadn't really noticed Okatsu leaving since she hadn't minded one bit. Kimiko didn't _like _Okatsu, the woman was far too full of herself and her miserable little brat of a son--whom was about to get his butt kicked, incidentally. Kimiko just wished Okatsu were there to see the butt kicking.

Still she recognized this man as a member of the Hishu, the special operations units of Kumogakure. She nodded to him, having to respect his ability to infiltrate not only the village, but these highly secure exams.

"The one you know as Okatsu is engaging in combat. You are to engage in combat as well _against _Okatsu, declare her a rogue against Kumogakure and kill her if at all possible."

"Where is she?" Tosa sighed, annoyed that she had to miss the rest of the exam but pleased to be given an activity _worth _doing.

"Battling the Jounin Nara Shikamaru of Konoha in this location," The Hishu said, hading her a note, "There are rogue members of the Hattori clan also. The Raikage orders you to go to the aid of the Konoha Jounin right away, though he will likely be successful on his own you will prove that Kumogakure itself does not follow Okatsu's lead."

Kimiko nodded and saluted somewhat sarcastically. The Hishu disappeared.

But a chance to fight alongside Nara Shikamaru? Konoha's _genius_?

Sure he was seeing some woman from Suna, but Kimiko was an intellectual as he was, she had more to offer him, and she didn't care if a kid was part of the package, she'd tolerate that, it'd be a long distance relationship anyway.

And every intellectual knew that relationships always soured after one's partner ceased to be carnally appealing. After sexual conquest over the other party had been achieved often enough to render the act boring. Nara-san was no doubt growing tired of his desert flower, and even if he wasn't Kimiko was patient.

Kimiko had fancied him ever since she set foot in Konoha, ever since she'd set eyes on him. To know that he might be in a situation that would require her help, she might have gone with or without Raikage-sama's order.

_Guess I've got a man to impress. The kids can handle themselves for a bit . . . _she thought, and poofed away to the location on the little map the Hishu had given her.

* * *

Her eyes opened slowly, her whole body hurt. 

She coughed and reached for her injuries, but they were sealed.

She frowned and looked into the empty white eyes hovering above her.

"Hanabi?" She whispered in confusion.

"You're alive." Hanabi said in relief. "What happened to your friend?" She asked, nodding towards Ami.

Kaori closed her eyes, "Takumi."

"Takumi? What, he did all this?" Hanabi sounded shocked.

"No . . . where _is _Takumi?" Kaori demanded, "Is he safe?"

"What? Why?" Hanabi asked, "Look, that's not important right now. We need to get you to a hospital, I'm not medic I could only put a tourniquet on your wound and try to rouse you."

Kaori raised an eyebrow at Hanabi, "Then why do I feel so . . . not dead?" She asked, not wanting to claim that she felt good, since really she felt quite awful.

"Well my sister taught me enough to stabilize you, but you pulled through on your own. I guess you've got a will to live." Hanabi said. "But what happened?" She repeated.

"Ami attacked me, I killed her." Kaori said coldly. "She stabbed me, but I guess you already know that."

Hanabi frowned, "What about all these other women?"

"Ami killed them ages ago for use in her Jutsus." Kaori said, "She used them like puppets, but now she'll never use another human being again."

Hanabi looked at Kaori, "Let's get you out of here."

"Takumi." Kaori affirmed, "I have to see Takumi. I don't care what the risk is."

Hanabi frowned, "Forget him, you're--"

Kaori phased her hand into Hanabi's throat, "Take me to him or tell me where he is and get out of my way or else grateful as I am to you for saving my life, I _will_ kill you."

It was a bluff, she wouldn't kill Hanabi. The fact that the woman might be pregnant made Kaori far too uncertain about the deed, besides which she rather felt as if she'd killed enough for today . . . Ami had been easy to kill at the time, but now Kaori felt a slight emptiness inside of herself.

She'd killed Ami . . . someone she'd known as well as a sister.

There wasn't any reversing it--not that she particularly wanted to--Ami was gone forever. Though that was undoubtedly a good thing it caused Kaori to mourn.

Not because of Ami. Not completely anyway. Ami had had her moments of sweetness, though they'd been few, far between and most often alcohol induced.

She's miss her somewhat, but not terribly.

Still the fact that Ami was gone reminded her of all the people she'd lost that _did _matter to her. Her entire clan, maybe Takumi too.

Hikaru too for that matter. She couldn't share her bed with him for years without caring for him too. The odds were either he or Takumi was dead now; Kaori couldn't imagine the both of them surviving the fight Takumi was involved in now.

Death was an incredibly final solution to a problem. Kaori had never killed someone close to her before, and it felt strange.

"Yurei," Hanabi said firmly, "Kaori . . . you're in no condition to threaten me, or to fight with Takumi."

Kaori's eyes narrowed. Was Hanabi trying to protect Takumi, or was she trying to bait Kaori into admitting that _she _was helping him.

She decided to take a chance. "I want to help Takumi. I don't have any fight left in me, but if he's in trouble I think I can get him safely away before I run out of Chakra. You love Hattori Tetsuo don't you? Don't you know what it feels like to want your beloved's safety over your own?"

Hanabi frowned, "I thought you were Minoru's girl."

"I haven't got time to detail my love life for you," Kaori said. "Suffice it to say I really don't like to think of myself being _his_ girl, so much as him being _my _guy, and I've lost interest in him."

Mostly true, but it'd sure sounded less vulgar in her head before she said it.

Hanabi looked into her eyes. Kaori felt a little uneasy looking into the eye of a Hyuga, the clan most notorious amongst Kumogakure--more so than the near-extinct Uchiha even--for the slaughter of so many proud Shinobi.

She took a deep breath, Hanabi did the same.

Finally Hanabi said "You haven't really given me a question to answer."

"I don't have time for games. I asked you where Takumi was." Kaori scowled.

"I don't know." Hanabi said.

"Don't lie to me. You were with the Daimyo, the Raikage went to sit with the Daimyo, and Takumi went to kill the Raikage. If you came looking for me the fight must be over, either Takumi sent you or the Raikage, so tell me who was it?"

Hanabi laughed uneasily, "I wasn't _sent_. I was on my way to my hotel room when Ami--my escort--ditched me. Thinking she might be up to no good I followed her stealthily, lost track of her but heard some commotion here a few minutes later--I'm guessing I heard you killing her."

"Or her nearly killing me." Kaori sighed, removing her hand from Hanabi's throat. "That means Takumi might still be alive."

Kaori turned towards the Daimyo's booth but Hanabi took her shoulder, "You're in no condition to fight. You need a doctor."

"I don't plan to fight the Raikage, I plan to phase with Takumi and run like the wind." Kaori said.

"You won't make it in your condition, let me take you to a hospital, Takumi should be fine." Hanabi insisted.

"I'd reach Takumi before I reached a doctor, so I know the walk isn't going to kill me, even in my condition."

"You know that's not what I meant, and don't be so sure, those wounds are nasty. You can't have received them more than a few minutes before I bound them and they already looked infected."

Kaori sighed, "That's because the metal Ami used to stab me is . . ." She frowned, there was no need to spill such secrets to Hanabi, "Coated in poison." She lied.

That way at least Hanabi would think the damage was due to poison, rather than the metal of the knife.

She doubted Hanabi would bother studying the knife to discover what sort of poison it was; Kaori didn't think she and the traitor Hyuga were quite that hostile towards one another.

But she was proven wrong when Hanabi viciously punched her in the side, and threw her over her shoulder.

"You're going to the hospital, and that's that."

Kaori groaned, she hadn't been expecting the attack and she hadn't phased.

And as she slipped back into unconsciousness she could only think that she'd failed Takumi . . . but that would be no excuse for him to fail her.

She couldn't help him, but he needed to live.

Live and come back to her.

* * *

Shikamaru slowly counted down in his head. 

His Jutsu would end in just a few more seconds . . .

Aside from the unfortunate Hattori that had been knocked unconscious--or perhaps killed--by the Lightning Clone, Shikamaru was still grossly outnumbered.

But that didn't mean he was out.

He could recall a similar situation years ago when he'd held several Sound soldiers and been rescued by Asuma-sensei. Now however there was no one coming to his rescue.

Not that he needed a rescue; he was capable of handling this himself. Still . . . it sure would have been nice at this point to just sit back and let someone else do all the work.

Distracted as he was he didn't know what was going on in the arena below, didn't know who was fighting and who was winning.

His mental countdown neared its end, he knew his greatest advantage would come from the fact that he knew the second when the Jutsu would time out, and the Hattori did not.

He couldn't count out the fact that their tagalongs were gone, that meant several other Shinobi of varying level were running about, quite possibly preparing to ambush him.

He had no radio to contact the others. His had been broken by Okatsu, whom he currently held disguised as a kunai.

It had been clever in a way, but not nearly clever enough. Had he not known who she was she could have broken her disguise and slashed his throat, or simply killed him as the Kunai with legs.

But instead she'd left herself the easiest of all of them to capture.

Shikamaru counted down to zero, his shadow began to recede.

Before the Hattori noticed he'd already drawn his chakra knives and slashed the throat of the nearest one. He moved swiftly for the next but he sank into his shadow.

"Lightning style, Storm Cloud Jutsu!" A voice shouted.

Shikamaru spun around to see the leader of the Lightning Country's Team C. What was her name again? Tosa?

A thick black cloud filled the room; Shikamaru's eyes narrowed but to his surprise the first bolt of lightning from the cloud slammed into a confused looking Hattori.

"These men are traitors to the Land of Lightning," Tosa shouted at him, "I've been ordered to observe Okatsu carefully and now that I know for certain that she's up to no good I will bring her to justice."

Shikamaru didn't really bother to listen. The lightning bolts weren't coming for him so he didn't care.

They didn't seem to strike randomly; Tosa was somehow dictating the general location of each bolt's strike, but given how many of them missed their targets Shikamaru could guess that Tosa ability was inaccurate.

Worse, while he'd hoped the Hattori already struck by a bolt would be out of the game, it seemed he'd only been stunned. He and another of his clan were already advancing on Tosa.

Shikamaru struck out with one knife, narrowly missing a Hattori assassin, and with his other hand he reached out and shouted "Shadow Puppetry Jutsu!"

The Jutsu was a fake; he hadn't been able to form any of the hand seals for it. But the Hattori didn't know that and the three in his direct field of vision all tried to jump away.

Shikamaru instead threw one of his knives, which pinned one enemy to the wall by his flack jacket and froze him in place with Shikamaru's Jutsu.

The Hattori that had escaped into his shadow emerged behind Shikamaru, speeding through a Jutsu he shouted "Thunder Wave Jutsu!"

But the Jutsu was never used; his chest erupted as Tosa drove a sword--which she had taken from another of the Hattori--through it.

Shikamaru was surprised, and a bit annoyed. These Hattori were going down far too quickly for elite representatives of a clan comparable to the Hyuga.

Something was up.

But the Hattori were either very good actors using a Genjutsu too good for Shikamaru to see through, or expendable enough to be killed because they were very truly dead.

Still . . . was it possible that these were fodder? Had Hanzo been the only truly dangerous one of them?

Shikamaru felt uneasy, against this many Hyuga he should have been hard-pressed, fighting for his life with or without Tosa's help.

But they were wiping the floors with these Shinobi, it was worrying.

And he couldn't forget Okatsu . . . she _had _been annoying easy to capture. He'd assumed she'd underestimated his genius . . . but what if she hadn't? What if he were playing right into their hands?

He smiled. He'd play a bit longer then . . . see where this went. But he'd maintain control of the situation, ready to strike at any time.

* * *

Akuma waited for death, waited for Kotaro to strike him. 

He felt heat from Chidori, he felt a burning, tingling in his chest.

And then he felt pain.

But not killing pain.

He stared down at his chest, there was no gaping hole.

Kotaro had just . . . punched him really hard.

"You Jutsu . . ." Akuma growled.

"I don't need to kill you to prove I've beaten you." Kotaro said coldly, "You're washed up. I'm better than you and you know it, the examiners know it. Killing you would be a waste of my time and maybe, just maybe by letting you live you'll walk away from this knowing a little bit more about the world. You don't always find gain only in the death of your opponents."

"I call you a coward." Akuma growled.

"I call you the loser of this fight. I said it'd be a waste of my time to kill you, but I didn't say I wouldn't do it. Surrender now or be burned alive." Kotaro tilted his head to the burning tree around them, "My summoned snake is resistant to the flames, and he'll be safe enough while you burn alive. Unless you surrender of course."

Akuma smirked, "I thought you had strength, I may even have feared you in a way. But now I see how . . . generous those thoughts were. You're nothing. You'll never be anything. You'll die by my hand, if not today then soon. I'll kill everyone who stands in my way."

"In your way?" Kotaro scoffed, "And do you have a path? To what end do you travel? If killing is all that matters to you then you'll never be a Chuunin, and if violence is all that you understand . . . this snake _is _a constrictor." Kotaro snapped his fingers and Akuma felt the serpent being to squeeze him. "I can speed you along to death if it means that much to you." Kotaro said. "Do you surrender?"

"Death first." Akuma growled. "Your death."

He still needed to provide the distraction his master had wanted.

Hatake should have killed him when he'd had the chance.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Remember the message boards, where I'll try to be more active. This chapter IS a day late, but I blame that on a certain video game coming out and my not realizing until the last moment that it would do so on an Update Day. Yeah. _Probably_ wont happen again.

That's what working the Graveyard shift at a hateful job does to you, you forget important, even elementary things, like what day it is and what goes on during said day. On the plus side, because of where I work I get a ten percent discount on electronic merchandise . . . so . . . right on.

Cheers!


	102. Akuma's Strike

**Chapter One Hundred and Two**

Hitomi's eyes narrowed as she sidestepped an attack by the enemy Shinobi, and felt his chakra wash over her like a wave of needles.

"Do you fancy yourself the equal of Uchiha Sasuke?" The foe sneered at her.

Hitomi smiled weakly, "My name is Hijiri Hitomi, don't forget it and don't compare me to anyone else, I'm one of a kind."

"But I will forget. Because you're nothing. Even Tsunade-sama doesn't have any faith in you, that's why she wants you to leave. But you wouldn't listen, now you'll die."

Hitomi shuddered, "I don't think so." She forced.

"Really?" The villain laughed.

"Don't you hurt her, Kabuto! Don't you hurt anyone in this village, or I'll kill you!" Tsunade shouted.

Hitomi however wasn't going to trust exclusively to the Hokage's prowess.

She thrust her hands forward, grabbing not Kabuto, but Moegi.

She pulled herself towards the surprised woman and then reached into Moegi's supply pouch for a pair of shuriken, which she threw at the Hokage.

Tsunade caught them and threw them at Kabuto, who seemed fairly surprised but still managed to throw himself backwards and avoid them.

So Hitomi caught them, and Kabuto, bent backwards as he was, wasn't able to dodge when Hitomi leapt and stabbed viciously for his neck.

He disappeared, replaced by the injured Genin instead.

Hitomi's eyes narrowed again and she licked her lips as she twisted the blade to the side, and stopped her hand millimeters from Kyusaku's throat.

"Gutsy. You could have injured your own Hokage, sheer luck won out and had I been any less than I am you may very well have pulled a fast one and killed me. Unfortunately I am what I am, you are what you are . . . you'll need to do better if you want to live."

Hitomi scoffed, "If you really wanted me dead I'd be dead."

"Stop moving." Kabuto growled.

Hitomi had to admit she was close to stopping, she was running out of energy dodging this guy's strikes.

But she was beginning to realize that he wasn't acting either, he really couldn't seem to catch her.

If she slowed down for even an instant she'd die.

But how long could she keep this up?

* * *

Kotaro stared at Akuma, waiting for a surrender.

He'd been ordered to eliminate this foe, he'd done it, he'd been told that doing so would ensure his promotion, so he supposed he'd earned it.

So why didn't Akuma surrender?

Kotaro had so clearly won, Akuma would be disqualified and more importantly Kotaro had made it clear that he could kill Akuma. Whatever trap Akuma had been trying to lay, Kotaro had sprung his before his enemy could do the same.

He himself probably wouldn't be able to think of a way out of Akuma's predicament, that was why he'd _used _the strategy.

He watched Akuma, who seemed less afraid than Kotaro would have expected. Certainly not afraid enough for someone about to die unless he surrendered the fight, or the proctors decided it was hopeless.

The flames crept closer, the serpent constricted, but Akuma did not surrender.

Kotaro wasn't so amazingly noble that he'd spare this cretin's life and surrender the match himself even after he'd proven his worthiness to be a Chuunin. After all the inability to take a life was a weakness, one Kotaro didn't possess.

He _could _take Akuma's life . . . he just didn't see why he _had _to.

If the boy didn't surrender soon he _would _kill him.

Kotaro watched him patiently, stepping down from the burning tree and waiting for the finish.

* * *

Gaara frowned at the battle in the arena.

Things weren't going well.

The boy was trapped, but the Konoha Genin wasn't finishing him off.

With an eye on the Hokage Gaara was growing even more concerned because Tsunade didn't seem capable of finishing Kabuto off herself, and if anything the presence of Moegi and Hijiri was having a negative effect on the fight.

He couldn't leave to help Tsunade, not when Kabuto's plans _in _the arena were in such danger of coming to pass.

He was out of options, short of creating a full scale panic.

He'd have to trust in the Konoha Jounin he'd dispatched, and in the Twelve.

But as for Tsunade . . . well he'd help her.

Even if that meant he had to kill the boy in the arena himself.

"Kazekage-sama," A Chuunin door guard said, "Members of the Konoha Twelve have arrived, they have prisoners _and _they are accompanied by the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning."

Gaara almost smiled.

Almost.

Finally some good news, "Thank you, send them in right away."

It was time to get some answers.

* * *

Taiko smiled warmly at the Kazekage, "Ah, lord Kazekage, it is an honor to meet with you. I wish it could be under better circumstances, and I wonder where is your comrade the Hokage? I certainly hope no misfortune has befallen her."

Sakura bowed her head slightly before Gaara and asked "Where _is _Tsunade-sama?"

"She is engaged in battle with one you know as Kabuto."

Sakura noticed Sasuke tense, "Where?" He asked.

Gaara frowned, "Can't you tell? The infirmary, where Konoha Shinobi have begun to gravitate with or without my order. For now where is Shikamaru, what's going on?"

"Haven't you been keeping track with your Jutsu?" Sasuke asked.

"I might have found you again, but I've needed one eye on the Hokage, one eye on the matches, the instant I stopped observing Nara and the rest of you I lost track of you all together, what's going on?"

Sakura felt relieved, this meant things might come under control.

She quickly explained the situation, but Gaara closed his other eye and scowled, "He's surrounded by the Hattori."

"Who, Shikamaru?" Sakura asked, "How? Is anyone with him?"

Sakura struggled to think of the assignment locations, who could respond to Shikamaru's situation fastest.

She was about to order everyone to Shikamaru's aid when she noticed Sasuke didn't seem concerned, didn't seem to have been paying attention, instead he was watching the battle.

As Sasuke glowered down at the battlefield, Sakura looked as well, and she was shocked, "Oh my gosh!" She gasped. "Why didn't anyone stop him?" She demanded, turning to Gaara.

"What do you mean?" Gaara demanded.

"The boy . . . I-I think he's dead!" Sakura cried.

"It was his mission. To kill his opponent." Gaara told her.

Sakura shook her head, "You knew? You knew and you didn't try to stop the match?"

"The Hokage and I ordered it." Gaara said calmly.

Sakura was appalled, "You ordered Kakashi-sensei's son to be killed?"

Both Gaara's eyes snapped open, "What?" He demanded, rushing to the balcony.

Sakura was surprised by the amount of surprise and frustration that was evident in Gaara just then, in just one instant whatever barriers he'd set up between himself and the world disappeared, but only for that one instant.

He quickly recovered and his face became unreadable.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke, "And why didn't you--"

"It had already happened." Sasuke snapped.

Sakura poofed down to the arena, if anyone short of the Hokage could save the boy she could.

But she wouldn't forget Shikamaru's situation, "All members of the Konoha Twelve, the real ambassadors are under attack, I repeat the real ambassadors are under attack, to Shikamaru's position now!"

She arrived on the battleground and glared at the boy with the sound village headband.

In the instant that the Kazekage had closed his eye and turned away from the fight it had ended . . . and it had ended _badly _for Kakashi-sensei's son.

* * *

Moments earlier Hatake Kotaro had stood on his own two feet, no one could question his survival.

And he supposed no one could question his victory.

He watched Akuma struggle against the snake, he had no way of knowing what the demon was truly up to.

Akuma struggled as if he meant to escape, but he knew that was futile. He also knew that the snake would crush him to death before the flames could consume him, but because his master was so well versed with snakes Akuma knew that the more fight he put up the better the chances that the serpent would play into his hands.

He squirmed as best he could under the snake's crushing grip, and it became difficult to think rationally. Luckily what he had planned wasn't very rational at all.

The snake's head came into view, it was going to try to seduce him with its gaze, lull him into peaceful complacence and death.

It was the moment Akuma had been waiting for, he lunged forward and caught the snake off its guard.

He bit down on its neck, sinking his teeth in and twisting his head, ripping at its flesh.

It was a summoned beast and therefore much stronger than a normal snake would have been, moreover it had discipline and it didn't relax its grip even a bit, even as he bit into it.

But it did begin to constrict with more force, squeezing Akuma more frantically.

That was how he knew he was winning.

He bit down harder, ripping and biting, moving desperately he felt one of his own teeth break away, he tasted blood in his mouth and hoped that at least some of it was the snake's.

His hope was rewarded as the snake's grip began to become weaker, he tore and bit and struggled until finally the serpent released him.

It wasn't dead, even though it had a bleeding wound near the base of its skull. It was a summoned creature and therefore far more resilient than any normal snake would have been.

It had decided it had had enough though. It probably hadn't bonded too well with its summoner, or else it didn't respect him enough to endure further injury on his behalf. Akuma found it odd that it had been willing to endure fire but not biting.

And so the demon was free, and once free he seized his blade and finished the snake as it tried to slither away. Whether or not it was willing to fight it remained a threat to him and it was far more useful disposed of.

Akuma used a genjutsu--his specialty--to make it appear as if his dead body lay crushed to death on the branch while he himself transformed into the snake, both himself and his jutsu disguised by the smoke of the burning tree.

And so Hatake's strategy worked against him.

Hatake frowned when the snake arrived, through the serpent's eyes Akuma watched the other boy.

"I guess it couldn't have been helped, eh Kotetsu?" Hatake asked.

Asuming that he was referring to the snake, Akuma nodded and slithered nearer.

With all the speed of a snake he struck out once Hatake was near enough, dropping the disguise and becoming himself, sword leading, once he'd gone as far as the serpent's fangs could.

Hatake was fast, but not fast enough to avoid both the snake strike and the meter long reach of both Akuma's arm and his sword.

The blade struck the other boy's chest and dug deep, erupting from his back, but Hatake dissipated in a puff of smoke, becoming a log.

Akuma cursed and spun around, but there was nothing. Where was Hatake?

He turned back and saw that the log was gone. He understood then, Hatake hadn't used a substitution, he'd used a transformation, made Akuma turn his back on him.

In his place Akuma would have ended the battle with a knife in the back, but Hatake had erred on the side of cowardice it seemed.

Silly, since unless he'd faked taking the wound to the chest as well he had very little time to end the fight and get to a medic.

Akuma scowled and then just as he thought he might shout a taunt he felt something grip his ankles, he was being pulled under.

Flipping his blade upside down he cut downward at the grip on his ankle, heard Hatake scream and the both of them separated.

Akuma recovered first however, what with not having his right hand impaled on a short sword.

He drew a kunai and lunged for Hatake, who swooned, likely from loss of blood.

Akuma leapt onto him and stabbed him viciously in the stomach, just to finish the job.

He raised the bloodied blade again, ready for another strike, eager for more blood, screams from the crowd confirmed to Akuma that this was no dream, he was killing again and this time in front of an adoring public.

Yes adoring, even if they wouldn't admit it the sight of the murder would thrill them. Pleased them because it was not _them _dying.

He smiled darkly at Hatake, "Like a lamb to the slaughter. You're clever, you're smart . . . but not cut out to be a Chuunin. A true Shinobi would have killed me right away. Because that's what a Shinobi is, a killing machine. That's what you need to survive . . . not that it matters to you now."

Hatake groaned weakly and surged forward, slamming his head into Akuma's chest.

It hurt, but Akuma had already thrust his blade in for the next stab, it struck off its mark but struck none the less, his kunai burried itself in Hatake Kotaro's side as Akuma fell back coughing.

He struggled to his feet though and stood victorious over the boy who lay in a growing pool of blood. Akuma tore the blade away and smirked viciously at his fallen foe. He recovered his sword and raised it up to strike again but this time he felt something very strong grip his wrist and shove him backwards none too gently.

"Enough." The proctor said evenly, "You've already won."

Adults poured into the arena now to aid the boy, Akuma found it funny that they hadn't shown up _while _he was stabbing him, but rather chose to dramatically appear afterwards.

_Because they don't care._ He thought. _They have to look like they tried to help, but really they don't care._

One of them, a woman dressed in red and white with short pink hair glared at him but said nothing as she began to tend to Hatake's wounds along with a pair of exam medics.

With a face that conveyed no emotion the proctor announced to the world, "The winner of this fight . . . Akuma of the Sound."

Akuma smirked at the back of the pink haired woman, "Glare all you want. Nothing's going to bring him back."

Hearing the footsteps approaching Akuma spun around in time to see several of his fellow Genin running for them, at the head of the pack were Hatake's teammates.

He thrsut out his sword, a boy with long black hair stopped right before it slammed into his throat, "Stay back. You'll get your turn." Akuma sneered at him.

The girl he'd already promised to kill drew a kunai and said "Back off you worthless slime, or I swear to whatever powers are present, I'll make you _eat _your own putrid guts."

Akuma sneered, the both of them were on the verge of tears, that made him happy. He withdrew his sword and took a step back, recognizing that they'd been running for their friend, not him.

He smirked to himself as each of the other Genin passed by, and insulted them each in turn. "Little late, eh medic? Your bugs sure will have a feast on their hands now, huh?" He told the two older Konoha Genin. To the two boys from Kumo he scoffed, "Shouldn't you be holding hands?" And made a kissing noise, then he smiled at the Hattori girl as she passed and told her simply "You're next."

Her teammates both advanced on him, the one with long white hair glared at him and whispered "You're a stain on our country Prince Shinno . . . of course by now its no surprise. Be thankful that your parents are not alive now to feel ashamed for the murderous fool they spawned."

"You're too kind as usual, Yuu. He's not a stain, he's a speck of dirt. A speck of dirt not worth anyone's attention," The other boy said, glaring, "That's why he has to act out like this. Because the little prince is too selfish to think of others, all he thinks about is himself, what he wants. And I bet he wonders why _nobody _loves him."

"And why _nobody _ever will." The Hattori girl said, shoving him as she passed. "We'd kill you now, Prince Shinno and prevent you from shaming your father's good name . . . but then again why deny so many others the right they're no doubt waiting for. You and I will fight soon, and when we do you'll understand that being Chuunin is a lot more than just being able to kill your opponent."

Shinno--that is, Akuma felt himself shake as they passed.

They knew who he was? Or rather, who he had been?

But they'd done nothing. They'd let Okatsu continue to abuse him, force her ideals on him, they'd _known _he was alive? Even the Genin of Kumogakure had known who he was and yet they left him to sufer?

His hands shook at his side, "I'll make you pay. All three of you. One by one or all at once, I'll kill you all, and then I'll burn your village to the ground. I'm going to be the strongest Shinobi in the world, you'll see. And you'll beg me to spare you."

But if they heard him they didn't respond.

As he shook he wondered where Okatsu-sensei was to praise him or at the very least acknowledge that he'd done well.

Where was his master?

They . . . _cared_, right? Okatsu at least loved him in her way . . . didn't she?

What those three bullies said, it couldn't possibly be true. Akuma was loved, no matter what _they _wanted to believe. Okatsu had said something about that the night he became who he was . . . _someone _had loved him she said . . . but now he couldn't remember whom.

But there _were_ people who cared about him . . .

He felt tears threaten to come but a surprise to himself not a drop of moisture lined his eyes.

He was stronger than that. What would the master have said if he cried over some words spoken by his soon to be victims? And anyway they were talking to the wrong person, Shinno was long dead, Akuma had killed him. Shinno might have been a spoiled brat seeking the affection of parents who'd loved him second best, might have yearned for the approval of a brother who couldn't have cared any less that he existed.

But Akuma wasn't Shinno. They weren't the same. Akuma was Akuma . . . the Demon of Otogakure, heir of a thousand ninja secrets promised to him by Okatsu.

"Kill them all." He whispered to himself, ordered himself, "Kill every last one of them. Kill them all just like Hatake, show them that no one cares about them, no one will come to help them."

* * *

Yomiko didn't bother to restrain the tears that poured down her cheeks as Uncle Konohamaru held her and Naomasa back from Kotaro.

As the medics worked frantically to save him or revive him--Yomiko wasn't sure which anymore--she only thought that there was no way Kotaro could die. He was too good for that.

He was the son of _the _Hatake Kakashi, the _only _son.

And where were his parents? Why weren't they here with their son in what could be his last moments?

"We couldn't interfere," Konohamaru whispered to her, "We didn't want it to end this way."

"You should have . . . stopped it!" Yomiko sobbed, "When it . . . was clear . . . he couldn't . . . couldn't win!"

"It wasn't clear." Konohamaru told her gravely, "He had us guessing right to the end, I really thought he'd pull through and win, he _deserved _to win. It was like . . . like watching Shikamaru, he was a step ahead until the end, I just thought he'd keep being a step ahead. By the time I realized it was over part of me expected another trick, I hesitated to end it . . . I just hope I wasn't too late."

"_I _knew when it was over!" Yomiko screeched at him.

Konohamaru didn't answer, Yomiko just stared at Kotaro.

* * *

One person hadn't gone down to see the fallen Shinobi. It was Kyoko.

She'd regained consciousness, she'd stood and seen the fight end.

And then she'd fallen to the ground, wept as Kotaro was killed before her eyes.

The medics fought to save him, but she was convinced he was lost.

And it'd left her feeling weak, empty, alone. As the others rushed down she'd remained on the balcony.

Tears unchecked she wondered where Temari-sensei was.

She wanted to go home. She never wanted to see Konoha again. She hated this place, and these people, these weak people who'd let one of their own die without preventing it.

She heard steps and knew someone was coming back up to the balcony. She knew who it was too.

She stood up, shaking at first she quickly steadied herself and drew a kunai in each hand--there wasn't enough room for her to use her fan.

The slime that had murdered Kotaro was coming, and the two of them were going to be alone together on the balcony.

No proctors, no examiners, no guards.

Nothing to stop her from taking her vengeance.

Kyoko stood, fighting against her own body, refusing to shake like a leaf, even though it was what her body wanted to do.

As the shadow appeared in the doorway she lunged forward, blades leading.

No warning, no war cry, she wasn't a samurai, she was a Shinobi.

And this wasn't going to be a duel, this was going to be a murder, after all one good turn deserved another.

She'd kill Akuma of the Sound village without ever offering him a chance to fight back, she knew she was hurt, and even though he was too she knew that a real fight would only lead to her own death as well. It needed to be a quick, merciless, and lethal strike.

He probably wasn't expecting anyone up here, maybe he thought she was still unconscious, she'd easily kill him.

As the human form came into view Kyoko couldn't suppress the scream of rage, even though she'd meant to murder silently her emotions welled up within her were too strong, and she roared as she lunged forward and plunged her kunai into her victim.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	103. Tangled Webs

**Chapter One Hundred Three**

Hattori Hanzo leapt back to the edge of the cliff and nearly lost his balance.

Nearly regained it too before Uzumaki barreled into him, the mere touch of the nine tails chakra sent searing pain through Hanzo's entire body.

He fell off the cliff but a burning, cutting vortex lifted him back up and he knew it was a Jutsu, not just strong winds.

He was brought back to Uzumaki who had lost his fiery outer shell, but not his fiery demon eyes.

He reached out and took Hanzo by the throat, "In case you're wondering," he said in both his own voice and another, deeper, darker voice, "You're just about to die."

Somehow, Hanzo's dry throat produced enough moisture to spit in Uzumaki's face, but it seemed to evaporate before it could hit him.

Hanzo attempted a hand seal with one hand but suddenly Uzumaki gripped his hand and crushed it. "The pain you put us through was much worse than what you have in store. We are forgiving, and we will let you suffer a fraction of what we suffered. Of course . . . it will still be unspeakably terrible. You'll still die." The demon Uzumaki said.

Hanzo scowled, "I won't let you destroy my people!"

"I won't let you destroy mine." Uzumaki said, with his voice and his voice alone.

And then whatever force had kept Hanzo's spit from reaching Uzumaki's face suddenly shot through the demon Shinobi's arm, Hanzo felt it rip into him, he might have screamed but he couldn't be sure, the agony was intense though and when it ended he was amazed that he was alive.

"Just an appetizer." The darker, demonic voice said.

"Now for the main course," Uzumaki said in both his voices.

"N-no! Wait Naruto!" Hyuga Hinata shouted, "Don't! He should be questioned!"

Uzumaki smiled at him, "Hmm . . . slow painful interrogation. Or you can tell me everything you know _now_."

Hanzo sneered, "I'd rather wait for you in the afterlife . . . there I will meet you as equals, without your demon."

Uzumaki shook his head, "Fool. The afterlife is the realm of the demons."

And he dropped him over the cliff.

Hanzo fell with Uzumaki's razor winds accelerating his fall while cutting him to ribbons.

The duration was the terrible thing, he knew his death was coming for what felt like hours before he slammed into the first ledge.

He might have survived if he had been left on that ledge and found by someone friendly later.

But with Uzumaki's razor winds there was no chance of that, and soon he was shoved from the ledge to fall to his bloody death on the ground below.

He looked inwardly, into his shadow, determined to melt into the shadows and thereby survive the fall.

He only hoped he had enough chakra and chakra points left to do such a thing. The Hattori patriarch knew that there was no way he would let his life end this way. Not without taking every possible step to avoid it.

He had _beaten _Uzumaki, he hadn't counted on the treachery of the Konoha Shinobi, sending that Hyuga whore after Uzumaki, but one on one he _had _bested the demon.

So he knew that he could do it again, and even more easily with his entire clan at his back.

But there was no way he'd let this battle end this way, as he saw Uzumaki throw himself off the cliff, flying towards him at insane speeds Hanzo knew that the powers of the universe had aligned to give him this chance.

Take Uzumaki into the shadows with him and it'd be all over.

If Uzumaki found a way to kill him he too would die, he'd be completely at Hanzo's mercy, and Hattori Hanzo had none.

He would murder Uzumaki in the shadow world simply by severing physical contact with him and leaving him no way to escape from the shadows. Or perhaps it leave him there to rot, after all how could he know for certain that disconnecting himself from Uzumaki would simply kill him?

Certainly without Uzumaki an invasion of Konoha could commence without fools whining about having to face the Demon. This silly, useless alliance wouldn't have to continue, and the Land of Lightning would become the supreme power as it was meant to be.

Uzumaki's hand slammed into the mountain, or rather an arm made entirely of chakra slammed into the mountain.

With his other hand, similarly extended by chakra he formed what looked like a swirling vortex, it took a jagged shuriken-like shape and Hanzo recognized it at once.

As Naruto leapt from the mountain again, coming straight for Hanzo the older Shinobi understood why he hadn't hit the bottom yet, why somehow the fall alone hadn't sent him into shock.

The winds were cutting him, pushing him . . .

They were keeping him suspended high off the ground where he couldn't retreat into shadow, where Uzumaki would be able to kill him without any threat to himself.

Assuming he had some way to avoid death by falling himself, and of course he did, after all with arms and legs elongated by his chakra Uzumaki could climb down with pure chakra, chakra that would cut the stones of the mountain like butter and make hand and footholds, he'd already shown that he could use his wind Jutsus to somehow, while not perfectly suspending a person in air.

At least to slow descent enough that it didn't matter, Hanzo wouldn't reach the ground alive.

It baffled him really, the difference this demon brought about. Before he'd bested Uzumaki, now he couldn't imagine it, even with his entire clan backing him all he'd be doing was technically commanding his very family to commit suicide.

He smiled as Uzumaki came closer, realizing inferiority wasn't enough to make the old ninja give up.

He'd have once chance to survive if not actually win the fight.

As Uzumaki came close Hanzo knew it would all come down to milliseconds, and to luck.

He shouted with a voice far weaker than he'd realized it would be, "Even a hundred feet above the ground Uzumaki, there are _always_ shadows!"

And he looked within himself, evoked the power of his eyes, prayed to whatever beings, good or evil that might hear him.

He would have just one instant as Uzumaki's shadow was cast over him to slip into it, and then . . . who knew. He'd never gone into the world of shadows so high above the ground and he didn't know what to expect from the Demon that lived inside Uzumaki.

But he had just one chance . . . if he had the strength, if he had the chakra left . . . if he could _use _that chakra.

In one brief instant Hanzo would either defy a demon and save himself to fight and slay Uzumaki another day . . . or simply die like common fodder at the hands of a being that had no right to exist.

The instant came quickly, and in less time than it took to blink Hanzo's fate was decided.

* * *

Taiko wasn't xenophobic, not to the extent of the Earth Nation anyway. The slaughter of entire villages didn't appeal to him, these people had just as much right to live as anyone from the Lightning country, and had just as much right to pursue happiness in their lives as anyone in the entire world.

The problem was they were going about it all wrong, their customs weren't correct, their beliefs weren't correct, it was vital that the Daimyo of Lightning bring enlightenment and order to these people.

His father hadn't understood that. He'd focused on igniting patriotic fires in his own people, focused on their own happiness and pride forgetting that the people in the villages he conquered were not his prisoners, that he would not be ransoming back the villages after the war was over.

The people were new citizens of his country. Well . . . of Taiko's country. They were stupid of course, but it wasn't their fault, nor was it the malicious sort of stupidity displayed by those who were simply foolish, it was the innocent, pitiable stupidity of a child.

It was the duty of a Daimyo to be a father to his people, Taiko would be not just a father he would be, dare he think it, a deity. He would show them what they lacked, and what they lacked would be himself, for he would associate himself with every positive thing and associate their past lives with every negative thing.

And they would be enlightened . . . in time.

For now they fought because they were ignorant, ignorant of how much better it would be once they shrugged off their stupid customs and embraced the proper customs of the Land of Lightning.But they all acted as if the end of the Land of Fire would mean their deaths, as if their daughters would be ravaged in the streets and their sons sent into deep mines to bring forth more riches for a corrupt Daimyo. As if the fall of their empire meant the fall of themselves rather than the rise from the poverty they were suffering.

Taiko didn't want the people of Konohagakure to _die_. Not in the strictest of senses, he didn't wish for a complete cease of their bodily functions. He did want them to cease to exist . . . to instead proudly embrace the _gift _they were being offered by his own nation.

Sure . . . it started as an alliance. But with more Kumogakure Shinobi in this village than they knew about or could handle, with more Lightning soldiers and Samurai moving through Fire supply routes the fact was the war _had _ended between Lightning and Fire . . . but not in alliance.

In occupation, the barbarians just didn't realize it yet.

The one place that refused to be occupied, the one place that was so well defended that smuggling an army in under the pretense of protection wouldn't work was Konohagakure.

With their Demon and the Twelve, their Hokage and their other heroes they knew that they didn't need the protection of the Lightning army.

Which is why Taiko had ordered the Raikage to work with the Sound Resistance to destabilize that safety, why he had put the entire Hattori clan--minus those that mattered to him in the long run--at the disposal of the one who called himself the Supreme Shadow.

When all was over, when several of the Genin were dead by the hands of Shinno--or Akuma if he insisted--when the ambassadors were dead, when word of the attempt of Taiko's own life spread the people would not feel as safe.

They would finally want the protection the soldiers could offer.

And then the occupation would be complete.

* * *

Temari's eyes widened and she had to leapt back not one but two steps as she tried to avoid Kyoko's blades, the teenage girl's scream was so primal that Temari could scarcely believe that slight, delicate Kyoko could howl with such rage.

She gripped the girl's wrists, but the moment had passed, Kyoko wasn't going to fight her anymore, she seemed to have come to her senses.

"Where was _that _kind of attitude that time we were surrounded by Earth soldiers at--" But Temari didn't finish the joke, her student flung herself at her again, this time dropping her kunai to the floor first, and throwing her arms around Temari she wept into the woman's chest, "Wh-what's wrong? Look you did really well you know," Temari was telling her but Kyoko sobbed on.

Temari gently smoothed the girl's hair and said, "It's okay. I'm so proud of all of you, I couldn't as for a more capable team, I really couldn't. You do Sunagakure proud, and between you and me you've got the best chance out of the group of advancing anyway."

When Kyoko didn't stop crying, and in fact sobbed even louder Temari frowned and conceded to wrap her arms around the girl in a soothing manner. She didn't really like being physically affectionate with her Genin, even though she saw them as her own children in a way, she had been raised to think, and firmly believed that such things weakened an up and coming ninja.

Displays of affection were for very young children like Sumiko, or lovers like Shikamaru, but never for prospective warriors. Still, Temari couldn't help it on this one occasion, and it wasn't like there was anyone around watching. "Don't be so sad. You were phenomenal, you--" Temari tried to comfort Kyoko.

But Kyoko finally spoke, "Kotaro is dead!" She cried, "The boy from sound killed him!"

Temari's eyes narrowed. Now she was in a very awkward position. Letting Kyoko go was exactly the wrong thing to do, the girl _definitely _needed someone to hold her just then.

But she needed to see the arena, see what the devil was going on. She'd thought it odd when she noticed no guards at the door on her way to the infirmary, but now she knew why, she had to see how Shikamaru's student was doing, if he was really dead where had Shikamaru been?

Why hadn't Gaara prevented it for that matter? The arena was _covered _in sand and even if he hadn't been watching he should have been able to sense it.

Temari held on to Kyoko but slowly walked towards the edge of the balcony, "There there, he's not dead." She said soothingly, even though she wasn't really sure, "You're worrying for nothing."

Kyoko didn't stop crying though, and Temari didn't blame her. At her delicate age in her already fairly emotional state the only thing that truly surprised Temari was how long the girl had gone before breaking down like this now.

Temari had nearly lost Gaara once--technically _had _lost him, but that had been different, he was her brother.

For years now she'd constantly wondered whether or not she'd lose Shikamaru, but she hadn't seen him in such a dire state as Kyoko could see Kotaro.

Temari didn't smile, she couldn't force herself to do so and knew it wouldn't have been encouraging anyway. She said, "Lets go down there and see him, I know he's not dead, heck I'll make it a _bet_."

She led Kyoko down the stairs towards the arena, passing the boy from Sound along the way who seemed rather amused at Kyoko's tears.

Temari was proud of Kyoko then. Though she felt the girl tense and prepare to spring, Temari only needed to whisper, "Lets not get distracted," to keep Kyoko by her side.

She didn't have to hold the girl too tightly, which was good because she didn't trust herself not to let Kyoko go, not to let her display that murderous killer instinct again and leave that boy a bloody mess on the stairs.

Of course if he had beaten Shikamaru's star pupil Temari needed to wonder how dangerous the boy really was.

She couldn't leave Kyoko alone, but she did need to find out where Shikamaru was.

She'd take Kyoko to her teammates, round up the group and leave them under the care of the examiners she supposed.

She didn't glance over her shoulder and dramatically declare to that boy that she would kill him.

Not only would that be Shikamaru, or perhaps Kakashi's job, but Shinobi didn't declare themselves to their victims.

It only gave those victims a chance to prepare themselves.

* * *

Kotaro's eyes opened very slowly, Sakura breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sorry." He whispered.

Sakura didn't answer him, the fact that he was talking meant he wasn't dead _yet_, it didn't mean he was safe.

She looked over her shoulder, "Sasuke--" She began but to her surprise he wasn't there.

She blinked. She'd _assumed _Sasuke had followed her, but now it seemed rather silly. He was probably still with the Kazekage.

She turned to the person who _was_ with her who might be of some help, "Hibari, we need to take him to a hospital."

"No." Kotaro said softly. "I need to see my teammates."

Sakura was surprised at how clearly he spoke, given that he was no doubt in pain.

She nodded to his teammates, "You two, come here."

"Are you sure it's a good idea?" The Chuunin examiner asked, but Sakura ignored her and waved for the children to come quickly.

"We need to get him to a hospital, so make this quick."

Yomiko and Naomasa knelt down next to Kotaro, "Wh-what is it, Taro?" Yomiko sniffed.

Kotaro smiled beneath his mask. Sakura knew because she'd become adept at reading masked expressions after serving as Kakashi-sensei's student and then team medic for years.

"I don't want you to worry about me." He told them clearly, "I'm going to be okay."

"Yeah." Naomasa said numbly.

"I'm not just saying that." Kotaro said calmly, "I didn't let him hit anything vital."

Sakura wasn't so sure about that, despite his clear speech Kotaro might very well have been stabbed in the lung and that could indeed prove fatal if he didn't get help soon. Still she had to admit that if Akuma's target had been Kotaro's heart the boy _had _indeed managed to dodge just enough.

The damage was terrible though.

"Listen to me . . . because I can't help you guys later. Yomiko . . . your opponent, his weakness--"

"He can't pass through chakra." Yomiko whispered, "I noticed."

"But he _can_ pass through blades . . . he may not know your knives conduct chakra, but that surprise is only going to work once so don't waste it. Save it for the most opportune moment and you'll win."

Yomiko nodded. Naomasa whispered, "We'll defeat Akuma for you, don't worry. Yomiko will win her next fight then one of us is going to face him in the final, right? We'll get him, Kotaro."

Kotaro's smile brightened, "This isn't about him . . . it never was. Its about us . . . don't forget that. Prove to the world that you're already Chuunin."

Yomiko smiled weakly, Naomasa whispered, "You're the Chuunin. That was amazing the way you trapped him. I couldn't see how he freed himself, but I bet he cheated."

"Cheating isn't possible because this isn't a game, don't count on any rules. As for my fight, it was a loss." Kotaro said, "I hesitated. I should have killed him. I don't stand a chance of advancing, but you two do."

"It's better that you didn't kill him." Naomasa whispered, "Even if he deserves to die . . . it wouldn't have been right to kill him over a contest."

Kotaro shook his head, "No. Nao . . . he needs to die. That . . . that's our mission. This whole exam . . . secretly we're on a mission to kill him and I failed. I thought if I eliminated him from the exam it'd be okay, but I should have just carried out the mission. Don't make my mistake, Nao . . . or you, Yomiko. If you get a chance to kill him, do it."

Sakura shook her head and gently pushed the other two Genin away, "All right he can't wait any longer to go to the hospital, not if he's going to make a full recovery." She wouldn't let him convince them to commit murder, even if it was the Hokage's order.

She'd see that Tsunade-sama reconsidered and allowed these kids to pass or fail on their merits alone, the mission was officially called off as far as Sakura was concerned, she wouldn't have murder on these children's heads.

She turned to the Chuunin examiner and said "All the injured, get all the injured to the hospital. That includes the group that already went to the infirmary, round up whoever you need to, and recover them."

"Who'm I supposed to get?" Hibari gawked.

Sakura realized as she gazed around the crowd that while commoners were all looking with concern the Shinobi weren't.

Because the Shinobi weren't there . . . scanning the crowd she couldn't see a single familiar military face.

She glanced at the Hokage's box and saw Gaara staring down at the proceedings.

In the instant he'd been distracted the worst had happened.

And where was Naruto?

What would Shikamaru say when he found out what had happened to his student?

What would Kakashi say when he found out what had happened to his son for that matter?

And who would even bother to hold Anko back?

Sakura supposed she would . . . if only to prevent another serious injury, as justified as Anko would have been as a doctor Sakura couldn't just allow a small boy to be injured. Even if he deserved it.

* * *

Akuma shuddered when the hooded Shinobi appeared before him.

It wasn't his master, this one wore a mask.

"Who are you?" Akuma demanded.

He didn't get the answer he expected, the Shinobi's arm shot out, grasping his neck and slamming him against the wall, "You failed the master." The hooded Shinobi said.

"No! He wanted a distraction, I provided it!" Akuma snapped when he was released, "The entire village is obsessed with knowing whether or not that boy will survive."

The hooded Shinobi grabbed the boy's sword and backhanded him, "Did this blade drink the life blood of your foe? Did the Jutsu carved into its hilt activate? No? Then you failed."

If not for the masculine form and voice he'd almost suspect that Okatsu was behind that mask and hood. Akuma was tempted to stab this hooded Shinobi and let the seal activate, but he abstained.

If this one was a servant of the master he was definitely worth keeping around, after all the master often complained that not enough Shinobi followed his pure vision.

"What do I have to do?" Akuma asked.

"Your duty." The Shinobi said. "There is one Genin here who is not with the others . . . one whom the examiners have misplaced. Find them, kill them, let the sword drink their blood and let the Jutsu be activated. Do it before it's too late."

Akuma nodded, "Yes, yes I will."

"Now!" The hooded ninja barked.

* * *

The boy scrambled away, the Raikage smiled darkly to himself from behind the Hishu mask.

The gullible fool. A mask and hood was all it took for the boy to believe the Raikage a fellow servant of his dark master?

"You won't have everything your own way, Kabuto." The Raikage said, "I've seen to that now. When they meet, whoever wins you'll lose one of your servants. Your Jutsu will go off at the wrong time in the wrong place. Where it may be too late for your plans to move forward mine already have, and I suppose you were useful for that at least."

* * *

Kabuto smiled ruthlessly, his Jutsu was complete.

It was the ideal Jutsu for use against Uchiha Sasuke because he could perform it without using any hand seals, with his eyes closed if he needed to.

Because this Jutsu allowed him to feel the sound waves all around him, for everything made sound waves, including the silent steps of Uchiha Sasuke.

It allowed him to absorb these sounds and amplify them, in an instant he'd expell them, deafening everyone around him.

But not just that, his sound wave would be inescapable, only he would be immune to it, and it would be loud enough to stop the human heart.

The Hokage, the proctor, this gutsy Chuunin . . . when they all died it would be a fine test for Kabuto's jutsu.

Of course . . . he really hadn't wanted to kill the Hokage yet.

But it didn't matter . . . she was doomed to die anyway. It might be more dramatic if she died according to plan, but if she died now it was just as good.

He laughed wickedly when he felt yet another presence.

He spun around to see the very person this Jutsu was designed to kill.

Uchiha Sasuke.

Well that was that . . . he was using the Jutsu, not one person in this room was escaping alive.

He smiled at the Chuunin trained by Naruto.

He knew that _somehow_ she knew what was about to happen because for the first time she hesitated, she faltered and glanced at the fallen Genin as if she were wondering whether or not she could take him and escape.

Too late, Kabuto threw his arms out and unleashed his Jutsu.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	104. Lucky Interruption

**Chapter One Hundred and Four**

Naomasa shook his head as Kotaro was taken away to the hospital, he turned to Yomiko and said "You know . . . when you win your next match we'll have to fight each other." He said, making his faith in her clear by saying "when" she won instead of "if."

Yomiko nodded, and twirled her knives around, "I know."

"There was a time when I would have loved the chance to show you what I could do, to beat you and show you that you're wrong about clan-less Shinobi." Nao said.

"There was a time when I wouldn't have considered you any sort of challenge _because _you're a Shinobi without a clan. But now . . ."Yomiko shrugged. "I understand now that even without Shinobi parents you're skilled. Both of us are, and I guess it's got something to do with our Legendary Lazy-Ass Sensei."

Naomasa smiled weakly, it was difficult to smile after what had just happened. "Shikamaru-sensei sure is something else."

"Yeah. So I wonder . . . where he is." Yomiko said, slightly bitterly.

"Who knows?" Naomasa said. He glanced at Akuma's retreating form and thought about what Hitomi had asked of him and Tomoko.

Thought about poor Tomoko and how she'd tried so hard only to be defeated.

At the time he'd been guiltily happy, because it meant he wouldn't have to fight her, and she wouldn't get a chance to murder Akuma.

But now he was upset.

Because now . . . who was there to put Akuma in his place? He didn't need to be killed, but he deserved to be beaten so badly he never so much as thought of lifting a blade again.

And Naomasa wondered where Hitomi had been.

Where anyone had been.

What was going on with the adults? Could they all have expected a Shikamaru-like feat of strategy and therefore abandoned Kotaro until it was obvious that he had no chance?

It annoyed Naomasa. Even though he knew Kotaro would consider it an honor to be considered _half _the strategist Shikamaru-sensei was, the honor of it didn't matter.

Kotaro could have _died_.

And it wasn't fair.

Naomasa wasn't ready to give in and actually commit a murder. He'd always thought that if he'd accidentally killed someone in self defense on a battlefield it wouldn't be so bad, it would mean he'd failed to show proper restraint but at least he hadn't done anything cruel.

On the other hand he was fully aware now that this wasn't a mission, or a test.

This _was _a battle.

After all, wasn't that what the Chuunin exams were all about? A replacement for war?

It seemed to Naomasa that the exams had just been given a very violent shove towards real war.

He forced a smile at Yomiko, "It's perfect really. If he loses his next fight whichever one of us loses can go beat up on him while the other wins the tournament."

Yomiko smiled too, weakly and obviously forced, "I really think if he loses his next match the real battle between you and I will be seeing which of us can shout out a forefit faster so we can go after him. He's the only battle that matters anymore."

Naomasa just nodded.

But he knew how that would go.

To engage Akuma outside of the arena would be illegal . . . he'd forefit before Yomiko because he wasn't from a prestigious ninja clan. He had nothing to lose, no chance of shaming his family because he'd gotten into a street brawl.

Yomiko didn't bother to walk with him any further, her fight would be next after all since Naomasa had no opponent.

She and Yurei Yuu remained in the arena as everyone else left.

Naomasa realized he wanted to watch Yomiko's fight . . . but a part of him also wanted to find Shikamaru-sensei and demand answers.

He was surprised though when he reached the balcony . . . Akuma wasn't there.

Neither were Kyoko, or Miura Saizo.

Naomasa glanced at Yomiko and felt torn.

He didn't want to leave, he wanted to shout encouragement to Yomiko.

But . . . with Kyoko and Saizo missing . . . Kyoko must have tried to fight Akuma, she probably convinced Saizo to help her . . . they were in danger and he had to do something.

He felt himself being torn in two, and thought that that might not be such a bad idea.

He began to use a Shadow Clone Jutsu but Daisuke put a hand on his shoulder.

"I know what you're thinking. Kurai is on it. When he knows, _then_ we move."

The bug herder nodded and Naomasa realized that Kurai could indeed track down their comrades without leaving the balcony.

He gulped, he'd never had a real conversation with the older Genin, he'd never been all that close to Team Uchiha at all.

But he bowed his head slightly to Kurai and said "Can you . . . do me a little favor?"

"It depends on the favor." Kurai said.

"You're using bugs to find Akuma and the others right? Can you find someone else too?"

Kurai was quiet for a moment, the proctor announced the fighters and the beginning of the fight.

Finally Kurai whispered "Who?"

"Shikamaru-sensei . . . and Hijiri Hitomi, she's one of the examiners."

"The one with the--"

"Yeah, yeah, the big rack." Nao grumbled.

Kurai's facial expression was unreadable behind his high collar and glasses but Nao could tell by his voice that he was smiling, "I was going to say _goggles_."

"Oh . . . right . . . uh yeah, that's her." Naomasa smiled weakly.

Kurai nodded, "I'll let you know when I find something."

Naomasa bowed low, "Thank you." He said, then turned towards the arena and shouted "Show him the power of the Sarutobi clan, Yomiko!"

* * *

Yomiko glared across the field ay Yuu.

He wasn't physically intimidating, he was a bit thin, and his long hair made him look overly feminine.

But whatever he looked like she knew he was a worthy opponent, perhaps more worthy than she was.

Nobody got this far without being worthy, nobody got this far on luck alone.

Blood didn't matter, she was coming to understand that. A ninja's skill didn't come from blood, bloodline traits might help, but they didn't _make _a supreme ninja.

So as she regarded Yuu she did not care that she'd never heard of the Yurei clan of Kumogakure, she didn't care that he looked like a girl. What she cared about was the fact that he was going to either defeat her, or lose to her. What she cared about was the fact that he'd come this far on his talents and those talents were, she had to presume, pretty impressive.

The ones she'd already seen were insane.

But not unbeatable, it was unlikely that he'd _never_ had to face an opponent with chakra knives, or that he'd never been hit by a jutsu, even if most of the fighting had been against conscripts Yomiko knew that he must have at some point faced real Shinobi as well, the war had lasted all of his ninja career after all.

So she knew he'd be capable, actually landing the surprise blow with the chakra knives wouldn't come easy.

And though she did not want to kill him, she knew that she'd need to take the first opportunity to strike, even if the only opening she could find turned out to be a vital location.

As uncle Konohamaru declared the battle's beginning Yomiko wasted no time.

But she didn't lunge forward, neither did Yuu.

She began the hand seals for a Jutsu, then unleashed it, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Yuu similarly sent forth a single clone, but whether he was a solid shadow clone or an illusionary doppelganger Yomiko wasn't sure, nor would she be until she struck.

Still it might be a Lightning Clone, in which case striking it would give her a very unpleasant though likely not lethal shock.

She had to play her cards right, but she couldn't afford to play them safe, she had to win and victory sometimes took risks.

What would Kotaro do?

Kotaro would have planned at least the beginning of the battle before he ever stepped into the arena, _that's _for sure.

He was like Shikamaru in that he thought ahead, like his father--or at least the reputation of his father--in that he was adaptable to most situations. _Kotaro _is _a Chuunin . . . I just need to prove that I am too._ Yomiko thought.

* * *

Kabuto thrust his hands out for his Jutsu and shouted the trigger, "Death Wave!"

He didn't really hear the blast of his own Jutsu, but but everything went black.

He scowled, his Jutsu triggered, everyone should die . . . but what about his darkness?

He heard a strange sound and his eyes narrowed.

"So . . ." He whispered, "It seems my time is up."

* * *

Hitomi heard Kabuto shouted "Death Wave!"

She fell back, holding her hands to her ears.

There was no sound, and yet her body seemed to know better. Her hands moved to her ears of their own accord, her eyes watered not because she was crying but because the pain was so excruciating.

She fell to her knees and then flat on her face, her breathing was shallow and she had no energy to move.

She sobbed softly, but only once.

Then she realized she wasn't dead.

She needed to force herself to her feet.

Somehow, something lifted her.

She felt the sands helping her to her feet, she glanced around, hoping her goggles would help to hide the shame on her face, for the Hokage and even Moegi had not fallen down as she had.

The Kazekage stepped past her, for she was nearest to Kabuto, who was surrounded by a sphere of sand, which must have blocked or at least dampened his Jutsu. Gaara held out his hand and said in a cold, calm voice said "I've stood by long enough. But my patience has paid off, you left yourself completely vulnerable."

Hitomi staggered backwards on her feet, but Lady Tsunade caught her and held her firmly by the shoulders, "We need him alive, Kazekage . . . and thank you for the rescue."

"It was my job." Uchiha said coldly.

"You were a fine distraction." Gaara said.

Hitomi breathed very slowly, Tsunade said "Question him, Lord Gaara."

Gaara constricted his sand, tightening it around Kabuto, Hitomi's eyes however saw the shape things were taking before anyone else--aside probably from Uchiha Sasuke-sensei, but he said nothing.

Neither did Hitomi.

She just shook her head slowly as the sand receded from the head so that the body could be questioned.

If it weren't long dead that is.

Gaara's mostly emotionless eyes narrowed as he said, "I believe we've found the missing Rain Genin."

Tsunade looked up from tending Kyusaku's injuries and gasped at the mutilated body.

It may once have been a girl.

It may indeed have once been an Ame Genin, it did have a rain country headband though it had been cut in three different places.

Akuma had done it, Hitomi could tell.

He'd confessed to the murders, here was the dead body, she'd been mutilated by a sword . . .

But the atrocity of it, the grossness she beheld.

Moegi vomited, Hitomi was shaking.

Not from fear, but because the monster that had done it was still free.

She staggered out of the hall, she'd kill Akuma now.

Her strongest Jutsu, right to his head.

The sands stopped her though, "You're finished." The Kazekage said softly.

Hitomi shoved her way past, "Stopping now isn't an option." She said sharply, shoving through the sand.

She walked into Matsuri and Sai, who held her firmly, "You're finished." Matsuri said, "You need to rest."

"No I don't, I've barely begun to fight."

"You fought an opponent so far above you that your survival is nothing short of a miracle." Matsuri said.

Hitomi realized for the first time that she _was _shaking from fear.

"Matsuri, see these two to the hospital." Tsunade said, indicating Moegi and Kyusaku. "Hijiri, how do you feel?"

Hitomi couldn't believe she was being given a choice in the matter, "I need to see the Genin and Special Jounin Yamamoto."

"Go then, see to their safety as well." Tsunade said.

"Uh . .. c-can't you heal everyone?" Matsuri asked tentatively, "I mean we could use Yamamoto at full steam, and the Genin can get themselves to safety if you did."

"I'll take care of that in the hospital. On that note Uchiha, I want the Twelve to report to the hospital as soon as possible, spread the word."

"Sakura has the communicator." Sasuke said.

"You know where the others are? Find the nearest group and order the Twelve to the hospital." The Hokage was saying but Sai led Hitomi away.

She reflected on herself as they walked, but Sai easily put her thoughts into words, "You did something incredibly stupid."

She smiled lightly, "Didn't I though?"

"They're going to ask you why." Sai warned her.

Hitomi shrugged, "But you're not?"

"No. It's none of my business, and I don't care. It worked out, Four Eyes."

Hitomi's eyes narrowed, though Sai couldn't see it through her goggles, "Shut up, Pretty Boy."

* * *

"I don't believe in miracles, he wanted her alive for something." Gaara said as Hitomi and Sai left.

"No, he was trying to take her out, he probably would have if the fight lasted much longer. She kept one step ahead of him though, her speed was ridiculous. Not like yours Uchiha Sasuke, but still . . ." The Hokage said.

"The question is why." Gaara said, "Why would he focus on her."

"He didn't." Tsuande said.

"I was watching the whole time, while its true a good portion of his focus was on you the majority of it fell to her eventually. I had assumed that he was toying with all of you for a while, but he attempted to use a very final Jutsu. I think he panicked." Gaara told them.

"Kabuto doesn't panic." Sasuke said.

"Then he sensed you would tip the scales too far out of his favor with your arrival. Perhaps it wasn't a fatal Jutsu." Lady Tsunade said.

"He didn't complete it actually, and it nearly destroyed the Sand Coffin. If he ever really gets the chance to use it I cannot promise that my sand can stop him. It was all I could do to crush him in time. You saw Hijiri too, she's barely conscious and she was shielded from most of the Jutsu thanks to my sand coffin."

Yes, three Shinobi with eyes as sharp as theirs had noticed that while Hitomi was walking and talking as if she were still in good enough shape to be useful she was almost entirely out of chakra. Sasuke had assumed that that was why lady Tsunade had more or less given her a roundabout assignment that would still lead her to the hospital where she could be cared for.

Sasuke nodded, finding himself very interested in this student of Naruto's who had managed to survive against Kabuto for whole minutes.

He'd sort of written all of Naruto's former students off a while ago as somewhat average, at best he thought Yamamoto Miyuki the most useful.

Hitomi never seemed to excel before. Sasuke and Naruto knew she'd held back somewhat, but Sasuke quickly stopped caring and wrote her off as an underachiever, the rare sort of Shinobi worth even less than the achievements they _were _achieving.

Now to find that somehow she'd come so far that she could stand up to and survive Kabuto left Sasuke wondering what the girl could do with a teacher who specialized in the same things she did.

Fire, speed, and the obvious fact that _something _was special about those eyes she hid.

Sasuke toyed with the fantasy for a moment that she had the Sharingan, that somehow another survivor existed, that the responsibility of rebuilding the Uchiha clan wouldn't fall solely to himself.

But that wasn't possible. Hitomi hadn't even been born during the massacre, had she? She was just seventeen wasn't she? If her parents had had the Sharingan or even been related to the Uchiha closely enough to have the Sharingan they'd have died too.

Itachi had been thorough.

Or could Itachi have made _one_ mistake . . .

What if Hitomi were Sasuke's niece? What if Itachi had had a fling a couple years after the extermination and sired Hitomi?

No, Sasuke knew such an act wasn't in Itachi's character, as much as he'd hated Itachi he knew that Itachi would never seduce a married woman away from her husband, or sire a child with a woman who, as far as Sasuke remembered, had no Shinobi background.

He was grasping at straws hoping to find a kindred spirit, another survivor. The girl had Uchiha qualities, speed, and skill with fire, but she wasn't an Uchiha.

There weren't any more Uchiha besides himself, there wouldn't be until he got around to the serious but life changing business of making more.

**To Be Continued . . .

* * *

**

**Note: **One thousand reviews. Wow. I never once believed when I started this story that it'd come this far, be this well received. I say that a lot, but it never stops being true.

I have not been good to you lately, missing updates left and right, but I _am_ trying to get the story back on schedule, back on track. I'm glad though that people are still reading and that lack of updates hasn't killed the story. I'd like to say that I'll be able to update on time from now on, but that's exactly what I thought when I posted chapters 102 and 103, I turned out to be wrong.

I am slowly getting over my depression however, writing is getting easier, I still don't want to say that I won't miss any more updates, but rather than say it I'll just do my best to prove it.

But 1000 reviews, now that calls for something truly spectacular, something better than just a bonus chapter.

The rest of the arc is outlined, I know exactly how everything needs to be written down I just need the time to write it, which I plan to do over this weekend. This is very doable, it sounds daunting but with the work that I have already done on the chapters finishing them all shouldn't be too bad.

I then plan to post the rest of the arc in its entirety on Monday (or each chapter as it is finished, I don't know yet). To ensure that they do get finished I vow not to play any game (video or otherwise), or write any other story until the arc is finished and posted. For that matter I don't plan on reading anything either, lately I sit down to read for a half hour before I go to sleep and find myself six hours later wondering how I'm going to wake up in time for work.

However I was planning on finishing the arc anyway so it won't count as the bonus for the 1000th review.

What then should I do?

Sit with anticipation dear readers, for the bonus item will be posted after Arc 3 is finished. It will go nicely with the updated Ninja Index.


	105. The Jutsu in the Sword

**Chapter One Hundred and Five**

Shikamaru threw himself back to avoid a Hattori sword, and it was a good thing he did.

Not just because of the sword, it was obviously a good thing he'd avoided that.

But had he not thrown himself backwards the large flash of green that suddenly came spinning into the room would have knocked him through a wall, just as it did the poor Hattori swordsman.

"Konoha's Great Green Dragon," Lee shouted, "If you know what is good for you, you will surrender peacefully!"

"Yeah . . . ya don't want to be a chew toy." Kiba smirked, leaping onto the balcony on Akamaru's back.

He'd make a pretty impressive dramatic figure with Ino holding onto him if not for the fact that she looked terribly frazzled and her tight grip around his middle was for her life precious, not out of affection.

But Ino, being Ino, recovered quickly and bowed her head as she used a Jutsu.

One of the Hattori Shinobi threw his sword aside, "I surrender!" He shouted.

"Ditto!" One of his buddies shouted.

As Shino entered the room in the most unusual of ways--walking through the door calmly--the remaining Hattori were surrendering mostly thanks to the cowardice Ino's Jutsu had bred within them, Tosa folded her arms and huffed.

"What's your problem?" Shikamaru asked.

"Well it just pisses me off how anti-climactic that was." Tosa said. "I mean they're rather after the fact."

"Don't worry about it." Shikamaru shrugged. He turned to the Hattori, "As for the rest of you . . . who are you?" Shikamaru asked as he used his shadow to bind all of them.

"Jounin of Otogakure." One of them answered mechanically.

"Honestly?" Shikamaru asked, "Because against Jounin I would have been doomed."

"Some of us are Chuunin." One of the men said hesitantly.

"Even so, Tosa and I should not have had such an easy time subduing you." Shikamaru said, "So tell me now . . . what's really going on here?"

The surviving Hattori all looked nervous, and they couldn't turn to each other for cues since Shikamaru was forcing their gaze on himself.

"We'll die before we tell you anything." One of them said.

"Ino." Shikamaru said.

Ino slid off of Akamaru and used a Jutsu, "Yamanaka secret arts, Mind Blast Jutsu!"

Shikamaru quickly severed the connection between himself and that Hattori, as Ino used all the force the Yamanaka clan possessed over the brains of their enemies to convince the man's brain that he'd been hit _very _hard in the head and induce unconsciousness without having to actually to strike him herself.

He was alive, groaning once as he fell and then taking very shallow breaths. Shikamaru turned his gaze downward, allowing those comrades in position to see him and see that he hadn't been killed, but that he could have been.

"What about you lot, more of the same?" Ino asked, batting her eyelashes.

The Hattori couldn't get courage from each other because they couldn't look to each other, not that that would have helped since all of them looked nervous now.

* * *

Like the other fights Yomiko and Yuu didn't necessarily begin on the word go.

They began before it was given, planning, thinking.

Physical movements began once cousin Konohamaru gave the word, but before then they had already begun to fight.

Yomiko unleashed her wind Jutsu, Yuu sank into the ground to avoid it.

She knew he had to be running low on chakra after the amount of shifting he'd done when he fought Tomoko; the mere idea that his Jutsu didn't take an insane amount of chakra was beyond belief.

Shifting your entire being out of physical state into . . . whatever it was he became couldn't be simple, and even if it were keeping it going would have to be like burning an oil lamp, eventually you'd run out of oil, or in Yuu's case chakra.

Of course lamps tended to last a while; Yomiko was hoping that Yuu didn't.

* * *

Sarutobi Yomiko was tough, Yuu knew that.

He avoided her Jutsu, and began one of his own.

Keeping his eyes focused on her as if he meant to use a Genjutsu, Yuu attempted to trick her into preparing for a mental assault.

It was a subtle trick, but one that had often worked. Many people saw his lithe frame and assumed he must specialize in Genjutsu or Ninjutsu, how could he possibly be a physical force to be reckoned with?

To Yomiko's credit she didn't make that assumption, instead she sprinted towards him, knives drawn.

Yuu wouldn't waste chakra phasing through them, so he'd have to dodge them.

But first he'd unleash his Ninjutsu. He thrust his hands out and lightning washed over Yomiko.

She just became a log; Yuu spun around and saw that she wasn't there.

He smiled, she'd tried the same trick her teammate had used against prince Shinno, and Yuu had fallen for it.

"Clever girl, and to control your form through the pain of my Jutsu no less," Yuu congratulated her, "of course your luck runs out now."

He swept his legs back, letting the first phase through her, leaving a tingling sensation in her ankles, weakening any resistance her legs might have posed while they were braced and ready to stop him.

His second leg swept her legs out from under her, and she rolled away, coming up and thrusting her hands forward with a wind Jutsu that Yuu hadn't been expecting.

He flew backwards into the wall, and resisted every temptation to phase through it.

He knew that if he phased through it it'd count as leaving the arena, he'd be disqualified.

Instead he suffered the cutting winds until Yomiko's Jutsu ended, then falling forward as if he were defeated he instead phased into the ground.

Swimming through it he leapt up in front of Yomiko, rather than behind.

He knew she was going to spin around, expecting him from the back, and she didn't disappoint him.

He thrust his hand through her chest; if he'd wanted he could have killed her.

But he didn't want that. She was a good fighter, and a clever Shinobi, unlike Shinno, though Yuu recognized the danger such a person posed to his village that wasn't reason enough for him to grudge them their very life.

He was different from Shinno.

But if this girl defeated him would she be ready to face Shinno? Could she possibly realize the dangers such an act would hold?

He supposed if he really thought about it he had sort of a moral obligation that dictated he couldn't let her advance, wouldn't let her face the prince.

Whoever faced Shinno needed not only to be willing to kill, but to be ready, to have done it before.

He remembered how recalling the act of killing had bothered Tomoko, understood that the children of Konoha weren't eager killers.

He wouldn't risk a panda being sent to slay a tiger.

_I am sorry, Sarutobi Yomiko, though you deserve to advance I cannot allow it. The containment of prince Shinno is a Kumogakure matter and I must attend to it in the event that Kasumi cannot. Unless you can show me that you're worthy, I cannot allow you to pass by me, regardless of the cost to either of us._

Yuu pulled his hand upwards, through Sarutobi's head.

It would numb her mind, dull all her senses to have his hand pass through her brain.

Then he struck out again, using another lightning Jutsu, this one designed to bind her.

"Lightning Cage Jutsu!" Yuu decreed as the bolts erupting from his hands wrapped around Sarutobi.

She gurgled and fell forward, the electricity of the cage shocking her until finally she evaporated in a puff of smoke.

So she'd used a shadow clone.

"Razor Wind Jut--" Yomiko cried out from behind him, but Yuu spun around and punched the girl hard in the stomach, doubling her over.

Yomiko coughed hard and fell on her back.

Yuu hadn't meant to hit her that hard . . .

Well there was nothing to be done, she was his enemy until the fight was over, he could pity her then but not until.

Chuunin didn't fret over how hard they'd hit their opponents.

Yomiko staggered to her feet and began to catch her breath, or would have if he'd let her.

Instead Yuu leapt back and used a shuriken, aiming to keep her moving, keep her from having a chance to really breathe.

Tire her out quickly and win the match quickly.

* * *

Saizo wobbled down the street, his snake Oro-Chi wrapped tightly, nervously around his right forearm.

He didn't know why he hadn't been taken to the infirmary, when he'd come to he'd been on the balcony with a medic.

He'd asked if he could leave and go to the infirmary, the medic said "no" and that he needed to stay put but then someone screamed and everyone was rushing into the arena.

Saizo took the opportunity to disobey orders and make his way to some real medical attention, since the infirmary was obviously full he'd go right to the hospital.

It was all very confusing, Daisuke must have hit him a lot harder than he thought. As he walked through the deserted streets of Konoha towards the hospital he lost his way twice, traveling in a daze.

But now the objective was in sight, he knew where he was going.

Oro-Chi began to hiss anxiously and Saizo turned around, leaning against a wall he gazed back the way he'd come, from the balcony.

Someone was running towards him.

He tried to figure out why when suddenly a very sharp blade presented itself much closer than he liked.

Though groggy and injured Saizo was still a Shinobi, his body was a highly tuned machine and self defense was a skill all ninja knew since before they ever received their headbands.

He kicked back at his assailant, and heard them dissipate. A shadow clone.

Even groggy he was still able to dodge the sword as it flew past him, he heard it clatter to the ground and heard it make a "poof" sound.

Poof . . . poof?

He turned around slowly.

To any normal person it would have seemed like a lightning quick reflex but to a ninja it was slow and Saizo knew it.

He was really out of it, and he had Daisuke to blame. Why hadn't super medic boy tried fixing his head up a bit? It throbbed too badly for Saizo to really think with it.

Worse Saizo realized as pain shot through his arm that he hadn't managed to dodge the sword after all, it had nicked his left arm and left a gash.

Still his arm was better than his back.

The sword that had clattered to the floor became a human being, a boy . . . that crazy boy.

"What are you--" Saizo grumbled, but decided there was no point continuing the question, instead he tossed his snake into the air, "Help me out, Oro-Chi!" He shouted, and the snake began to grow.

"Heh, why not? I already killed one snake today." Akuma growled.

Saizo scoffed and used some of the blood that had begun to drip from his shoulder to summon another snake. He glared at Akuma, "You're not going to just attack me for no reason are you, little boy?"

"I need your blood." Akuma said, "My master demands your blood."

"You already drew it." Saizo said, rubbing his shoulder.

"I need your life blood, as this sword plunges into your heart the Jutsu will be activated."

Saizo didn't know what it all meant, he didn't care.

He nodded to Oro-Chi and his summoned serpent, "Swallow him."

Akuma spun his sword cockily and said "This fight is over, you just don't realize it."

That's when a blade erupted from Saizo's chest.

"Two clones." Akuma whispered in his ear, "One disguised as this sword, and one to throw it while I followed behind, stepping at the same time as the clone so you'd only hear one of us approaching. Just in case you were wondering how I killed you. Pretty smart huh?"

Saizo's eyes watered, or else it might have been tears, but he didn't have time to figure it out.

* * *

Akuma slid the blade out of his victim, this time he knew for sure he'd gotten the heart; the blade should be bathed in the life blood of this Miura Saizo.

Akuma had figured out easily enough whom he was meant to kill and followed Saizo without being noticed, waiting for the right moment to spring out.

Now the hilt of his short sword began to burn so he dropped it, as he did he realized the snakes remained alive, he would have to deal with them.

They had seemed dazed and unsure when he killed Saizo, but as he dropped his sword they charged.

As much as it can be claimed that a snake charges anyway.

Akuma thought it looked rather more like groveling, crawling along on their bellies. Sure they didn't have arms or legs, but as summoned beings he rather expected something more.

He tossed a pair of marbles out--he'd gotten some more from a secret compartment in the sword's handle--and two more clones appeared, to whom he tossed kunai.

They set themselves upon the snakes, stabbing them with the knives though the snakes in return viciously constricted them.

It didn't matter; even though the clones dissipated they'd bought him enough time to use a genjutsu which would cause both the snakes to attack each other.

It worked, and he turned back to his own sword.

The Jutsu must be taking effect, the sword's handle was glowing with red letters, and they read "Despair, all Konoha"

Akuma frowned, what would this Jutsu do? All he knew was that he'd been told to activate it while fighting one of his opponents.

Suddenly smog filled the air, for a brief moment there was nothing and then finally a voice.

"This . . . this isn't the stadium!" A woman scowled.

"What's going on, captain?" A man asked.

"We're supposed to be in the stadium!" Someone else roared.

There were more voices and as the smoke cleared Akuma could see roughly two dozen Shinobi, all of them wearing Sound headbands though their clothes and uniforms--for those who wore them--were not the same as the masters, but rather seemed to be a collection of several other countries, even Konoha.

"This is the market place. We're not even in the right part of town, what happened?" The woman demanded, and Akuma realized she was talking to him.

He said "I . . . I didn't know I was supposed to . . . I . . ." He took control of himself.

He had no reason to feel ashamed, it was the master's fault for not specifying where he needed to kill, and that Anbu's fault for making him think it would be okay to kill his enemy in the middle of nowhere.

"The stadium was deemed too dangerous," Akuma improvised, "I was told to summon you here."

"And late." The woman captain scowled, "Master must have already launched his attack, and without us in the crowd to distract the Konoha Shinobi he and his strike force are almost certainly doomed. You've failed the Master and you mean to cover it up with lies!"

Akuma retrieved his sword and in doing so allowed the remaining clone marbles to roll into his hand, "If the Master depended on you to preserve his life then he has no right to be our master. No, what I said was true," he lied, "Master no longer wants you to distract the Konoha Shinobi."

"Then what?" The captain demanded, "It was the strike force's job to kidnap the two Genin."

Akuma raised an eyebrow, "Two Genin?"

"The targets," The captain said irritably, "The ones the master wanted to kidnap and train? Remember? Oedo Tomoko and Miura Saizo."

Miura . . . Saizo?

Akuma gulped. This was very bad.

The summoned Shinobi had become distracted by the snakes, which were struggling against each other, Akuma needed to think fast and hope that none of them knew what Saizo looked like.

He was so glad the boy had fallen on his face when Akuma had torn his blade free.

"Oedo and Miura are . . . they are . . ." Akuma tried to think of a way to send these people off to someplace useful so he could reunite himself with Okatsu.

She'd make him pay for this, but she'd also protect him from the worst consequences of his failure.

If he could just ditch these clowns and get to her. He couldn't send them to the stadium because he needed to return there soon, who knew when his next match would begin.

He didn't know where else to send them that wouldn't end up in their deaths.

But then it came to him, a way to make everything better.

"The Hokage's office," He said finally, "They are under protective custody because the Konoha Shinobi learned beforehand what the master intended to do; there was a traitor."

The captain's expression was somewhat doubtful, but scornful enough that he could tell she wasn't writing his story off completely.

"That's why you were summoned late, I had to get to a safe distance. The master and his task force are creating the distraction now, now you abduct the Genin from the Hokage's office . . . as well as any files you can find on Konoha's troop movements and Shinobi dossiers."

"What? Why? We already have people leaking the troop movements to us, and who cares about dossiers?" The captain demanded.

"Do you _dare _to question Master's will?" Akuma shouted.

"Just his messenger." The captain said.

Akuma lashed out with his sword, cutting the woman's chin but leaving no other damage.

She lunged for him in outrage, but as he suspected her comrades restrained her, "You little snot!" She roared.

Akuma however acted with all the authority and confidence his past life had taught him to wield, "The Master will do worse if he finds out you doubted me."

The captain glared but finally she and her crew moved off.

When they were gone Akuma fell to the ground, finally able to stop the act of being someone important and confident.

Then he laughed.

He laughed long and loud, and for the first time it wasn't a mocking, evil snicker, it was a laugh of relief, the laugh of a child who'd just gotten away with something he should never have gotten away with.

He recovered his sword and set off for the stadium again, stopping just before he'd gone too far.

The two snakes were still alive . . . he decided to change that before he left.

Stupid beasts, getting caught up in his Genjutsu for so long.

Then again he supposed he really was a master of Genjutsu.

* * *

Hanzo's moment came, for an instant he was able to submerge himself in Uzumaki's shadow, to slip into it.

And it passed, even as his moment came the great demon reached out with an arm of pure chakra, pulling Hanzo in close.

The chakra burned, and Hanzo couldn't help but scream in agony.

Worse Uzumaki seemed to have forgotten about using the wind Jutsu to slow his fall, they were plummeting now.

Hanzo had moments of agony before he'd strike the ground.

But he didn't.

He continued suffering as the red chakra consumed him, but he didn't die.

He didn't hit the ground.

If they stopped he didn't know how or where, and he didn't care, the pain he was feeling was too intense for him to think of anything else.

He roared in pain, but his own screams were muffled by the flow of blood coming out of his own ears.

Was this the end? Had there even been a beginning? Was his life ever anything but this intense pain?

In his mind a cold hard voice said, Do you like this taste of your own medicine?

Hanzo wasn't sure if it was his own imagination, perhaps his conscience telling him that what he'd done to Uzumaki was far worse.

He wasn't sure if it was the nine tails itself speaking to him.

But he knew it wasn't right.

He couldn't accept this, he wouldn't accept it.

It didn't matter if he'd inflicted more pain on Uzumaki, he had no sympathy for that possessed fool, no sympathy at all.

Uzumaki deserved every little ache and pain he ever suffered, and he deserved more. He was a repellant monster, a freak, possessed by a demon that had no right to exist.

Hanzo wouldn't stop fighting them, he'd never give up.

"D-do y-y-your w-w-worst!" He stammered through a bleeding mouth, he'd clenched his teeth so tightly against the pain that he'd broken some of them, he was gagging on his own blood.

And then the pain became too intense, too great.

He screamed, was hurtled out of his own mind, images of the demon fox filled his head.

And then . . . it all stopped. Hanzo fell the rest of the way to the ground, dead.

If he could have felt anything, he might have felt relieved.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note:** Chapters 105-107 are up, they are NOT the complete arc, that is still coming Monday.

This is to ease the wait for all those loyal fans who've waited long enough anyway. Thanks to all those who have remained so loyal to the story, enjoy these chapters!


	106. The Incredible Sarutobi

**Chapter One Hundred and Six**

Daisuke had never seen Kurai really, truly mad.

But somehow he knew that was exactly what he was looking at now.

Kurai's fists were clenched at his side, he stared into nothingness, his mouth and eyes covered by his collar and glasses, but the rest of his face had all the lines of anger sketched into them.

"What is it?" Naomasa asked.

"Saizo." Kurai said coldly. "He's with Saizo."

Daisuke realized what was happening, but asked anyway, "They're fighting? Why?"

"It's no fight." Kurai said coldly.

"They're working together?" Naomasa asked.

Kurai shook his head, "The bug had time to report back . . . even if Saizo were still alive when it happened we'd never get to him in time."

"When what happened?" Daisuke whispered.

"When Akuma stabbed him in the back." Kurai said.

"What's going on?" Hattori Kasumi spoke up.

Daisuke didn't hear the conversation, everything became muffled.

All he could hear was Saizo's arrogant voice in his ears.

_I might have been able to defend myself if you hadn't hit me so hard, Daisuke. It's your fault I died._

Daisuke leaned over the balcony; he watched Yomiko and Yuu fighting.

How idiotic.

The Chuunin exam was a play at war, allies fought each other to show dominance, winning the better contracts and earning more bargaining ability when negotiating treaties.

But a real enemy was within the castle gates, a real enemy was killing people for the sake of it and they were powerless to stop him because he was here as an ally and no one was clever enough to see through it.

While the nations played war, Shinobi died because of ignorance.

Like two dogs fighting over the same piece of meat while a cat slinked in and dragged it away, the exams served no real purpose.

With a true war being fought a play war was no way to pick and choose new Chuunin.

Daisuke turned his back on the whole thing, "I'm going," He said, "I forfeit the next match."

"What?" Kurai demanded, "Why?"

"Because I'm through playing war, I'm going to go fight the real one." Daisuke told him. "I didn't like Saizo even a little bit, but he was one of us . . . if we weren't trying to kill each other we might be able to kill the only real enemy here." He gestured towards Kasumi and Masaru, "They're not our enemies, the Suna team isn't an enemy, but that demon, that Akuma, he's an enemy. He has no right to even be here."

"Is that so?" Kurai whispered. "Is that really why you're going?"

_No, you're going because you know what happened was your fault, _Saizo told Daisuke, or rather Daisuke told himself, but in Saizo's voice. _You're going because it's _your _fault._

"Yes." Daisuke said.

"If that were true I'd let you forfeit." Kurai said. "It isn't, so I won't."

"You think you know?" Daisuke whispered.

"I don't know when you lie . . . but the bugs do. Besides you'll never become a Chuunin after your fight with Saizo, you need one more to earn the rank you're obviously worthy of. You know I'll defeat you, so do the examiners, which is why you have no need to hold back. Give it your all against me before I win." Kurai told him.

"You're sure you'd win if I gave it my all?" Daisuke scoffed, "Saizo underestimated me too."

Kurai looked away, "Saizo made a lot of mistakes. But I'm not him, and I don't accept your surrender, Oedo Daisuke. You and I will fight in that arena because it is what's expected of us and because it would be better to confront Akuma in there, where he can be made to answer for his crime without anything happening to us. Where we can kill him without it being murder."

"After what he did to Saizo?" Daisuke demanded.

"It was a quick death," Kurai said, "Saizo didn't suffer. You'll spend your life in prison, suffering if you break the law now."

"We're at war." Daisuke said.

"Not with Otogakure, and that's who he represents. Not with Kumogakure, that's who sponsored him. Don't you understand? I want him dead too, the only way that's going to happen legally is in the arena. Fight me, defeat me, and you'll earn the right to take the law into your own hands. Lose against me, and you probably will, and I'll deal justice. But the only chance you have is through me, you know that."

_Cower behind the shield Kurai is offering you. I sure wish _I'd _had a shield._ Saizo's voice told Daisuke in his own mind. _Lose to him, let him fight Akuma. Make a good showing so no one can say you didn't try . . . give up._

Daisuke clenched his fists at his side, "I'm not giving up." He told himself.

"Good." Kurai naturally assumed Daisuke had been talking to him.

"And you're not winning the fight, Kurai." Daisuke told him.

"Whoever wins might not really be the winner." Kasumi spoke up, "Do you just assume I won't win my fight? The loser of your fight will be the one who faces Pri--Akuma out in the streets where murder will be your only means of success."

"You present a problem." Kurai admitted, "But as you say, the loser will get to face Akuma on the streets if you win. If you don't, the winner between us will get to face him next."

"If he gets past all of us," Kasumi said, "He'll only need to fight that little one, or Yuu."

"You mean Nao or _Yomiko_, or Yuu." Daisuke corrected.

He didn't bother to correct Kasumi on her other mistake.

She'd lost too much chakra fighting Kyoko, Kasumi might have killed Akuma if she were at top form but she wasn't, she was running on fumes and adrenalin, she just didn't realize it yet.

Daisuke was a medic, when the war truly ended he'd endeavor to be a doctor, he _knew _exhaustion when he saw it.

The fight between Kasumi and Akuma would be over quickly.

* * *

Shiroi heard the laughter, but she didn't understand it.

It was Akuma's voice, but if he was outside of the stadium it must mean he'd lost a fight, he'd been disqualified like her.

She who had wandered out of the infirmary with every intention of finding someone who could help the others.

And had instead found herself wandering around, _avoiding _anyone who might pass judgment on her. If she'd found Sasuke-sensei himself she'd have tried to hide.

Because she'd tried to stop that man and she couldn't. She'd been powerless, a Hyuga powerless.

She'd found herself crying when she realized that her action might cost Tomoko, her friend, her very life. Unable to face the gravity of the situation, unable to face the possibility that Tomoko was dead because of her inaction she had run away.

She ran because to her disgrace a part of her didn't want the man to be killed by Sasuke-sensei. She knew that now, and it sickened her.

She wanted him to live; she wanted him to teach her how to get rid of the seal on her forehead. She wanted it gone and she wanted to know how to make it go away so she could do the same for Neji, for her parents, for everyone in the branch clan.

For that she was willing to risk Tomoko's life. For that she was willing to run away and turn her back instead of staying and doing the right thing.

For those reasons she was in the streets, sitting outside of the gang's usual hangout thinking through her life.

Sasuke-sensei would be ashamed of her, probably hit her in the head again.

And then she'd heard the laughter and decided it was none of her business.

But . . . for some reason she couldn't help but investigate.

When she got to the source of the laughter there was no Akuma, just Saizo and a large, dead snake.

Shiroi rushed over, ignoring the pool of blood that was growing around Saizo's body she rolled him over and looked at him.

He'd been stabbed right through the chest, probably from behind.

She felt tears roll down her cheeks, she'd seen death before but never one of her teammates.

Insanely she realized she was pressing on his chest to stop the blood flow, as if first aid would save him now.

She'd have laughed bitterly at herself if her throat wasn't too busy sobbing.

Akuma had done this . . . but why? What was happening? Why had Saizo just been murdered?

Shiroi knew that the man who'd offered her a bright future must be behind it. So what had he offered Akuma?

Never mind, Akuma was slime, he'd die for this, Shiroi would kill him.

She'd kill him. If she could she'd kill him, get the Hokage to raise him from the dead and then kill him again.

Shiroi noticed through her sobbing that coiled up next to Saizo, within the pool of blood was Oro-Chi.

Shiroi tried to figure out why, then realized from the gash on the larger snake that if Oro-Chi had been cut in the same way it would have began to shrink, and through some technique that Shiroi didn't really understand this caused the wounds to become less severe.

Looking closely at the little snake Shiroi could confirm that Oro-Chi was cut, but not bleeding to death as the summoned snake had.

She wiped tears from her face with a bloody hand, then realized how useless that gesture had been.

With her other hand she reached out for Oro-Chi, unwilling to leave the snake alone in the streets in its condition and knowing that there was nothing she could do for Saizo.

She closed her eyes.

_I'm sorry . . . I should have done something more._

Whether she thought that just to Saizo, or to Saizo and everyone else she wasn't sure.

The snake wrapped itself around her forearm but it was reluctant about it. Oro-Chi knew its master was dead, but it wasn't so sure it wanted to go with Shiroi.

Shiroi didn't blame it, but still as Saizo often boasted the snake was smarter than any normal animal had right to be, and it soon constricted lightly on her arm to avoid falling off as she stood up again.

Covered in Saizo's blood and having no idea where his killer had gone she knew she still had to do something.

She'd go back to the stadium, where all the Shinobi were, she'd tell someone powerful who had killed Saizo, she'd see if it wasn't too late to help the others.

She'd make right what she'd done wrong through inaction.

Selfish thoughts of ridding herself of the seal had caused this, it was all her fault.

So she wouldn't tell anyone about the man. She'd say . . . say that when she woke up she was confused, didn't know left from right, must have wandered into the streets.

Claim that seeing Saizo's body had brought her back to reality.

In a way it had, she supposed. Seeing with her own tearful eyes the consequences for her actions convinced her, she needed to act.

Action, never inaction.

She looked back at Saizo again and thought bitterly that it wasn't right for him to die like this, alone in the streets.

Well he hadn't been alone, his murderer had been there too.

But he'd been her friend. And she would never let any of her friends die again.

Somehow . . .

* * *

Yomiko fell back and Yuu lunged forward.

She lunged forward to try to catch him off guard, but he just passed right through her and she fell flat on her face.

She'd expected that though, if she could keep him using his ability sooner or later he'd either run out of chakra or become comfortable enough in his bloodline trait--for Yomiko assumed that was what it was--that she could cut him with her father's knives and effectively end the fight, for surely the more confident he was in his ability the more of a shock it'd be when he was cut and therefore the longer she'd have to take advantage of his shock.

She threw shuriken, she used Taijutsu, she even tried throwing an illusion at him, using a Genjutsu of a gigantic dragon made of cutting wind--a Genjutsu illusion that Yomiko decided she wouldn't mind turning into a real Ninjutsu some day--but he'd shrugged that off.

In return he was trying to keep her from taking any full breaths, trying to ware he down fast.

And it was working, she didn't have time to breathe, but neither did he.

The problem was that she had the worst endurance on her team, and it was kind of odd to realize that in the middle of the fight.

Perhaps she was being pessimistic and in fact Kotaro had the worst stamina, but right now it at least _felt _like Kotaro or Naomasa would have done better in this situation.

Yuu had since stopped using Jutsus, probably conserving his chakra for his bloodline trait or else saving it for a finishing move, but Yomiko took the opportunity to rely on his surprisingly fast Taijutsu.

He struck out at her and she feel, allowing him to think that he'd hurt her.

The last time she'd tried this trick it had given him pause, but not so this time.

So his chivalry had its limits. Or had he simply realized that she was faking?

Whatever the case he came after her.

And when he was too close to dodge she popped up and cut him, using her wind chakra to fuel her father's blades.

Her right blade cut into his outstretched left had, leaving a gash across his palm which he grabbed and held, staring at it in surprise for about two seconds, which was a very long time in a Shinobi battle.

She didn't let up her advantage over those two seconds, lunging in she struck out with her other blade so that just as Yuu was getting over the first wound he suffered the second, a gash on his thigh.

That would slow him down a bit, Yomiko hoped.

She kicked him in the chest, but passed right through him and fell flat on her face, he leapt back and threw a shuriken which she deflected with the only thing in her hand, one of her father's knives.

The shuriken clattered to the ground, but the knife was lying unattended.

Yomiko held the other one in a defensive position and cautiously moved towards the second.

Yuu watched her carefully, he knew now that his Taijutsu was likely to hurt him more than her.

So what would he resort to?

He took a few steps back, so Yomiko stepped forward.

She tapped her knives together, they had cut only with their wind chakra, so there was no blood upon their beautiful black blades, "Lets finish this," She told him.

"I agree." Yuu said, sounding somewhat mournful. "Do you want to surrender?" He asked.

"Never." Yomiko said, "I won't just give up."

The pretty young man nodded, "I understand." He said, and he raised his hand, "in that case, I surrender."

It was what Yomiko wanted, but she was a little surprised. She'd seen some of the Jutsu Yuu had used during the fight and knew they'd probably do a number on her now, why was he surrendering?

This battle could still have ended in his favor . . . and cowardice wasn't likely to be smiled upon by the judges.

"You're confused." Yuu said softly. "I can hit you with my best Jutsus, I can try to take your Genjutsu, keep avoiding your Ninjutsu, and I'm fast enough to stay away from your Taijutsu. But I'm running too low on chakra, without it I've got nothing. There's no point in me entering the next battle without any chance of winning when the next opponent has had all this time to rest and watch us. Defeating you would have been more taxing than I could afford, and anyway you've already proven that you've got some surprises hidden up your sleeves, I don't have any of my own so the advantage is clearly yours."

"Why'd you try to get me to surrender then?" Yomiko asked as cousin Konohamaru came in and announced her the winner.

Yuu said, "I _offered _to let you surrender first, I didn't try to force you. Because your next opponent may or may not be more than you can handle. After that if a certain someone advances all the way to the finals . . . the person who faces him has to be prepared to kill him." Yuu said, "I wasn't sure if you were capable, I'm still not sure . . . but I will say this: good luck."

Yomiko frowned at him, "You're really weird, why wish your enemy luck?" She asked.

"The fight's over, we're not enemies." He answered and Konohamaru said "One of our judges will escort you to the hospital."

When Yuu was gone Yomiko asked Konohamaru "What are his chances? I mean of advancing to Chuunin. They can't be good can they?" She asked.

"What?" Konohamaru blinked, "Why do you care?"

"Because he's too strong to stay a Genin, but he hasn't got the Chuunin spirit. He cares too much about his opponent's safety. Every time he passed through me I could have been killed."

"If he saw you as an enemy it's assumed that you would have been killed. The judges see that, as well as the restrain the showed you, especially when you cut him. Sure he was stunned, but he was also angry, and he didn't show it by trying to kill you. Anyway it's up to the judges, I don't care, if he isn't promoted now it's not going to affect you." Konohamaru said.

Yomiko nodded, and Konohamaru said "Besides, Big Boss Naruto was a Chuunin for a _long _time, there's no shame in it. Well . . . not _too _much." He ruffled her hair and she returned to the balcony.

* * *

Shikamaru leaned against a wall trying not to pant.

"Well now," He said, "Whatever chance you thought you had . . ."

"Has blown away in the wind, much like the fires of youth!" Lee said.

"Or something like that." Ino nodded.

"Don't get us wrong," Kiba said, "We totally respect you for leading us on a chase this long, but when it comes right down to it if you don't start saying something useful we'll have to kill you."

"Or worse." Shino agreed, "Luckily I have here this insect with a poison that'll make you all tell us the truth, so there's no need for torture."

"No need?" Ino pouted.

"No need maybe, but that's not to say we can't do it just because, right?" Kiba asked, cracking his knuckles.

Shikamaru laughed bitterly, "Remember, what you do to them I'll have to deal with too."

"Oh right, the shadow." Ino sighed.

"If I may," Tosa spoke up, "I can restrain them."

Shikamaru nodded, "Do it."

"You trust her?" Ino whispered so only Shikamaru could hear.

"She didn't have to help me. If she wanted to help the Hattori she could have done it when she first came into the fight and I wouldn't have been able to hold them all off." Shikamaru told Ino softly. He didn't add that he doubted he could sustain the Jutsu until Neji and Tenten arrived so that Neji could arrive to seal off their chakra points and thereby prevent them from retreating into their shadows.

Neji had said through Ino's radio that if even one chakra point remained open the Hattori might escape.

Tosa approached the first Hattori and Shikamaru retracted his shadow, she reached out and a jolt of lightning snapped through the man's chest, stunning him. "He'll be fine for questioning in a moment." Tosa said, rolling the fallen man over she performed some sort of Jutsu on his wrists and moved on to the next.

"What is it you're doing?" Shino asked.

"Shock therapy." Tosa chuckled, "My shock numbs them, they can't feel their bodies at all so they can't use them at all, they're paralyzed completely."

"Then why are you binding their hands?" Ino asked.

"I'm not." Tosa explained, "I'm temporarily severing the nerves that connect their hands to their brains. No hands, no hand signs, no fighting back. The full body paralysis wares off in three to ten minutes. I have no way of knowing five minutes from now if these guys might need to be zapped again or not, if I zap them again while they're already zapped they can die and I thought we didn't want that."

"We don't." Shikamaru told her, "Shino, any special bug you have that can sense when they come out of paralysis?"

"No." Shino said simply. "I do have bugs that can paralyze them though, so our Lightning friend can conserve her chakra."

It was a test Shino was putting to Tosa, Shikamaru recognized it.

If she refused then there was something up with her Jutsu, if she let him then she was trustworthy.

Shikamaru wouldn't have been surprised if Shino already had a bug perched somewhere on Tosa, ready to paralyze her if she refused.

But the young woman wiped sweat from her brow and said "Why didn't you say so? Here I am hoping I don't accidentally _kill _these guys!" He laughed and took a step back from her next victim and Shino's bugs went to work.

"You're younger than we are . . . and you're like gods . . . or demons." The Hattori that Tosa had paralyzed whispered.

Kiba smirked and Ino performed a mock curtsey but before they or Shikamaru could say something witty the man added "No wonder the whole world hates you all so much. We'd started to have doubts, thinking that life in Konoha wasn't so different than life in Kumogakure. That maybe at the core you were good people . . . but you're very different. You're monsters."

"Hell yes we are," Kiba snapped, "When you invade our home and threaten our people we're the very worst kind of monsters you'll ever see."

"We also don't appreciate it when our allies wear new headbands in order to work with Iwa assassins." Shino added.

Shikamaru smirked, the outspoken man had just told Shikamaru something very important.

These men weren't Jounin, or even Chuunin.

Jounin and Chuunin older than themselves wouldn't have been surprised by Konoha and its people. A Jounin wouldn't spend a few days in Konoha and begin to question the war out of sheer surprise at the similarities between two Ninja Villages.

Because a Jounin or a Chuunin would have been heavily indoctrinated on the customs and traditions of a people before infiltrating their village, would know the people of Konoha as surely as if they'd lived amongst them for years.

These men were Genin at best, but if Shikamaru's gut was right they weren't Shinobi at all.

Which meant that they had indeed been Hattori fodder, useless dregs, Hanzo had been the only important one.

These men had been taught a few Jutsus, and how to use their inborn ability to carry others through their shadows.

Which meant that the real threat, the Iwa assassins was still very real, and out there uncontrolled.

But Shikamaru knew one person who would be worth questioning. He tossed the legged Kunai onto the ground and Okatsu emerged from it, glaring daggers at him, "The master will see you burned alive for this indignity, Nara. But not before we murder your whore before your eyes, and however many bastard children you've sired through her."

Shikamaru laughed cruelly, "Feeble words from a feeble mind."

"It doesn't bother you?" Okatsu sneered.

"It might if I knew the name of your master . . . and what his plans were. Do me a favor and scare me, tell me everything, then _maybe _I'll think of fearing this guy."

Okatsu laughed, "Absolutely. After all, he meant for me to tell the Twelve, why else would I be sent to aid the servants of the Hattori clan? While I deliver his ultimatum his other plans are moving forward, the world outside of this room is going to change dramatically in the next few moments. These ambassadors don't matter." Okatsu laughed maniacally, "Stupid boy! My son murdered the heirs and heiress of the rain country, their father will blame you and the Sound Organization will be there to remind them that it was Konoha that stopped them in their last bid for true power, remind them that the Sound was stopped by Konoha too, and tell them that the Sound is willing to be their allies."

Shikamaru glanced at the Rain ambassador who shrugged, "I cannot guess how my lord will take that . . . but I suspect he would act favorably."

Shikamaru didn't let his anger show on his face as Okatsu continued, "Suna is beyond redemption, but grass country will be so terribly confused when they discover that Stone, Waterfall and Rain have all agreed that the war with Konoha is back on. And lord Taiko? When his young brother properly pins the blame for their father's death on him and becomes the new Daimyo of Lightning the support of Lightning countries armies will be withdrawn, Kumogakure will be renamed Otogakure . . . do you see where this is leading, Nara? You who counts two hundred steps ahead. Do you see my lord's brilliance yet? Do you see why you should fear?

"It'll never happen." Shikamaru said coldly, but he knew, as Okatsu did, that her master had already done it all.

Whatever the Iwa assassins were doing would probably be to drive a divide between Konoha and Suna . . . but what could it be?

They couldn't possibly hope to kill the Kazekage . . . killing Temari's orphan Genin team wouldn't have the same effect that the murder of the Rain heirs had had, killing Temari or Kankuro would only infuriate Gaara and strengthen the ties between Konoha and Suna.

Shikamaru had to think like an evil genius. Not hard really, just think the way he normally would, but in a more ruthless, selfish way. He'd get no gain assassinating Team Suna, Temari or Kankuro, and there was no way that the small assassination force could defeat Gaara, who'd been turning assassins into a fine paste since his childhood.

That left . . . the Daimyo's niece.

"Syako!" Shikamaru shouted, grabbing Ino's radio, "Neji, Tenten, abort, do not come to us, find Syako!"

The woman whose death would let the Sound Organization convince the Daimyo who had suffered so much already to pull his support away from the Fire Country, the woman who'd never be able to defend herself against the overwhelming force of an Iwa assassination squad, even if Kankuro were with her.

The woman who likely now had _Sumiko _in her arms.

Whatever Neji said in response was drowned out by Okatsu's loud, triumphant laughter.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **I wish to say that you know you are truly attatched to a story and its characters when it becomes difficult to kill characters like Saizo, who have not really contributed much so far. In fact Saizo was left somewhat plain to make killing him easier when the time came but now I wish I had done more with him.

Hmm. Who will be next? I know of course, and you will find out on monday, none the less if anyone cares to make a bet, there is always the message board. Thanks for all your support, all of you!


	107. Exit Hattori Kasumi?

**Chapter One Hundred and Seven**

Kurai nodded politely to Daisuke as they took their place in the arena. "This place is pretty messed up, isn't it?" Daisuke laughed. "I daresay the gardener's going go be spitting kittens."

"I don't think that's how the phrase goes." Kurai said.

Daisuke shrugged, "I like my version better." He shook his head and his smile disappeared, "The winner gets to kill that so-called demon."

Kurai raised his hand, "I surrender."

Konohamaru appeared, "What?"

"Yeah, what?" Daisuke demanded.

"Shiroi. I sent a bug out to find Shiroi and it just got back to me . . . she's with Saizo, I don't know if she's alive or not, the bug was just supposed to _find _her, I didn't know she was in danger at the time. But I have to know and that's more important than this fight."

"Why wouldn't you assume she was with everyone else in the infirmary?"

"Because the bugs I sent _there _to see how she was doing told me she wasn't there." Kurai said.

Daisuke had to admit that Kurai's bugs made him nearly omnipotent, it was a wonder the Aburame didn't just take over Konoha with a legion of roaches.

Daisuke stared a Kurai. "After everything you told me you're walking off?"

"Shiroi is more important to me than revenge. You actually _need _another fight to prove that you're worthy; I have to see to Shiroi. Your chances if you should face Akuma are better if I haven't had my bugs drain you of all your chakra. Good luck Daisuke."

"What if you need one more fight to become Chuunin too?" Daisuke demanded.

"It wouldn't matter what my rank is if my entire team is dead, Daisuke."

Daisuke agreed, and he wasn't trying to pressure Kurai into leaving Shiroi be, he was just a little surprised that he'd just technically won against the opponent he'd most feared. "I'm going with you; if she's hurt you'll need a medic."

"Fine." Kurai said.

"You've got some time before your next match. Examiner Kouji will escort you." Konohamaru said. "Go on boys . . . the crowd won't be happy about this, but what you're doing is the Chuunin thing."

Daisuke knew what Konohamaru was saying was meant to assure them, or at least Kurai that backing out of the fight for these reasons wouldn't bar his advancement, but neither he nor Kurai cared.

All that mattered was that Saizo _was _dead, and Shiroi _might be _dead.

The person responsible had to be dealt with too, but first the Konoha Genin needed to see to their comrades.

Daisuke cracked his knuckles, "What about Nara and Hijiri? Remember you were supposed to find them."

"Nara is in one of the boxes the nobles sit in, and Hijiri was leaving the infirmary last my bugs reported. There isn't time to tell Ishida though, unless you want to try and catch up to me."

"No, if she's injured every second counts. I just hope he can focus on the fights not knowing whatever it was he wanted to know from those two."

Kurai didn't answer.

Daisuke didn't speak anymore either, though if he had he'd have admitted that if he were promoted and Kurai wasn't he'd refuse to accept it.

Because Aburame Kurai was, put simply, what Daisuke felt a Chuunin ought to be. A leader who put his people above himself and even his mission. While they knew Saizo was dead Kurai had sought to avenge him, now that they knew Shiroi was there too, since there was a chance that Shiroi was alive Kurai would give up everything to protect her.

Maybe it was because he loved her, but whether or not that was the case it was also because Kurai was a leader, his people took priority over his own career.

He was a Chuunin.

* * *

Yomiko glanced at Naomasa, Kasumi and Masaru, the last people on the balcony since it seemed Daisuke and Kurai weren't coming back yet.

To their surprise Akuma suddenly poofed into the arena, as if he'd transported himself with the technique that generally only Chuunin ever used.

He lacked a single scratch, someone must have healed him in-between fights. He spun his sword in his hands energetically and called, "Come on Hattori, I've not got all day to wait. Come so I can kill you."

Kasumi took a deep steadying breath, and her remaining teammate put a hand on her shoulder, "Get him, Kasumi-chan. Don't worry if you need to be lethal, just you win."

"I am a little worried." Kasumi whispered to him, but Yomiko heard her.

"Don't worry, I'll be right here watching." Masaru whispered back to her, "And Yuu just had some cuts, there's no way he won't make them let him come back and watch too."

Kasumi nodded, she kissed Masaru, which rather surprised Yomiko since Shinobi, and especially older teenagers weren't terribly prone to such public displays of affection during what could be considered "work hours"

It was indecent, but it also made her feel kind of warm and fuzzy inside. A sharp contrast to the cold killer Akuma, these two showed a much brighter side of foreign villages as a whole, they actually cared about life, cared about each other.

She looked at Naomasa to see how he was reacting to this, but he was very politely ignoring the entire situation and she supposed she ought to do the same thing.

Kasumi cracked her knuckles and shouted, "I hear you barking, dog! Hold your horses, Hattori Kasumi is coming!"

She leapt from the balcony and fell into her shadow like a swimmer diving into a pool without a splash.

Her shadow moved behind Akuma, and she emerged from it, flipping over his head and landing on the ground right in front of him, in position to begin the fight.

The crowd went wild with cheers and Masaru chuckled to himself, and Yomiko found herself smiling in admiration. That kind of confidence . . . that was what she wanted to be, a girl like Hattori Kasumi, sure of herself and her lineage, proud and powerful.

But Naoamasa shook his head slowly, what was his problem?

Of course Yomiko knew. She leaned over the balcony and she understood why Naomasa wasn't impressed.

A girl already low on Chakra had just wasted a portion of it on showmanship and bravado.

Did she not take Akuma seriously? Hadn't what happened to Kotaro proven that this kid needed to be taken seriously?

Konohamaru hadn't left the arena since Daisuke and Kurai's "fight" so the fight would begin any second now.

Yomiko understood why the bravado had been necessary. Make Akuma think she was in better shape than she was, it was psychological attack since physical attacks weren't permitted yet.

Yomiko just shouted "Keep your guard up!" and hoped for the best.

* * *

Before he'd entered the arena Akuma had saw a hooded figure leaning against the doorway.

"Master." He whispered. "I . . . I need to see Okatsu."

Master Kabuto tossed Akuma a pouch, "Okatsu is performing a mission for me, delivering a message. I want a word with you though."

Akuma gulped.

"The man who delivered that message to you was not one of mine, he was an enemy up to mischief and you fell for it." Kabuto said bluntly, "You murdered one who had a contract with the snakes, I _wanted _him for the new Otogakure. Had he come under me and then learned enough to make it appear as if he'd killed Uchiha Sasuke I could have safely said that Lord Orochimaru's soul had passed on to the next generation."

Who the devil was Orochimaru?

"The boy had chakra reserves unlike any Genin of his year, and I had suspected that he was distantly related to Orochimaru as well, as they shared many physical similarities. You understand Orochimaru is the very icon of Oto, he is the hero that _built _the village. Our veterans raised our rookies on his legend, that boy would have helped me to take control of that legend and do with it what I would."

"I . . . I'm sorry, master." Akuma whispered. "He died easily though, perhaps it is best that you did not invest in him."

"He died easily because he was weakened. I had hoped to take that opportunity to take him, but I've only just . . . returned to myself. My attention was elsewhere and when I reached him you'd already killed him. I spoke to my captain, I know the mission you sent my Shinobi on."

Akuma gulped.

Kabuto strode up to him and put a hand against his forehead, the master's scaly skin made Akuma shudder.

The half snake man would kill him? Akuma felt despair well up within him, not at the prospect of his death but at the fact he'd never had his revenge.

"I want to know, because I found it curious. Why did you send them to the Hokage's office to steal information we didn't need?"

"Because . . . it would have been shaming to Konoha. While they were distracted their files were stolen, even if we have had a mole leaking them to us a public theft brings to light Konoha's helplessness against us," Akuma said, talking quickly, "It would make them look like fools, weaklings in their own stronghold, it would encourage the other nations to drop their plans for alliance with weak Konoha."

"And the files themselves? To truly shame Konoha you could very well have ordered the burning of the office."

Akuma hadn't considered that, but it was a bad idea anyway, "Taking the files is more shameful to Konoha, leaving the office so that they know we have them shows them that they can change the plans and we won't care because we're not afraid. If we set it to flame they wouldn't know whether or not we'd taken the files or what files we'd taken."

"And the dossiers?"

"I thought you'd want to know the enemy. To know what even they don't know about their brothers and sisters, to know the classified things they don't want anyone to know about. Whose loyalty is questionable, who can be twisted through religion, hell who's allergic to peanut oil."

Akuma felt his master's hand grow warm, burning even. He groaned under the heat but managed to force out a phrase that Shinno's father had once taught him and his brother, "Know thy enemy, know thy self, and find naught to fear in a hundred battles."

But Akuma realized he wasn't being hurt by the master's hand. Not _really. _It was invigorating him, _healing _him! The master's hand retracted and the Master laughed, "Clever. Clever. Maybe there's something in those dossiers that I didn't already know. You turned a devastating loss into a fantastic opportunity, salvaged a small victory from a defeat caused by misinformation and your own ignorance. You're a worthy soldier."

"Sir . . . if I may," Akuma dared, "Both Miura Saizo and Oedo Tomoko were eliminated in their first rounds. You've explained what you saw in Miura, but . . . what about Oedo? She's nothing. She forgot the basics and it nearly cost her her life."

"She's the best of the crop," Kabuto said, "Because she reminds me of me. She's strong, even if others don't see it. Even if she doesn't let them see it. She's mastered the first stage of a Jutsu comparable to the Lightning Blade in strength, yet more lethal and effective, I believe she can discover the next stage without guidance." Kabuto put his hands together under the long sleeves of his robes.

"Besides all that I see human beings not just as a leader aiming to unite the world, but as a breeder sees a pack of dogs. That girl has genes I want passed down into my kingdom, I had believed that she would be an appropriate mate for Saizo, after all Orochimaru reborn needs a beautiful wife, does he not?"

Akuma didn't know, really. Didn't know who Orochimaru was to begin with.

"Of course with Saizo dead it complicates things. Genetically speaking the person at my disposal whose genes are best suited to being combined with hers are your own, therefore, Prince of Demons in killing young Saizo you accepted onto your shoulders, his destiny. You will be the ruler of Otogakure if you live long enough, Oedo Tomoko will be your wife, and you will be my puppet."

Akuma nodded dumbly.

So he would be both punished and rewarded for his actions. He would now become the leader of the village, but he'd also be a pawn.

He didn't really know how he felt about the idea of having a wife . . . he wasn't old enough to want one for the sake of physical gratification and the only woman he felt he might have feelings for was that examiner with the goggles.

But he bowed low to his master, realizing that this was his opportunity to take everything he wanted. To be lord of a village and a nation, he'd have all the power in the world and he could use it however he wished because he would lead both the state power and the military power of the world nation Master Kabuto meant to build.

_He _would lead it, not Kabuto. Kabuto would try to control him, but when Akuma had grown strong enough he'd no longer need the Master. Like Okatsu-sensei, Kabuto-sama could be discarded, killed when the time came.

It was perfect.

The master then explained to him the strategy he would use, gave him a new sword and told him that this time he must also take a life, that he must do so to fuel the Jutsu in the blade, and this time it needed to happen by decapitation, but not until the final round, he could spare the life of his next opponent, but Kabuto didn't really care.

Akuma bowed low, and then Kabuto-sama teleported him into the center of the Arena.

* * *

Temari walked with Kyoko towards the hospital when to her surprise she spotted Syako and Sumiko.

"Hoy, Syako!" She shouted. "What're you doing?"

Syako looked surprised, "Oh-ho-ho, me? I'm taking Sumiko-chan home to your house."

"She's not safe there," Temari said irritably, "Where is Knakuro?"

"Kan-kun went after _you_, and you didn't come back so I didn't think she was safe at the stadium. I'm sorry if I was wrong." Syako said pleadingly.

Temari calmed herself down, there was no reason to get angry at Syako for having her daughter's best interest at heart.

"Wonder where Kankuro is then." Temari said.

"I'm sure he'll track us down if we go someplace where he's sure to find us, like my hotel room." Syako said.

"No, you'll come with me and Kyoko here to the hospital." Temari decided.

"What? Why there? Hospitals are icky." Syako squealed.

"If you won't then give me Sumiko and she'll come. It's her safety I'm concerned with." Temari said.

"I'll go, but why the hospital?"

"Because it's where Kyoko needs to be, she's beat up and something went down in the infirmary. It was hard getting details from the Anbu, but the said take her to the hospital. Kankuro would probably be directed there if he's looking for me." Temari said.

Syako nodded, "Okay, but I hope it doesn't smell like a hospital."

"I'm sure they burn incense to keep it smelling lovely." Temari lied with a roll of her eyes.

She led the other two women on a quick march for the hospital.

Quick because she'd realized shortly after linking up with Syako that either Syako, or she was being followed.

Temari needed Syako to hold Sumiko so that if something should happen she and injured Kyoko would have their hands free and therefore be able to defend themselves.

* * *

Kasumi heard the word "begin" and she rushed forward with a kunai in each hand.

Like most Shinobi she was ambidextrous, she struck out viciously with both blades, using the Taijutsu routines that Takumi had taught her.

The three Ts of Taijutsu: Trickery, Treachery, Tenacity.

Favoring feints until Akuma came to expect them, then resorting to outright attacks, and never giving up the offensive.

It kept Akuma busy, but unlike her he fought with just one hand, and his reach with the sword was much longer than hers with her kunai even though her arms were longer than his.

So he was able to hold her at bay with that one hand. With the other he reached into a pouch and tossed out several marbles, Kasumi already knew what these were, though she didn't know he'd gotten more.

She was suddenly fending off multiple enemies, forcing her to give up the offensive against Akuma and resort to defending herself against the clones.

She didn't lose track of the real Akuma though, no Chuunin would.

She struggled with all of her strength and managed to avoid having to shadow step at all.

Until she spotted Akuma in a prime position, until she realized she had the best chance at taking him.

She threw herself into her shadow and moved up the wall he'd been backing away to, leaping out when she reached the top, kunai prepared for the killing blow she struck out for him.

But two of his clones leapt up to intercept her Kunai, and he in turn threw a kunai of his own, it cut her ear and ruined her landing.

She tumbled and hit her head on the charred remains of the large tree that Akuma had nearly been roasted on.

Thinking quickly she sank into her shadow just in time to avoid having her head sliced off by Akuma's sword.

She emerged in front of a clone and cut him down, sinking back into the shadows again she repeated the process of several of the clones, but she realized that she needed to get that pouch away from him to keep him from making more.

She kept emerging near clones and killing them, so when she appeared between Akuma and another clone he believed she'd attack the clone and so he struck out at her.

She crouched under his sword and sprang out, ripping the pouch from his side and trying to cut him with her kunai but he realized what she was doing as soon as she'd crouched and was already throwing himself to the side.

It was lucky she'd even got the pouch really.

Now she had to make sure none of its marbles escaped.

Or did she?

What if the marbles became a clone of whoever used them?

She'd have to find out.

Taking out one experimental marble she tossed the thing on the ground, where it burst to life.

It was Akuma so she killed it.

Annoying, she felt, since having this little army of shadow clones would have made the fight much easier.

She was running low on chakra, she couldn't shadow step much longer.

She had to end the fight somehow and she didn't have enough energy to finish off the clones first.

She came for Akuma, hurling shuriken and kunai at he and his clones like a madwoman, knowing that none of them would actually hit anyone since the clones would be as skilled as Akuma and therefore would have no trouble with deflection.

They deflected them indeed, almost in a lazy manner. Akuma didn't even bother to back away from her this time, he let her advance and his clones moved to cover him.

She threw her explosive kunai before Akuma could be too surrounded and instead of waiting for it to go off she sprinted forward.

The clones were still in a deflecting stance, they hadn't expected her random act.

Nor had Akuma but before she reached him he tried to deflect the kunai just as the explosive tag went off.

The blast engulfed him and his clones, Kasumi sprang kunai in hand to finish the job, knowing that her explosive tag, while painful, probably wouldn't have killed Akuma.

Not after everything else he'd lived through anyway.

And he didn't disappoint her, sweeping his sword out blindly as she sailed overhead she thrust her hands out, stabbing him in the shoulders.

To her shock and horror he was a Shadow Clone.

From the start he'd been a shadow clone, at least from the start of the battle anyway.

As he'd poofed away though she saw the bottom of his sword fall open and more marbles fell to the ground, becoming more clones.

One of them caught the sword; the others all had clone blades.

As one they charged her, screaming ferocious battle cries.

Kasumi backed away, her back nearly to the wall when she heard a shout above her.

She looked up, the kunai Akuma had thrown, the one that had cut her ear and had imbedded itself in the wall, and it just so happened to be the real Akuma, transformed.

She fell to her knees, trying to sink into her shadow but she couldn't.

Her chakra was too low, she still had enough chakra to survive but not enough to shadow step.

She was caught between Akuma and his clones.

She closed her eyes, a tear rolled down her cheek. She didn't even have the strength to try to run away.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **It certainly seems as if the Arc will be finished on time, just in case it is not I will still be posting whatever is done on Monday. The Ninja Index II however will take longer to finish so be patient with that.

Thanks again for all the support, and for helping this story along with your suggestions and comments.


	108. Kasumi's Threat

**Chapter One Hundred and Eight**

Everyone went silent as the blow fell.

Kasumi however, noticed she was not dead.

She heard something hit the ground like a sack of wet vegetables, but it was not her body.

Someone must have stopped Akuma this time. Masaru maybe? Or maybe Yuu had shown up.

So why was Akuma laughing? What had that sound been?

Kasumi knew she wouldn't like the answer when she slowly opened her eyes and found herself crouched in a pool of blood.

* * *

Akuma closed him, his slice would end the girl's life and he'd be one step closer to knowing he could defeat Okatsu.

The blade descended and then it was blocked, the other Kumo Genin was in his way, knocking the sword away with one hand and thrusting a Kunai towards Akuma's chest with the other.

Akuma quickly let his sword be deflected and then curved it under, bringing it up again and slashing Hibiki Masaru's chest before the older boy could reach him with the kunai.

Hibiki was too used to his cloths offering him protection, he'd neglected to learn how to properly dodge.

Or perhaps he'd thought Akuma would reel from the intense strength of his deflection, instead of curving under it, whatever the reason he stood there dead before he even realized it.

He fell to his knees, his eyes were still alive and they burned with an intense hatred for Akuma, who realized he was now being pulled backwards by several adults.

He laughed as Masaru finally fell backwards, dead near the girl he'd given his life to save.

As his blood pooled around her feet she opened her eyes and screamed again, this time it sounded even more painful than when she'd thought _she _was about to die.

Akuma laughed all the harder.

"This is insane!" One of the adults shouted, "Konohamaru sir, we can't allow this little bastard to fight another round!"

"It's not my decision, Hibari. He'll fight until the Hokage tells me to pull him, and she hasn't said _anything _yet."

"He's too psychotic!" Hibari snapped, "The fight was over, you declared Hattori the loser and he was still about to kill her!"

"He might not have heard me." Konohamaru said.

"I won't vote this boy a Chuunin!" Hibari roared, "He's a murderer!"

"That's not a bad thing for a Shinobi." Konohamaru said without emotion. "Do your job, Hibari, judge by the facts, not out of personal taste."

"Sir?" Hibari gasped.

"You could have stopped me, couldn't you?" Akuma broke into the conversation, "Are you so bound by your rules that you can't intervene? Hibiki Masaru tried and died, but at least he tried. What did you do?"

"Held you back!" Hibari snapped.

"Too late, huh?" Akuma sneered.

He felt Hibari suddenly grab his head as if she meant to snap his neck, but Konohamaru tore him away from her.

His lust for blood fully awakened Akuma had to fight hard not to stab Konohamaru for grabbing him so forcefully and without his permission. After all the proctor was saving his life--he thought--and killing him really would mean no final round and no chance of activating his master's Jutsu.

"Hibari get Hattori to the hospital, there you can explain the situation to the Hokage. Tell _her _how you feel, she has the power to end this, I _do not_. There's nothing that says the examination can end because one of the little snots is too violent."

Hibari glared at Akuma for a moment, Akuma memorized her face so he could kill her later, and then she went over to help Kasumi up, the girl just sobbed over her dead boyfriend's body.

Akuma felt no remorse, he'd traded his life for hers, and she should respect that by trying to get revenge, not crying like a stupid cow.

Konohamaru said, "You understand this is your moment in the lime light, don't you?"

Akuma smirked as Hattori Kasumi was finally pulled away by more examiners as Masaru's body was taken away.

"I mean . . . life won't get any better than this, these exams offer you a nice little license for murder, am I right?" Konohamaru laughed, "Let me tell you kiddo, I'd watch my back walking out of this place today. Whatever happens, whether or not you get promoted your brutality, your disregard for other people's lives, that sort of thing is going to get you stabbed in the back. See this knife?" Konohamaru asked, holding out an elongated, slender kunai, "If you hurt my cousin, you won't see it again . . . but you'll _feel_ it, and it'll be the last thing you feel."

"Please." Akuma scoffed, "You cowards can't kill anyone, let alone me. And threatening me only makes me want to kill your cousin all the more." Akuma said, not caring who the proctor's cousin was.

Actually, he couldn't even remember the man's clan.

It didn't matter of course, he'd kill all three of the remaining Genin if he could.

He turned to walk towards the balcony, but someone shouted "Hibari!"

Akuma turned in time to see Kasumi running for him. Her hands were empty, she had no weapons ,but he doubted she wanted to give him a hug to celebrate his recent victory.

She leapt and he struck out with his sword, slicing her across the middle, but she used substitution, and swept his legs out from under him.

He hit the ground hard, and she got on top of him, took his head in her hands and slammed it into the ground twice before Hibari grabbed her again, and Konohamaru grabbed Akuma before he could use his sword to make Kasumi pay for her act.

He spat on the ground and laughed at Kasumi, "That might have made a difference a few minutes ago .Guess we'll never know, will we?"

The girl's black, lifeless eyes were devoid of light, much like Akuma's own, she struggled against Hibari and hissed, "I will kill you, I will _kill _you, no matter how long it takes I'll have your life, and it'll end _slowly_! You think this is over, Shinno? You think they can hold _me_ for long? You think Yuu will just let you go? You're going to _die _you little monster, we'll kill you just like we killed your daddy!"

Akuma dropped his sword, his eyes widened, and Kasumi laughed at him as she was dragged away by Hibari, who seemed less than repentant for letting her escape in the first place, "Hear that, bastard?" Kasumi shouted as she was dragged away, "We _killed _him, we'll kill _you_ next! You're already dead, you just don't know it!"

She didn't resist the examiners as they dragged her away, she just laughed and shook her head, as she was taken further away Akuma was pretty sure she started to sob though.

Akuma laughed back, Shinno might have cared about the identity of his father's murderers, Akuma didn't. He picked up his sword, how silly of him to have dropped it, he wondered why he'd done that.

He laughed even harder.

He decided he liked Kasumi. She was _very_ funny.

Maybe if he killed more people's boyfriends and girlfriends they'd be more likeable.

He supposed, when he was a Daimyo and a Raikage he'd have a requirement that everyone who worked directly under him have their spouses killed.

No, that'd be silly and no one would abide by it.

He'd have to make it a surprise or something, he'd work it out when the time came.

He returned to the balcony and smiled brightly at the two other rookies, "Funny isn't it? We, the youngest come further than the veterans. Oh well, looks like you two are up next." He smirked wickedly, and in a childish tone said "I'll kill the winner--oops, I'm sorry, I mean I'll _take _the winner . . . well, same thing really."

The boy shook his head at him, the girl twirled her knives and said with a nervous chuckle, "Y-you do know we're going to kill you, right? I mean you don't really think we'll watch you kill someone and let you go right? After what you did to Kotaro no less."

"Killing isn't against the rules . . . it's just unfortunate." Akuma said.

"Killing after the fight is over?" Sarutobi demanded.

"He attacked _me_, it was self defense. How can you prove that I wouldn't have stopped the sword a millimeter away from Hattori? Can you prove I wasn't just trying to scare her?"

"You're not going to get away with it!" Sarutobi insisted, "Even if you can get off on a technicality the examiners know your intent."

"You're guilty of the same intent, you just threatened me." Akuma said.

Yomiko scoffed, "The difference is that between the two of us, I haven't killed anyone yet."

"Which is why I'm not scared." Akuma shrugged.

Yomiko seemed about to say something else, but her companion shook his head, "Leave him alone. He's right, you won't kill him anyway. Kotaro's mother's going to want to do that."

"Let's see her take on _my _mother." Akuma laughed.

"No, that's what his father will do." Yomiko sneered, "And don't you wish you had one." She added snidely.

What was with everyone and fathers? Had they heard what Hattori Kasumi said about killing his father? If they had why hadn't they done the logical thing and assumed his killing Masaru or Kasumi would have been out of vengeance and therefore justified?

"Hold on a second." An examiner said suddenly, "A conference has been called, the next fight will be delayed, the Hokage and the Kazekage will have to witness proceedings from now on. No more _accidents_." The examiner said, then disappeared.

Akuma sat and crossed his legs, "They better not make us wait too long, or I might have to kill one of you to hurry things up."

* * *

Hitomi sat on an uncomfortable hospital chair and glanced at Matsuri as she headed for the doors, "How is everyone?" She asked.

Matsuri smiled lightly, "They're fine. No fatalities, no mortal wounds. How'd you check out?"

"Clean bill." Hitomi lied, actually the doctors had not seen her yet, but Tsunade-sama had looked her over and prescribed a week of leave which she "had damn well better" use to rest and recuperate. "Where are you off to?" Hitomi asked, knowing Matsuri was not going back to the exams, knowing that she was instead about to go off and do something else all together.

Matsuri didn't bother to lie, "I'm going to find Naruto-sama, Sai and Sasuke are leading, I'm just part of the search party."

Hitomi stood up, "Excellent, I'll come with you."

"No you won't." Matsuri scoffed. "You're beat, and you already showed us that you can't be trusted to think like yourself instead of . . . well, Naruto-sama."

"Which is exactly why you need me with you." Hitomi said, "I'll know where to look for him, he _was _my sensei, and I don't want to stand around being useless."

Matsuri shook her head, "This friendship is becoming a lot of trouble. Why I should stick my neck out for you is beyond me, but I guess the odds of us running into another enemy are pretty low anyway. Fine, but if you so much as _cough _you're headed right back here."

Hitomi jumped up and followed Matsuri.

* * *

Tsunade nodded to Gaara, "We'll have to go and assess the situation. I think it's best if we call off the whole examination. One examiner dead, half the rest being used to ferry students to and from the hospital and now we find out that two more Genin have died, as well as a squad and a half of Anbu."

"I know what the losses are," Gaara assured her, "But if we fold now the fact is that Kabuto will have won. He'll have spread enough fear to ruin our tournament and destabilized your village. I can only advise you, Hokage-sama, but I _advise _you to consider other alternatives."

"Such as?" Tsunade asked.

"Don't end the exams and blame it on a murder. End the exams because there is no further need for them. _Celebrate _the skill of the Genin. Promote the four remaining to the Chuunin rank and further fighting becomes unnecessary."

Tsunade frowned, "I don't know if I could do that. Put that sort of expectation upon someone who might be unworthy. Even the winner of the tournament isn't guaranteed promotion; it's up to the judges too."

"Speak to the judges now, ask them to compile their information, ask them if the children deserve it or not."

"It isn't fair to some of them, two of them have only fought one round, and it's very difficult to make a judgement with that kind of information." Tsuanade said.

Gaara shrugged, "Many Chuunin die on their first dangerous mission. That's the nature of war, or battle. Some Genin, like Naruto have great success and still wait years before becoming Chuunin."

Tsunade frowned, "I'll summon the examiners." She said.

Gaara bowed slightly, "One more thing," Gaara said, "I dispatched a pair of teams before to find the Twelve, they haven't reported back yet. I've been trying to locate them, but from what I hear Neji and Tenten have similarly not reported back. Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke are going to lead a group to find Uzumaki Naruto, but someone must find the two teams I sent out. Because it was me who sent them, I'm going to find them." Gaara said. "Should I go now, or do you think you'll need my support at the exams?"

Tsunade laughed forcedly, "Scamper you brat, I've been handling political affairs since before you knew where babies came from."

"That's an exaggeration. I think it would be more along the lines of before I _cared _where babies came from." Gaara said with what Tsunade supposed was his version of a smirk.

The man really wasn't terribly proficient with facial expressions.

* * *

Takumi's eyes opened slowly, very slowly.

The instant they did he sat up in bed, and the instant he did that he regretted it.

Soft, gentle hands eased him back, for an instant he thought against all reason that they might be Kaori's.

They weren't

They were Hanabi's.

If he were Tetsuo he'd probably have been thrilled.

And then it occurred to him to ask, "Tetsuo . . . where is--"

"I'm right here." Tetsuo said calmly.

"Kaori is fine too." Hanabi said, "I know you were curious."

Takuma had been, but it was information he hadn't expected Hanabi to know.

Hanabi said, "Lord Taiko wanted to speak to you when you were awake. Tetsuo too. Should I summon him?"

Takumi shook his head slowly, "First I need to see Kaori."

"No." Hanabi said flatly. "You can't. She's . . . not doing well."

Takumi closed his eyes tight, "What's wrong with her?"

"She was stabbed, the knife was poisoned." Hanabi said, "She'll pull through and live, but she's not in any condition to see visitors now. Especially ones that're as likely as you are to put her into an emotional state."

Takumi sighed, "Fine. Send in the Daimyo."

"I'm not a servant to be sent for whenever my subjects please." Taiko said lightly, entering the room.

Takumi tried to sit up again and this time both Tetsuo and Hanabi pushed him back, "Please try not to move," Hanabi said, "You're nowhere near as healthy as you feel."

Taiko smiled lightly, "I've been to see her, she's not permanently damaged, if you like I'll talk to whoever's in charge here and see if I can't have you two put in the same room--you just have to promise to behave yourself and stay in your own beds."

Takumi didn't roll his eyes, but he wanted to. He was a man just a few years from his thirties, Kaori was just two years younger than he was, neither of them was a hormone controlled teenager, they knew there was a time and a place for everything and that a hospital was barely the right place for anything positive and that recovery from near mortal wounds wasn't really the right time for the sort of positive thing the Daimyo suggested.

"Maybe if you come straight to the point, Great One," Hanabi said, "The patient seems irritable."

"Understandable." Taiko said. He nodded to Takumi, "The facts are simple. The former Raikage declared you are no longer a Shinobi, you are a Ronin Samurai. That means that you can no longer wear the headband you so carelessly scarred."

No one dared contradict the Daimyo, actually it meant that Takumi was a renegade, his life was forfeit in whatever city, town or hidden village he set foot in.

"You, Hattori Tetsuo conspired against the proper government, not so?"

"It is so, Great One." Tetsuo bowed.

"So . . . you should both be executed, is this not also the case?"

Hanabi gasped but Tetsuo held up a hand to silence her, "It is, Great One."

"We were prepared for that before we set out." Takumi told Taiko.

Taiko nodded, "Very proper. I have a better idea however. Hattori Tetsuo . . . I am in need of a new Raikage. You are my selection. I understand that the elders of the village will want to choose but _I _am choosing for them because in this time of war the country's military leader needs to be firm, and in any event there are no Shinobi who can compare to you, or did you not best your rival, Minoru Hikaru?"

"I-I did Great One, but--" Tetsuo said.

"Then you are the Raikage." Taiko said simply, Tetsuo fell back in his chair in amazement.

Hanabi beamed at him, and Takumi had to admit even he couldn't suppress a smile, even though he fully expected Lord Taiko to show mercy to Tetsuo alone, after all Takumi had been the one to kill the Raikage, the true treason lay with him, Tetsuo had only been an accomplice.

He expected no mercy at all, Lord Taiko fixed him with a hard stare, "As for you, Konjo Takumi . . ."

"What can you possibly want with me, Great One?" Takumi asked.

"Konjo Takumi . . . you will found a new clan. The Konjo clan obviously."

"I have no bloodline traits," Takumi said, "None of the things that usually inspire the creation of a Shinobi clan."

"I did not say a Shinobi clan. As the head of Lightning Country's Samurai caste I willingly accept Konjo Takumi, homeless Ronin into the fold, you are a Samurai of the Lightning Country now, the Konjo clan will be made up of Samurai with some of the skills of a Shinobi, not of Shinobi with some of the skills of Samurai, is this understood?"

Takumi nodded, a little confused as to how he should feel about this.

The Daimyo was giving him a great honor, to found his own clan, to become Samurai.

He was also taking away everything Takumi knew. Being a Shinobi for starters but also his quiet, peaceful life at the bar.

As if sensing this Taiko quickly said "I know this seems like a major adjustment, but it is for the best. I have plans for you and the clan you'll build up. I have no need of another Shinobi, but trustworthy Samurai who put the village and country's needs before their own, men who, when given the opportunity to flee with a beautiful woman choose to face death instead for the betterment of their nation, _that _is the very sort of Samurai I have need of."

Takumi swallowed hard, Taiko added, "And _if _the children of that Samurai knew how to pass through solid objects, well . . . I would not be opposed to that in any way."

Takumi smiled weakly, "It . . . is my honor to accept, Great Daimyo."

"As it is my honor to offer to the both of you, Great Heroes." Taiko said.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **I would normally have said this only as a private message, but the reviewer who brought up this point was not signed in and upon consideration I decided that I might as well let you all know how I feel on the matter of Shikamaru's Shadow Pains, if you don't care, don't read on.

Whether or not Shikamaru is bothered by damage done to his shadow victim is a matter of debate which I have tackled on message boards before. I finally decided it wasn't worth arguing about but I was always in favor of the idea that he did not feel any pain. The evidence as I saw it was questionable, but I am also well capable to examining both sides of an argument without tuning one out.

In this particular argument I can see why some people insist Shikamaru pulls his shadow away at the last second, why some don't.

The compromise I've made with myself and therefore the reason he pulls his shadow back in this story is that he accepts that whether or not he feels the pain he _is _susceptible to any forced and unexpected movement severe pain or death might bring to his target, I.E. Gaara being thrown backwards when Naruto punched him and therefore avoids being put in a situation that an unexpected collapse to the floor might cause, while expelling the least amount of energy to do so, simply severing the shadow possession when it stopped being absolutely necessary, namely when there's no chance of escape for his victim.

As well as conserving chakra, this felt like a very Shikamaru solution to the whole ordeal; if he takes his shadow away at the last second not only does it satisfy those who insist he suffers, but also he conserves a few seconds of extra chakra which he, being a Jounin by now, knows can mean the difference between life and death and therefore those who don't believe he suffers needn't feel as if they're being slighted because it works also as a strategic move repeated out of habit.

While I have my belief I cannot know for sure if only because last I checked so many people were positive that I was wrong, and I have been certain before about things that turned out to be wrong. Better to make the genius cautious.


	109. Cancelation

**Chapter One Hundred and Nine**

Hinata took a deep breath and tested her leg.

It hurt, but not bad. Her medical Jutsu had worked well enough that she could walk on the leg, but the fact that there was still pain at all told her she hadn't quite gotten it right.

It was always harder to heal _herself_.

She'd go to the hospital that, was all. She looked at Naruto though as he stood at the edge of the cliff quiet and impressive.

She loved him; she worshiped him, but were the two really separate emotions, at least in her case?

Or did she worship him _because _she loved him? Might she only love him _because _she so worshiped him?

Even now he didn't need her at all, his wounds were healing themselves.

The external ones of course, who could know what he was feeling on the inside?

He wasn't his usual cheerful self, he wasn't talking at all and he wasn't acting either, he hadn't moved from the edge of the cliff since his clone had leapt off.

Hinata had found herself hoping when Naruto split into two that the evil monster that had risen up from within him had been dispelled, that it as well as Hanzo had been lost forever over the edge of the Monument.

She knew it wasn't so. Somehow she knew that that evil _was _Naruto, or at least a part of him.

She had evil within her as well, who was she to judge?

And of course she knew she wasn't judging _him_. He was too perfect, too pure, her idol.

"N-Naruto." She whispered.

For a time he didn't answer, and then finally he said "I almost let him live."

"What?" Hinata whispered.

"At the very last moment . . . the nine tails asked me whether or not I wanted to let him live."

The nine tails? "How could you commune with it?"

"Advanced Shadow Clone Jutsu," Naruto said, "My consciousness in one body, his in the other. The death of either of us would bring us back together; he died when he and Hanzo hit the ground. But he could have prevented it, could have kept Hanzo from dying too. He didn't because to a shadow clone death is just a return to the real body, and if he wasn't going to keep Hanzo alive there was no need to be careful with his body."

Hinata shook her head, "That sounds dangerous Naruto. What if he finds a way to keep a clone body separate from you, what if he finds a way to kill you without you returning to him?"

"He wont." Naruto said, "We have an agreement, and anyway we can't live without each other at this point. We're fused too fully."

"But . . . the Nine Tailed Fox has been in legends for so long, how can it be that the mere act of binding it to you signifies the end of its life?"

"A butterfly emerging from its cocoon has a short life, but it becomes something much grander than the caterpillar could ever have been. It becomes beautiful and it can fly. Together the Fox and I are a butterfly, we're a magnificent being and after a fashion we have wings. Neither of us is dominant, he's simply used to long naps. The gate is broken and if he wanted to he could rush out and seize control when I least expect it, I _trust _him not to just as he _trusts _me not to put him behind another gate."

Hinata didn't understand what Naruto was talking about really, but for some reason she sensed he knew that and wanted her to hear it all the same.

"We're partners he and I, he sees some things I don't . . . he saw worth in Hanzo, I didn't. The man had put me through too much pain for me to forgive him right at that second and now that it's too late I wonder if perhaps I'm the unforgivable one. The Nine Tails has no comment, he rather enjoyed the whole experience . . . so Hinata, what do you think? Do you think I was wrong to kill Hanzo, or allow him to be killed depending on how you look at it?"

Hinata didn't need time to think and she knew that hesitation would make Naruto think that she doubted so she blurted the answer in her heart, "Nothing you do could ever be unforgivable!"

She said it quickly so she wouldn't stammer, Naruto turned to her, "You don't think I'm a monster?"

"I think I'm afraid." Hinata admitted. "But . . . but I . . . I still . . ." She turned away, "How I felt yesterday, or the day before that; I feel the same way about you now."

She limped over to Naruto, she couldn't say that she loved him, that was too much, too scary, too dangerous.

But she could at least close her eyes and wrap her arms around him, hold him close to reassure him that what she said was true.

He was her idol, her hero, her beloved even, how could she not?

He held her back, his forehead resting against hers but he made no attempt to hiss her, much to her simultaneous disappointment and relief.

Disappointment because she'd dreamed of kissing him for years, but relief because she'd probably ruin the kiss by coughing up blood or some equally humiliating thing.

Naruto finally separated himself from her and said "Well we should be getting back. Sasuke and the others have probably cleaned up things back home by now . . . you can't walk on your leg."

"N-no, I can!" Hinata squeaked, she didn't want him to think she was weak.

Not after he'd just been so strong as to defeat one of the greatest enemy Shinobi Konoha knew today.

"Don't worry, I'll give you a lift." Naruto said.

At first Hinata imagined Naruto carrying her down the mountain, it was a pleasant yet embarrassing image.

Still she'd have enjoyed it in a way.

But instead he summoned a toad about the size of a house and jumped on, holding out his hand to her, then slapping his own forehead, sliding down its back and then _helping _her get on since apparently he didn't think she could jump with her injured leg.

Well he was probably wrong, the bone was mended there was some other reason for the pain, she just didn't know what it was.

Nonetheless it was nice to have Naruto hold onto her as the frog began its journey.

Nice until she realized he wasn't holding her because of, or at least not solely out of affection, but because as the toad leapt up and then came down, though she knew she was perfectly safe in his arms, she knew also that she'd have been left behind, flailing and screaming in the air if Naruto hadn't been holding her.

"Sorry!" He said, she guessed she must look as unnerved as she felt, "I uh, haven't managed to convince them to wear saddles!"

Hinata's response was just a scream that had been meant as a mildly amused chuckle.

* * *

Hara Masamune sat on the roof, watching the enemy Shinobi ransack the Hokage's Public Office.

Nitwits.

The Public Office was just a place where missions were sorted out after the fact, where the dossiers were kept and where useless reports about where the armies had been a month ago were stored.

The War Office, deep beneath Konoha in the secret shelter where women and children would hide if there were ever an invasion; that was where the useful information was.

The names of Konoha's few remaining agents in other cities, the classified documents that told where the armies where _currently._

"Seems like they want dossiers and out of date troop information." Kakashi said gravely.

"So?" Hara shrugged, "Means nothing to us, right?"

"Like Naruto in his youth . . . and somewhat still, you fail to see the larger picture. It's not _what _they're taking it's how satisfied they are with it. It's what they've _come _to take, and they're getting it unmolested."

Hara nodded, the two Chuunin guards had been ordered to leave when Kakashi's group spotted the twelve enemy Shinobi advancing towards the Hokage's office.

Of course being Shinobi they'd been wonderfully stealthy about it, but when the rest of the city was watching the Chuunin exams seeing so many groups--for of course they weren't stupid enough to travel all together--of two people all headed for the same location with no reason to be doing so made the Sharingan Ninja curious, and not even Hara could write it off.

In a city like Konoha that tactic may very well have worked if the streets were as crowded as they usually were.

Though the two who'd used the transformation Jutsu to appear as overweight versions of Naruto-sensei and Uchiha Sasuke had been particularly cheeky and probably would have been spotted anyway, the rest had been very clever about their disguises.

Likely the two foolish ones assumed no one with the power to stop them had been watching.

They were partially right, six Jounin--for the two squads had converged--would not attack a group twice their number likely to be comprised of Jounin as well until they had reason.

The Anbu were dispersed and the Twelve were missing, the Chuunin were occupied, the other Jounin were securing the stadium last Hara had heard.

Kakashi was using summoned dogs to continue the job of searching for the twelve--they wouldn't do it as efficiently as Kakashi and the group could have because they didn't have any starting scent to go on, the teams had found nothing of the sort at the Twelve's last location, someone had been very thorough in covering their tracks . . .

Hara supposed it would have been Shino, out of habit using his insects to spread a scent mask.

"We may have to stop them, if only because this act can't go unpunished." Hara said, still not thinking it mattered but understanding what Kakashi might be thinking.

He was wrong.

"No," Kakashi said, "We let them have it."

"But we let them know we know they're taking it. We let them know it doesn't matter to us." Anko suggested.

"Again, wrong." Kakashi said and Hara felt better since at least the man's significant other wasn't giving him the answer he wanted.

"So what?" Hara asked finally.

"I told you, we let them have it. It's useless information to us until we know why they want it, and it's nothing we can't replace to find out what they have."

"But when they have it they have what they want from it." Anko argued.

"Maybe. Or maybe they only think that they do. What would you use out of date troop reports for?" Kakashi asked Hara.

"To guess where the troops were now." Hara shrugged.

"So why not go after the real reports." Kakashi asked.

"Because I don't know where they are I imagine." Hara said.

"Then why risk the mission at all? The enemy _knows _where our troops were a month ago, they know where they are _now_ for the most part, what the need to know is how they're getting from point A to B, but these guys aren't after that kind of information."

"The dossiers then," Anko said, "To better understand us."

"But the classified information is in the War Room and that's no secret, if they think they'll learn that Lee's a poor drinker or even that Shikamaru has a daughter from those public dossiers made for clients then they have to have come here with no investigation before hand whatsoever, and the two Konoha traitors they have mixed in with their numbers have to know this."

"They don't care about information at all," Hara reasoned, "They just want it to be known that they broke into the Hokage's office and got away with it."

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, "Exactly what I think."

"Exactly why we can't let them be right, _I _think." Anko said with a grim smile, "Exactly why we need to kill them all without letting them leave this village."

"Do it so that the people who aren't at the exams can see and know that we're here to protect them?" Hara asked.

"No." Kakashi said, "We're ninja, not samurai. We don't do things publicly unless there's no other way. When the people never sense anything is amiss they know we're protecting them. When they see us fighting in the streets they know there's cause to panic."

Hara lowered his head, his previous excitement at having been right drained away by his shameful forgetting of the basic rules.

Anko swept her jacket back dramatically, "I say we go get them now and send their heads back to their master in pretty little hat boxes with pink ribbons, who's with me?"

No one said anything at first, but when Kakashi stood up and said "Get them in any event and show them what happens to enemies of Konoha when they're foolish enough to _be _in Konoha" the group of six Jounin and two Chuunin ceased their observations, got up and moved.

They had a job to do, even if they were out numbered.

They'd do it because it was their duty, because it was what was expected of them and because it was impossible for them to act in any other way.

As they moved out Hara noticed Anko cross her arms at Kakashi, who replied "I can't help it if they liked mine better, I thought you were very inspiring."

* * *

"Miss me? Anyone?" Daisuke asked, though he sounded terribly drained and devoid of real humor.

"You can put that on your grave marker." Akuma said coldly.

Naomasa had had enough of him, but he didn't act out of violence.

He was too unsure.

Akuma was testing the very limits of his humanity . . . did this monster deserve to live, having taken a life?

One today that Naomasa knew about, who knew what he'd done while he was off in between fights?

Apparently Daisuke did, "I'll avenge Saizo, even if I didn't like him. He was a fellow Leaf Genin and even though he was kind of sick he did care about my sister. For those reasons I know he was a human being, even if he wasn't the most decent of them . . . you had no right, you'll never have any right."

Naomasa's mouth hung open and Yomiko squeaked, "S-Saizo is . . . I mean he's--"

"He's dead." Daisuke said softly, "Killed by this boy--sorry, this _thing_."

"You have proof? Show me proof." Akuma said mildly.

"I'll show you death." Daisuke warned. "I didn't take much abuse from my fight, and I didn't need to go running to my mommy to have her heal me up, that's what _you _did, isn't it? I remember you were missing a tooth when you insulted me for being too late to help Kotaro . . . yet it's there in your mouth now."

Akuma looked surprised and even felt along his teeth with his finger and smiled sinisterly, "Hey, I didn't notice that. So I guess that means you're jealous, because I know _real _medics."

"You just admit you're getting outside help when that's prohibited." Daisuke shrugged.

"What'cha gonna do about it?" Akuma asked but it seemed Daisuke was done talking, he just ignored him.

Naomasa leaned over the balcony, and to his surprise as he looked he saw that the Hokage and Kazekage were standing in the middle of the arena along with Hattori Tetsuo dressed in a village leader's robes.

What did that mean?

"The newly appointed Raikage, the Kazekage and myself have held conference and we all agree," Tsunade said loudly and her voice was amplified no doubt by a Jutsu, "The four remaining competitors have all displayed skills and mentality worthy of the Chuunin rank. They are all _worthy _of being Chuunin in our eyes."

"Is it her decision though?" Naomasa asked, "I thought it was the examiners."

"She has a say. Probably the final say too." Yomiko told him. "If she says we're Chuunin we _probably _are . . . but I don't really know how the system works to be honest."

It was so nice to hear humility coming from Yomiko.

"No, no, no." Daisuke whispered bitterly, "I know what she's doing."

"What?" Yomiko asked.

"Canceling the exam." Naomasa realized.

Akuma laughed, but it wasn't a cruel, triumphant laugh.

It sounded nervous.

"She wouldn't . . . she wouldn't dare to do that." He said.

Naomasa smirked, "Scared?"

"No, but you should be!" Akuma hissed. He added, "Of me that is!"

"Yeah, I never would have figured out that was your implication." Yomiko rolled her eyes.

"Our judges have conferred as well, the rank of Chuunin is posthumously granted to Hibiki Masaru, who gave his life for a comrade, and our deepest apologies and condolences go out to the Raikage for the loss of one of his promising Shinobi."

"Of course they can give it to him, he's dead so they can call him the Raikage and it doesn't matter." Yomiko said, "It doesn't bring him back, and it won't make a lick of difference to his family."

"It might." Nao whispered. Would his parents be happy if he became a Chuunin?

What if the cost were his own life?

"You think Kasumi cares?" Yomiko scoffed, "She and Yurei are _still _going to kill poor Akuma, that is if Anko-san doesn't do it first."

Akuma was shaking, but Nao knew it wasn't because of Yomiko's words, it was because of the exams ending early.

He'd been planning something else, the little monster.

_Well good, _Naomasa thought, _Very good indeed. End the exams, if it ruins this snot's plans I'm all for it, Hokage-sama._

Even if he didn't become a Chuunin.

"That being said," Lady Tsunade said, "I draw this Chuunin exam to a close, no further data is needed by our examiners."

There was some complaint from the crowd, but Hattori Tetsuo said with an amplified voice, "You have all had enough blood sport for one day. These may only be little toy soldiers to you, but they are children to us, _our _children and if there is no further need for them to swing swords at each other like barbarians I will not condone it."

"He's acting as if Kumogakure demanded the end," Daisuke whispered, "He's giving Lady Tsunade the out, to make it seem like he tied her hands. The fact that he probably knew the kid personally makes it seem more credible. She might not realize it but it also makes Kumogakure the real winner here."

"How so?" Yomiko asked.

"They're the ones calling for compassion, and its their new Raikage who knows to call an apple and apple."

"Huh?" Yomiko asked.

"He called the exams a blood sport," Nao interpreted, "He named them for what everyone knows them to be. But he's making them feel ashamed for wanting entertainment and that won't play well with the prospective customers. They'll remember today that he shamed them, not that he was compassionate."

"The decent customers will remember the probably fake compassion." Daisuke argued.

But Akuma roared in outrage and hurtled himself from the balcony.

Nao sort of wished the fool would just fall and die.

"Raikage has no right to demand an end to this examination because his weak nation no longer has any competitors. The Kazekage has no right, his were all swept away in the first rounds. Their nations are weak, but Konoha is strong and three of its brave warriors remain as well as myself, are we not worthy to be tested?"

To Naomasa's horror the crowd cheered for Akuma.

"Let us be tested!" Akuma roared and the crowd echoed it. "You call this a blood sport because of what happened to one of your people," Akuma wiped his eyes as if he were crying but even from this distance Naomasa knew it to be a shameful fakery, "It was an unfortunate act, a reflex to defend myself, I would _never _have _killed _the girl, I only wanted to scare her. For that you think that _I _should not be tested?"

Tetsuo said nothing, he only glared coldly at Akuma, the crowd was on Akuma's side.

They didn't like being told that their entertainment was vulgar and wrong.

They _liked _seeing kids kill each other.

The fascination of death, to watch another human life end from the safety of a stadium seat, the dramatic struggle between two Shinobi to help them forget their own lives for a bit.

Naomasa shook his head in revulsion, were Ninja reduced to some sort of show for these people then?

Daisuke was laughing softly, mournfully, "This kid . . . he'll be dangerous if he doesn't die today. Look how well he controls the crowds. The Hokage has no choice now, if she ends the exams she's calling Konoha weak. Worse if we hadn't been having our little discussion he probably wouldn't have figured it out until it was too late."

"What do you mean?" Yomiko asked.

But Nao knew.

"Akuma isn't smart, but he's got charisma and he's sort of sly. He can lead the crowd and he can come up with quick lies. He's just put the Hokage in a position to humiliate herself or allow him to continue his violence, either way he wins."

Yomiko clenched a fist, "We can't just let him."

To Naomasa's amazement Yomiko jumped down from the balcony as well, what was with everyone and just jumping off? It was dangerous!

Naomasa heard Yomiko scream with the volume only she could manage without using an amplification Jutsu, "I am Sarutobi Yomiko of Konoha, and I say that our Hokage is no coward!"

The crowd cheered but not because Yomiko had them.

They cheered because they were in an uproar, they were entertained, they expected this was all an act, something preplanned for their enjoyment.

Naomasa hoped Yomiko wasn't committing suicide.

No . . . it was exactly the sort of thing one must never _hope_.

It was the sort of thing one had to take _action _to prevent.

He gulped, and he leapt from the balcony, hitting the ground hard he strode up to Yomiko, "This pretender," He shouted to the common people of Konoha, "thinks to lead you around by the nose like dogs, to flatter you and tell you sweet nothings like a lover!"

"You're not helping!" Yomiko whispered.

"She's right," Daisuke said, striding up next to him, "no twelve year old talks like that, they'll think it was scripted now, now they're _expecting _the fight, if we disappoint them now it'll get ugly."

"Children . . ." Lady Tsunade whispered, "We are willing to give you your promotions, leave the Arena now. We will handle the crowds."

"No. I'm not leaving, I want one more fight." Akuma said.

"You've got it!" Yomiko snapped, chakra blades in hand.

Naomasa looked from Daisuke to the Hokage, to Yomiko looking for some sign that one of them was going to do something to stop the fight.

No such luck. Lady Tsunade looked at the crowd with disdain, "Have your way then." She said simply and without malice. Whether she was speaking to the people of Konoha in general or to the Genin Naomasa wasn't sure.

But when the Hokage, Raikage and the Kazekage all left Akuma roared, "I, Akuma of Sound hereby challenge all three of the remaining Konoha Shinobi, let the power of the Sound Organization be known!"

With that he threw his marbles and his army appeared.

No one said "go"

It had stopped being an exam exactly when the Hokage had ended it.

That didn't mean it wasn't still a war, and for the three Genin in the arena there was no escaping it now because the crowd that had been so easily riled up after nearly a half hour of waiting for the next match, their very own people were eager to see more violence.

Perhaps they even secretly hoped to see more killing.

Naomasa shook his head and was thankful for his rest, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He shouted, producing real shadow clones.

Yomiko did the same, Daisuke didn't know the Jutsu though and he so he just took up a Taijutsu stance.

"You bit off more than you can chew, Akuma!" Yomiko said, "You may think you're hot snot, but you're not, snot!"  
What was with her and snot today? Did she have a runny nose or something and so couldn't think of a worse insult?

Naomasa chose not to correct her in front of their very real enemy, he just thought to himself that Yomiko was right.

Akuma had bit off more than he could chew challenging three Genin.

It was time to see that he learned that.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	110. Grand Melee

**Chapter One Hundred Ten**

Temari refused to break out into an outright run, but Syako had no such reservations when she looked back and realized what was going on.

Temari wanted to throttle her.

Syako squealed and ran off down an alley.

_Are you insane? _Temari thought, _They'll get us if we go there! If you weren't holding my daughter I'd let you _die_ no matter how Kankuro feels about you!_

Temari and Koyko both whipped out their fans and ran after Syako, they were just blocks from the hospital, they'd _almost _made it.

But the seven Shinobi descended upon them, "I love contingency plans, don't you?" One of them sneered.

"I love it when women do stupid things like run down dead-end alleys." Another said.

"I love it when I get to kill people form Suna, and all four of these cows are indeed from my favorite killing ground." The first one said.

"Well _I_ love it when the villains just _act_ and don't talk because they're too stupid to be allowed vocal cords." Temari said brightly.

The seven Shinobi scowled at her as one, Temari shrugged, "What? I can't love things too?"

"I will love the sound of your scream." One of them said.

And Temari screamed.

Not in fear, she screamed just to screw with them as she leapt at them, fan prepared.

She closed it however and used it as a club, slamming the leader's head into the alley wall with a satisfying cracking sound, leaving an ugly reddish-black smear on the lovely gray stone wall.

She crouched and Kyoko leapt onto her shoulders then into the air, sweeping her fan at the remaining six with a shout of "Wind Scythe Jutsu!"

Temari responded in kind, "Wind Scythe Jutsu!"

The two Jutsus from to different angles tore the alley to shreds, the enemy Shinobi, having learned from their careless and now likely brain damaged but just maybe _dead_ comrade, used substitution to escape.

"N-no!" One of them shouted from a place Temari couldn't see.

She spun around to see someone leap off of one of the three buildings that made up the alley and its dead end, she prepared to defend herself but a second Shinobi sprang from out of nowhere and knocked her legs out from under her.

She fell to the ground and hit her head hard, Kyoko swept out with her own fan, knocking one of Temari's assailants away but the one who'd sprang to knock her down rolled and got on top of Temari, the man raised a kunai.

Temari brought her legs up into the man's back, stunning him.

He twisted backwards, screaming out in pain until someone slammed a dagger down into his forehead.

Temari shook her head in disbelief, "When I left our _choice _seats in the stadium I was going to save _you_!" She told Shikamaru.

"Funny how things turn out." He said grimly.

"And so you know I had him, I didn't need saving."

"As if I'd waste energy saving you." Shikamaru said.

The initial scuffle had been quick and brutal but now Jutsus were coming into play, Shikamaru grabbed Temari by the wrist and pulled her off of the ground just as summoned cat emerged from the earth and roared like a tiger.

Well Temari supposed it could be a small summoned tiger, she didn't care.

It wasn't a weasel so she couldn't negotiate with it.

That meant she'd just kill it.

Someone beat her to it, "Green Dragon Torpedo!" Rock Lee roared, sailing through the air like . . . well like a torpedo.

He slammed into the tiger feet first and left a hole in the ground, going so deep under that only his head was visible.

His worst features, that haircut, those eyebrows, those creepy eyelashes too for that matter.

One of the enemy Jounin came to kick him in the head but Lee suddenly caused the ground to explode and the projectile rocks all seemed aimed at this man, who tried to use substitution but Lee just grabbed the log and threw it in the face of one of the other Shinobi.

An interesting answer to not being able to use earth Jutsus.

"Did I mention I brought friends?" Shikamaru asked.

"Friends? More like you brought your blasted street gang!" Temari scoffed, annoyed that it now seemed she'd get no part in the fight, for the enemy that had substituted away from Lee fell from one of the roofs next and made a "splat" sound when he ht the ground right in front of the comrade who'd been hit in the face by his substitution log.

"I can't help it if I have rough friends." Shikamaru said, wiping his dagger off on the dead man's shirt.

"In front of our daughter and my student no less, they're going to be traumatized."

"Kill them!" Kyoko screamed, "Kill all of them! Don't let any of them escape!"

"She seems fine." Shikamaru said evenly.

Temari just frowned and shook her head.

That _wasn't _fine for Kyoko. Kyoko wouldn't have said things like that, not in a real fight where real people were dying.

She was very upset, seeing the wonton carnage unfolding here wasn't healthy for her, normally in such a one sided situation she'd ask Temari to make sure _someone _was taken prisoner at least.

Temari turned her back as Tenten jabbed kunai into the last survivor's shoulders, ending his resistance so that he could be questioned.

Temari walked over to Syako and took Sumiko while Ino explained that Shikamaru had deduced that Syako had been the target of an assassination attempt meant to bring an end to the friendship between Konoha and Suna.

Syako reacted with disbelief, "No . . . they wouldn't kill _me_." She'd said.

Temari squeezed her daughter, "Oh my little one, I'm so glad you're okay." She whispered.

Sumiko reached out for Shikamaru.

Temari was bit annoyed. Sumiko was a mama's girl, she'd never really chosen Shikamaru over Temari before.

But it was fine, she was his daughter too after all. She handed Sumiko to her father, "Traitor." She said.

"Tay-tur."

Shikamaru looked surprised, Temari took a moment to realize that it hadn't been Shikamaru who said it.

"Sumiko! Oh my gosh, did she just--I mean she just--I mean oh my gosh!" Temari gasped, ashamed that her and her fiancé's little game had had such a negative influence on their daughter's first word.

It might have been mama if she'd been a better one.

* * *

Shikamaru noticed something odd about Sumiko's irritated expression.

It existed.

A one year old girl had the expression he wore whenever a fight was lasting too long, or a plan was starting to go down hill faster than he was comfortable with.

He took Sumiko, she looked truly annoyed.

For an instant he thought he understood. All this fuss to get her to talk and when she finally did her mother was lamenting and everyone else was laughing--albeit uneasily, after all they had just captured a large group of enemies, two of those enemies were dead.

But could she really understand the situation? Was she _that _aware of her surroundings?

She looked at him as if she expected him to understand her when she said it again, "Tay-tur." This time she waved one of her little arms.

He held her close and pretended to be a simple, proud parent, "All right, all right," He said, "Everyone's a traitor."

But from the corner of his eye he'd noticed that when she'd said it and waved her arm she'd waved it towards Syako, who was still unable to believe that the enemy shinobi had meant to _kill _her.

Shikamaru watched Syako carefully while Sumiko, cranky that nobody understood the message she was trying to deliver resorted to crying.

Shikamaru handed her back to Temari who tried to comfort her.

Could Sumiko really be speaking and gesturing or was it his imagination? He'd thought she was in danger and the result had been him rushing over as soon as Neji and Tenten found Temari.

He was in a dangerous mood, his offspring had been threatened, was he looking for something where nothing existed?

Could a one year old grasp the concept of a traitor when technically they'd never explained it to her?

Or could it be that it had been explained . . . by their actions.

Whenever Sumiko changed sides they'd say the word . . . if Syako changing sides prompted Sumiko to say the word . . .

But could a one year old be so self aware? So aware of their surroundings?

The answer was "no" of course, Shikamaru wouldn't have been able to spot a traitor at age one and certainly couldn't have said it or the close equivalent Sumiko had managed.

But then again Syako also spoke quietly to Sumiko a lot, after all she could tell secrets to Sumiko who would not remember them the next day because she was a baby.

Shikamaru looked at his annoyed daughter.

_If you were trying to tell me something, I heard you and I'm just sorry I can't act on it right this second_. He told her in his heart. _If you weren't . . . I'd better keep an eye on Syako anyway. I haven't forgotten seeing her talking to Toshiie in the Suna market place._

Shikamaru smiled a forced smile, "Let's round up the rest of the troops, guys. And put these knuckleheads away . . . what's left of them anyway."

* * *

It all began so quickly, Akuma leapt back and the three Konoha Genin leapt forward.

Or were they Chuunin now? It didn't really matter.

Though Akuma leapt back his army leapt forward, the battle was joined.

Akuma _needed _to decapitate one of them, needed to use the Jutsu in his sword.

He _needed _to please the master.

* * *

"You're just going to allow this?" Tetsuo demanded.

"They know what they're doing." Tsunade said.

"They're a mob." Tetsuo scoffed.

"Not the crowd. I mean my Genin . . . my _Chuunin _maybe. They know what they're risking and I know what I'm risking in letting them do it. But it's necessary. It's what I decided."

Tetsuo was surprised at least, "You told me that you needed me to act as if I'd demanded the end of the exam. You said it would help us all to save face. I _should _be with my sister right now."

"You may see her now." The Kazekage said calmly . . . no, emotionlessly, "We did not mean to keep you from her, but it was vital that we appear a united force."

Tetsuo nodded stiffly, though he wasn't sure how united they'd all want to be.

Because Lord Taiko might not be pleased if his brother were injured . . . but Tetsuo couldn't imagine welcoming that boy back into Kumogakure.

Here it was, his first test as a leader.

His sister was hysterical he'd been told but Kasumi had _never _threatened to kill someone before, and she'd never had so great a cause.

He knew how she'd felt about Hibiki Masaru, he'd been shocked to learn what had happened.

Kasumi was in a fragile state now, he could only imagine how she must feel.

Not that he wanted to imagine what it must be like.

So here it was. His first major decision.

There wouldn't be room in Kumogakure for both his sister and the Daimyo's brother.

Did he declare his independence after a fashion by refusing to allow Akuma, Prince Shinno a place in the city, or at least spare the quality of any Shinobi body guards the lost Prince might be assigned.

Or did he send his sister away, no doubt being seen as a traitor in her eyes.

Against such an enemy as Akuma though Tetsuo had considered it.

Unfortunately he had to consider the bigger picture. He couldn't afford Taiko as an enemy, not on his first day within his first hour as Raikage.

Tetsuo's head was still spinning in fact, he was the _Raikage._

But luckily it seemed that Konoha had solved the problem for him.

If those kids had what it took to actually _kill _Akuma.

* * *

Naomasa struck out at Shadow Clones left and right, and as Hitomi had done grabbed one of his own.

It knew his strategy before he'd summoned it so it knew what to do, the clone transformed into a Kunai.

As did a second.

Naomasa held them both and running through the growing smog of the defeated Akuma clones--for they were so reckless that many cut one another with their swords, a testament to Akuma's lack of strategy--he leapt into the air and saw the true one backing away.

Yomiko emerged from the smoke as well with a cry of "Razor Wind Jutsu!"

The winds tore at Akuma, proving he was real when the damage didn't destroy him.

Naomasa landed hard right in front of Yomiko as her Jutsu ended and threw both his shuriken.

They sailed past Akuma as he began the hand signs, they returned to their human forms and mimicked him.

Three versions of Naomasa shouted together, "Fire Summoning Jutsu!"

There fiery phoenixes soared out of their mouths and flew screeching towards Akuma.

They flew around him, rammed into him, struck him and burned him until finally he fell to the ground.

He was still, he did not move.

Naomasa approached him carefully as did Yomiko and Daisuke, for the last of the Akuma clones were dead.

Daisuke waved the two younger Genin back, "I'm the medic here." He said and took a step towards Akuma, "But I'm not an idiot either," He added, holding out his hand and with the Oedo skills with metal forced Akuma's sword to come to him.

He caught it and it exploded in his hand, becoming yet another Akuma clone.

It was like a nightmare, how had the sword survived the assault that Akuma had?

And if the clone could do it how did Naomasa know that Akuma was really defeated?

The clone held a kunai and slashed at Daisuke's neck but the medic nin threw himself back and out of harm's way before he could be struck.

Naomasa heard a sound and spun around, seeing Akuma charging for him, sword ready.

He slashed out, cutting Naomasa right across the chest.

The boy fell to the ground, holding his chest in pain, unable to focus through the pain.

He heard the sound of metal on metal as Yomiko defended herself with her daggers, he heard Akuma's laughter, heard the words "do you think only you can the cover of my clones to hide yourselves or your plans? Do you not know that I am a _master _of Genjutsu?"

Naomasa heard it but it didn't register.

All that registered was the pain he was feeling.

He saw Kotaro standing over him, "What? That's it?" The Hatake heir asked, his voice devoid of judgment but his words damning. "You're giving up?"

He saw his sisters, all of them now standing by Kotaro, "I was going to name my first son after you," Emiko said, "but I don't want my child to be a quitter like you."

Eri leaned on Kotaro's shoulder, "Come on Nao-baby, am I going to be the youngest _again_?"

"Don't you know it's your job to keep the clan alive? We're _women_, we're smart sure but you're the only one who can carry on the name and that's all father really cares about." Ichiteru shrugged, holding her baby in her arms.

No, no, Ichiteru's son would be two by now, he'd been a baby when Nao ran away from home, this was all a delusion; it was all in his head.

"Of course it's in your head." Father said suddenly, appearing and kneeling down in front of him, "So much goes on in your head. Do you think this is the end? Do you think I'll let my son die in some meaningless arena?"

Not meaningless.

As he watched Daisuke struggle against Akuma clones to get to him, as he watched Yomiko move strike for strike against Akuma, her chakra knives now blazing with flames that didn't seem to burn her he knew it wasn't useless.

It was war. It was the way of the Shinobi, it was what Shinobi were for.

"Oh yes, Shinobi, all well and good," Mother said now, kneeling on his other side, "What about your clan? What about the tears I'll shed if you give up now?"

Who said anything about giving up? He just wanted to close his eyes for a bit.

"Is that any way to repay me? Gosh what a wuss." Tomoko scoffed. "Get up. Get up and kill that slime out there."

Naomasa stirred, but he didn't get up.

How could he?

It hurt so badly.

"The pain is telling you something important." Shikamaru-sensei said, "It's telling you you're still alive."

Naomasa realized now that Shikamaru had taken his father's place, indeed Tomoko had also taken the place of Ichiteru . . . did his mind only have enough power to comprehend a set number of people?

No . . . no Ichiteru was back, so was father . . . it was whoever he thought about, whoever he focused on.

Kotaro came first . . . he'd let him down.

Then his sisters . . . because he knew they resented him. Even if they didn't admit it he knew they hated him for being the gender father always wanted them to be, but nowhere near as loyal as they were.

And of course father . . . father whom he'd run away from. Father who wanted him to raise a strong family and become a wealthy man . . . was that so bad?

Mother who loved all her children because that's what a mother did . . . yet always seemed reluctant to hear the words he told her. To her he was like a little doll to be dressed up how she saw fit, but did she hear him say he didn't like green? Did she hear him when he said he didn't want to play with that rich girl next door?

Tomoko . . . how did he feel about her? He loved her, he knew it but why? How did he love her? Would they get married someday? Was she the mother he secretly wanted? Or had it meant something that she'd appeared to in the place of his eldest sister? What was she to him in the end?

Shikamaru . . . was it symbolic at all that he'd replaced his father? Had Shikamaru become his new father?

A father figure perhaps.

Naomasa had let him down too. He wouldn't be Chuunin, he'd be dead.

_Next Hitomi will appear and tell me to get up and somehow I'll find the strength to do it just because she can't be resisted._

Sure enough Hitomi smiled warmly at him, "Silly boy. This is all in your head . . . how can I tell you what you don't want to hear? I mean sure . . . you _could _get up if you weren't such a lazy son of a tramp."

"Hey!" Mother complained.

"Bite me, and no I'm not blushing." Hitomi scoffed.

Naomasa shook his head.

_Go away. All of you. I just want to close my eyes._

Everything disappeared except one phantom.

One quiet figure who'd been there the whole time, too small to be seen behind his sisters and everyone else.

It was Yomiko.

She smiled weakly, "Are you just going to let me die?" She asked him.

And Naomasa didn't want to close his eyes anymore.

He opened them wide and forced himself to his feet.

"I won't let my comrades die." Naomasa said firmly. "I'll _never _let you kill Yomiko!" He shouted.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	111. Exit Demon of Sound

**Chapter One Hundred Eleven**

Yomiko struck and blocked, struck and blocked, she saw Daisuke struggling to reach her through Akuma's clones whose objective didn't seem to be to kill him but rather to force him to watch helplessly as Akuma attacked her.

"Help Nao!" She shouted at him, "Help him!"

Daisuke shook his head, was he saying Nao was too far gone? He just kept trying to reach _her_.

She glanced towards Naomasa and saw he was still lying there . . . she couldn't waste much time staring at him but he seemed scarily still.

_No . . . you can't, not when I'm working so hard to be your friend!_ Yomiko thought angrily.

Not angry at Naomasa.

She was mad at Akuma.

She felt tears rolling down her cheeks, "You're such a beast. You're so full of hatred!"

"And you hate me?" Akuma laughed, "Or will you cry out dramatically that you pity me?"

Yomiko shook her head, "I feel nothing for you. You're not worthy of emotional investment. You're no one. You're _nothing_."

"Can _nothing_ kill you?" Akuma demanded.

"_Nothing _can kill _anyone_." Yomiko shot back.

Akuma laughed, she continued.

"But no one fears _nothing_, no one knows _nothing_, no one _ever _loves _nothing_. You Akuma? You're _nothing_. No one fears you, no one knows you, and no one loves you. You can kill anyone because you yourself aren't alive. You're a thing, an idea, a phantom. What's it that killing brings you? Power?"

"Power!" Akuma agreed in a roar.

"Power over your self?"

"Power over you! Power over my enemies!" Akuma roared, slashing wildly with his sword.

Yomiko kept her expression calm, "Power over your self?" Yomiko insisted.

"Yes! Power over my destiny! Power over my future!" Akuma screamed, "When I kill I know I will live! Killing gives me the power over _me_!"

"Power over _nothing _is still _nothing."_ Yomiko scoffed, and while Akuma seemed stunned by her words she sprang in, flaming knives leading.

She slashed at him but he threw himself to the side and slammed the handle of his sword into the back of her head, "_Nothing_ is about to kill you."

"Right. Nothing will kill me." Yomiko laughed weakly.

She tried to get up but Akuma kicked her down and pinned her with his foot.

"I'm going to cut your head off . . . when I do you'll know I'm greater than you."

Yomiko mumbled something unintelligible, Akuma pressed on her back with his foot, "What was that?" He roared?

Was he that easy? Was he that stupid? "I said _nothing_." Yomiko said innocently.

Akuma roared wildly and raised his sword into the air, probably meaning to cut Yomiko's head off as he promised but maybe he'd just lash out insanely.

She didn't know, she kind of gave up her attempts to buy time; Daisuke wasn't going to reach her in time.

Akuma roared but nothing happened, Yomiko opened her eyes as she heard Akuma grunting, she looked over her shoulder.

There was Naomasa, holding Akuma's hands back.

Yomiko almost wept, she felt the tears rolling down her cheeks but she didn't indulge them.

Now wasn't the time.

Still it was a relief to see him alive.

She struggled under Akuma's weight to spring up to her own knees, knocking him backwards.

He screamed as Naomasa knocked the sword away from him and went down on top of him.

It wasn't a scream of fear or rage, Akuma was beyond emotions at this point, he was just a wild animal. A wild animal with just two instincts, survival of itself and the need to kill all other living things. He wasn't a human being.

Yomiko had barely been exaggerating to call him _nothing_.

She struggled to get up but Naomasa said "Stay down!"

She looked forward to see that Naomasa was standing in front of her forming hand signs, he was cut viciously across the chest, she realized that the Naomasa tackling Akuma had to be a clone.

How did he find the chakra?

No of course, his two shadow clones!

Akuma hadn't destroyed them, when Nao got hurt they sort of idled in confusion, Akuma had ignored them.

But this was just one, where was the other? She looked around, but she didn't see the clone.

Naomasa shouted again, "Fire Summoning Jutsu!"

He breathed fire like a dragon right over Yomiko and onto Akuma, the boy wailed pitifully and the clone poofed to smoke atop of him, but the fire bird eagerly attacked Akuma.

Yomiko tried to se where the sword was, wondering if she could reach it in time.

She couldn't, Akuma scrambled, ignoring the flaming bird's assault and reached his blade, raising it up to attack Naomasa.

Suddenly it exploded.

Rather it became a cloud of smoke from which the second Naomasa clone emerged.

Or perhaps the real Naomasa.

Kunai in hand Naomasa swept his arm out.

Akuma stood there dumbstruck for a moment.

Yomiko stared at the scene in confusion.

The Akuma clones seemed unsure and it was all Daisuke needed to finish them.

Nao's clone--no, Naomasa himself she realized--stepped back from Akuma and Yomiko saw the deep wound in the boy's neck.

It was mortal, Akuma was dead.

Or else he'd die soon.

The trick that hadn't worked on Daisuke . . . apparently it worked just fine on Akuma.

Yomiko could understand now, Naomasa had somehow thrown that blade there before without anyone noticing, his clones then attacked Akuma, each using a Jutsu.

The first used the Fire Summoning but the second, the one who'd tackled Akuma had used the Shadow Storage Jutsu on the sword when he wrestled it from Akuma's grip.

So when Akuma looked for his sword the only one there was really Naomasa in disguise.

Use Akuma's own trick against him.

And Naomasa had made it work because he understood like the rest of them did that Akuma wasn't clever.

He thought he was.

But he wasn't.

So in the end it never occurred to him that they'd use his own trick on him.

Or maybe the fiery phoenix had him panicked.

Maybe his reliance on the sword was such that he felt defenseless without it.

Maybe Yomiko's taunting had driven him beyond rational thought.

But whatever the case when Akuma fell to his knees and reached out pathetically for Naomasa, Yomiko struggled to her feet and ran to him.

She threw her arms around his neck and shouted triumphantly, "You did it!"

"No . . ." Naomasa whispered. "No . . ."

"Don't be modest," Yomiko laughed, "You killed the demon! You gave him a taste of his own medicine, a taste he so badly deserves!" Yomiko said cruelly so that the dying Akuma could hear her.

She turned back, beaming at Naomasa, a worthy friend and Shinobi.

With tears in his eyes.

Her smile faltered.

What could he be crying for? Yomiko shook her head, "Naomasa, are you feeling okay?" She saw the huge cut on his chest, "Of course not! Daisuke, Daisuke come on over here!"

Daisuke came over and examined Naomasa, but Nao just pointed at Akuma.

"I know." Daisuke said in a consoling voice.

Naomasa shook his head as the other boy lay in a pool of blood, eyes still open but no life in them.

Yomiko kicked his dead body, "Good riddance." She said.

"No!" Naomasa sobbed.

"Naomasa . . ." Daisuke whispered, "You didn't kill him."

"No!" Naomasa roared.

"Yeah, the heck are you talking about?" Yomiko demanded, "Nao killed him! He took him out like a pro!"

Daisuke glared at her, then turned to Naomasa who'd fallen to his knees in tears, "You didn't kill him Naomasa, I did." Daisuke told him.

"No you didn't you lying bastard!" Yomiko shouted. Who did Daisuke think he was stealing this victory from Naomasa? Nao had beaten the scariest son of a gun in the group, how _dare _Daisuke try to steal that from him.

And after the way he hadn't helped Nao when he needed him, he really had some nerve.

Daisuke wrapped his arms around Nao and held him tightly, "You didn't do it." He kept telling him. "It was me. I killed him, you're blameless."

Blameless?

Yomiko staggered back.

Was that . . . what _that _why Nao was crying?

Yomiko felt tears come to her eyes too. Not because of Akuma, never because of Akuma . . .

But because of the things she'd said to Naomasa. She'd praised him for violating his beliefs.

Naomasa was her teammate, yet she hadn't even understood the reason for his tears. Sure his wound must hurt unbelievably but Daisuke knew right away the real problem and was treating both at once while Yomiko just made things worse with praise Naomasa couldn't possibly want.

She felt a little numb as she wrapped her arms around him too, "Y-yeah . . . you didn't do it Nao."

"I . . . I did." He wept, he lost all strength in his legs but she and Daisuke held him up.

"I provoked him to stupidity . . . it was my fault." Yomiko whispered, understanding Daisuke's game of sharing the blame.

"No. No, Naomasa. I am responsible for his death . . . I could have stabilized him and I chose not to. I didn't want to. Nothing could have made me. He's a murderer who knows how many times over, now his victims can have some peace. I think . . . I think even he can know a measure of peace now." Daisuke said, squeezing Naomasa, "You're blameless."

Belatedly the examiners came in and led them away, one with bangs over her eye said "Didn't Konohamaru-sama say we'd show up just a little too late?"

"You're proud of this Hibari?" Examiner Kouji demanded.

"I'm proud of that boy." Hibari said softly, "He did what had to be done . . . and he's still human enough to feel bad about it. Would that we all felt that way still."

Yomiko helped Daisuke and the examiners lead Naomasa away as the stadium emptied in solemn silence.

They had to know . . . the village leaders had told them there was no need but they'd let a twelve year old boy whip them up into a frenzy.

There was no reason to continue.

Now that boy was dead because of their want for sport. As far as Yomiko could tell it was a good thing, a _wonderful _thing.

Except that it made her friend so sad that he cried.

She couldn't remember ever seeing him cry. If he could cry like this for an enemy . . . she whispered "If . . . if it hadn't been done, I would have died." She whispered, but Daisuke shook his head.

'Not yet' he mouthed.

She shook her head, "We'll get you the same room as Kotaro," She assured her teammate "That way Sensei won't have to have the celebration party in two rooms. You're a Chuunin Naomasa, they can't deny you, you used strategy and an understanding of your enemy to win! You saved a comrade without having to give up your own life, that's a Chuunin's act!"

She realized she'd gotten carried away by trying to cheer him up the way she would have wanted to be cheered up.

It wasn't working for Naomasa because talking about his strategy and flawless execution would only remind him of what he'd done.

So she said nothing more and they walked in silence.

* * *

A week later Shikamaru sat around a table with the other members of the Konoha Twelve and their Hokage.

His wedding would be tomorrow . . . tomorrow he and Temari would be husband and wife.

His mind was full of thoughts of that, but also of thoughts of his team, of the war, of . . . everything.

The Iwagakure prisoners, moles all of them, were good information.

The group that had been run off from the Hokage's Public Office by Kakashi and others had scattered as soon as they saw resistance, running before a single shuriken could be thrown. Shikamaru hoped they had learned a lesson, but he doubted it.

Kumogakure had said that officially they were relieved that the rogue Hattori Hanzo did not cause serious damage, but Shikamaru doubted Hanzo had really been acting without his Daimyo's orders.

Shikamaru doubted the new Raikage was pleased to learn that his father had been killed by the Konoha Demon.

So Shikamaru had had to think two hundred steps into the future in so many different directions.

And now they were examining a very real threat.

On the map . . . there were so _many _Lightning soldiers in their lands.

As allies it was fine but as possible enemies . . .

"So what do we do?" Tsunade asked.

"We remain in in our city. If anything Fire would be weak to resist if Lightning does double cross us. But as for the village itself we can make a stand here if worse comes to worse." Sasuke said.

Everyone looked at Shikamaru who shrugged, "About right. But we can't let on that we have any less trust in them, so missions are going to have to continue, we'll just keep our Shinobi close to home when we can manage it."

"Agreed," Tsunade said softly. "As for the escaped prisoners?"

"The scarred Iwagakure Jounin, Toshiie and the exiled Kumogakure Jounin, Okatsu?" Sakura asked.

"Them." Tsunade nodded.

"Sai and the best Anbu are looking for them. We suspect they worked together to escape, other than that we can't know." Sakura said.

"Do we know if Kabuto helped them?"

"No." Sasuke said, "But if he had, I'm certain I would have felt it."

"It's possible there was a traitor." Neji said, "One of the guards."

"Do we have any reason to suspect any of them?" Tsunade asked.

"With all due respect when such powerful enemies escape from our prison through such skill that nothing is damaged and no one is injured and none of the on duty personal _notice _two empty cells I consider _everyone _involved a suspect." Neji said.

There were nods around the table from various members of the group, Shikamaru would wrack his brain over it except it wasn't his problem.

Shino would have to solve it. If he needed help it would become Shikamaru's problem, but Shino and his bugs would likely find things that even Shikamaru never would have.

Still Shikamaru hated that Toshiie was free again, that Sumiko was in danger again. Shino could work to solve the mystery of how Toshiie escaped but Shikamaru planned to discover where he'd gone afterwards.

Find out where, then track him down and kill him. He was a threat to Shikamaru's daughter and that was a death warrant.

* * *

Tomoko shoved Naomasa lightly, "Lucky, aren't we? I mean everyone else is wracking their brains over whether or not they'll be Chuunin, but you and me, we already know."

"No we don't." Naomasa said without emotion.

"Don't be stupid, of course we do." Tomoko said, "I failed because I was an idiot, and you passed because the Hokage said so."

"She said we were _worthy _of being Chuunin." Naomasa whispered. "She stressed the word too, I don't think it was a promotion."

"But you take it as read that Sarutobi and Hatake are going to be advanced." Tomoko frowned.

Naomasa shrugged.

"Well . . . never mind. Forget I said anything. Let's see you try it again."

He went through the motions of using Hitomi-san's Jutsu, managing everything well enough yet faltering right at the end.

It was progress, Tomoko supposed.

If he weren't so beat up about what had happened maybe he'd be able to get it.

She couldn't really show it to him herself, she didn't have the endless amounts of chakra he did and she'd already moved with him step by step five times.

And now that she had a family again and now that his was here as well expecting to spend time with him they didn't have from dusk till dawn, but rather a few short hours a day whenever their respective sensei didn't need them.

Tomoko knew Daisuke would be promoted, though he insisted that Yomiko and Naomasa did all the work from what she'd heard Daisuke had not only single handedly held off the clones of Akuma but also saw Naomasa's tears for what they really meant and tried to keep him calm.

Traits of a leader, traits of a Chuunin.

In about ten minutes, though Naomasa would fight on until one of his sisters showed up to retrieve him, she'd go home to her Chuunin brother, living in his shadow with a sad mixture of envy and pride. She loved Daisuke, how could she not? He was the only member of their family who'd cared about her when she'd made her little . . . mistake.

But she envied him too. Because he had what she wanted.

Even if it wasn't confirmed she was certain he'd become a Chuunin and she had not.

It was all part of the human condition she supposed. Were love and envy too closely related to be separated?

When the time came to go Tomoko spotted Hitomi sitting in a tree nearby watching Naomasa.

She smiled, he'd be fine while he waited for his sister to show up, Hitomi could handle any trouble that might pop up, even if she had been careful not to let Nao know she was watching him lately.

Tomoko supposed it made sense. After all Akuma dying was exactly what Hitomi had wanted, Nao might blame her influence over him, seeing her might hinder his recovery.

Or, given her influence over him it might speed it up. Tomoko was not even close to being sure, but it was up to Hitomi. As long as she refused to let Nao know she was watching him he would go on not knowing.

* * *

Hirate Akira bowed low before his Daimyo, "You summoned me, High Lord?" He asked.

"Your army is well trained. We have months before the operations begin and already each of your foot soldiers is as skilled as my own elite guard. Your bowmen are as accurate as my finest assassins."

"I tolerate no weakness." Hirate said, not allowing himself to be proud of his men's accomplishments since they were nowhere near the level of efficiency that would be required to overpower a Shinobi village.

"You are leaving for Konoha today." The Lord of the Lands of Wind said calmly.

It wasn't a question.

Akira frowned but didn't let his lord see it, "Lord?"

"You are engaged to a Lady Ishida Emiko, are you not?"

"I am, Lord. She is a resident of the Land of Fire, but her family lives in the city of-"

"She and her family are currently in Konoha. You will go and see her. You will wed her there, tell them that you cannot wait."

Akira bowed again.

That would be difficult. He'd never actually _met _Emiko. The marriage had simply been arranged by Akira's mother, who apparently had been trying to get him engaged to an Ishida daughter ever since the merchant clan set up its stores in Wind. He wasn't sure how he'd convince her or her family that his love was so intense that he could not wait for the proper wedding date.

He wasn't sure why he had to, "High Lord . . . why do you ask me to do this?"

"I want you to have an intimate knowledge of Konoha, I want you to see everything." The Daimyo said simply.

Akira tensed.

Why? His army could not possibly be meant to attack their allies, the Daimyo had more honor than that, Akira was certain.

"High Lord?" He asked uneasily.

"You've studied Sunagakure extensively, have you not?"

"Yes. To understand the layout of a Shinobi village so that when we launch our attack--"

"Study Konoha now and see how two foreign villages are different. Learn how they are the same. If there is time I will have you study Kumogakure as well, you must _understand _the Shinobi villages and their people because your mission is vital. It will end the war."

Akira nodded, relieved, "I understand, High Lord. I will study them."

The Daimyo nodded, "_Understand_."

"I will, High Lord." Hirate Akira promised.

* * *

Hitomi leaned against a tree and watched Naomasa.

She wanted to tell him that he'd never have to kill again, and with the war ending he'd probably believe it.

But it'd be a lie. Shinobi were war tools, and even with the war ending Nao would most likely have to kill again over the course of his missions.

She wanted to say he'd done the right thing. That Akuma needed to be stopped.

He wouldn't believe it coming from her. He needed time to realize it himself.

She closed her eyes for a moment.

She wanted to promise that he'd stop feeling so terrible.

But how could she know? She'd never really admitted to herself that killing made her feel bad, so now she wasn't sure whether it did or didn't.

It was so hard to know what to tell him.

So she said nothing.

Any comfort she offered him would be hollow after all.

_She _was glad. She'd gotten exactly what she wanted.

Akuma was dead.

It remained to be seen just what the political implications of Akuma's actions would be, but with Shinno dead and Syako still alive Naruto-sensei said that Shikamaru said that if anything at least Lightning and Wind would remain loyal to Konoha.

Iwa may or may not get its invasion buffer back . . . it remained to be seen.

Life would be hard for a while yet, and Naomasa would have to become hard as well, he was a Shinobi and she couldn't protect him.

It wasn't her place to protect him.

He called it a night when his sister Eri came to get him. She'd watch them, make sure they got home safely.

And maybe tomorrow she'd help train Naomasa directly, instead of through Tomoko.

Maybe.

As a _Jounin _of Konohagakure she needed to be prepared to pass knowledge down to the lower ranked Shinobi, even if a Jounin was never what she wanted to be, the Hokage had made the decision for her.

And so had Akuma. If she had never held back Akuma would have died by her hands, the deaths he caused would never have happened and Naomasa would not have been left so miserable. Because of Akuma she had finally accepted the fact that she could not spend her entire life grading students at exams.

It was a shame that the only positive aspect of his visit came at such a price. Though Nao felt sorrow now, Hitomi knew that in time he would understand that he had done the right thing to prevent further suffering. She had held back and allowed suffering to go on. Between the two of them only she had any reason to cry.

But she did not.

Because she had gotten what she wanted.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note:** Chapters 108-110 were finished on time and originally they were the end of the Arc. Triumphantly I declared victory over depression . . . and celebrated with a nap. Sleeping for a few hours then waking up just in time to be late for work I realized the chapters had not been proofred at all so I could not post them on monday.

Then I decided that chapter 110 was too long, I cut it into 110-111, figuring the chapters were late anyway I tried polishing them a bit. I tried proofreading but found myself somehow over the course of this week lacking sleep, in any event here they are now, late I admit but none the less here. The final fight originally lasted longer but given that the kids should have been on their last legs I decided to edit it a bit, what was cut out actually was not exciting combat, mostly just a shuriken exchange, but I will make up for it with more intense fighting in arc 4.

On that note I also failed to showcase Neji, Tenten and a few others new moves, well I guess that has to wait for Arc 4 also, the crushing of the Iwa Chuunin/Jounin felt like overkill enough without everyone whipping out their best Jutsu, still that was where Neji and Tenten would have showed off their stuff according to the script. I will make it up to them later.

The bonus item will follow soon, as well as the updated Ninja/Samurai index (since Takumi is now a Samurai, and since Akira is important to Arc 4)

And one brief word on the deaths . . . originally I admit Kyusaku was going to die in the fight with Kabuto. I thought up a better fate for him though, whether that fate ends in death or not remains to be seen, hope to see you all in Arc 4.


	112. Ninja Index 2

**Note: **To avoid ANY confusion or surprise EVERY original character who receives a name is listed here, including those who appear briefly or die quickly. If I gave them a name they're listed here, otherwise they'll probably just be known by rank or as "hey you" but that doesn't make them super important, the Ishida clan, for example, though listed does not appear as often or play as important a role as you might expect.

This guide is ONLY for Original Characters by the way. By now we assume you know the cast of Naruto itself, if you do not there are many sites that have biographies for them free of or containing spoilers according to your desire. I would name a few, but I didn't have time to ask and wait for their permission to mention them in the story. PM me and I can give you my favorite bio site for all your non-OC bio needs.

If you feel I should list the Naruto cast as well, since many of them have expanded beyond their background roles and since the years have changed some of them despite my attempts to keep everyone in character, you are probably right, but this is already a very long index. If I do start listing original Naruto characters it will not be until after this arc, when the cast, real and OC gets cut down a bit.

**The New Layout**

**Given Name or Title (Full Name) (Quick reference number)**

**Caste: **For the sake of flavor I'm using the Feudal Japanese cast system, note that the Chuunin exam promotions have not gone into effect yet so the Genin are still listed as Genin, even if they would receive promotion later in the Arc. I have reason to doubt my sources as I was always under the impression that merchants were a seperate caste from commoners, though I may be thinking of The Clans from BattleTech, so if anyone has a more in-depth knowledge I would be happy to update the guide with it

**Age: **Some of the characters are a year older now. Not many, but some.

**Bio: **The reason you're reading this in the first place, I assume.

**Romance: **Almost _everyone_ likes _someone_.

**Combat Style: **For Ninja and Samurai this gives a brief summary of how they fight

**Skills: **For noncombatants (Excluding Sumiko) this lists anything they're especially good at or something odd.

**Arc 4: The Fall**

**Original Character Dictionary (Ninja Index 2)**

(Remember, you can simply press Ctrl+F and enter the number by the name to take you directly to the character you're curious about, this now also works for the nations so you can skip right to the country you like)

(FSS) **FIRE Shinobi and Samurai**

(001) Sarutobi Yomiko

(002) Hatake Kotaro

(003) Ishida Naomasa

(004) Oedo Daisuke

(005) Oedo Tomoko

(006) Inuzuka Kyusaku

(007) Aburame Kurai

(008) Hyuga Shiroi

(009) Hara Masamune

(010) Hijiri Hitomi

(011) Yamamoto Miyuki

(012) Miura Katsuo

(FNC) **FIRE Noncombatants**

(013) Nara Sumiko

(014) Ishida Eri

(015) Ishida Emiko

(016) Ishida Nagahide

(017) Ishida Atsuko

(018) Oedo Tarou

(WSS) **WIND Shinobi and Samurai**

(019) Yukio

(020) Ryu

(021) Kyoko

(022) Hirate Akira

(LSS) **LIGHTNING Shinobi and Samurai**

(023) Taiko

(024) Hattori Tetsuo

(025) Tosa Kimiko

(026) Yurei Yuu

(027) Hattori Kasumi

(028) Yurei Kaori

(029) Konjo Takumi

(ESS) **EARTH Shinobi and Samurai**

(030) Juukei Toshiie

(031) Gamo Katashi

(032) Gamo Rikuto

(WSS) **WATER Shinobi and Samurai**

(033) Nana Mizuki

(034) Ito Yoshi

(WNC) **WATER Noncombatants**

(035) Endo Hayato

(036) Ito Ichiteru

(037) Ito Taiki

(SOP) **SOUND Operatives**

(038) Okatsu

(039) Minoru Hikaru

(040) Syako

* * *

**FIRE**

_Feeling stable now that they are surrounded by allies instead of enemies the Lands of Fire are slowly beginning to recover from their military defeats, lands once lost to them have returned and the people with them, brining all sorts of wonders learned under the rule of their now allies in Lightning. Few in the Fire Country recognize that their own way of life is balancing on the edge of a knife, for allies or no Iwagakure is not about to yield._

**Soldiers: **10,000+

**Shinobi: **250+

* * *

**FIRE Shinobi and Samurai (FSS)

* * *

**

**Yomiko (Sarutobi Yomiko) (001)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Genin)

**Age:** 13

**Bio: **Proud daughter of Asuma and Kurenai, Yomiko is steadily advancing as a Shinobi, creating her own Jutsu variants and using her father's chakra knives. Yomiko's Genjutsu is above average, and her Taijutsu is improving, through the knives she can channel both wind and fire, though without them she has only scratched the surface of her Wind Chakra.

Her bond with Shikamaru is steadily increasing; she no longer desires a different teacher but still thinks Shikamaru is neglecting a few things he could be teaching them. She adores babies, having never had any younger siblings, and therefore enjoys seeing Sumiko.

**Romance: **A pretty girl with her mother's eyes, Yomiko is sought after by Yukio of Suna, she however has no romantic interest in anyone, blaming her age and claiming that there's no reason for her to be interested in boys yet. Nonetheless she's been accused of liking both Kotaro and Naomasa.

**Combat Style:** Yomiko relies on a mixture of ranged attack and Genjutsu usually, but has come to rely on close combat and her knives, making her a threat at all ranges she believes.

* * *

**Kotaro (Hatake Kotaro) (002)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Genin)

**Age: **12

**Bio: **The son of Kakashi and Anko, Kotaro aims to emulate his legendary father as best he can. He has now mastered the summoning of snakes from his mother, and the Chidori from his father. He doesn't bother much with Genjutsu and spares training in Taijutsu, but strategically he has been compared to Shikamaru.

Kotaro often acts as the leader of his team when Shikamaru isn't around, and though Yomiko and Naomasa both consider him to be smarter than they are he insists he's just learned differently; his particular learning makes him adept at coming up with strategies, therefore he takes it upon himself to handle the strategies of Team 10.

**Romance: **Kotaro has more or less come to accept the idea of having Kyoko as a girlfriend, even though he hasn't yet given up the magazine collection he hides. Some people think he's attracted to Yomiko, but he's got nothing to say on that subject.

**Combat Style: **Kotaro favors Earth Jutsus and now the Chidori as well. He likes to plan out his fight in advance, and will rarely fight without someone to back him up. He always tries to look out for his teammates, even at the expense of the mission.

* * *

**Nao (Ishida Naomasa) (003)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Genin)

**Age: **12

**Bio: **Naomasa ran away from home as a child to become a Ninja. He wanted at first to fight in the wars and become a great hero, but later decided he wanted to do so without ever taking a human life, a goal which he would fail when he was forced to kill Akuma to save Yomiko.

Naomasa has recently decided to allow his family back into his life, having been moved by Tomoko's story of familial alienation; however he suspects their motives for coming to see him are less than pure. He is quickly mastering Fire Jutsus, and learns whatever Shikamaru will teach him, but currently his mind is in turmoil after taking another's life.

**Romance: **Though romantic feelings are beginning to play an ever greater role in poor Naomasa's life, Nao hasn't quite figured out his feelings for the women in his life. Yomiko's sudden kindness is confusing him and he still hasn't sorted out his affections for Tomoko and Hitomi.

**Combat Style: **Naomasa relies on Shadow Clones for most of his techniques, and the fire Jutsu taught to him by Tomoko. He is learning the instant kill Jutsu Hitomi concocted as well though it remains to be seen how he plans to use it.

* * *

**Daisuke (Oedo Daisuke) (004)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Genin)

**Age: **15

**Bio: **The Konoha ladies man, Daisuke believes strongly in a sense of romance and chivalry when dealing with women. He also believes in strong family ties. He likes to use fancy words and phrases, like "bosom chum" much to the disdain of his sister. His best friend Kyusaku however doesn't seem to be bothered by the fancy vocabulary.

Recently he feels responsible for the death of Miura Saizo, and has begun to hear Saizo's voice in his head, mocking him, taunting him, abusing him within his own mind. Daisuke likes to imagine something devious going on, but accepts the fact that he's probably going insane. Through it all he tries to keep this a secret and maintain his outer shell of cheerful chivalry.

**Romance: **Despite being the romantic type, Daisuke currently has no one in his life. Whether or not that changes may depend at least in part on whether or not he can rid himself of Saizo's voice.

**Combat Style: **Daisuke is a skilled medic and prefers to hang back and let his sister and Kyusaku deal with enemies and jumping in with his Taijutsu when necessary; otherwise simply healing their wounds after the fighting is over.

* * *

**Tomoko (Oedo Tomoko) (005)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Genin)

**Age: **15

**Bio: **Tomoko is hailed as the weakest of her team, though in fact those that truly know her know that she might be one of the toughest Genin in town. She spent three years living by herself, ostracized by her family until finally, during the Chuunin exams her father accepted her back into the clan.

Tomoko is of the giving type, training Naomasa early on and thereby accidentally winning his affection. She is also of the literary type, having read, re-read, and red between the lines of the literary works of the legendary Sanin Jiraiya. Having finally been able to leave her part-time job at the Barbecue she has more time to train and intends not to fail to become Chuunin again.

**Romance: **Tomoko has fallen in love with the books of Jiraiya, but also is beginning to notice a spark between herself and Yuu. She hasn't yet noticed Naomasa's feelings for her.

**Combat Style: **Though Tomoko's clan can manipulate metal Tomoko can more or less force it to do her bidding, using a pair of light weight but powerful chains wrapped around her forearms, to which she attaches iron balls, claws, or blades, Tomoko's fighting style is difficult to mimic. She is also a master of the Shadow Clone Jutsu, and has concocted her very own original Fire Jutsu, which she's taught to Naomasa.

* * *

**Kyusaku (Inuzuka Kyusaku) (006)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Genin)

**Age: **15

**Bio: **Kyusaku is one of the Inuzuka clan but has a great fear of dogs. He has instead, somehow managed to master the Jutsus of the Akimichi clan, taught to him by his Sensei, Chouji.

Kyusaku cares deeply for those around him and is extremely empathetic towards everyone, but like Chouji, should the word "fat" come up all had best be prepared to run for their lives.

**Romance: **Kyusaku has a crush on Tomoko, but he's yet to approach her.

**Combat Style: **Chouji is not just Kyusaku's mentor, he's his guide book, anything Kyusaku sees Chouji do he too attempts to do, mastering beyond all reason, the Jutsus of the Akimichi clan.

* * *

**Kurai (Aburame Kurai) (007)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Genin)

**Age: **16

**Bio: **Calm, cool and seen as a leader by his peers, Kurai is about the only member of the Konoha Genin squad that everyone agrees should become Chuunin.

With what has been described as an almost godlike dominion over insects, Kurai does his clan proud, but rather than emulating his cousin Shino, aims simply to do the best that he can do personally. He seems to have a bug for every situation, but somehow manages to wrangle insects not part of his own swarm.

He feels remorse at the loss of Saizo, a comrade in arms for years, but has allowed his focus to fall to other things for the time being, namely training and consoling Shiroi.

**Romance: **Kurai and Shiroi are a couple, though Kurai is not at all a fan of public displays of affection.

**Combat Style: **Kurai can calmly stand back and let his bugs do all the work. This is not to say that he doesn't incorporate extensive strategies into each fight. His willingness to sacrifice his insects can also catch his opponents off guard.

* * *

**Shiroi (Hyuga Shiroi) (008)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Genin)

**Age: **16

**Bio: **Born to the branch family of the Hyuga clan Shiroi is fairly vindictive of her mark on her forehead, but no one could have predicted that Shiroi would have abandoned her comrades during the Chuunin exams in confusion after being offered a chance to remove her seal forever.

She feels responsible for Saizo's death, and would never have forgiven herself if her other friends had died, but inside, secretly she knows that she'd gladly pay any price to have her seal removed, and this knowledge frightens her. Though she is attempting to devote herself entirely to friendship now she knows the poisonous thoughts in her mind persist and she finds herself wondering when her chance will come to finally be free of the Main Family.

**Romance: **Shiroi is fairly convinced that she is in love with Kurai, however she fears that in truth she may love only herself.

**Combat Style: **All the Hyuga techniques taught to her by Neji, as well as some speed techniques learned from her sensei Sasuke make up the entirety of Shiroi's arsenal. She has a killing Jutsu that she has attempted to use on occasion, but has yet to succeed with it.

* * *

**Hara (Hara Masamune) (009)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Jounin)

**Age: **17

**Bio:** Aiming to emulate his sensei, Naruto in every way Hara has taken to wearing orange and studying the Shadow Clone Jutsu. He still can't use the Rasengan but he's trying. Hara uses ranged combat for the most part, conserving chakra since he, unlike his mentor does not have a seemingly endless amount of it.

Hara is the leader of his team and aims to make sure they all make it back safely after each mission. Like Naruto he aims to someday be the Hokage.

**Romance: **Hara is madly in love with Miyuki, who hasn't responded as if she even realizes his affections exist. As such he's taken it that she has no interest and has made no attempt to pursue a relationship.

**Combat Style: **Hara is growing skilled at cloning himself as well as the Shuriken he throws at his opponents. When all else fails he can summon a toad to help him out, though it takes more out of him than he likes. He is compotent with Fire and Earth Jutsus.

* * *

**Hitomi (Hijiri Hitomi) (010)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Jounin)

**Age: **17

**Bio: **The daughter of an unimpressive Chuunin examiner, Hijiri Shimon and a woman whom thus far has only been revealed to have been good at math, few are sure where Hitomi got her talent from or why she refuses to let anyone see her eyes. It's not like she's got the Byakugan or anything . . . right?

Yet Hitomi has an annoying talent for seeing everything around her, as well as seeing through almost any Genjutsu. So far no one has managed to remove the black lensed goggles she wears over her eyes and she's had them since her childhood. No one who knew her then remembers what her eyes looked like, though the general consensus among the males is "who cares, have you seen her rack?"

**Romance: **Hitomi grows easily annoyed at the prospect of _any_ romantic relationship, seeing all suitors with disdain. She is aware of Naomasa's attraction to her but tolerates it only in the belief that he'll move on sooner or later.

**Combat Style: **Fast and fiery, Hitomi moves with speed that never quite reaches that of Sasuke, though she is often compared to him. She uses flames like it's nobody's business, having created her own internal incineration Jutsu, though what drove her to create such a lethal Jutsu can only be guessed at. It remains to be seen, now that she is a Jounin and no longer holding back, how she will fight.

* * *

**Miyuki (Yamamoto Miyuki) (011)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Special Jounin)

**Age: **17

**Bio: **An expert Medical Ninja with a bedside manner that could make a cactus seem cuddly, Miyuki cares about just one thing: the survival of her patient. If her patient feels grateful at all, or upset at her attitude at least they _can_ feel so her work is done. Miyuki has a strict no-nonsense philosophy towards life that for some reason seems to soften in the presence of her comrades, though she is still not soft enough to acknowledge Hara's interest in her.

Her skills as a medic have earned her the Special Jounin rank, and she is a highly competent field medic, curing the ailments of conscripts and Samurai alike.

**Romance: **Miyuki seems to have cut romance out of her life all together in an attempt to be a better doctor. Whether or not this works though . . .

**Combat Style: **Almost nonexistent, Miyuki's fighting skills remain roughly at Chuunin level if not slightly below, in combat Miyuki relies heavily on the ability to heal her comrades. Alone she has managed to heal her own wounds while still keeping mobile, however when all else fails she is willing to use some Genjutsu.

* * *

**Taisho Miura (Miura Katsuo) (012)**

**Caste: **Buke (Samurai)

**Age: **32

**Bio: **A valiant young officer Katsuo has managed to reach the very top, he is the head of the Land of Fire's army. His only son, Miura Saizo, was killed in the Chuunin exams, as a result he has come to distrust Shinobi, feeling that had the Ninja of Konoha been more on top of their game his son would still be alive. Nonetheless he is loyal to Konoha's Daimyo and to its people.

**Romance: **His wife passed away and he has felt no desire to remarry.

**Combat Style: **Atop his steed Taisho Miura wields his spear with deadly efficiency, when all else fails there is the katana, but he has rarely had to set aside his spear, or his bow.

* * *

**FIRE Noncombatants (FNC)

* * *

**

**Sumiko (Nara Sumiko) (013)**

**Caste: **Heimin (Peasant)

**Age: **1

**Bio: **The daughter of Temari and Shikamaru, Sumiko has finally spoken her first word, much to her annoyance no one, except maybe her father, really understood what she was saying.

Apart from the one attempt Sumiko hasn't spoken, and still isn't all that interested in walking anywhere, especially when her parents, grandparents, uncles and "semi-uncle" Naruto are still willing to simply carry her everywhere.

**Romance: **Sumiko has fallen in love with ice cream.

**Combat Style: **Sumiko favors a loud screaming attack, usually followed up by tears and facial expressions too cute to be ignored.

* * *

**Eri (Ishida Eri) (014)**

**Caste: **Heimin (Peasant)

**Age: **16

**Bio: **Eri has two loves in her life, they are her family to whom she is extremely loyal, and climbing. Eri is, thus far, the first non-shinobi to climb the chakra-repelling walls of Konoha without equipment. Wherever there is a height, Eri can be trusted to climb it whether or not it's appropriate.

She also sees her brother Naomasa's attraction to Hitomi as intensely inappropriate, which is why she is wholly in favor of it.

**Romance: **Eri has recently turned sixteen, giving her the opportunity to date anyone that her father finds appropriate, however she has no real love interest at this time.

**Skills: **Eri has yet to meet the surface she can't climb. Her ability is inexplicable, even she doesn't know how she does it, all she knows is that she enjoys it.

* * *

**Emi (Ishida Emiko) (015)**

**Caste: **Heimin (Peasant)

**Age: **18

**Bio: **Emi is the second youngest Ishida daughter, and is betrothed to Hirate Akira. Soon she will be married and leave her family behind as all of her older sisters have done, this causes her to relish the moments she has now. She attempts to bond with Naomasa and Eri but neither really seem to have time for her.

She idolizes her mother, and likes to keep quietly to the background, hiding the talents she has until such time as they are needed.

**Romance: **Emi is going to marry Hirate Akira, whom she had never before met. She considers it her duty and her privilege to serve her family in this way. Whether or not she comes to truly love Akira doesn't matter to her.

**Skills: **Unbeknownst to all Emi has yet to witness a game or conflict which she has failed to predict the outcome of. She is capable of detaching herself entirely from any given situation to provide an unbiased judgment. Sometimes she knows who wins even when there is no evidence beforehand.

* * *

**Nagahide (Ishida Nagahide) (016)**

**Caste: **Heimin (Merchant)

**Age: **45

**Bio: **The patriarch of the Ishida Merchant Clan Nagahide is about as patriotic towards the Fire Country as is possible, yet resists the idea of Shinobi being totally necessary. In his mind tools of war only perpetuate war, and the casual abuse of Shinobi powers ensure that there will always be hatred in the world.

He walks a fine line, being both proud of and afraid for his son, having seen Naomasa end a human life he worries that it'll become a habit, but knows the boy probably didn't have any other option. Still, he loves his children and does his best to see that their futures are bright.

**Romance: **Naga is married and therefore in his mind romance is dead. The fact that he's had six children suggests there's a least a little bit of a romantic type left in him.

**Skills: **Capable of running a merchant empire from wherever he happens to be Nagahide has charisma, foresight and the wisdom to listen to others . . . most of the time.

* * *

**Atsuko (Ishida Atsuko) (017)**

**Caste: **Heimin (Peasant)

**Age: **41

**Bio: **The matriarch of the Ishida clan, Atsuko has given birth to six children: five girls and a single boy. She considers that single son her most important achievement, as a woman who cannot provide her husband with a male heir is an obvious failure in her eyes.

"Very traditional" can only begin to describe Atsuko, she can also seem detached. Her children often accuse her of ignoring their opinions, which she doesn't mind since she's rather certain that after raising children for twenty three years she knows better than they do anyway.

**Romance: **Devoted to her husband Atsuko doesn't often think of romance, feeling that at her age it isn't necessary. In her mind raising his daughters to be perfect young ladies is the ultimate expression of love for her husband.

**Skills: **Atsuko is adept at raising infants into children, it's the transition from teenager to adult that she's not terrible adept with.

* * *

**Tarou (Oedo Tarou) (018)**

**Caste: **Heimin (Artisan)

**Age: **36

**Bio: **The father of Tomoko and Daisuke, he recently took his daughter back into the clan. Though some suspect he has an ulterior motive he has yet to reveal it. His entire workshop was burned down the night that same daughter stole a scroll containing the clan's secrets, he's since rebuilt but the scroll hasn't been recovered.

A massively strong man, Tarou might have made a good soldier but his skills as a blacksmith have been even more useful lately.

**Romance: **His unnamed wife is the center of his romantic world.

**Skills: **Able to manipulate metal, but to a lesser degree than his son and daughter.

* * *

**WIND**

_The war ravaged Land of Wind are about to rebound in a big way with the training of their Ten Thousand man army and One Thousand Elite Soldiers nearing completion the counter attack is about to begin, their Daimyo is determined to bring the war to an end once and for all in a way most favorable for his nation._

**Soldiers: **18,000-

**Shinobi: **150+

* * *

**WIND Shinobi and Samurai [WSS

* * *

**

**Yukio (019)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Genin)

**Age: **14

**Bio: **The self appointed leader of the Suna team, Yukio is the fastest attacker and has a powerful control over sand and wind. He considers himself to be the greatest of the group, and his teammates don't really argue. His father is on the front lines, a Chuunin of Sunagakure and Yukio hasn't seen him for some time, he does not even know if he's still alive.

Since his defeat at the hands of Shiroi he became determined to surpass her and end her life, finally fighting her to a draw during the Chuunin exams. He has since abandoned his ambition of killing Shiroi, feeling instead a measure of sympathy for her.

**Romance: **Yukio likes Yomiko, plain and simple.

**Combat Style: **Using sands as a barrier or a weapon but never both Yukio aims to emulate Gaara in the hopes that he too can become Kazekage one day.

* * *

**Ryu (020)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Genin)

**Age: **13

**Bio: **The medic of the team, Ryu just wants the war to end so life can become slow and peaceful. He has taken to fighting with a Battle Fan like Temari and Kyoko, though he had fears that it would get him teased at first no one who has seen him use it continues to hurtle insults.

Ryu is also developing a sarcastic streak as Yukio grows more serious and adult. He's an orphan with no family and so devotes himself entirely to his team, secretly he also sees Temari as a sort of mother.

**Romance: **Ryu hasn't really bothered noticing girls yet since the only girl he knows well (Kyoko) feels too much like a younger brother.

**Combat Style: **Favoring his battle fan when the need to fight arises Ryu uses Wind Jutsus with the help of his weapon but otherwise relies on medical Jutsus to aid his comrades.

* * *

**Kyoko (021)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Genin)

**Age: **13

**Bio: **Kyoko aims to emulate others whenever she finds something that might suit her. Since meeting Kotaro she's gradually begun to try to discover her own style but still continues to rely on Temari's combat techniques. She dislike's being the only girl on the team aside from Temari, and as such as developed some of what she calls decidedly male habits, such as spitting on her food to keep anyone from stealing it.

She has no parents and sees the team as her family, oddly enough if she had to admit it she'd say she sees Temari as a big sister and Yukio as her father.

**Romance: **It was love at first sight for her when Kotaro came into the picture and she's devoted considerable effort to getting his attention and overcoming her own shyness.

**Combat Style: **Though she is well versed in Temari's Jutsus Kyoko is also a master Summoner, using the aid of summoned weasels to help her stop the opponent long enough to hit them with her Jutsus.

* * *

**Taisho Hirate (Hirate Akira) (022)**

**Caste: **Buke (Samurai)

**Age:** 21

**Bio: **Akira is a man who once tried to become a ninja but failed because of his inability to mold chakra properly. He did so because Shinobi were the power in the world as he saw it, but now that he's failed and returned to his Samurai clan he feels differently. In his mind now it is up to him and his fellows to make Samurai the power in the world, to restore the ancient caste to its rightful glory.

He has been charged with two tasks, the first is to train a legion of one thousand men, raising them up to a level where they can conceivably fight and defeat any Shinobi even if the ninja have the home advantage, the second task is to study every Shinobi village he can gain entry to as a way to understand them. He gained prominence, reaching the rank of Taisho (General) through battlefield exploits since the start of the war.

**Romance: **Akira is engaged to Emiko of the Ishida clan, an arrangement made by his mother. He has never met the woman and wholly expects to have to pretend to love her in order to make life livable.

**Combat Style: **Bow, sword, and spear Akira is a master of every weapon. He favors a pair of katana and masterful combat routines. Though he cannot use Chakra like a Shinobi can his speed is absolutely inhuman.

* * *

**LIGHTNING**

_The vicious victorious, the Lightning Nation has wiped its former allies away in protection of its new allies, Fire. Both the nation and the Village Hidden in Clouds is under new, younger leadership but it remains to be seen whether or not this is a change for the better._

**Soldiers: **22,000-

**Shinobi: **350+

* * *

**LIGHTNING Shinobi and Samurai (LSS)

* * *

**

**Daimyo Taiko (023)**

**Caste: **Buke (Daimyo)

**Age: **25

**Bio: **Taiko is a man who is willing to kill his own father to speed his ascension in an attempt to bring about his ideal world. A world where the glory and supremacy that is the Lightning country is shared with the ignorant beings of other countries. For this he will gladly go down in history as a demon, as a monster so long as his goals are achieved.

Those goals are nothing less than the military and cultural conquest of the entire known world. Only when these objectives have been met will Taiko rest.

**Romance: **He insists that he's interested in the daughter of the land of fire, but whether this is in reality just a political move or actual romance is unknown, even to himself.

**Combat Style: **Taiko's combat skills are more or less the ability to order armies around, however when threatened he does not resort to a katana at all but rather fights with a short dagger, relying mostly on martial arts to keep himself alive until his body guards can cut down his would-be assassin.

* * *

**Raikage (Hattori Tetsuo) (024)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Kage)

**Age: **23

**Bio: **The new Raikage of Hidden Cloud is a young one but the greatest Shinobi left in his village by the Daimyo's estimation. He is now, also the head of the Hattori clan following the death of his father, Hattori Hanzo at the hands of Naruto.

Rather than declaring a desire for vengeance Tetsuo is all the more dedicated to maintaining peaceful ties between not only the Leaf and Cloud villages, but also between the Hattori and the Hyuga. He is married to Hanabi, who is currently carrying his child.

**Romance: **Utterly devoted to Hanabi.

**Combat Style: **Mixing standard Taijutsu with the powers of the Kagegan Tetsuo can walk in and out of shadows literally, he can drag others into their own shadows and he can tell the difference between a shadow Jutsu and a normal shadow.

* * *

**Tosa (Tosa Kimiko) (025)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Jounin)

**Age: **23

**Bio: **The leader of Squad Tosa, formerly Team C. She feels responsible for Masaru's death having not been there to prevent it, however she also feels obligated to help her remaining students get through the emotional roller coaster of having lost a teammate.

Highly book-smart Tosa considers herself an intellectual, though her book-smarts rarely equate to useful combat tactics. She can usually outsmart her opponents but has come to rely on her own team to actually get rid of any meddlesome enemies.

**Romance: **For Tosa the first stage of her romantic ambition is achieved, _the _Nara Shikamaru is aware that she exists. Now comes the hard part: convincing him to love _her_ instead of his wife, Temari.

**Combat Style: **Tosa is almost entirely reliant on Lightning Jutsus, though she knows a fair number of other Jutsu the only element she truly showcases is Lightning.

* * *

**Yuu (Yurei Yuu) (026)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Genin)

**Age: **14

**Bio: **Born somewhere in the Water Country Yuu and his older sister Kaori immigrated when he was just an infant. He has no memory of his former home or what it was that made them leave. There is a great deal of his clan that he doesn't know and his sister, as the sole survivor apart from himself, is his only teacher. Grieving for the death of his best friend Masa, Yuu is a little unsure of what to do with himself now.

Most people believe Yuu to be a girl at first glance, few people (among them Oedo Tomoko) have no such problem and it is in large due to Yuu's long hair and soft features. Though he is annoyed by the confusion he's done nothing to make himself appear more rugged.

**Romance: **Yuu is currently pursuing Tomoko's attentions as openly as he dares, helped along by the fact that Tomoko seems to like him too.

**Combat Style: **Yuu relies on his clan's ability to pass through solid objects, including people. He has some Lightning Jutsus and is proficient with the Lightning Clone Jutsu. When chakra doesn't permit it he is willing to use Taijutsu and knows how to wield a knife proficiently.

* * *

**Kasumi (Hattori Kasumi) (027)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Genin)

**Age: **15

**Bio: **Once a cheerful, bright young girl Kasumi has been torn by the death of her boyfriend Masa, followed by news of the death of her beloved father Hanzo. Now Kasumi is full of rage and hatred, feeling helpless against the enemies who took her loved ones from her since she can't kill the already dead Akuma and similarly can't kill Naruto, though in her mind that's just because her traitor brother won't let her.

Rather than turning to her family she has turned her back on her entire clan, spending her time with her sensei and remaining teammate, though even they are quickly beginning to get on her nerves with their lack of vengeful actions against Konoha and the Sound organization. The girl who was once the only Hattori apart from Tetsuo to accept Hanabi now makes "jokes" about mass murder and the fall of Konoha.

**Romance: **Kasumi has retreated into a hard shell since the death of Masaru, refusing to feel any sort of attraction to anyone.

**Combat Style: **First favoring a patient shadow combat style Kasumi has become far more aggressive, learning every Jutsu she can from her sensei and continuing her Taijutsu training with Takumi she now carries a chakra sword.

* * *

**Kaori (Yurei Kaori) (028)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Jounin)

**Age: **25

**Bio:** Formerly of the Village Hidden in Mist, Kaori and her baby brother Yuu fled from the annihilation of their entire clan before she'd even become a Genin. Kaori now devotes herself to the village that saved her as best she can.

She has drawn closer to Takumi since aiding him in his coup against the former Raikage, but she still remembers the days she spent as a merciless killer under her former captain, Minoru Hikaru. Such a past will not be easily thrown away, even if she never wholly approved of the slaughter she acted it out and to her disgust her first reaction to most enemies has become murder.

**Romance: **Since Hikaru has abandoned her in light of her treachery Kaori is free to pursue or rather resume her relationship with Takumi, however she is unsure now of what her own reaction would be if Hikaru were to come back into the picture.

**Combat Style: **Kaori relies on her clan skills, she can also use Water and Lightning Jutsus. The Yurei clan has many secrets that Kaori knows but has yet to show.

* * *

**Takumi (Konjo Takumi) (029)**

**Caste: **Buke (Samurai)

**Age: **27

**Bio: **Takumi turned his back on the war at one point, costing him at least temporarily the love of Kaori and the respect of many of his fellow Shinobi. In truth he became the personal, and very secret assassin of the former Raikage, carrying out his lord's wills for what he told himself was the betterment of Kumo.

When orders came to assassinate the Daimyo's younger brother Prince Shinno, Takumi refused on the grounds that the Prince was a son of the former Daimyo and a child, against whom Takumi could not bring himself to raise a sword. Feeling that the Raikage himself was acting in his own interest rather than the interests of their village and their nation Takumi assassinated him. His reward was the foundation of his own clan and Samurai status given to him by Daimyo Taiko.

**Romance: **Though they separated for a few years he and Kaori still love each other deeply and he aims to marry her.

**Combat Style: **Training at the Daimyo's command in all forms of Samurai combat Takumi still favors two Chakra Blades through which he can still channel Wind and Lightning chakra. Though he is now a Samurai his Shinobi skills are not forgotten.

* * *

**EARTH**

_The largest, greatest nation in the world as far as they're concerned and determined to stay that way the Earth Nation is gearing up for one last ditch all or nothing invasion of all their enemies, raising their military numbers through conscription, in some cases rounding up any man who can hold a weapon and simply teaching him which end goes in the enemy, they're determined to end the war in their favor once and for all._

**Soldiers: **23,000+ (trained) 40,000- (untrained)

**Shinobi: **450+

* * *

**EARTH Shinobi and Samurai (ESS)

* * *

**

**Toshiie (Juukei Toshiie) (030)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Jounin)

**Age: **29

**Bio: **Toshiie remains a loyal Jounin of Iwagakure. He accepts that he failed in his chance to kill Nara Shikamaru and Temari's child, but will not give up the ambition of ending the Nara clan. He has been promised the right to lead the Iwagakure force that destroys Sunagakure and he looks forwards to his vengeance with great zeal.

Toshiie is a survivor, having more scars than he can remember in places he can't even remember having them. Once the younger of the Juukei brothers he is determined to avenge his fallen brother Keiji.

**Romance: **Toshiie is too focused on his vengeance and hatred for romance, but much to his disdain Kuto seems determined to change that.

**Combat Style: **A willingness to take hits coupled with a sword that can and _will _cut through anything Toshiie is heavily Taijutsu based with a fantastic assortment of Earth Jutsus, and the ability to move through the ground.

* * *

**Kata (Gamo Katashi) (031)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Jounin)

**Age: **26

**Bio: **A rugged young Jounin of Iwagakure, Kata is proud to be part of the force that will destroy Suna. He follows his new captain, Toshiie without question or hesitation, willing to give his life for the cause.

Or so it would seem, in actuality Kata is very much a practicioner of self preservation, fully willing to sacrifice any member of his team to stay alive himself, it was for this reason that he as assigned to the "un-killable" Juukei and given his sister as a teammate in the hopes that he would stop forfeiting the lives of his comrades.

**Romance: **Kata enjoys many lust filled nights with farmers' and innkeepers' daughters, but when _he's_ not fornicating he tends to spend his energy making sure his sister doesn't.

**Combat Style: **Almost entirely reliant upon Earth Jutsus and Genjutsu, Kata has no skill at Taijutsu, often avoiding angering Toshiie simply because a single blow from the man would knock him flat.

* * *

**Kuto (Gamo Rikuto) (032)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Jounin)

**Age: **23

**Bio: **Unattractively soft featured for an Iwagakure Jounin Kuto would be considered beautiful almost anywhere else. To add to her misery, Rikuto is a boy's name. She therefore prefers to be known as Kuto, a meaningless shortening of her hated name.

Beneath her soft exterior is an emotionless, efficient killer. Kuto especially prefers to kill young girls, joking that they have no right to live a happier life than she's had but also that to let them live a sadder one would be too cruel.

**Romance: **Kuto has eyes only for the man who is rapidly becoming known as the greatest Jounin of Iwagakure apart from the Tsuchikage. She's determined to impress Toshiie with her cold efficiency and a bloodlust that nearly rivals his own.

**Combat Style: **Stealth is this woman's greatest weapon, in her mind far too many Shinobi have begun to neglect it. Creeping in the shadows and stabbing her foes in the back is this woman's talent, Kuto excels in larger scale fights were enemies can more easily lose track of her.

* * *

**WATER**

_Months after the stunning assault by their former allies of Lightning the Water Nation is still reeling, its armies afloat aboard their massive armada now devoted entirely to keeping Lightning fleets from raiding their homeland._

_Led by the Legendary Swordsmen the remaining Kirigakure Shinobi on the front lines are all that truly stand between the fleet and final destruction. _

**Soldiers: **12,000-

**Shinobi: **200-

* * *

**WATER Shinobi and Samurai (WSS)

* * *

**

**Mizu (Nana Mizuki) (033)**

**Caste: **Ninja (Jounin)

**Age: **24

**Bio: **A young Jounin of the village hidden in Mist, Mizu has very little concern with anything other than her mission to aid Ito and the fleet. She sees fighting on the seas as something close to sacrilege, but with Mists' armies shoved out of the lands it is the only way she knows of to ensure that unwanted Lightning or Fire armies don't reach her homeland, which would be even more sacrilegious.

An expert swimmer Mizu takes great joy in swimming along while the Samurai are stuck aboard the ships, which she considers slow. She also takes great joy at swimming beneath the waves, unseen and leaping out of the water like a dolphin onto the decks of enemy ships, single-handedly capturing them for the Mist. When the decision is made to send someone to Konoha it ends up being Mizu.

**Romance: **Mizu loves the waves of the sea and the beautiful islands of her homeland, beyond that no romantic life is necessary as far as she's concerned, though she might just be refusing to admit that she's attracted to one of the Legendary Swordsmen.

**Combat Style: **Mizu fights with a mighty sword, though she is not one of the Swordsmen. Her sword is nothing but a hilt until she uses her Water and Wind Jutsus to give it a dramatic looking blade capable of cutting through almost anything. Able to pull water from the air around her, Mizu is never lacking for weapons.

* * *

**Taisho Ito (Ito Yoshi) (034)**

**Caste: **Buke (Samurai)

**Age: **27

**Bio: **Not native to Water, Yoshi was adopted into the Ito clan because of his keen mind and quick sword hand. He is now Taisho of the armies of the Water Country due to what he considers natural selection. Ito has seen all of his superior officers killed until finally command fell to him, as such he suspects the position is cursed and fully expects that he too will die.

Knowing that he is going to die gives him a fantastic freedom few other leaders experience and he leads his fleets on bold yet sometimes suicidal attacks that usually only succeed through the efforts of their Shinobi task force. The bold Ito has kept Lightning's ships from launching a full scale invasion of his homeland, and plans to launch an attack to retake the coasts, an act that he suspects will result in his glorious death.

**Romance: **A man such as Ito has no time for women, though he does have a wife and child back in Kirigakure he's not emotionally invested in them as that might make him hesitant of his upcoming death. That his wife happens to be an Ishida daughter doesn't matter to him.

**Combat Style: **A spearman and a master marksman only the later has done him any good lately because the ninja will not allow enemy sailors to reach his Command Vessel, however Ito is capable of acting as his own sniper, firing crossbow bolts with efficiency that none of his men can match.

* * *

**WATER Noncombatants (WNC)

* * *

**

**Hayato (Endo Hayato) (035)**

**Caste: **Heimin (Peasant)

**Age: **18

**Bio: **Son of a skilled battlefield surgeon, Hayato's father was captured when he refused to leave a group of injured Water soldiers during the route. Hayato, his apprentice and not yet a doctor, is doing all he can to keep up with the injuries of the surviving soldiers with the help of a very small staff of people with even less knowledge than him.

Hayato would rather have been a priest than a doctor, but like his noble father is unable to turn a blind eye to the suffering of those injured by the war. He is currently the only person with surgical experience amongst the fleet and often finds himself overworked to the point of exhaustion. When the decision is made to send someone to Konoha, Hayato is sent along in the hope that he'll be able to buy or else steal some medicine.

**Romance: **He has no time for it, and wanted to be a priest anyway.

**Skills: **Having been an apprentice surgeon Hayato knows most of what his father knew and figured out everything else he needed to become a fine doctor in his own right.

* * *

**Ichiteru (Ito Ichiteru) (036)**

**Caste: **Buke (Samurai)

**Age: **23

**Bio: **The eldest of the Ishida daughters Ichiteru never suspected her husband would become the high general of the Water Country's army. Of course she never expected him to go insane and become suicidal either, luckily she doesn't know about that part.

Her familial loyalty may be the bridge that bring Fire and Water together, or that same loyalty directed to her new family may see her turn her back on the Ishida clan in their time of need.

**Romance: **Devoted to her husband and awaiting his return.

**Skills: **Like the rest of her sisters Ichiteru has skills no one would suspect. Few for example would guess that her singing doesn't put people to sleep because it's boring, but because it's dangerously similar to a hypnotism Jutsu.

* * *

**Tai (Ito Taiki) (037)**

**Caste: **Samurai

**Age: **2

**Bio: **The son of Yoshi and Ichiteru, Tai has an unsettling ability to not only hum anything his mother sings, but make his nannies drowsy when he's doing it.

**Romance: **He'll notice girls _someday_.

**Skills: **A shocking memory for and immunity to his mother's lullabies, which he hums to himself.

* * *

**SOUND**

_The Sound Organization is preparing to finally make another bid against Konoha. All but deifying Orochimaru while Kabuto, who shares his body with the last remnants of Orochimaru rules in secret, allowing few to see his face._

_His armies are assembled, his plans are in motion, with his serpentine tongue Kabuto can taste victory, all that remains is to take it._

**Soldiers: **Unknown

**Shinobi: **Unknown

* * *

**SOUND Operatives (SOP)

* * *

**

**Okatsu (038)**

**Caste: **Missing-Nin

**Age: **31

**Bio: **The niece of the former and cousin of the current Daimyo of the Lands of Lightning Okatsu murdered her aunt and kidnapped Prince Shinno for the Sound Organization, training him to be Akuma. Believing herself to be the finest sensei ever she nearly succeeded in making Akuma unbeatable, now she wracks her mind over how he could have failed, how he could have been beaten.

Currently passing her time training the soldiers of the Sound Organization for its major offensive Okatsu is devoted to seeing Konoha burn and killing Ishida Naomasa even if it is with her dying breath.

**Romance: **Mostly because she no longer cares, Okatsu has become physically involved with Minoru Hikaru, her only emotional love would be Master Kabuto, who does not return her interest.

**Combat Skills: **Genjutsu powerful enough to stump anyone but an Uciha is Okatsu's specialty, and she's proud of it. Taijutsu skills and an intimate knowledge of how to inflict pain without much physical exertion make her one of Sound's deadliest operatives.

* * *

**Hikaru (Minoru Hikaru) (039)**

**Caste: **Missing-Nin

**Age: **27

**Bio: **Leaving the Village Hidden in Clouds because he could not serve his old rival, Hikaru joined the Sound Organization as a way to strike out at anyone and everyone. Reeling more than he expected from Kaori's betrayal and Ami's death he's resorted to random murders to appease his anger.

Carrier of a Cursed Mark which Kabuto has improved to the next level, Hikaru is seen as something of a dark angel to the members of the Sound Organization, its members bringing him pretty much whatever he wants. Unfortunately all he wants is revenge, and Kabuto will not allow him that just yet.

**Romance: **Whenever the urge strikes him any girl will do, and there are many in the Sound Organization who fancy the idea of bedding one "blessed" by Lord Orochimaru's Curse Mark. He often ends up with Okatsu simply because being with her feels a bit like home, she having left Kumogakure at about the same time as him.

**Combat Skills: **Though it remains to be seen what his upgraded Curse Mark will do, Minoru also has decks upon decks of Jutsu cards which he can activate at any given time for a small portion of the chakra he would normally have to spend on them. This tactic makes his Jutsus impossible to copy by the Sharingan and also allow him a falsified measure of chakra endurance since he can keep fighting for hours expelling minimal chakra.

* * *

**Syako of Suna (Lady Sachiko) (040)**

**Caste: **Samurai

**Age: **28

**Bio: **Born Sachiko, which means "happy child" Syako quickly discarded that name for her own made up Syako, which she claims means "intensely beautiful child" though what she bases this on is anyone's guess. Syako however is not as brain dead as she leads others to believe, the fact that she has joined the Sound Organization is proof of this.

Syako will engineer the fall of Sunagakure and the execution of its Shinobi unless she's stopped. Even though she shows some emotion for her fiancé Kankuro and her future niece Sumiko, Syako hates Shinobi in general, seeing them as worthless dishonorable spies compared to the supremely powerful, honorable Samurai.

**Romance: **Though they likely became engaged politically Syako has come to genuinely care for Kankuro, or "Kan-kun" as she calls him. Whether or not she will try to save him from the fall of Suna she is planning remains to be seen.

**Skills: **Syako is a master at playing dumb. Suna's fate may well depend on how much of her act is truly an act and how much of her feigned stupidity is real.

* * *

**Note on the people NOT LISTED**

**Chiwa** - She's no longer needed at all and therefore isn't in Arc 4. Maybe she survives the large-scale battle, maybe she doesn't. Maybe I'll use her in Arc 5, maybe I wont. She was never important.

**Raikage** - Though he has definitely taken on a life and form of his own I don't consider him, in the strictest sense an original character as he is based on whomever the Raikage of the current Narutoverse is. He will none the less be involved in Arc 4. I do not want to call him an original character until it becomes impossible to pass him off as the original (so to speak) Raikage, at which point, if he survives arc 4, I will list him in the next Ninja Index.

**Anyone Dead** - The dead characters did not recieve their own entries to cut down on the length of this index. They can be found in the previous index.

**X Character from the story not dead - **I have done my best to name every single original character, though I may indeed have forgotten some. None the less I use many background characters from the actual Manga, such as Hibari and Matsuri. If the character you are curious about is not listed here but had a name mentioned in the story they may be a real Naruto character, none the less I am not perfect and am willing to fix my mistakes so if you think I have forgotten anyone, let me know and I will fix the guide.


	113. The Armies

**New Blood**

**Arc 4: The Fall**

**Chapter One Hundred Thirteen**

She leaned against the boulder, grinning wickedly to herself.

A gentle shove, or else a minor Earth Jutsu and it would slide right off; the man below it would be crushed.

And yet she spared him, there was no _need _to end his life, and anyway he might survive and not see the humor behind the joke. She hated it when that happened.

"Ho, Toshiie!" Gamo Rikuto shouted, revealing herself to her new commander.

"Decided not to shove the rock, hmm?" Toshiie asked in a cold voice. "Also you will refer to me as Captain Juukei, is that understood Jounin Gamo?"

"Fine, fine, Toshiie-kun, but you know you can call me Kuto." The woman said easily. "If you just call me Gamo you're bound to get me confused with my older brother." Katashi, or simply Kata-kun as she called him.

"Your older brother is also a captain and I will call him Captain Gamo. If a situation is so drastic that calling you by your ridiculous nickname would speed things along I may consider calling you by it."

Kuto nodded and stood, arms folded in front of the scarred veteran, waiting for some sort of order.

Toshiie complied, "Follow me, it's time to rendezvous with the army."

Ah yes the army. Military enlistment was no longer optional, every man between the ages of fourteen and forty had been rounded up and given a weapon. The recruitment pool had been somewhat shallow since most of the men had already joined the army.

Nevertheless nearly fifty thousand men had been forced into service, more than there were spears, many of them would be armed with rocks and staves, some of the more artistic Shinobi had taken to making swords and knives out of rock with their earth Jutsu, and these were invariably given to the more impressive physical specimens.

It gave Kuto chills to think of such a massive army assembled over the course of a few months. And it was assembled for just one purpose: the complete and utter annihilation of the village hidden in leaves.

The samurai armies would meet on a battleground somewhere in Waterfall country, they would fight honorably and the Fire Country's soldiers would all be killed, with luck their Ninja force too and Konohagakure, the last bastion of resistance would be reduced to ashes.

Kuto quivered with anticipation, even though unfortunately she wouldn't be part of the Konoha attack unless things went absolutely entirely flawlessly in Suna.

With five thousand veterans and twenty thousand of the new conscripts the Earth Nation's armies would sweep over the shattered remnants of Wind and final end the war there, but a force of ninety ninja of varying levels--nearly a quarter of Iwagakure's remaining army--would strike in advance at Sunagakure.

They would level it so that Konoha would know that there was not going to be any help from their longtime allies.

Kuto assumed there was some plan in place to keep Kumogakure from interfering, likely a joint strike with Water, though what sort of army Water could send out was beyond her comprehension since Kumogakure had so viciously beaten them.

She smiled brightly at Toshiie, his scars made him look truly as "un-killable" as his reputation claimed. She yearned to ask him how he'd escaped from Konohagakure, how he'd fought members of the Konoha Twelve and lived to tell about it. He was everything a Jounin should be, invulnerable and deadly, not to mention sexy, scars and all.

Kuto staggered back when a hooded form appeared before them, bowing its head slightly to her he turned to Toshiie and said "Wait."

Toshiie tensed, "What for?"

"Key operatives are out of place. You must wait until Sunagakure is fully prepared to fall or you will waste many lives and _fail _to win the battle."

Toshiie scowled, "How long?"

"One month, no more." The young hooded man said.

"It will take that long to get my army into position."

"Yes, and the Daimyo of Earth has already agreed to hold his soldiers back until our operatives are prepared."

"Then why are you talking to me? Seems like you wasted a trip."

"We wanted you to know that Temari of the Desert will not be in Suna and her location will not be revealed to you. We want you to know that if you act alone ahead of schedule you will be condemned by the Organization and our people will end your life."

Kuto lunged forward, an act of loyalty to her commander but also because she couldn't stand to hear this man speak to Iwagakure's hero that way no matter who he was.

But he sidestepped and hit her hard on the back, his hand covered in black marks she couldn't recognize.

"Don't make me use the tail, woman." He warned. "Stay down."

Kuto glanced at Toshiie who seemed amused, but nodded that she should stay on the ground.

The Iwa Jounin didn't take it lightly of course, but she waited quietly, listening to her commander's conversation with this hooded man.

"Tail, eh? Even more of a freak now." Toshiie said. The hooded man didn't respond so Toshiie's expression returned to normal, "Where is she?" He asked coldly.

"That is classified. We assure you that you will be allowed to kill her, but _not _until the final attack begins."

"So you mean her to live that long?" Toshiie demanded.

"The Master means her to live exactly as long as is necessary. I warn you, that woman has more value than _you _do, if we could control her we could control her husband and if we owned _him_ Konoha's fall could hardly fail."

"What's she married to the demon or something?" Kuto demanded, not really sure who Temari of the Desert was, she'd never really cared for celebrities from other nations.

"May I kill her?" The hooked man asked.

"No." Toshiie said reluctantly, Kuto felt annoyance creep up her spine, had Toshiie actually _considered _letting this man try to kill her? Or had he been considering letting her _defend _herself thereby allowing her to kill this man?

"So you're going to try to control her before I can kill her?" Toshiie asked coldly.

"No. The master knows that it cannot be done, you will have her head as well as the head of her husband."

"And the baby." Toshiie added.

"Not the child. The child is promised to one of our agents."

"The redhead!" Toshiie roared, "She could have _any _baby! She could have her _own_!"

"So could you." The hooded man said, "The master also wants the child, he feels she has potential though there's no reason for you to see it that way. Haven't you ever heard that the sins of the father are not the sins of the son?"

"Sure but what about the daughter?"

"Same basic principal. The girl has the Master's protection, if any harm comes to her you will find Iwagakure in the same position as Konoha, and it will be your fault . . . and you matter less to Iwa than the Demon does to Konoha, I foresee no four year war to keep _you_ alive."

Toshiie smiled, "Fine. I'll let the girl live . . . she'd better grow up to be some kind of evil genius though."

"Don't be ridiculous, we're fighting to remove a demon from this world . . . we're the _good guys_." The hooded man laughed and disappeared.

Kuto raised an eyebrow. Why did they say that Iwa was the good guys like it was a joke?

No matter, good or evil were all by perspective. History would remember the victors fondly and whatever the victors chose to say about the losers was all that would be remembers of them.

Kuto didn't actually care if her army was good or evil, she'd fight alongside it because it was the winning side.

She glanced at Toshiie, "So weren't we going somewhere before?"

Toshiie shrugged, "Come on, we'd better get the task force together. It'll take us a month to get ready such as it is, I see no reason to _wait _any longer than that. Pick yourself up."

Kuto did that as Toshiie walked off. She shook her head, confused about the whole exchange just now but willing to ignore it.

The final battle was coming, was little more than a month away.

Nothing else mattered. The greatest event in history was about to take place and Kuto would be part of it.

* * *

Okatsu leaned against a wall as Hikaru walked into the room and bowed before Master Kabuto. 

"My astral projection was able to deliver your message to Juukei." He reported.

"Excellent." Kabuto said, looking up from his map. "Did it also manage to get the number of Earth conscripts?"

"Fifty thousand easily, perhaps some hundreds more."

"You understand it's all useless against the demon." Kabuto said casually, Okatsu smirked when Hikaru lost his composure.

"They what are we doing this for?" He demanded.

"Our objective remains the same. My point is simply that any number of peons against a demon will be insufficient."

"And what about your demon?" Hikaru demanded, "You're going to just act like you haven't lost your leverage over Lightning?"

"Yes." Kabuto shrugged. "Because I have not. I will have new demons, better demons. Akuma had outlived his usefulness anyway."

"Excuse me?" Okatsu asked, this was news to her.

"He fumbled every plan and nearly got himself thrown out of the exams too often for me to ignore. When he murdered Miura Saizo I decided I would kill him, I have no need for someone so incompetent. The Jutsu in the last sword I gave him would have killed him had he activated it. My way of getting the last little bit out of him and then discarding him." Kabuto said simply.

Okatsu was shaken. Here she'd assumed she'd failed her master when Akuma was killed, almost didn't come back to him after she escaped from Konoha with Toshiie.

Now she knew that Kabuto didn't care about Akuma . . . she felt relieved . . . and a little irritated.

"Your work was spectacular of course, Okatsu. I would have killed you if it weren't, and though I did not really need him I wouldn't have killed the boy if he hadn't failed me so often. Such as it is I did not even have to kill him, and I am most pleased with that." Kabuto said without even looking at her as if he'd read her mind.

Okatsu nodded but Hikaru wasn't satisfied, "I left everything behind to join you, now it seems like you've no plan at all!"

Kabuto waited until Hikaru was finished, and then in a very calm but very powerful voice he said, "You left _nothing_ behind. Your women had either died or abandoned you for someone else, your enemy was your very Raikage, your second enemy a Samurai of annoyingly high standing. When I sent Okatsu to offer you a place in my service you leapt so quickly I thought for a moment Lord Orochimaru _had _given you wings. Furthermore you've gained much under my leadership, you now have a second level of your cursed form; you've become more powerful because of my leadership. Do not, therefore, _doubt _my leadership."

Hikaru frowned and said "So let's say I don't doubt it. Why don't you explain it to me? This plan you don't seem to have, but claim to have. After all I thought you said I was one of your executive officers."

"I can change my mind on that." Kabuto said simply. "But I suppose it could do no harm if you knew."

Okatsu waited in silence with Hikaru but for a long time the master told them nothing.

Finally Hikaru demanded, "Well? Aren't you going to tell me?"

"No." Kabuto said simply.

"And why not? You said it would do not harm if I knew." Hikaru scowled.

"Knowing would do no harm. _Not _knowing would do very little harm. The margin of harm from you _not _knowing is not high enough for me to tell you yet." Kabuto shrugged. "When things cannot be stopped I will tell you."

"Why so long?" Hikaru demanded, "If I am to be a part of this--"

"Your only part is to bring me the people who wish to come to me. Soon they will realize it and you and the lovely Okatsu here will bring them to me so that I may train them into the leaders I need them to be, into the rulers I _want _them to be." Kabuto said simply. "You feel I treat you unfairly, dare you think you might return to Kumogakure over this, dare you to think of betraying me over this? No. The thoughts cross into your mind and you reject them immediately. I know you better than you know yourself. You will serve me and continue to do so for many years assuming you survive the struggle that approaches us. Then finally one day you will attempt to betray me. By then I will have had you killed."

Hikaru shuddered and Okatsu smiled weakly. She did not ask her master what he thought of her, she knew she would be loyal to him forever, if he ever sensed a change and ordered her death for it she would drive the blade into her heart herself.

"You're dismissed." Kabuto said lightly, waving them away.

"But I haven't reported to you on--"

"I know how your conversation with Juukei Toshiie went, I know that he will attempt to kill Temari before the time comes. Which is why I am pleased with the knowledge that she will not be in Sunagakure when his strike force moves."

"She won't?" Hikaru blinked, "I thought that was a lie to keep Toshiie calm."

"No. Suna's Shinobi will be mobilized with Wind's army. Nearly all of the Jounin will be with the army. Most of the Chuunin as well, the village will be guarded by Genin and lower Chuunin, the Kazekage and his staff. Temari is not of the Kazekage's staff, she and likely her students will be with one of the brigades of soldiers."

"What about her marriage?" Okatsu asked.

"Of course there is a chance that Temari will remain in Konoha to be with her husband," Kabuto said, "but it is slim. I've studied her enough to acknowledge the possibility, but also to grade it as about a one in one hundred chance of likelihood."

"Of course. Because you know people _so _well." Hikaru said, but even his attempt at sarcasm failed to impress Okatsu, he was under the master's power just as she was, if not drawn in by his charisma then at least too afraid now that he was part of the organization to leave it.

* * *

"As far as we can tell Toshiie and Okatsu escaped together, but parted ways as soon as they reached the Waterfall border. We suspect Toshiie went home, Okatsu may still be in the Waterfall country, but they can't find her." Shino reported. 

"So how did they get out in the first place?" Temari asked.

Shino shrugged, "It looks like someone broke them out, but none of our guards were injured, in fact none of them even noticed anything was going on, the individuals guarding their cells are under house arrest until this is all cleared up."

Temari nodded. "I doubt I'd get much information from them."

"That's good because I doubt we'd be able to let you see them." Shino said.

Temari laughed and folded her arms, "I'm going to have to go to the waterfall country. It's lucky that with the army mobilizing I can get Gaara to send me and my team wherever I ask."

"I thought you were retiring your commission as a Suna Jounin and transferring to Konoha." Shino said.

"No." Temari said, "With the war nearly over I want to help my homeland with this last push. But Sumiko is staying here, that's why I need to make sure that Toshiie dies. If Okatsu is in Waterfall I want to make sure she's brought to justice too, and while I'm at it I'll see if she knows anything about Toshiie's location."

Shino nodded, his face nearly expressionless Temari said "You understand Shikamaru doesn't ever hear about this."

"I know." Shino said. "I understand too. You think if he knew you were hunting Toshiie he'd follow you."

"When he needs to be staying with our daughter, exactly!" Temari said, glad that Shino understood her logic. "I'll make it all up to him later . . . the secrecy I mean."

"I don't like the idea of sending a friend's wife, who I also consider to be a friend, into danger alone. Your team may not be enough backup if you find Okatsu or Toshiie. So . . ." Shino handed her a small scroll, "This is a summoning scroll, it won't require a contract but it'll summon one of my most reliable insect swarms. When you summon them I'll know where they've been summoned too and not only will they aid you but I'll be coming to help as well. Okatsu and Toshiie _are _my case, my squad and I will be looking for them near Waterfall. If you need backup just summon."

Temari felt touched not only that Shino would trust her with this scroll but also that he considered her a friend, "When did you prepare this?"

"The same day I found out Juukei Toshiie escaped. I knew I'd be handing it to either you or Shikamaru, I know neither of you will rest while the man who threatened your child is on the loose." Shino said simply.

Temari laughed softly, "Let's hope Shikamaru's paternal instinct keeps him with that child. I really hope he doesn't take up the hunt himself."

"He won't have the chance," Shino said, "Not only are he, Sakura and Kakashi all ordered to prepare a doomsday plan in the event that Lightning betrays us, Hokage-sama ordered him to begin planning a strategy for Konoha's armies and Shinobi to push out after Suna's army marches, we're going to be your second wave."

"If we leave you anything at all." Temari smirked, shouldering her battle fan and shoving Shino's scroll into her equipment pouch, "Thanks Shino, I won't forget this."

"It's nothing special, we want the same thing. Two dangerous people back behind bars."

"Or better." Temari said, "Under the ground."

"Well . . . whatever happens on the battlefield happens." Shino nodded.

Temari took a deep breath.

Now to say goodbye to her husband and her daughter . . . she wouldn't see them again for a long time.

But when she did the war would be over, finally and wholly over. Iwagakure would be battered into submission, Earth's armies would be decimated as Water's already had been.

And so like countless parents before her Temari would set out to war in order to make a brighter future for the child she loved, and the children she planned to have once the war was over.

**To Be Continued . . .

* * *

**

**Note: **The Super Bonus, I have decided, will not be posted as part of New Blood. The story is in serious danger of reaching 200 chapters even without it. Instead, at this time the Super Bonus has been posted alone.

Don't worry, it stands alone quite well, because the Super Bonus is the story known as Red Eyes, the history of Hitomi's team under Naruto's tutelage, rewritten because I feel I write better now than I did over a year ago, and because I wanted to include lots of adorable Shika-Tema scenes not originally found in the story. It covers Hitomi's pre-ninja childhood and her life straight up to the start of the war, it also now covers Shikamaru and Temari's first failed attempt to get married, and because Naruto is a major part of it, his love life also gets tackled, namely his desire for Sakura, his awkwardness around Hinata, even his rocky friendship with Sasuke.

Excited? Good, go read it. It's entitled _Red Eyes_ and will only be 15 chapters long. First two up now. Do not worry, because I am just rewriting what I have already written it will not distract my work on New Blood, that is what makes it so . . . bonus like.

Those who are upset that the details of the Temari and Shikamaru wedding were not included need not fear as it _will_ be flashed back to, at this time I felt it was more important to get the arc kicked off.


	114. Prisoners

** New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Fourteen**

Daisuke sat atop the great mountain of the five Hokage heads looking down on the city below him.

Konoha, the most beautiful place he'd ever been, and the war had taken him to a variety of places.

He swept a hand through his curly blonde hair and sighed. He might be a Chuunin now. The news would be delivered today, so he didn't know yet, but he worried that he might be promoted.

Worried because he was the only person on his team who felt like there might be a chance of promotion. Tomoko was convinced that she wouldn't be promoted and Kyusaku doubted it too.

He knew that as a Chuunin he'd have more missions alone but he'd sort of thought he'd still have his teammates with him most of the time.

He closed his eyes and imagined what it'd be like to be Chuunin by himself.

Chouji-sensei had been Chuunin, someday Kyusaku and Tomoko would be Chuunin as well.

And maybe he wouldn't even be promoted.

_Then _how would he feel?

He'd be crushed, because it would mean that no one on his sensei's team had passed, that their sensei's trust in them had been misplaced. He couldn't bare to think of disappointing Chouji-sensei like that.

The real stars of the exams had been Team Ten. Popular opinion amongst the older kids and even the kids in the same year as the Legendary Lazy-ass Ninja's Genin agreed that Kotaro was a shoe in, and the Hokage had all but declared Nao and Yomiko Chuunin at the end.

Along with Daisuke of course . . .

So he waited nervously, wondering what it'd be like to be a Chuunin, or to learn that he wasn't good enough.

He sat atop the heads of the stone Hokage because Chouji-sensei said this was where Uzumaki Naruto came to think. If the greatest Shinobi in the village came here often perhaps it held some magical secret, Daisuke wasn't sure but he could hope.

The morning wind was cold as it blew into his face, and it howled softly.

Softly enough that he could hear the noise near the edge.

He suspected a wild animal of some sort, probably something small and harmless since larger predators wouldn't have gone unnoticed for very long.

None the less he was curious, so he cautiously made his way to the edge.

It was a person.

She had slightly long black hair tied behind her head probably to keep it from her eyes. She wore a red and white outfit with some fancy symbol on her shoulders and chest.

Her hands and her feet were bare as she clung to the mountain top, Daisuke couldn't imagine how she'd gotten there but he immediately began to think of a way to get her safely up to the top.

He had no rope, and he didn't thing he could successfully use the Shadow Clones to make a human rope since he couldn't make enough of them.

"Okay, okay, remain calm!" He shouted down at her.

"Right-o!" She called up, reaching up for a handhold.

"Don't try to climb, let me think of a way to save you!" Daisuke shouted.

The girl smiled, "What? You misunderstand, I'm just fine."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Daisuke said, thinking about a way to save her, not really listening to her.

"I'm fine to climb up, really!"

"What happened to your shoes?" Daisuke asked, "Did someone put you down there? Did they have a rope or something?"

"I climbed up! If I wore shoes I would'a slipped and _died_!"

"Yes, yes, fine, is there any rope anywhere?" Daisuke asked himself, looking around frantically.

"Gah! So be it!" The girl shouted and reached into her backpack.

She produced a rope and threw it up to him, Daisuke sighed with relief. "Okay, I'm going to lower it down to you!"

"I don't trust you with my life!" The girl shouted, "You might drop me!"

"I'll use a shadow clone!" Daisuke shouted.

The girl took a long hard look at him and finally said "Okay, fine, throw me the rope if it makes you feel more secure. If I fall and die I'll haunt you."

Daisuke was relieved that she was finally going to listen to reason. He summoned a clone and lowered the rope down to her.

It was too short.

"It's a meter too short."

"Is it?" The girl sighed, "Fine."

To Daisuke's shock she simply clung to the mountainside, somehow finding handholds that he hadn't realized were there and climbed the additional meter and then some, grabbing the rope and tying it around her waist, "Okay, I'm ready."

Daisuke swallowed hard, who the heck was this girl?

He nodded to his clone and they slowly moved backwards, pulling her up.

She either wasn't very heavy or she was still climbing because it was rather easy. Daisuke dismissed his clone as soon as she was safely up and away from the edge.

She looked about his age, she let her hair down when she reached the top and took a pair of shoes out of her pack.

She smiled brightly, "Thank you ever so much for saving me." She said.

Daisuke doubted she'd been in any danger now. He supposed the only one panicking had actually been him, and it wasn't a very Chuunin thing to do.

"Okay . . . so you climbed huh?" He asked.

"Uh-huh." She said.

"You know there's a path right?"

"Yeah, I followed it for a while, until I found a good place to climb from. You didn't think I actually climbed up from the base did you?" She chuckled.

"Didn't it occur to you that you might fall and . . . you know, die?" Daisuke asked.

"It's never happened before." The girl smiled.

Daisuke shook his head, "So you're from Suna, huh?"

"Pardon?" She blinked.

"Well you can't be from Konohagakure, the teams from Rain pulled out after the exams, Hidden in Cloud sent just one team, waterfall didn't send anyone and I know you weren't on either team form grass." Daisuke said.

"You think I'm a Shinobi?" The girl chuckled, "No, no, no. My name is Eri, I'm from Fire, can't you tell by my accent?"

"Any Shinobi can fake an accent." Daisuke pointed out.

"Do Iwa."

"Say what?" Daisuke blinked.

"Say something with a Stone accent." Eri explained.

"Uh . . ." Daisuke tried to think of something to say.

"Wow, you're right, that's amazing!" Eri laughed, "Perfect accent."

Daisuke smirked, "Very funny." He said.

"_I_ thought so." Eri nodded.

Daisuke sat on a rock, "So you're from Konoha?"

"No." Eri said, "Just showed up with the family to see the Chuunin exams."

Daisuke folded his arms, "But you climb the mountain without equipment."

"I had the rope." Eri pointed out.

"Which you wouldn't have used if I hadn't made you." Daisuke said. "You're not Shinobi?"

"Nope. Dad doesn't believe in wanton disregard for human life."

"That's not what Shinobi are about." Daisuke pointed out. "You know without Shinobi this whole nation would have fallen."

"Without Shinobi this nation probably wouldn't have gone to war. At least not for the same reasons. But you don't have to convince me, I don't have a problem with Shinobi." Eri shrugged. "I like you just fine. In fact, why don't we go out? Since you saved me and all."

"But I didn't save you . . ." Daisuke said.

"Well then we can go out because you _wanted _to save me." Eri said brightly.

She didn't bat her eyelashes, or giggle, or anything obnoxious like that. She just stated it like fact and Daisuke had to admit he couldn't think of a real, valid reason to say "no", after all this was a nice if somewhat unusual girl, and going out on a date would help distract him from his problems.

So he said "Sure, I guess. Where do you uh . . . where do you want to go?"

"We'll figure it out later." Eri shrugged.

"Well if we're not going to meet at the place one of us is going to have to pick the other up." Daisuke reasoned.

"You can come get me at that big hotel there." Eri said, pointing out the Imperial Hotel.

"What are you, rich?" Daisuke joked.

"Of course not. I'm _wealthy_." Eri smiled.

Daisuke shook head, "Okay, okay. I'll meet you there . . . your dad won't be mad that you're dating a Shinobi?"

"Well that's the thing, he will have to approve of you." Eri admitted. "You might be too good-looking for his liking. But you seem honorable enough."

"So my looks are the main problem, not the fact that I'm a Shinobi, which he seems to disapprove of?" Daisuke asked, supposing that he could just use a transformation Jutsu to appear much less . . . attractive.

"Oh he probably won't care about that, after all you're an Oedo, they--I mean _you _used to be a pretty prominent family, that'll overrule your being a Shinobi. Besdies, he's cooled off towards Ninja lately, since my brother joined the academy."

"Your brother?" Daisuke asked.

"Yeah, we came to watch him in the Chuunin exams." Eri said. "That's why we're here. Well, that and to convince him to give it all up and come home with us. That's not important."

"Who's your brother?" Daisuke asked, "Did he teach you some of his Jutsus?"

"You just can't get over my skills, can you?" Eri smirked. "You know him."

Daisuke raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out who this girl might be related to.

He tilted his head to the side, he just couldn't manage to picture her relatives.

She smirked and twisted a bit so he could see the designs on her shoulders.

He couldn't quite recognize it.

"Well never mind," Eri said, "It'll come to you in time. You really helped him out in that last fight. I gotta go." She got up and skipped off, leaving Daisuke speechless.

Because now he knew who her brother was.

And he couldn't believe he had a date with an Ishida daughter.

* * *

Hara leapt through the woods, nodding to Hitomi, knowing she'd see it.

She always saw everything.

Since Miyuki was still in the hospital he spoke into his radio for the benefit of the third member of their group, "Yamanaka, they're just up ahead, stick close to Hijiri."

"How many?" Ino asked.

"Two, Water clothes." Hara said.

"You can get a make on their clothing from here?" Yamanaka scoffed over the radio.

She hadn't seen him send out his shadow clone before, "No, they just dispatched my clone is all."

"What? How?" Ino demanded, "What did _you_ do?"

* * *

Hayato sat back against a tree, panting. "I am sorry, I am finished." He told his Jounin companion.

"Piss poor runner you are I'm impressed you made it this far." Mizu acknowledged, her way of saying 'okay, we can take a break' without sounding like she might also need to rest.

They'd been running without stopping for the past hour. The past week had been all about running. Since they hit the ground from their tiny boat, which Mizu-san had set to flame to hide the evidence of it.

Then they'd started running. They stopped to rest only when their bodies demanded it, because Mizu felt that would give them speed, though in fact it was hindering them.

Hayato thought that rather, if they had tried to act casual, like a pair of commoners from the former Wave country taking a vacation--perhaps even a honeymoon--to Konohagakure they'd be just fine.

Mizu-san refused, speed was the key according to her. Nothing else mattered. Not even their safety.

But now their bodies were starting to break down sooner and sooner, they needed to rest more and more often and if trouble arose Mizu-san would be, frankly, screwed five ways from Sunday because she couldn't even muster the chakra to put up a decent fight at this point.

He said nothing. The break would last as long as Mizu-san felt it necessary. When she was able to run again they would.

Or she'd decide they should sleep, but that was unlikely since they were just another three hours away from Konoha by Mizu's estimation.

That's when suddenly a Lightning Ninja appeared, "Ho comrades, just what do you suppose you're doing?"

Mizu-san didn't waste time, she drew the bladeless hilt she called a weapon and called water from the air around them to for a blade which she made sharp with wind chakra.

She lunged forward and cut the unfortunate Lightning Shinobi in half at the waist, Hayato sprang to his feet, knowing full well that this was a sign to move.

The man however didn't leave a body, his disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Substituiton?" Hayato guessed.

"Shadow clone! The scum will know where we are, now--_move_!" Mizu-san roared, grabbing his collar and shoving him forward.

And again they ran.

* * *

Ino spun around as the pair of water soldiers ran past.

She threw her kunai to stop them, not to slay them, but one of them, a thin woman with a sword deflected it.

"I have them." Ino said, leaping down from the tree, "Engaging!"

"On them." Hara reported.

"Got one." Hitomi added, and indeed when Ino looked Hitomi had intercepted the young man.

She held out her arm and close lined him, he fell back and she stomped on his neck--not lethally, but he wouldn't be getting up soon.

His companion moved to cut Hitomi in half but Ino was already at work, "Mind Blast Jutsu!" She shouted, using her clan's talents to throw a mental punch that knocked the woman off her feet, and the blade out of her hands.

The blade became mere water, though it didn't even splash Hitomi because she used subsitution, becoming a log which fell onto the captured man's stomach.

Hara appeared where the woman landed and tied her hands behind her back.

Ino was surprised, the woman should have recovered from the Jutsu by now, she wore the flack jacket of a Kirigakure Jounin, though the rest of her uniform was a skin tight suit, sort of like Rock Lee's.

The woman was unconscious, "She was running on fumes," Ino realized, though she was no doctor she could see the woman had been clearly exhausted.

Hitomi shoved the man forward, "This one's not a Shinobi." She said, "He'll be the easiest to question."

Ino nodded to Hara, stating her agreement, the young man was just a soldier, a conscript by the look of it since he carried no weapon he was not likely a Samurai, and so he would likely fold under pressure.

Hara drew a short katana and lunged for him, pressing the tip of the blade to the boy's chest but not allowing it to sink in, "All right Puddle," Hara snapped, using a derogative name for soldiers of the Water Country, "You start singing or I start stabbing."

The man coughed a bit, but nodded.

He'd tell them everything, or he'd lie and tell them what they wanted to hear. He had no courage, but then courage in the enemy wasn't really a great thing anyway so Ino spared him her harshest of judgments.

"M . . . my name . . . Endo . . . Haya--"

"We don't care." Hara snapped, "What are you doing here, what's your mission? Are you scouts?"

"Doc . . . doctor." Endo said, gasping for breath.

"You need a doctor?" Hara blinked.

"I _am . . ._ doctor." Endo panted. "Come . . . in peace."

"Attacked my shadow clone without warning, not very peaceful." Hara said.

"Thought it was . . . Lightning Nin." Endo said, gasping a bit less.

"Cloud. The village is _Cloud_." Hitomi corrected him.

Ino glanced at Hara, "You're in charge of this mission, kid." She told him. "What do we do with them?"

"Take them back to headquarters." Hara said. "I'll scout around, make sure there aren't any more."

"Luck." Ino said, grabbing the woman who had sufficiently come around to stand under her own power.

"Let me look for others," Hitomi said, "I won't miss any details."

"I gave you an _order_." Hara said gruffly, waving a hand in dismissal as he himself set off.

Ino had noted since she came onto the team that there was a hostility between Hara and Hijiri. She suspected at first that it was because Hijiri had been promoted to the same rank as Hara and so he might be more inclined to emphasize his authority over her, but it seemed different. Hijiri seemed to believe it was that, and for her part was rather submissive, but Hara didn't seem to be making a lot of demands.

The man was upset about something else entirely, Ino didn't know what, she didn't care.

There was turmoil in Naruto's group. Maybe their missing member had been the glue that held them together, it didn't matter. She'd be up and running soon, and Ino would go back to being her usual, depressed self.

Still being out in the field again did feel rather good. She marched the Kirigakure Jounin forward, "Let's go."

**To Be Continued . . .**


	115. The Letter

**Note:** Yep, you know it, you love it, a Bonus Chapter! The one hundred sixteenth chapter will be posted on time on Friday, this chapter is pure, utter bonus, I am just glad it was ready for you, eleven hundred reviews, just awesome! You're all sick of hearing by now that I never expected the story to be so popular, but I continue to be amazed, the one hundred mark seems to come faster and faster each time. With luck the next time I'll again have the extra chapter prepared for you again.

Thanks for everything, all of you, and most importantly: _Enjoy_!

* * *

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Fifteen**

Shikamaru leaned back and took in the sight of a pair of clouds moving slowly over the horizon.

They were shaped like a pair of leaping tigers. If he were at all for symbolism he might take it to mean the partnership he and Temari had formed.

Nara Temari, his wife . . . his _wife_.

The title was a few years overdue, but it meant a lot to him to finally be able to call her that, to think of her that way.

Part of the family legally, not just emotionally, and spiritually.

Such an odd thing to think . . . spiritually.

He wasn't the religious sort, spirits and such had no strong purpose for him.

"Sensei . . ." A voice asked quietly.

Shikamaru twisted a bit and glanced at Yomiko, who'd suddenly appeared on the same roof he was laying on. "Hmm?"

"I don't mean to startle you . . ." Yomiko said nervously, but Shikamaru waved the statement away.

"You didn't. Troublesome as you are, I could sense you coming a mile away."

"I live less than a mile away from this place." Yomiko pointed out with a light smile.

"Which is why my "Huge Bother Sensing Jutsu" has been working like crazy trying to track you, nonetheless I knew you were there."

It wasn't a lie technically, though the Jutsu was fake he'd known she was there the instant she arrived, but she'd stood there in silence so long he'd forgotten about her. It wasn't usually her way to be _quiet_.

That he forgot her troubled him . . . a Jounin didn't make such mistakes. Sure he trusted his life to Asuma's daughter . . . that didn't mean he had to be stupid about it.

So annoying that he'd allowed himself to get caught up wondering why he'd _thought _the word "spiritually" when his life might have been at stake.

"What brings you here, Yomiko?" Shikamaru asked.

"I just . . ." Yomiko hesitated.

"You were wondering if news of the promotions had arrived?" Shikamaru guessed. "They're due today or tomorrow. You'll get a letter the same as I will, telling you whether or not you've passed." Shikamaru told her.

But Yomiko shook her head. "It's not that . . . I was just wondering . . ." Yomiko looked away.

Shikamaru sat up, knowing he knew the exact button to push to get the girl to just spit out whatever she'd come to talk about.

"Look kido . . . I'm married . . . and I'm twenty seven. You're thirteen, it just . . . it wouldn't work out, I'm sorry."

Yomiko blinked, "You've linked me romantically with every boy on the team now, including yourself and in all cases you're wrong!" She shouted, her face turning red either with embarrassment or anger, either way Shikamaru thought it funny.

"As you dash my heart on the rocks." Shikamaru said sarcastically. "So what's eating you?"

"The war." Yomiko whispered.

"Ah." Shikamaru nodded, knowingly.

"How do you put up with Temari-sensei being far away right after your marriage? Knowing she'll be fighting on the front lines for Suna's final offensive."

"I wasn't aware that that was common knowledge." Shikamaru said, feeling a little irritated.

Had Temari said something? Or had Syako? Suna's offensive wouldn't _work _if the Earth Nation was _prepared_ for it, and they'd be prepared if people were going around blabbing.

"Please sensei . . ." Yomiko pressed.

Shikamaru sat up and shook his head, "I think of all the amazing things I've seen Temari do, and I tell myself that since she's so much stronger than me and nearly as smart there's nothing more I could do even if I were there, and she'll come back to me safely. I try not to think of the danger she and her team are in, I try not to think of how close they are."

"You mean how far." Yomiko suggested.

"No, how _close_. When you're contemplating running off after someone because you're worried for them it tends to help to focus on how _far _they are. To convince yourself that by the time you got to them they'd have moved on to somewhere else and you'd be wasting your time following them."

"That won't work for me." Yomiko said. "I don't know where they're going. Yukio only said they'd be on the front lines."

So it was Yukio. The loudmouth. At least Suna's plans weren't as compromised as Shikamaru had thought.

"So you care about Yukio." He reasoned.

"Not as much as you'd think." Yomiko said in a tone that suggested she herself wasn't sure if she was lying or not, "But Kyoko and Ryu, Temari-sensei, all of them . . . it was easier back when I didn't care. Now that I know them all the thought of them dying when the war is so close to ending . . ."

"The war won't end without the sacrifice they're making." Shikamaru told her. "It kills me, believe me. Temari isn't even technically a Jounin of Sunagakure anymore, she's been accepted into Konoha's ranks, she's got a uniform that I know she'll never wear in her top dresser drawer along with the stash of money she thinks I don't know about."

"Sensei, she's your wife now. That's the money she wants you to _think _she thinks you don't know about. The real money you don't know about will be somewhere you wouldn't think, and somewhere you'd never check because you've no reason to look, like underneath the mattress, since you're too lazy to ever flip it."

"Ha, ha, and . . . oh yeah, a third one: ha." Shikamaru smirked, but made a mental note to check under the mattress when he got home just to see if Yomiko was right.

In any event Yomiko did seem slightly cheered. He said to her "You know that anyone ever has to die in a war is tragic, Yomiko. But the fact is this war has gone on too long to be ended with words alone. An act is needed to show that Konoha and especially Suna, which as lost so much already, isn't worth invading any further."

"But we're Suna's allies. Kumo sent their Shinobi and Lighting sent their armies to help us, why can we do the same for Suna?"

_Because Kumo's Shinobi and Lightning's armies are still in the land they helped us reclaim and we need to make sure they don't try anything. _Shikamaru thought. Out loud he told her "I wanted to go with Temari, I really did. I bet Naruto wants to go along too, in fact I think all of the Konoha Twelve feel a real kinship to our friends from Suna, I think if Hokage-sama ordered a team to go out and help the Suna front line her only trouble would be selecting the three of us least likely to be knocked unconscious by the nine auxiliaries before we departed. But you know we do have to worry about our own lands still. We can't just abandon them."

"I know." Yomiko said, "But they're secured."

"Are they?" Shikamaru asked, not wanting to speak ill of Lightning, not only because it would be ungrateful but because the Hokage's suspicions were top secret. He wanted Yomiko however to realize herself the correct answer.

It didn't take her long, as she pointed out "Yeah, the Lightning armies and the Cloud Shinobi . . ." She trailed off and Shikamaru knew she'd realized their dilemma. "I guess life is complicated when you're grown up."

"You should know." Shikamaru said, "Wearing that forehead protector makes you as much an adult as I am. You've fought this war, even when you should have been safe from it." He told her, referring to the Chuunin exams.

Yomiko nodded, "Right Sensei . . . I'm an adult who can't drink."

"Drinking isn't all it's cracked up to be. Just ask Rock Lee." Shikamaru said, smirking at the joke that Yomiko would no doubt fail to understand.

Yomiko smiled weakly, "You know sensei . . . when we first started to serve under you I didn't want to."

"Right, because I'm so lazy." Shikamaru said, "No way I'd train you well enough, right?"

"Yes." Yomiko admitted. "But also because . . . my mom talks about you sometimes."

"Eh?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"She says that . . . my dad thought a lot of you. How you were like a younger brother to him, how I should think of you as an uncle. And so I always thought that you were betraying his memory by being so lazy . . . when I became your student I saw firsthand how lazy you could be and it made me even angrier because before it was all just rumor and a part of me hadn't believed it. "How could my dad value a lazy person" I'd wonder. But . . ."

Shikamaru stood up, so as to appear less lazy. He hadn't realized that Yomiko resented him for those reasons, it was rather sobering.

He supposed Asuma sensei would have expected a little more obvious effort on his part . . . but he thought he'd done okay teaching Yomiko and the others. He'd done the best he could really, at a job he hadn't been all that eager to accept at first.

"Sensei," Yomiko said, turning away and wiping what she'd no doubt claim hadn't been tears from her eyes, "I see now why my dad thought so highly of you." She sniffed. "You're really amazing, Sensei. You're stronger than you seem both physically, and emotionally. And . . . I never got to know my dad but . . . I really think if he were alive . . . if he'd had a chance to raise me . . . "

"Yomiko . . ." Shikamaru said.

"I just think he'd tell me . . . what my mom used to tell me. To think of you as an uncle . . . or an older brother. Not just my sensei . . . but as part of my family." Yomiko said with a soft sob. "Sometimes though . . . I found . . . I think of you as a father."

Shikamaru hugged her. He wasn't sure what else to do.

He'd expected it would feel awkward since it really wasn't his thing to go around hugging people . . . but it didn't. It was brief, maybe briefer than it needed to be, but Shikamaru just wasn't the "long drawn out hugging" type of person.

"Your father was the amazing one, Yomiko. What I am I owe in large part to him. He was the finest Shinobi I've ever known, and would be _proud_ of you. In the time you've served under me you've grown in leaps and bounds both in strength and intellect. You're so much more mature and understanding than you used to be. You accept Naomasa now even though he's not from a prestigious clan, and you care about our allies enough to want to fight alongside them. As for never knowing your father personally, that's something I do wish I could have done more to prevent--"

"But you killed the guy responsible," Yomiko pointed out, "Even though you were just a teenager when it happened you got revenge for me and my mother when she was too busy being pregnant with me to take it herself. You avenged my father."

"Which wasn't as fulfilling as it should have been because it didn't bring him back." Shikamaru said, though the idea of Hidan, if he was _still_ alive, buried dozens of feet underground without any hope of ever resurfacing, enduring an eternity in his undeath had been a far more satisfying vengeance than any Shikamaru had experienced since.

If there was no true hell, at least he knew Hidan was still suffering in life.

He told Yomiko, "Nothing can bring him back, but that isn't to say you don't know him. If you know yourself you'll know him because he's in you. He's in the stories your mother must have told you."

"Yeah, I know." Yomiko said. "I've heard all that before, but it isn't the same."

"No, I don't expect it is." Shikamaru admitted. He thought again of Temari, he didn't ever want to have to tell Sumiko that she'd know her mother if she knew herself. The words, thought spoken sincerely filled his mouth with the taste of bile through their sheer inadequacy.

"Sensei . . . do you have any stories about my father?" Yomiko asked.

Shikamaru frowned slightly, "I've got a couple your father wouldn't even have told your mother." He admitted, allowing himself a slightly mournful chuckle.

"And you know . . . how he died." Yomiko pointed out.

It was the statement Shikamaru had always feared she'd make. The question he'd never wanted her to ask.

* * *

Hitomi leaned against a tree to rest as Hara said "No sign of any others."

"There _are _no others." The woman said, "We came alone."

"And for what?" Hara asked.

Hitomi eyed the woman, annoyance creeping through her.

She was tired, she just wanted to go home.

"We have a message for the Hokage." The woman said at last, "We don't need to meet with her to deliver it, she doesn't need to read it off of this piece of parchment, we don't even technically need to be alive when she gets it, she just needs to get it."

"Why?" Ino asked.

"I think that's for her to know." The woman said easily.

"Then give us one good reason not to kill you here and now, and take the message to her ourselves." Hitomi suggested.

"Well, I cannot speak for my comrade here, but I sort of hoped that I might convince you great bleeding hearts of Konoha to spare some medicine." The man called Endo said.

"You don't want me to show you a bleeding heart." Hitomi snapped, how dare he insult their generosity at the same time he dared to ask for it.

"I'm sure you plan to make some witty comment about how it would be _my _heart, I'm willing to cringe in fear if you like, or pretend to laugh but all I care about are the wounded men I left behind on those ships."

"Down, Hijiri." Hara barked at her like she was some servant.

Hitomi bristled and glared at her old friend behind her black lenses.

Whatever his problem was all of a sudden he'd best get over it because she wouldn't go on bowing and shutting up forever.

The Water doctor glanced at her and said "I'm sorry, I did not mean to get you scolded by your superior."

His sarcasm made her consider various war crimes against him, but she responded instead in a way that she knew would make Hara cool a bit towards her, and bowed to down before the doctor, letting her forehead touch the ground, then turning to Hara and doing the same she said "Forgive my rudeness, it is not my place to speak, great one."

"Oh my heck." Ino scoffed.

"Get up, Hitomi." Hara laughed.

Hearing him laugh relieved her a bit. With Miyuki around spats between them, even when neither knew what they were about, were quickly resolved because Miyuki was the sort of professional who wouldn't tolerate that sort of nonsense.

"You think this sort of debasement is funny." The woman scoffed. "You shame all women acting like that."

"Mind your business." Hara told her. "Hitomi and I have our own sense of humor."

"To think you're Jounin." She said stiffly.

Hitomi shrugged and looked to Ino, "What do you think? Do we risk taking the message back to Konoha?"

"Don't be stupid." Ino said to Hara who'd already started to nod and open his mouth to answer, "One of us has to check it, see what it says, then it needs to go to Kakashi-sensei so he can decide whether or not it has any special meanings, then, and only then can we let the Hokage see it."

"Right. Then Hitomi, you've got the letter." Hara said. "Your eyes don't miss a beat, we won't even have to waste Kakashi-sensei's time."

Hitomi scoffed, Hara was just trying to flatter her out of the knowledge that as the least important member of the squad if the letter was a trap she, being neither the leader nor the medic, was the most expendable.

She took the parchment from the woman warrior and opened it up.

She skimmed it to gather its nature then shut it quickly.

"Trapped?" Hara demanded.

Hitomi shook her head in disbelief.

"What's it say?" Hara asked her. "Is it trapped?"

"What _does _it say?" The doctor asked, yawning.

Hitomi threw the note away, "It's a lie!" She shouted, "It has to be!" She advanced on the Jounin, "You fabricated it in case you were captured, didn't you?"

"What's it say?" Hara shouted.

Hitomi's heart was racing, the look on the older woman's face told her that, so far as this Jounin knew the message wasn't fake.

But that wasn't possible.

"What's it say?" Ino pressed.

Hara reached out for the message but Hitomi shook her head and shouted, "The letter claims that Lightning and Earth are still working together. Furthermore it boasts that Earth is readying a major offensive on Konoha."

"Why's that so hard to accept? We suspected it." Ino said.

Hitomi shook her head, "You tell her the rest." She told the Kirigakure Jounin.

The woman scoffed. "Fine. The rest is that Water is offering you an alliance. That message has enclosed within--"

"The projected troop movements of the Earth Nation!" Hara shouted, handing Ino the letter.

Ino gasped, "Forty thousand? Coming to Konoha?"

"Add the Lightning soldiers already in your lands and the conclusion is obvious." The doctor pointed out. "We're willing to help you--"

"Silence Hayato! The rest is for the Hokage's ears and no one else's!" The woman barked and the doctor silenced himself.

Hitomi's heart was pounding, and now she wanted to get home all the more. The idea that it might not be _there _when she arrived filled her with fear because it held within its walls all the people she cared about now. Miyuki, Naruto-sensei, Tomoko, Naomasa . . . she looked at Hara who nodded his agreement, they needed to _move_.

She shoved the doctor forward as he and Ino moved the remale Jounin.

The group began to move fast, Hara testing the range of the radio every minute or so.

"What's the matter?" The Kirigakure Jounin sneered, "You think we'll get there and Konoha won't be there? You've got at least a week's worth of border villages before the threat reaches _you_."

"Unlike you we also care about those border villages!" Hitomi hissed.

But Ino said, "Sorry, she can't hear you . . ."

"She became so _drowsy_ all of a sudden." Hara agreed.

Hitomi smirked despite the situation. She wasn't sure if it was a concussion Jutsu on Ino's part, or if Hara had just hit the woman over the head, either way she'd gotten what she deserved, and she was indeed unconscious as they carried her back to Konoha.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	116. What the Future Holds

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Sixteen**

Yuu leaned against a tree and glanced up at Tomoko, who was reclined on one of the branches, "So what if you tried visiting Kumogakure?"

She scoffed. "Show up all sweaty and tired? Not happening. Nope, you gotta come back here right quick. Get assigned a mission or something since you'll be Chuunin." She told him.

Yuu smiled. Tomoko was kind of a diversion from the real world. He doubted of course that he'd never come back to Konoha, or that she'd never bother making the trip to Kumo.

They'd see each other again, probably frequently once the war ended and travel restrictions were lifted.

This was more due to Yuu's ever growing need to be around her than anything else though, because she was such a fine escape from reality.

He couldn't forget that Masa was dead, or the pain and sadness that caused. But when he was with Tomoko he was just so happy that it balanced out and he could actually smile, albeit somewhat sadly.

He knew he should be with Kasumi, trying to comfort her, but it was impossible to be in the same room with her these days. Not because he disliked her company, though it _could _be hard to bear at times, he understood some of what she was going through.

Masaru was his friend, had stood up for him when few others would, and now he was dead. They'd never have their revenge because Tomoko's protégé, Ishida had taken it before they could.

But for Kasumi it was all the harder to learn that her father had betrayed both their nation, and Konoha, and died for it, locked in mortal combat with The Demon Uzumaki.

Yuu couldn't quite convince her that he understood that pain because his sister, though badly injured, had survived her own treachery, and had even been allowed back into Kumo's Shinobi ranks, but none of the Hattori servants captured during the battle had been given the chance to return home.

It must seem unfair to her.

Tosa-sensei, despite taking time from her no doubt busy schedule of seducing whatever man she'd set her sights on, was just as unappreciated. The woman still had her parents, she couldn't know the pain. The fact that Yuu didn't technically have his parents didn't qualify him to understand the pain either since technically he'd never known them, therefore only Kasumi had any right to feel badly and she was determined to exercise that right to a fantastic degree.

It upset Yuu, but there was nothing to be done for it. Kasumi would come around eventually, and she'd let him and Tosa-sensei help her on the road to recovery sooner or later.

For now, a fine diversion from it all was Tomoko, and the inexplicable cheerfulness she filled him with.

He didn't quite understand it; he just knew it made him happy to be around her. He was disgusted with himself at first for being happy when he should be sad, but he soon enough realized he was still sad, he just wasn't _miserable. _Thinking of Kasumi, he considered that a good thing.

And anyway he thought Masaru would approve, after all he'd always been telling Yuu to get a girlfriend, and Tomoko was pretty close to being one.

She'd gone out with him a few times anyway and called them dates. It was more than Takumi and Kaori did these days, with them it was always "just a friendly outing" which wasn't really fooling anybody, nor was there call to fool anybody, but then again he supposed a Samurai, such as Takumi was now, needed to act very proper with an unmarried woman.

He wondered what would happen if they got married. Since he was a minor under Kaori's guardianship would he be adopted into the new Konjo samurai clan too?

Even if he were he wouldn't accept becoming a samurai. He recognized that Takumi had had no other option, he could either play ball with the Daimyo or suffer for his crime, and like a true Ninja he'd chosen the path that allowed him to get away with what he'd done.

Yuu looked up at Tomoko, "So tell me . . . what's it like living at home again?"

"Not much fun. Of course now that I don't have to work part time I can train more often, so the next time I take the exam I won't wash out."

"It's stupid to judge Chuunin on tournament fighting when a real Shinobi barely ever fights out in the open." Yuu consoled her. "You've fought this war, you've survived this long, you should be a Chuunin regardless."

"It doesn't work that way." Tomoko said.

"I know, but it should." Yuu said.

The two sat in silence for a while, and then Tomoko said "You know I've never really showed you off to my dad."

"Uh . . ." Yuu wasn't sure how to answer that.

"I bet he'd think you were a girl." Tomoko said thoughtfully.

"Gee, thanks." Yuu frowned. Masa used to always stand up for him when others thought he was a girl . . . he'd miss that.

It wasn't like he could just cut his hair of course, if the answer were that simple he'd have done it.

Aside from his pride, and the fact that he was convinced he shouldn't have to cut his hair to be seen as a boy, there was the clan secret to uphold. Kaori often complained that she wanted to cut her hair short, but like him she couldn't.

"It's not so much that I want to embarrass you," Tomoko said, pulling Yuu away from his thoughts, "It's just if you ever wanted to get to know my dad he'd see you as much less of a threat if he doesn't think there's any chance of you being . . . you know, a boyfriend instead of a boy who is a friend."

"Instead he can just feel really betrayed when he learns we lied to him." Yuu raised an eyebrow.

Tomoko laughed, "I guess I didn't think it through that far. That's my problem though . . . I don't think. That's why I nearly got myself killed."

_No way, you're really smart, it's when you try too hard that you slip up and then only because I know you're second guessing yourself because of that incident, _is what Yuu _thought_. What he said was "No, that's not it."

"Right, right, my not thinking _and _your being a totally awesome Shinobi, right?" Tomoko winked.

Yuu shook his head, "I'm not amazing without the talents of my clan. Without that you would have annihilated me."

"I don't think we should talk about that." Tomoko said softly. "I don't want to have to fight you ever again . . . you're too much of a friend, it would be like fighting my brother."

Ouch, she'd just compared him to her brother . . . well at least she didn't call him a sister. "You're saying you've never fought your brother?" Yuu asked, "I fight with my sister all the time." Of course that was usually because he really didn't like the guy she was letting into her bed. Minoru Hikaru had been utter trash.

Takumi was different of course; for starters he didn't have a second girlfriend. If he did he was at least courteous enough to keep her a secret.

Yuu frowned, wondering if he'd be like Takumi when he grew up, or like Hikaru. Would he use his good looks to screw around with dozens of admirers or would he remain hopelessly devoted to just one woman his entire life.

He knew what he _wanted _the answer to be. He wanted to be like Takumi.

He looked up into the tree at Tomoko. Such a beautiful girl, a little taller than him at the moment but he doubted that'd last. Her long black hair usually braided into several locks was loose today; it looked as soft and beautiful as black silk.

She'd said she hadn't felt like braiding it today. He didn't mind the lack of braids because she still looked beautiful, what he minded was what the lack of her favorite hair style implied, which was "why bother getting gussied up for a boy who is a friend? "It'd be totally different if he were a _boyfriend _of course.

Did he regret that they weren't an actual couple? Did he dare think something so selfish at a time when he should be mourning?

"Do you want to go out later?" Tomoko asked suddenly.

Yuu was half tempted to say "no" just to see how she reacted. Would she shrug it off like it was nothing, or would she be devastated, beg him to reconsider, insist that he go with her? He was tempted to find out . . .

But he couldn't, because regardless of how she might feel about him he was growing more and more addicted to being in her presence. Being apart left him wondering when he'd see her again, and whether or not he'd screw up their next meeting too.

Without her he felt pain over Masa's death yes, but he also liked being with her just because . . . he couldn't really explain it.

Tomoko was frowning now and he realized he'd spent too much time thinking without answering so quickly he said "Yeh-yeah, sure. Where uh . . . where did you want to go?"

"Meet me here before nine; we'll decide where we want to go." She said.

"Sure." Yuu said with a shrug.

They spent a few more hours sitting together in the park, passing the time with idle chatter.

He didn't notice the way Tomoko subtly fidgeted with her hair, furious with herself for being so excited about seeing him that she'd forgotten to braid it.

* * *

Hirate Akira swallowed a lump in his throat as Emiko took his arm.

He'd known she would be lovely, he hadn't expected beautiful. He felt rather sorry for her, stuck with a man such as himself, so covered in scars earned over the course of the three year war that he looked as if he slept on a bed of razors.

He was once proud of his scars, they were, he felt, a testament to his survivability, but now with Emiko they made him feel . . . unworthy of her.

It was silly really, but he couldn't help it.

Emiko didn't press herself against him, or lean her head on his shoulder. She respectfully held onto his arm while maintaining a morally appropriate distance from him.

He couldn't help feeling like he'd somehow ended up with the pick of the Ishida litter, after all their other daughter didn't wear _shoes _half the time and seemed to need no invitation to climb things.

At least it explained why she wore breeches under her kimono.

Akira smiled weakly at Emi, though he usually tried to display as little facial expression as he could, since the scar on his right cheek became more noticeable when he smiled. "You know, I never imagined how different Suna and Konoha would be. And I never imagined how _similar _they were."

"Perhaps the similarities are what make them such close allies." Emi suggested.

"Perhaps. The nations could learn from this truth, you know. They focus on what's different, ignoring what's the same. The other nations forget that Fire and Wind have honor just as they do."

"This war hasn't been about honor for a long time, if it ever was." Eri's date, a young Konoha Shinobi grunted.

Akira smiled; it was rather refreshing to have Eri and this boy with them. Every other time he and Emiko had gone on an outing together her father had watched them like a hawk, as if he didn't realize that neither of them would act inappropriately.

Tonight he knew the one to watch was his younger daughter, and was generally leaving Emi and Akira alone.

"Well what's it about then?" Eri questioned her date.

"Power. The map has been divvied up so much and now everyone's trying to see how much they can really keep and hold onto before the war ends. The fact is Konoha, Suna; we don't have the numbers of Shinobi we used to have so we can't control as much territory without making our conscript armies a permanent thing." The boy, Oedo said.

"Indeed." Akira agreed. "But you speak as if this is a bad thing, Oedo-san."

"Daisuke, please. Anyway with Shinobi the common people had influence over how things worked. If a local governor was corrupt there was, for lack of a better option, assassination. If bandits were eating out of one merchant family's hand and striking out at another we would eliminate them, we were an impartial secret police dedicated to the people and the nation. A massive government army will be loyal to the Daimyo and those he favors. Suddenly that corrupt governor has the men and resources to silence his peons, whose pleas to the Daimyo gets lost in the ocean that is bureaucracy. Suddenly those wicked bandits receive uniforms and can claim to be ensuring the safety of the roads because one of the Daimyo's concubines is the daughter of that merchant family."

"Samurai have a sense of honor." Akira pointed out. "We would not allow corruption to thrive."

"Samurai or at least true Samurai are, technically as much a minority as Shinobi, aren't they?" Eri asked.

"There are quite a few more of us, but yes, peasants do make up the bulk of our forces." Akira admitted.

"And what do those peasants care for honor? It won't put food on the tables of their wives and children. Not every Samurai will go with his moral compass over the voice of his army, the ones that will won't live long in a corrupt world. If the voice of his army likes the song the Daimyo sings the Samurai are bound by both honor and common sense to the Daimyo. Now if the Daimyo is corrupt . . ." Daisuke shrugged. "It was just easier on the common people when the Daimyo wasn't all powerful. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Akira could very easily ignore Daisuke's treasonous talk by telling himself that the Fire Daimyo might not be as magnanimous as the Wind Daimyo, and also by reminding himself that the boy was just a child, and a Ninja, he was used to having such free speech.

If he were a Suna Genin of course Akira would have been duty bound to argue more forcefully, perhaps even challenge him to a fight to the death, but as he was not the Samurai listened intently, eager to use this as a chance to learn more of Konoha and its Shinobi. Given the similarities between the two ninja villages it might mean that such feelings thrived in _every _Shinobi village.

After all, Shinobi were losing power. With nations now raising even larger peasant armies young boys and girls weren't nearly as free to leave home for the Ninja academy anymore, they were needed to tend crops and such. The choicest of physical specimens were seized by the government as well, so the longer the war lasted the fewer useful Genin the ninja villages were receiving.

"You talk like Ninja are these harbingers of freedom. Don't lie to yourself, or to us." Nagahide spoke up suddenly, waving away his wife's whisper, which was likely meant to silence him. "Giving commoners the means to assassinate their governors and police themselves leads to anarchy, the Daimyo _should _have absolute power over his people. The Daimyo should be, and our Daimyo _is, _wise enough to know when a local governor is corrupt, and a large army would take away from the number of unemployed men free to form bandit groups."

Daisuke shrugged, "Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly willing to admit that often it was the corrupt corporation hiring Shinobi. But the common people still had the option of hiring their own."

"You say you'll admit it, but you didn't mention it a moment ago, when it would have made your argument less powerful, but far more honest." Nagahide pressed. "You, my son, all you Shinobi fail to realize that by going outside of the law and answering to no authority but your own village leader you are in fact--"

"Don't bring Nao into this, father, he's having a hard enough time as it is." Eri interrupted.

"Degrading the justice in this nation." Nagahide finished firmly. "As for Naomasa, he won't be part of it much longer. He's taken a life, he knows it isn't a game, I expect he'll come to his senses soon."

"He won't leave." Daisuke said evenly. "He's a Chuunin."

"You toss that word around like it's the new form of "cool" or "hip" but in the end my son is just as much a Chuunin as I am. He's a little boy--"

"He'll be thirteen in a few--" Daisuke and Eri spoke together, but Nagahide spoke over them.

"A _little _boy." Nagahide said firmly. "He can't lead men into battle, he can't fight this war. That is for men like Hirate here, Samurai of caliber and honor. Shinobi _should _exist, but under the control of the Daimyo, as a secret police that is far more secret than it is now. Free villages only lead others to wonder why they aren't so free. You breed rebellion."

"You really believe that, father?" Emiko asked softly.

Akira raised an eyebrow at her. Everything her father had said sounded right, it sounded _perfect_ really, it mirrored a lot of Akira's own feelings, and so Akira answered with the same words at the same time as Nagahide, "_I _believe it."

"Then . . ." Emiko trailed off, nervously.

"What?" Akira asked.

"Ninja armies never exceeded a few thousand. At the rate things are going it isn't unrealistic to think that someday the nations might boast armies in the hundreds of thousands, leaving them capable of more devastation and terror than Ninja have generated in decades."

"And a more visible reassurance than Ninja have provided _ever_." Nagahide shot back. "Besides with the common people fighting the war themselves they'll be less willing to go to war needlessly. Moreover this idea of large armies creates jobs for many peasants who can't pay for the rice on their tables, let alone the ninja contracts they need."

"This provides jobs for many peasant _men_ but it cripples many women who would have been seen as equals in the Shinobi ranks." Emiko said, and the statement caught both Akira and Nagahide off guard. "I think of Hijiri Hitomi," Emi explained quickly as if she were afraid she'd overstepped a serious boundary, and Akira was indeed trying to figure out whether or not she _had_, "her mother and father died when she was young, but because she was a Ninja she was able to live alone and become successful, she is younger than I, and has reached one of the highest ranks available. In a world without Shinobi, or where only a few Shinobi exist this woman would have been merely a wife at best, but far more likely a child who failed to survive on the streets and never grew up to know her potential."

Akira wondered if Emiko felt that _she _were becoming merely a wife. The thought surprised him because immediately he asked himself "why not? Why would she want anything more or less?" and he also understood immediately that whether she did or she didn't she wasn't thinking of herself.

She was the daughter of a wealthy family; she was marrying into a _powerful _and wealthy family. She would have a good life. Their daughters--which Akira hoped would not outnumber their sons--would live good lives.

But many peasant girls would not. Their true potential would be lost to whore houses and rice fields. Many would indeed be "just wives" and often to men they would see as being inferior to themselves, breeding disloyalty, a trait most hateful in women.  
"A strong nation with a large army would need a large Shinobi force," Akira reasoned and comforted his wife to be, "What more if the best men serve the army, the Shinobi ranks would be largely female. Women make better assassins anyway."

Eri and Nagahide both laughed at that true but humorous fact, Emiko smiled lightly though Akira suspected he hadn't put her fears to rest.

Daisuke just shook his head and said "You know in the end I don't think any of _us _has the capacity to think of a solution. Even if we did, only Hirate-sama has the influence to make it policy." Daisuke tilted his head towards Akira, and though Akira could point out that he didn't have that kind of influence, he could recognize a surrender when he saw one, and graciously accepted.

Nagahide nodded at Daisuke, "True. After all, simply complaining about the army and the government when you have no power to change anything about either entity is wasteful. Why don't we instead, discuss your intentions with my daughter?"

"Or her intentions with me. This really wasn't _my _idea." Daisuke admitted, and he sounded like he regretted coming along.

Akira didn't regret the boy's presence. He had Nagahide's entire attention now, and his outburst--if one could call it that--had been most illuminating.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Make sure you hit the message boards to discuss with other fans all aspects of New Blood. The link is still in on my profile page.


	117. So Many Changes

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Seventeen**

Shiroi pulled her shirt down over her head and stretched, Kurai watched her in silence, pondering . . . her.

She'd changed, maybe it was Saizo, maybe it was something else. Whatever the case he'd tried to be tolerant and let her tell him on her own but now he was suspecting that she herself hadn't realized there was a difference.

But there was. A major difference, and it wasn't just that she'd adopted Saizo's pet snake Oro-Chi. She didn't joke anymore, she didn't laugh. She was serious, straightforward, businesslike all the time. She wasn't a bully but she didn't tolerate slights, she could get riled at the smallest matter, she was like a time bomb waiting to explode.

Some of the changes were good of course, she was far more diligent in her training, and Kurai would be lying if he claimed not to have enjoyed what they'd done together just a while ago.

He always told himself they shouldn't be doing it, but his inner doubts never escaped from his lips, and like every other time he'd enjoyed it when it happened and felt ashamed of his weakness afterwards.

However perhaps it was the fact that they'd been secretly sharing a bed whenever possible since the Chuunin exams that led him to feel all the more concerned about his lover's shift in personality.

She was still the girl he loved, but she was also someone else, and as the two women inside that shapely perfect body struggled for dominance Kurai had thus far sat back and quietly waited for Shiroi to sort it out or ask for his help.

But he didn't feel like he could wait any longer. Saizo's death had hit them both hard but their little hiatus ended tomorrow.

News of their Chuunin status would arrive today or tomorrow. When it did the decision would be made on how to handle the former teams. It was highly likely that team Uchiha and Akimichi would have to merge, with the loss of Saizo and the probable promotion of Daisuke and Kurai it would leave only Shiroi, Kyusaku and Tomoko as Genin, they would form a new squad under Akimichi Chouji-sensei while Sasuke-sensei received a field commission, likely as the commander of a Jounin strike force.

It was late in the afternoon so the news would probably not come today. For one more day at leasT Kurai could pretend he and Shiroi would serve together forever.

He watched her get dressed and finally forced himself to speak to her, saying "We uh . . . we should see Sensei."

"Uh? Did you just say "uh" my love?" Shiroi smirked, "I must have been _really _good today, to actually cause you to stumble in your sentences."

"Whatever." Kurai scoffed. "Look, the point still stands."

"Why? He hasn't called for us, has he?" Shiroi asked.

"No." Kurai admitted, "I'm sure he's really busy no less, but we should still see him."

"Why's that?" Shiroi scoffed.

"Because they're finally burying Saizo tomorrow morning. We weren't invited but I think we have a right to be there." Kurai said, looking to see how Shiroi might react, but she betrayed no signs of any sort of emotion. "Sensei will be there . . . we should be to. Saizo was our comrade, our friend . . . right?"

"No joke." Shiroi said coldly. "Whatever, fine, talk to Sensei and let me know when I come over tonight. I'll stay the night and we'll go to the funeral tomorrow." Shiroi said.

"You'll do what?" Kurai began but just then there was a loud knock on his door.

"Kurai-kun, it's your mother."

Kurai sighed and looked around to see if there was any sign of Shiroi still in his room, but she snatched Oro-Chi who'd been left on a tree branch near the window and then she herself leapt out and disappeared.

There was another knock, "Kurai-kun, are you in there?" His mother demanded.

"Yes ma'am." Kurai grumbled, knowing sooner or later his mother, who already suspected what he was doing, wouldn't bother to knock before coming in.

The door opened though and it wasn't his mother alone, it was his cousin Shino as well.

Shino tossed him a package.

"What?" Kurai asked.

"Open it." Shino said calmly.

Kurai opened the box and looked inside, there was a black outfit, he raised an eyebrow, "What's this?"

"New clothes." Shino stated flatly.

"He doesn't know if he's been promoted, it's not appropriate to be giving him gifts yet."

"No?" Shino asked, raising an eyebrow.

But as Kurai lifted the black suit he saw what else was inside the package.

A blade, flack jacket, a mask.

"I'm down a man and I've got two fugitives to find. I need a Chuunin to fill the spot in my squad. I didn't mean to show up before the dispatcher, but yes cousin, you're a Chuunin, and, for the time being at least, you're also Anbu."

Kurai's head was swimming.

"After the funeral we move out." Shino added, "See Sasuke as you planned and relax for the rest of the night. This mission will be danger unlike any you've experienced before and it's possible that neither of us is coming back."

Kurai was troubled not by the statement of how dangerous the mission would be, but by the fact that Shino apparently knew he planned to see Sasuke when he'd spoken that plan only a moment ago to Shiroi.

So just how much did his older cousin know? For that matter, how much did his parents? He just smiled sheepishly and took a look at his mask, designed like a tiger.

* * *

Hitomi leaned against a wall as Ino and Hara shoved the prisoners forward. 

"They'll be spoken to by our specialists," Ibiki said calmly, "They'll see the Fifth only if I deem them harmless enough and honest enough, and she'll have to find the time of course. The three of you are free to go."

"I'd like to see this through to the end." Hitomi said softly, "We already know what they plan to tell the Hokage, to send us off is a serious danger, we might talk to someone."

"No you wont." Ibiki scoffed, "You know better, you're all Jounin. Anyway I'm sure some of you have other places to be."

"That's true." Hara said, "You may not care that Miyuki is still lying in a hospital bed, Hitomi, but I do."

Hitomi bristled, but said nothing.

"What's the matter with her?" The water doctor asked suddenly.

"None of your business." Hitomi scoffed.

Endo rolled his eyes, but as if he meant only to act contradictory to Hitomi, Hara said "She was stabbed."

"After my interrogation I'd like to take a look, I'm getting rather used to that sort of wounds. My comrade here is the one with the message you need, my only function in coming is to in fact act like the doctor I am. Once you realize I'm harmless I can show you how I can be useful, and in exchange perhaps get the medicine I need for my own wounded, hmm?"

"We'll see." Ibiki said sharply, before either Hara or Hitomi could answer.

The doctor was shoved away along with his Jounin companion, but Hitomi was, honestly a little regretful.

The man might actually be able to help Miyuki, and that mattered so much more to Hitomi than having Ibiki and his specialists extract and analyze information already freely given. Still she said nothing.

She wasn't sure she wanted that jerk treating Miyuki, he might make her worse just for the sake of it, and since she wasn't sure how she felt on the matter she kept her mouth shut because of Hara.

What if he contradicted her for the sake of it? What if she made the right decision, wouldn't he side against her and unknowingly cause the wrong to be enforced instead? Or if she made the wrong decision and Hara sided against her to make the right one he'd think she didn't care about Miyuki and accuse her of wanting something worse to happen.

She glared at him from behind her goggles, they needed to work out whatever his problem was. He was her commanding officer, one of her few friends, and if he was upset with her she knew she'd probably done something significant to deserve his ire.

She wouldn't confront him now. Not in front of Ino-sensei and Ibiki, two officers of technically higher rank than they. It would be rude and disgraceful.

She'd let him visit Miyuki, maybe see him there, he might calm down in her presence.

It stumped her really, how he could be normal and friendly one minute and then somehow she'd say or do _something _to leave him sulky and annoyed.

She supposed her eyes really _didn't _see everything.

She sighed, she'd need something to do to occupy her time and wait for Hara to have spent enough of his with Miyuki to be settled down enough to maybe talk to her but not settled down enough that he'd realize how stupid he was acting and bee too apologetic to admit what was bugging him.

* * *

Kasumi tossed a rock up into the air and deftly caught it without having to look at it. 

It was a good thing because her eyes were elsewhere, her eyes were on Konoha.

How this hateful place had wronged her. Here the love of her young life had died, and why? Because the Chuunin examiners had stupidly thought that intervening was unnecessary? Because the proctor hadn't realized the danger until it was too late?

Her father had died too. They made up some lie about him having betrayed Kumogakure and becoming a terrorist bent on ending the alliance.

But she knew the truth. Uzumaki Naruto was a showboat, he'd probably wanted to test his skill against the greatest Shinobi in the world, her father.

He'd probably lured her father off, challenging him to a friendly match no doubt. She liked to think that then something diabolical had happened and her father had been tricked in some way. Maybe, she feared to think, he'd wanted to get back quickly to watch her fight, and had therefore gone too easy on Uzumaki, unwittingly allowing the monster to murder him.

But no, her father was better than that, his murder must have come about because many Shinobi ambushed him, Uzumaki may have gotten in the final strike if that, but her father wouldn't have died fighting just one of the Konoha Twelve.

Konoha's Twelve, what worthless trash. Mist only needed _seven _swordsmen, Cloud only needed _one _Hattori Hanzo, but Konoha had to claim to have _twelve _heroes. Why? Because they were weaklings, it took all twelve of them to stand up to her father no doubt.

She hated this place so much. And she hated Tosa and Yurei for loving it, she hated them for falling in love with some of Konoha's people.

Where was Yurei now? Fawning over that blacksmith girl? Where was Tosa? Pursuing a married man who would never consent to having an affair with her?

Worthless trash the both of them. Masaru had been worth something though, he'd been ten times the ninja either of them was now.

Yes he'd been _Jounin _level, Kasumi was sure of it. He'd been so awesome, he must have been holding himself back for her sake and for Yurei's, after all without Masa everyone would pick on poor worthless Yurei wouldn't they?

Yes Masaru had been spectacular, he'd been murdered by an opponent who had no reason to kill him, but she knew he could have killed Akuma with one arm tied behind his back.

He'd had his chakra drained, and he'd no doubt wanted only to hold Akuma back until the proctors could come and intervene. Yes, that was it.

Masaru hadn't been fought fairly, her father hadn't been fought fairly, Konoha was a place of dirty, no good cheaters.

So before she left Kasumi would show them a bit of cheating. She'd avenge her father and her beloved the only way she knew how, she'd lash out at the thing that had killed them, this hell of a village.

She glared at her target, her first act of vengeance commenced _now_.

She threw her rock viciously, but the other girl sensed the attack and dropped down to avoid it.

Kasumi had predicted it and had already shifted into her shadow, she emerged in front of the other girl and kicked out at her, stopping her foot a centimeter from the girl's face so that even though her opponent flipped back and away they both knew it hadn't been a real attack.

"What're you playing at, sister?" The Hyuga girl snapped.

"Hyuga Shiroi, worthless nothing of the Hyuga clan. You and I should have fought in the Chuunin exams, but your people feared what I would do to you. Instead they let you lose to a boy from Suna who couldn't kill _time _if he wanted to, yet nearly killed you because of how terribly worthless you indeed are. I challenge you, worthless one."

"If I'm so worthless there's no reason to challenge me." Shiroi spat. "Anyway I don't feel like fighting right now so-"

"I too am worthless, I have no place in this world, I will find my place and evaluate my worth by fighting and defeating all of you pitiful Hyuga slime, fighting you all until I've defeated every last one of you. Don't worry worthless one, because our nations are allied I will not kill you unless I am forced to do so. You can fight in the safe, comfortable knowledge that you'll only be viciously beaten."

"Too bad you can't," Shiroi spat. "You back off and leave now or I will _so _murder you in the streets, then give your body to some taxidermist, have you stuffed and then reenact killing you whenever I feel like I need a laugh. Back the heck off, brat." The Hyuga girl shouted, and started to walk past her.

Kasumi lunged forward, slamming a kunai, pommel first into Shiroi's stomach.

The other girl leapt back before the hit could connect, Kasumi flipped the blade and said "Next time I use this end. You're not walking away from this."

Shiroi's eyes blazed, she must be close to breaking and so Kasumi quickly spat out, "Come on! I know you're just branch family trash but I thought you could at least understand a challenge when you hear it. You stupid cow, what are you waiting for?"

"For you to grow up and get out of my way!" Shiroi roared.

"Make me!" Kasumi insisted.

"I don't have time for this, I've got grown up things to do little child." Shiroi said, waving Kasumi away, though Kasumi noted she was tensing.

"Like selling your flesh on the street eh? Sorry, I mistook you for a Shinobi, not a whore."

"Shinobi don't brawl in streets like idiot samurai." Shiroi's eyes blazed again, and suddenly Kasumi felt something wrap around her, like a rope.

Instead it was a black snake growing larger and larger as it wrapped itself around her.

She understood now, the snake had been on Shiroi's wrist before but she must have shoved it off when she tried to pass Kasumi. Kasumi had been so intent on studying Shiroi's facial expressions and body language she hadn't noticed the missing snake, or seen where it went.

She wouldn't make the same mistake . . . she'd already learned something from this girl, she was grateful enough that when the fight was over she _wouldn't _knock out all her teeth after all.

She'd still knock out a few of course, she wasn't _that _grateful.

She dropped into her shadow, freeing herself from the snake and came up behind the Hyuga girl, striking out viciously with her kunai at Shiroi's back the other girl spun around and kicked her hard into a nearby food booth.

Kasumi struggled to get to her feet but Shiroi sprang on her, picking her up and throwing her against a wall she punched her hard in the face and picked her up again.

"Well? This it? I'm not even using any Jutsus you stupid trash! Come on, fight back you little nitwit, you were so keen to throw down this challenge!" The Hyuga girl roared, her eyes filled with fury.

But Kasumi realized she actually wasn't so sure she did want this fight. Not because Shiroi Hyuga was superior to her, but because she suddenly just wanted to cry about her father and Masa and never be seen by anyone ever again.

She still hated Konoha, she still planned to beat Shiroi, but the timing of these tears and the grieving attack they represented was less than ideal.

She decided in an instant that she'd need to finish the fight quickly, kill the Hyuga girl if necessary but end it so she could go off and mourn in peace before finding someone else to hurt.

She struck out with her knife, Shiroi knocked it away and punched her in the face again, this time she didn't pick her up.

She kicked her instead and shouted "Don't ever _approach _me again, fool, and when I tell you not to get in my way I'd better be shouting it across a stinking street because if I even see you walking on the same path as me I'm going to kill you, is that clear?"

"Sure." Kasumi coughed, "What isn't clear . . . is why you're so ugly."

Shiroi scoffed and started to walk away, and that's when Kasumi struck, lunging forward and stabbing the older girl in the back, "Just like you guys did to my dad, huh?" She hissed and spat on the older girl but her spit went through her and hit the ground.

A clone? When had she swapped?

No it was substitution, Shiroi had switched places with a chuck on the cart she'd kicked Kasumi into.

The fight wasn't over, Kasumi spun around in time to see the kick that would have knocked her unconscious had she been any slower.

She threw a kunai, aiming to injure Shiroi's ankle but the other girl deflected it.

"Is that _all_?" Shiroi spat, "You waste my time you'd better at least be entertaining."

"Take this fight seriously or you'll die." Kasumi warned.

"Give me a reason to take it seriously." Shiroi shrugged.

Kasumi performed some rapid hand signs and shouted "Lightning Clone Jutsus!" A trio of clones appeared and the four of them drew forth their Katanas. "I know your eyes betray me, they show you which of the four of us is the real Hattori Kasumi. But that said can you _get to _the real me before one of these three makes contact with you and shocks you into a coma? Let's find out, shall we?"

"Oh I'm _so _going to enjoy making you my punching bag." Shiroi hissed.

Kasumi smiled, as if to confirm her hatred of Konoha she noted that no Shinobi had stood up to stop the fight, though there were no doubt security around they were mainly Hyuga who would no doubt want to see how their little branch girl would fare against the former Hattori princess.

Stupid fools would just let fights happen so they could watch, would let people die because they thought that real killer instinct didn't exist amongst allies.

Kasumi would show them all though. She wouldn't kill Shiroi, or the next Hyuga she challenged, but when the time came that she had enough confidence and skill to fight someone more along the line of Hyuga Neji or Hyuga Hinata . . . either of them she'd eagerly kill.

And by then the Hyuga would have come not to expect it.

Then again maybe Konoha would rush to save one of their own in exactly the way they hadn't rushed to Masa.

Maybe she should kill Shiroi after all.

If she could murder Shiroi she'd give up on hating Konoha and only feel sorry for them, if she could murder a Shinobi in front of so many others she would know Konoha was a village of inbred morons incapable of stopping someone of her caliber from doing what they wanted.

But if they stopped her and saved Shiroi . . . it would mean that they'd just left Masaru to die, and she'd be justified in her hatred of them.

Yes it all seemed such a perfect plan . . .

**To Be Continued . . .**

Note: A bit late, but here it is. Enjoy, and remember our message boards.


	118. Wont Give Up

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Eighteen**

Hitomi took a deep breath as she watched Naomasa.

He was practicing her Jutsu alone, without Tomoko there to watch over him.

She knew she'd told Tomoko to tell him not to do such a stupid thing, didn't he understand how fatal that Jutsu would be if he messed up?

If he held the flaming sphere too long it would go off in his hand, that was why the Jutsu required speed, you had to get the sphere into your opponent before they realized what you were doing, or worse recognized the Jutsu and ran away laughing.

It could be used successfully on stones because the rocks wouldn't be destroyed after a single use of the Jutsus--though Hitomi had learned long ago that using the same rock for too long would often render it too hot for continued practice--and unlike trees weren't such a fire hazard.

Naomasa had just chosen a stone statue in a park near the barracks. He continuously assaulted it with ever improving attempts at her Jutsu until finally Hitomi could stand no more.

He lunged forward one more time to use the Jutsu just as Hitomi emerged from her hiding place meaning to stop him but just then he finally did it correctly.

She stared for an instant as he performed the Jutsu properly. _Flawlessly_.

And then he began again.

"Stop that, you're wasting chakra and you've already done it right." She told him.

"Now I'll improve it." He said sharply.

Hitomi scoffed, "It kills instantly, what's to improve?"

"Making it do the exact opposite." Naomasa grumbled.

"What, revive the dead slowly?" Hitomi joked.

"I knew you wouldn't understand." Nao scoffed.

"I _do _understand, you know." Hitomi said, "You want it to be able to incapacitate without killing, don't you?"

Naomasa didn't answer.

Hitomi smiled, "Nao-kun . . . you know it's great that you care so much but--"

"No it isn't!" Naomasa roared, "It's terrible, I'm a worthless Shinobi because I don't want to kill. Then, when I _have _to I feel awful."

Hitomi forced her smile to disappear, though his words just made her want to smile even wider.

So he'd finally realized he'd had no other option with Akuma.

"So that's what this is about?" Hitomi asked.

"Even Shikamaru-sensei hasn't asked me to train." Nao scoffed. "He's come by to talk to me a lot but he never says "it's time for training" anymore."

"He can't until he knows whether or not you're going to be promoted. If you're Chuunin you're no longer under his command, if everyone but you becomes Chuunin odds are you'll be put under someone else anyway, until the ranks are handed out we just don't know and so the Hokage has asked him to put priority on planning our attack and our defense. Really that he has time to visit you at all should make you feel honored.."

"But he said we'd be a team for a year or so _after _being Chuunin." Nao scoffed, "He lied to us?"

"No, he's pretty dead on there, my squad and I are _still _pretty much a team. But the thing is as a Chuunin he's your superior officer, you're under his command, he's _not _your sensei and so he doesn't train you. Not the way he used to anyway, it's assumed you know enough to progress on your own." Hitomi smiled, "But don't worry. You won't get promoted to Chuunin, you can be a little baby Genin a bit longer."

"If that." Nao grumbled. He kicked the dirt, "My family wants me to give it all up you know. They won't stop asking me to quit. Mom's the worst."

Hitomi frowned. "Naomasa, you know I'm a Jounin now."

"Good for you." He scowled, then shook his head and said in a milder tone, "Sorry. But . . . yeah, good for you." This time he said it more sincerely.

"I'm not bragging." Hitomi said evenly. "I'm telling you because . . . well, it's important that you don't quite because of Akuma, you know. As a Jounin it's my duty to eventually, probably take on a class of Genin just as Shikamaru did with you and the others. The problem? Well . . . if I've failed with you I've got no reason to be a Jounin, if I've failed to help you become a good Shinobi who knows the differnce between murder and defense, I will resign right now myself. I will become a waitress like Tomoko-chan did. Naruto-sensei can probably score me a job at one of the five ramen restaurants he frequents."

"You didn't fail." Nao scoffed, "Don't you see? I'm not giving up no matter what my parents say. That's why I'm training like this, Hitomi. If I can perfect this Jutsu you and Tomoko won't have to use it to kill, you'll have to power to kill when you need to and it'll be up to you to decide whether or not it's _necessary._"

Hitomi folded her arms, "How thoughtful of you."

"I don't care that you don't care." Naomasa said, "I'm trying to save you from yourself. It's just so hard to do it alone, and Shikamaru-sensei won't help."

"Have you asked him?" Hitomi raised an eyebrow.

"No . . . he should have asked me." Naomasa said. He sighed, "That sounded really childish, didn't it?"

"It's fine, you're a child." Hitomi said softly.

"No, I'm a ninja." Naomasa said, tapping his forehead protector.

"That doesn't make you an adult." Hitomi said kindly, "I make mistakes too."

"You're not a real adult either, you're still a teenager." Naomasa said.

"So I'm a kid for a bit longer. Doesn't matter, I think the point's still valid." Hitomi said.

"I'm not getting promoted you know." Naomasa said. "I can't lead men to war . . . I'm no Chuunin. Kotaro is a good leader, and Yomiko is descended from a Hokage so she's got leadership in her blood too, but me? I can't imagine ordering a squad of Shinobi to take lives, and if I couldn't do that I'd be endangering their lives, and the lives of others."

"You understand all that." Hitomi said, "It's a start. But you're right, you won't be promoted. Not if you don't _want _to be, if at your core you're too afraid to step up and become a Chuunin you're not worthy of being one. Even if you've got the skill of a Chuunin you need the heart and mind too, or it's pointless."

"What about you? You're a Jounin now, aren't you the least bit afraid? How could you have the heart and mind of a Jounin if you're willing to resign over one Genin?"

"Touché, well maybe you'll be promoted to force you to step up as I was."

"You mean you're not really skilled enough to be a Jounin? The Hokage just wants you to improve?" Naomasa scoffed.

"For some time I've had the skill to be a Jounin I suppose, and deep down inside my heart I _wanted _to be one, but outwardly I was afraid. Afraid that surpassing my father, who died a Chuunin would dishonor his memory. But now I know I've only dishonored him by holding myself back, if he'd seen how I acted during these past Chuunin exams he'd be so ashamed it'd probably kill him again. This rank isn't a reward, it's a reminder of my shameful selfishness. It forces me to always execute operations to the very best of my abilities, never holding back again. Whether or not that's what Hokage-sama was thinking, it's how I see this rank."

Naomasa sat down on the dirt and shook his head, "Hitomi . . . I _wanted _to kill him."

"No, you _had _to." Hitomi told him.

Naomasa looked up at her, "What, you think I didn't realize what would happen if my trick worked? You think I thought he'd just be stunned? It's like I _knew _what would happen if I did what I was going to do . . . and I _knew _it was wrong . . . and I _knew _I'd suffer for it later, I _knew _I'd feel bad and hate myself as much as I did. But I did it anyway. There's so many points where I could have stopped myself and I didn't. I meant to kill him and I did it. Then I felt unclean . . . but after a while I realized I didn't hate myself as much as I _should _have."

"Which made you hate yourself _more_." Hitomi reasoned.

"Pretty much." Nao grumbled.

"Don't you understand?" Hitomi sighed, "You feel like a terrible person because you don't feel terrible. That's . . . stupid. Really stupid."

"Glad to know you think I'm stupid." Nao hissed.

"No, I think you're just acting that way. The best cure for stupidity is facts. Fact one . . . Akuma had to die. Fact two, he'd have killed Yomiko and he _tried _to kill you. Fact three, it was Daisuke's refusal to treat him in any way that killed him, this day and age a simple Jutsu can stop a slit throat if it's administered in time and Daisuke knows the Jutsu. Final fact . . . Akuma would have died anyway."

"Because of you?" Nao asked.

"No, because his mother or whoever gave him a trapped sword. Had he decapitate Yomiko as he planned to his own head would have been severed as well, you at least gave him a Shinobi's death and saw that he had it without Yomiko having to suffer as well" Hitomi shook her head and stood up, "Naomasa . . . you're probably going to get promoted to Chuunin because you took out Akuma and saved Yomiko, moreover you did it with his own strategy . . . but you're probably _not _going to be promoted because you yourself aren't mentally prepared for it, and I think the Hokage will see that. But whatever the outcome know that rank doesn't dictate whether or not you're really powerful, Naruto-senesi was a Genin for a long time and he was able to defeat Jounin opponents, even S-Class missing-nin, rank doesn't necessarily dictate fighting skill, just authority. Shikamaru was the first of the Twelve to become a Chuunin but he wasn't the _strongest_, he just had the right qualities."

"I want to have those qualities though." Nao said. "I want to be just like Shikamaru-sensei. I'm not that smart, but I've been studying before I go to sleep every night. I want to be just like him, he's just so . . . so _cool_." Nao whispered. "He's what a ninja should be. Kotaro is going to be just like him, he's smart and he's skilled, people already compare them."

"Yes but Kotaro is a lot more like his own father, don't forget that Hatake Kakashi is also brilliant." Hitomi said. "And I think you're like Nara in one way . . . sometimes, usually when you're not trying to hard . . . you're pretty cool. Nara Shikamaru never tries to be cool, it's just a natural thing. The fact that it comes to you naturally is a way you're similar."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better." Nao grumbled.

"Probably, but the fact that I can't say 'definitely' means that on some level I find it mildly true." Hitomi smirked. "Come on, don't be so hard on yourself. You're a good Shinobi . . . if it's your goal to be like Shikamaru, you'll reach it. But you've got to stick with it, you've got to become worthy of being a Chuunin."

"I am trying." Nao said. "I'm perfecting this Jutsu aren't I?"

"You're trying to do the impossible, you can't burn someone's insides and incapacitate them, you'll just kill them." Hitomi said. "By all means keep trying . . . if you succeed I'll always use your version and never kill anyone with mine again." Hitomi promised, though she didn't add that should the situation dictate she'd find some other way to kill her opponent.

Nao shook his head, "Maybe what I need to do is use a different element. Like Lightning to shock them."

"Maybe. I don't think _I_ can use Lightning though." Hitomi said.

"I don't think I can either." Nao admitted. He looked at Hitomi and said "Hitomi . . . I . . . I think I really should stop being a Shinobi sometimes."

"And?" Hitomi asked, "What changes your mind?" She certainly hoped _something _did.

"I just think . . . my options are to go home with my family, marry some rich girl, continue the clan and live in lazy luxury . . . or I can be the guy who fights this war to make sure that my sisters can do all that in my place. See . . . the war is going to be fought whether I'm here or not and I just feel like . . . I'd rather be here, helping to end it than lying at home in decadence."

"That's commendable." Hitomi said.

"Also . . . something else holds me back. Something else keeps me from wanting to leave." Nao said softly. "It's you."

"Oh no." Hitomi sighed.

"Not like that." Nao said, shaking his head "You're my friend. Tomoko is my friend. Kotaro, even Yomiko, I have friends here, _real _friends, I've never had that before. I know now that I'd die for any of you, I've never felt that way about anyone buy my family before . . . so I know you're all like family to me. I can't just walk out on you . . . and I can't let other people hurt any of you."

Hitomi smiled, "I'd die for you too." And if Mist's message was true, she might have to.

Who knew what the cost in lives would be if Lightning betrayed and Earth attacked.

She closed her eyes and then Naomasa said "Hitomi, there's just one thing I want from you. If you promise to do it I'll stay a Shinobi, and I promise it's not what you think it is, it's nothing inappropriate."

"Then tell me what it is before I promise." Hitomi scoffed.

"I want to see your eyes." Naomasa said evenly.

Hitomi shook her head, to her that was the equivolent of saying "I want you to sell me your soul" or something. She said "That _is _inappropriate, Naomasa."

"No it isn't. I have to see them." Naomasa said.

"Are you saying that if I show you my eyes you'll stay here and if I don't you'll leave?" Hitomi raised an eyebrow.

"I'm saying I want to stay no matter what, but I hoped you might show them to me anyway."

Hitomi thought for a moment, then made her decision.

"You might be able to see my eyes, Naomasa."

"Okay, show me." Nao said.

"I said you _might _be able." Hitomi said. "It's time for a test."

"Okay." Nao said.

"Show me what you've got, show me all your ninja skills, show me what you've learned and what you've taught yourself since the exams, do your best and you should be able to snatch these goggles right from my face before the sun finishes setting." Hitomi said evenly.

"No fair, you know I can't do that." Nao said.

"I know you can try, and I know you can try like no one I've ever met before, and I know that trying really, really hard sometimes leads to success."

"Why until dark? I need more time if I'm going to succeed. Why not until curfew?"

"I have someplace I need to be, someone I have to talk to." Hitomi said, remembering that she still planned to see Hara in another hour or so.

Naomasa closed his eyes and said "Okay. But it's dusk already, we don't have long."

"So you'd better get cracking." Hitomi said, standing up.

Naomasa sprang forward, reaching for her goggles with speed she hadn't predicted but easily countered.

She smiled, "Come on, you can do better than that, tell me that was a warm up."

He grinned, "If I get those goggles off your face I probably won't give them back!"

"I have a second pair, your threat doesn't scare me." Hitomi sneered, and Naomasa came for her again.

Again she dodged him, "Come on, show me your skills kido. Don't be afraid to use your Shadow Clone Jutsu in front of me."

"Please, I'd take your advice and you'd punch me in the stomach before I could finish it!"

"Too right, guess you figured me out." Hitomi admitted, then sprang forward and punched him in the stomach anyway. He doubled over and groaned, "Oh get up, that was a tap." Hitomi said.

Naomasa's hand gripped hers and his other shot up for her face while her hand struck out and held him back by his forehead.

"Uh-ah, come on, my arms are longer than yours. Pre-adult versus pre-teen." Hitomi smirked.

Naomasa pulled on both her arms so suddenly that she was thrown off balance. Being a Shinobi she easily caught herself before falling flat on the ground and being at his mercy.

Her eyes narrowed, maybe she should take this seriously . . .

She used substitution and reappeared on top of a tree branch, "Come on, enough kid's stuff. Show me what you've really got." And with that she leapt away, Naomasa followed.

She wanted to remind him that being a ninja wasn't just about killing, that there were fringe benefits, like being pretty much super human.

She'd let him do rather well, catch up to her every now and then, let him feel powerful without letting him overestimate himself but that didn't mean she really planned to let him see her eyes. No one would ever see her eyes.

* * *

Tsunade frowned as she examined the two messengers from Mist. "Your news is unfortunate, but not unexpected. Lighting's activities have been suspicious for some time, and Earth's sudden calm was even more suspicious. The question is what happened to get Mist kicked out of the alliance?"

"I only know what the Mizukage has told me, the political reasons are beyond me but what I know and what is obvious is simply betrayal. Lightning betrayed us, and the Organization that keeps this alliance together apparently hasn't done anything about it. Therefore we've taken our newest orders and we've brought them to you, to join with Suna and Konoha in an alliance as true and trustworthy as any forged by Shinobi quills."

Tsunade glanced at Sakura, "What do you think, my friend?" She asked, Sakura having long ago outgrown the title of "apprentice" or "student".

"It's what we expected." Sakura said, "These numbers are staggering, so getting confirmation won't be hard, explaining why we didn't notice the build up will be though."

Tsunade nodded, the unspoken suggestion was that some of their agents were corrupt, the fact that two prisoners had escaped from their custody made this danger all the more probable. "What does your mistress propose, messenger?" She asked the Kirigakure Jounin.

The young woman folded her arms, "Our Taisho will launch an attack on the Lightning army. The Organization's plans dictate that we come to shore and aid in the subjugation of Konoha, we will attack Lightning two days early, before they can begin to move out. We'll hit them from behind so they can't reach you, that removes half the force that was supposed to be arrayed against Konoha. Suna of course will carry on with their invasion of Earth, drawing away some of Earth's army so that what does come through to Konoha will be easier to handle, Fire armies can stand ready to intercept Earth armies, or aid the Suna force if Earth tries to focus everything on them first."

Tsunade glanced at Shikamaru who was listening intently, no dobut thinking of a hundred ways this could either fail or succeed.

Nana Mizuki continued "These are the plans of our Taisho, and our Daimyo. The Mizukage has committed her full Shinobi force to the effort too, the armies of Water and the Ninja of Mist will attack the Lightning soldiers to exact vengeance for their betrayal, meanwhile the armies of Fire and the Ninja of Leaf will join with their long time allies to decimate the Earth Nation's aggressive force, when it's over everyone will be so sick of death and destruction that the war will finally see it's end, and a measure of balance will be restored to the nations."

"Why come to us with this?" Tsunade asked.

"If we don't have Fire's support our action would only doom you greater. You would unwittingly send your armies to aid Lightning against us, Lightning would have you just where they want you, imagine the Fire army leads the attack, destroys the Samurai and soldiers of Water then in turn is destroyed by their Lightning allies, who took up the rear during the charge. That would leave the Land of Fire completely open to invasion, your entire nation would have but the few garrison troops and Shinobi to stand against Earth's force, and worse our own land will be defenseless because to have any chance of victory we truly must use everything we have."

Tsunade glanced again at Sakura and Shikamaru, finally she said "We won't take any aggressive action against Lightning until they do so to us," She said, "But to preemptively strike out at Earth? That _is _something I can agree to. I need to confer with my advisors at the moment, kindly wait outside." She said, and even though the Jounin looked like she wanted to protest she was immediately escorted out by Hinata and Neji.

"Hokage-sama," Shikamaru spoke up. "I'm sure you've already realized this," he said in a tone that suggested he knew she hadn't but would want to act as if she had because he considered it obvious, "but while our army is near the Earth border ready to repel a larger invasion force we have two unknowns. First, the border nations of Rain, Grass and Waterfall. We don't know their true loyalties, they could be invaluable in helping bolster our numbers against Earth's attack, or they could simply be more stones in the avalanche. Secondly there is the matter of Kirigakure's offer. We'll see the Water army attack two days before Lightning and Earth make their move, but who says Water and Lightning won't greet each other like brothers and march together on Fire?"

Tsunade massaged her forehead, "I assume you of all people have already thought of a solution?"

"We ask for a conference with the Daimyo of the three border nations, tell them whatever it takes to get them here and have their armies either join us or link up with Sunagakure. If they come to Konoha in person and send their armies to stand with ours we will know that they are trustworthy and committed to the common defense, but if they remain in their lands and refuse to send their armies to us we'll know how they stand."

"That still leaves us the problem of having armies mingled with our own." Tsunade pointed out.

"Not at all. The trustworthy Daimyo are our willing hostages." Sakura reasoned, "Their armies will fight alongside ours, and the Daimyo will feel the safety of Konoha makes it the best place from whence to coordinate the war anyway. The untrustworthy Daimyo will idenfity themselves beforehand."

"What of the Daimyo who won't leave their people?" Tsunade asked. "Why do you assume that they'll bring their armies to us instead of keeping them in their homelands to defend their own nations?"

"They don't have to know that it's a defensive war, we'll tell them we're preparing to launch an invasion of the Earth country and we need to stage it within Konoha's borders because none of the other nations would feel comfortable with our army within theirs." Shikamaru said. "Unless they already know that Earth is coming for us they won't dare risk angering us and becoming a part of our "invasion path."

Tsunade nodded slowly, "Very well. We need to inform the Daimyo before we can make any solid decisions, but Sakura, let the Mist prisoners know that the Ninja of Konoha accept the Mizukage's proposal, we will go along with the plan. Give them a few days to rest while we await the decision of our Daimyo, and have them under heavy surveillance. Give them whatever supplies they need and disguise them as a merchant caravan on their way back to Water."

"Merchant caravan?" Sakura asked, "Wouldn't it be better for them to secretly return?"

"They need medical supplies, which will be more easily carried back in wagons. The Ishida family is currently in Konoha, are they not? I think it would be a perfect cover. We'll send some of our Shinobi along, to ensure that all looks normal and that the Mist ninja do nothing to harm the Ishida clan."

"Yes ma'am." Sakura said and departed.

"I'm requesting Team Ten go on that mission." Shikamaru said.

"I need you here." Tsunade said.

"I won't be leaving." Shikamaru said, "I think they're pretty capable of handling themselves."

Tsunade considered this for a while, finally she said "Very well. And which of them would you have leading this mission?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "That should be obvious . . ."

**To Be Continued . . .**

* * *

Do not forget the message boards, discuss many things, many things indeed! Anyone think they can guess how this massive battle is going to turn out? Keep in mind this is the last Arc before the time skip 


	119. The Sound Five?

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Nineteen**

Shiroi put her hand on her hip, "Had enough?"

Kasumi laughed, what a stupid woman. Didn't she realize she was losing?

Sure, it was difficult to tell, what with Kasumi lying on the ground right now and Shiroi standing firmly on her hands while Kasumi was forced to look up at her without being able to raise herself from the ground.

But she knew she was stronger than this Hyuga trash.

"You're no fun." Shiroi said darkly, "I can understand how you must be feeling now, knowing you'll never be able to defeat me. It would be cruel to cause you any more pain, crueler still to let you go on thinking there was any chance of you winning today. So what happens? Do I spare you now, or beat on you until the message finally hits home?"

"I think you let her go before I force you to." A man said, appearing behind Shiroi.

She spun around, "What the--"

Uchiha Sasuke's hand snapped forward, striking Shiroi on the forehead, and the girl stumbled back.

"She was the aggressor!" Shiroi roared.

"You always say that." Sasuke said coldly, "You _always _point out that you weren't the one who started it, but you always try to be the one who finishes it. And look at you now, about to bully a girl who can't come close to competing with you not because she lacks the skill to turn you into a fine paste but because she lacks the emotional center to be an effective fighter."

"You know nothing, filth!" Kasumi roared, "You only showed up to save your little student!"

Uchiha shook his head, "Idiots, both of you. You for thinking you could just attack Shiroi and not be stopped and you for thinking you could beat Kasumi without being punished."

"You will refer to me as _Hattori _Kasumi!" Kasumi roared, but Uchiha ignored her.

"Well I assumed if the Anbu had a problem they'd stop it before I had to get my hands dirty."

"Right, because right after an infiltration they've got nothing better to do." Uchiha Sasuke said coldly. "Come with me, both of you."

"I won't go anywhere with you!" Hattori Kasumi roared.

Uchiha glared at her, his sharingan eyes were activated and it made her shudder, "That was no request, it was an order. Our countries are allies, so I am your commanding officer, Genin. Get in line and come with me or I will drag you like a child out of a candy store."

Kasumi glowered, "How dare you."

"You do not need to be conscious." Uchiha warned.

"I think I'd better not be." Kasumi scoffed, "I'd rather be unconscious than go willingly with--" and before she could finish the statement everything went black.

* * *

Okatsu's eyes fluttered open, she shook her head, "I lost them." 

"Explain." Kabuto said softly.

"I had used the Genjutsu to blind market security, but Uchiha Sasuke arrived and realized what I was doing to the girls, he interfered."

Kabuto shook his head, "I am disappointed."

The words stabbed at Okatsu like a dagger, "M-master, I beg you to forgive me, I want only to please you."

"Stop embarrassing yourself." Kabuto said gently, but his words were like poison to Okatsu's heart.

"So what?" Minoru asked.

"You will go in person. I want those eyes; Hyuga Shiroi will be a powerful tool."

"Even in her current condition?" Minoru scoffed, "She's not stable."

"Neither is Hattori, neither on most days, are either of you." Kabuto said easily, "But I have made my decision. The new Sound Five will be the greatest Shinobi force the world will know, the greatest young Shinobi scions are needed."

"What of that other girl?" Okatsu asked, "The one with the goggles. You said she fought on par with your avatar, even if it was only fifty percent of your true strength that is a feat not met by normal Chuunin or Jounin. Akuma often said that she saw through his illusions."

"Often? How often did they meet?" Minoru laughed.

"It happened a time or two, but he talked about it often. He obsessed over her and her ability to see through the Genjutsu. Genjutsu that, Uchiha Sasuke just saw through as well, I know my former student's frustration now. Master, I believe the girl has the Sharingan."

"The Sharingan is a blight that needs to be wiped away from the world." Kabuto said softly, "I doubt Hijiri Hitomi has the Sharingan. My study of her suggests that something about her eyes has caused her to be scorned by others as a child, do you think there is a single child in all of Konoha who would not recognize the Sharingan if they saw it and praise her instead of ridicule her?"

"I did not know any of that." Okatsu said, "But master, that does not truly disprove the theory. Somehow she does much of the same things an Uchiha can do."

"And Inuzuka Kyusaku does much of the things an Akimichi can do, think nothing of it." Kabuto said.

Okatsu nodded, "Well if she does not have the Sharingan . . ."

"She will not be one of the Sound Five." Kabuto said easily, "She will not survive the fall of Konoha."

"So who are the members of the Sound Five? Miura is dead, so he can't lead them." Okatsu said. "Do you plan to revive him?"

"I cannot revive the dead. I do not have that much of Lord Orochimaru's power." Kabuto said bitterly, "And never mind that. There's no need for you to know who the future leaders of this organization are going to be."

"Whatever." Hikaru scoffed, "Tell you what though, if I'm about to kill one of them let me know before I go through with it, don't give me a trapped sword like you did to the demon boy."

"Of course. Then again, I doubt you can defeat these children." Kabuto smiled. "I know you once had Hyuga Shiroi at your mercy, but I do not think it would be possible for you to do so again."

"She didn't seem that powerful." Hikaru scoffed.

"Perhaps, but consider that the modifications I have made to your body do include certain inhibiters . . . there are things that you simply cannot do, killing one of my chosen is one of them. Attempting to attack me is another."

Okatsu was relieved that the subject of conversation had left her failure to acquire the girls until Kabuto said, "The two of you will have to go in person. You," He pointed to Minoru Hikaru, "will go feigning a desire to rejoin the ranks of the Cloud village; you will become our man within. Seduce Hattori Kasumi over to our way of thinking and bring her to me _unsullied_."

"Don't worry, I like sullying women but I'm not into doing it with kids." Hikaru said irritably.

"Well "unsullied" can mean a lot of things, it doesn't have to mean _that_." Okatsu offered.

"I know what _he _meant by it." Hikaru scoffed.

"I doubt it. Carry out the order." Kabuto said coldly, "And you, obtain Hyuga before Konoha falls. Use the fall as cover for the action if you must, but remember she must come willingly. If you fail me I will be through with you."

Okatsu shuddered, "Y-yes master."

"You are running out of time." Kabuto said lightly, "Why are you still here?"

"Yes master." Okatsu said dejectedly as Kabuto disappeared.

"Hmm . . . seems unhappy with us." Hikaru said evenly. "Want to screw around before we leave? It'd tick him off that we decided not to leave right away, and it could be our last chance to do so."

"Oh what a tragic event _that _would be. You're nothing but a pass time and right now I have no time to waste." Okatsu scowled.

"Tell yourself that, baby, I know you'll think of me the whole way to Konoha."

"We're not going together?" She asked.

"That would be rather stupid, don't you think? Of course we're not going together, I'm going to Kumo, I'll find Hattori there right before Lightning makes its move, let her wet her blade on some idiots and bring her back here for her training as a member of the Sound Five."

"Sound Four if they can't find someone to replace Miura. Maybe even the Three if the master intended to have Akuma as a part of it."

"It won't matter." Hikaru shrugged, "I'll see you around maybe."

Okatsu scoffed, she didn't care if Hikaru saw her or not, as long as he finished his mission nothing else mattered.

As long as she finished her mission, nothing else mattered.

In the end it was the master's will and nothing else that justified their existence. She couldn't allow herself to fall from his favor.

She set off for Konoha, determined to bring back Hyuga Shiroi or not to return at all.

* * *

Naomasa sprang out at Hitomi, catching her by the wrist. 

She kneed him sharply in the stomach and sprang away. He'd expected the move but it came much faster than he'd anticipated, too fast for him to put his plan into action.

She spun around in time to see his clones coming at her from behind, turning her back on him and Nao sprang again, this time with some difficulty, and as Hitomi dispatched his clones he again grabbed her wrist.

This time when she tried to knee him in the stomach he expected the speed and leapt aside in time but didn't expect her to punch him with her free arm as well.

Strike two.

As he fell to the ground, he swept her legs out from under her, only to fail miserably as she leapt into the air.

But now he had her where he wanted her, another pair of clones leapt out from the tree line and intercepted Hitomi.

She dispatched them both while still in the air, but Naomasa used this opportunity to strike at her a third time.

This time he knew it would be successful; she withdrew her wrist so he couldn't grab it again and spun in midair so that as he rose she came down knees first.

Her knees slammed into his chest and they fell back.

Predictably, she kicked off from him before they could land so that her weight didn't crush his rib cage, but Naomasa didn't just let her go.

He grabbed her waist and she stumbled, landing roughly on her back.

He smirked, "Looks like I win." He said.

"I doubt it!" Hitomi scoffed.

But Naomasa's sole remaining clone emerged from the tree line just in time to pin Hitomi's arms. Naomasa crawled on top of her, reaching for the goggles.

But in doing so he released her legs.

He realized this as he was doing it and realized the mistake just as he completed the action.

Hitomi wrapped her legs around him tightly, he'd rather imagined that when he found himself on top of her with her legs wrapped around him it would be a pleasant, wonderful experience.

This wouldn't be. She shoved him forward into his clone, which dissipated when they banged heads, leaving Naomasa with the jarring memory of hitting his head against itself. Hitomi flipped so that she was now on top of him, and again Naomasa thought that when this happened he'd be far less dressed and far more thrilled about it, but Hitomi just pulled out a kunai and pressed it to his neck, "Clone number eight, I don't think you have any more. Concede?"

"That point yes, this match no." Naomasa said, reaching up for her goggles.

She leaned back, "Dope, I told you your arms are too short, mine are too long." She laughed.

Nao didn't reach for her goggles though, he very quickly changed his hand's trajectory.

He grabbed her by the collar of her flak jacket. It was a bit difficult. He could have more easily grabbed one of the pouches on her breast, but he suspected that would really, really tick her off, she'd accuse him of trying to touch her breast instead of focusing on the fight.

He didn't need her being ticked off just yet, what he was about to do would tick her off plenty.

He pulled her down sharply and put one hand on the back of her head, grasping the band that held the goggles in place.

She franticly put her hands over the goggles, and Naomasa leaned up.

He kissed her on the lips.

She froze in place, he considered how easy it would be to remove her goggles just then, while she was busy being shocked about what he'd just done.

Instead however he gave them a slight tug to let her know that he could have taken them off. Then he released them and scrambled away from her.

"Five." Hitomi whispered.

"What?"

"Four."

"Um . . ."

"Three . . ."

"Why are you counting down?" Naomasa asked.

"Two . . . "

Naomasa stared at her; she was still frozen in the same position she'd been in when he kissed her.

But when she said "One" she disappeared, suddenly she was holding him by the neck, "You had your chance to run."

"You didn't make the rules of the countdown clear!" Nao protested.

"I'm going to kill you. Who do you think you are just kissing me like that?"

"A really lucky guy?" Nao offered.

"Funny. So funny I'll let you die laughing. That was a complete and utter violation of my good will. It was a violation of _me_!"

"It was a business kiss," Naomasa said, "it wasn't romantic or sexual, I just did it because I knew it'd trip you up and let me get the goggles."

"You didn't take the goggles." Hitomi scowled, "You just wanted to kiss me."

"No, I just wanted you to know that I won. I could have squeezed your breasts if I was out to sexually harass you; they're closer to me than your collar and much bigger targets." Nao pointed out.

Hitomi smiled slightly and let him go, "Little jerk. Don't go around kissing girls without their permission. Of course I guess I can stand being kissed against my will better than I can stand having you actually snatch my goggles. Come to think of it if you had taken them off I'd probably do something childish like close my eyes and refuse to open them."

"I thought of that too." Nao said. "That's why I did what I did. You know that I can take the goggles, but I won't. Instead you know I can do it, and I get to have my first kiss with the girl I wanted to kiss; I'm the overall winner here." He smirked.

Hitomi shook her head and backed away from him, "I've got something I have to do. Goodbye."

He gulped, "You're not mad are you?"

Hitomi forced a smile and it was obvious, "Nao . . . I have things to do all right? I don't even care that we kissed."

"All right . . ." Nao said.

Hitomi set off but paused and said, "Incidentally . . . if it happens again . . . it had better be with my permission, or I will stab you."

"That sounds very fair." Naomasa nodded.

* * *

Eri folded her arms, "Gonna ease up on him?" She asked after Daisuke and Akira had bid their farewells and gone on their way. 

"Of course not." Nagahide said. "But I like him, he's not afraid to speak his mind, smart enough not to try to lie." He slapped his hands together, "Besides which his family was once well to do, they will be again if luck serves. If he weren't a Shinobi I'd be willing to let you continue dating him."

Eri rolled her eyes, "You know if Emi can marry a Samurai why can't I _date _a Shinobi?"

"Shinobi are criminals, that's why." Nagahide sighed.

"You had me climb over a wall to break us into a city." Eri pointed out.

"This is a good point . . . I think I'm going to play the 'do as I say not as I do' card." Nagahide admitted.

Eri shook her head at her father, "Life's all about having fun, I had fun with Daisuke, _you _had fun giving him a hard time, I know you did."

"I said I did." Nagahide scoffed.

"So . . . you're giving me permission to date him." Eri said simply, "Otherwise I'll see how much fun it is to disobey you."

"Don't threaten me, missy. You can date him if you want, but you know the rules, you need a chaperone and if he sees you naked I'll hire the very best assassins to bring me his eyes in a jar. It doesn't matter anyway; your little relationship will be short. We're going as soon as Naomasa is ready to turn his back on this Shinobi nonsense."

"Please, there's no way he'll just give it all up." Eri scoffed.

"Why not?" Nagahide asked.

"Because once my sisters get married they never come back home." Eri said, "They find their place in life and they never abandon it. We go to visit _them_, they don't come to us. Naomasa has found his place in life; it's to be a Shinobi. But this doesn't have to be super terrible, daddy . . . you could open a shop in Konoha . . . put Naomasa in charge of it. Lots of Shinobi have second jobs; Nao can be both your heir and a Shinobi."

"You're insane." Nagahide laughed. "Naomasa can't run a shop."

"Well . . ." Eri said softly, "I _am _sixteen now, I'm willing to bet--"

"No." Nagahide said flatly, "Just . . . no. Not happening."

"I could keep an eye on Naomasa until he's ready to take over the shop, in two years he'll be fifteen, old enough to take over just in time for me to go off and marry whoever it is you think I should be marrying, it works perfectly."

"When you turn eighteen he'll still be fourteen."

"Emi's been eighteen for about seven months, dad. Nao's birthday is two months after mine, you're grasping at straws."

"I'm going to have to play the "you're not your sister" card, the war made us unsure of Emiko's match. Akira-san could have _died _at some point you know." Nagahide said, sitting down on a bench. "Eri-chan you're . . . you're my last daughter. I understand the necessity of getting you and all your sisters married to good men who'll take care of you, but frankly having to say goodbye isn't easy because, as you so eloquently pointed out, _I'm _the one who has to do the visiting, you girls never come to see me or your mother."

Nagahide massaged his forehead and said "What you're asking me to do is give up you and Emiko at the same time, and give up on bringing home my only son. I don't have the resources to vacation forever, touring the world, visiting my kids all the time you know, and it isn't like your mother and I can have more."

"I don't see why not. You're not _that _old, mom's still pretty good looking." Eri shrugged.

"We don't want to be raising children when we're seventy, we don't want to assume that we're going to live to see seventy. I know I have to let you all go but I've gotten used to having eighteen years to spend with you all. Naomasa ran off, but I still have you and Emiko. It's time to say goodbye to her, but I find I have a chance to get Naomasa back. How can you expect me to just leave him here, worse build up a shop in a place where it failed before?"

"Well . . . how long have you hated Shinobi?" Eri asked.

"I've never hated them." Nagahide scoffed.

"You seem to. So . . . realizing that your customer base would have been Shinobi and their friends and family . . . well maybe you were the problem, not the location. Naomasa _is _a Shinobi, he and the shop would be accepted by the community exactly the way you weren't. Nao can do it. I'm sure he can because he's an Ishida, like you and me. He's got skills."

"That he does." Nagahide said calmly. "I'll think about it Eri . . . you just think about what you're asking me and your mother to do."

"Risk opening a new shop, making more money, and giving your only male heir a chance to get a good crash course in running the family business? Man I'm such a demon." Eri said with a smirk.

"There's that. There's also the fact that you expect us to leave a hormone driven sixteen year old girl to her own devices in a place where yes, she could indeed make a profitable shop, but simultaneously, would be exposed to dozens of eager young men, many of them Shinobi. You've already started dating one. I have lots of grand children Eri, but you're not allowed to produce any for at least another two years."

Eri was about to make a joke about the fantastic efficiency of contraceptives these days, but felt that might be very much the wrong thing to say.

She was trustworthy . . . but such jokes might lead her father to think otherwise.

She smiled lightly and said "I think Daisuke's noble enough not to try anything."

"I think he wouldn't try anything _dishonest_, but if you _both _incorrectly felt like it was _right_ . . . can you honestly tell me you'd be able to tell the difference between what your heart and soul want, and what your body demands?"

"I dunno, hasn't come up yet." Eri admitted.

"Well ponder it, girl. I may let you and Naomasa run a Konoha branch . . . but can I trust you to run your own lives? I think not. It would be grossly irresponsible."

"That's why you're the coolest dad." Eri said.

"But I _am_ your father, I can't be irresponsible about the really important matters, this is an insanely important matter."

"I know." Eri said. "Maybe you and mom can live here too. Move the base of operations, you know?"

Nagahide shook his head, "We'll both consider these things, and we'll talk to your brother. We'll sort all this out."

"So you'll consider not sending Nao back home?" Eri asked.

"I'll consider letting him remain a Shinobi provided he continues the family business. The war is almost over, he won't be forced to kill any further after this."

"Right." Eri said, she didn't mention that after the war missions would still come up where Nao might have to kill because she knew what her father's answer to that would be.

Outside of the war the need to kill would be less powerful, a Shinobi could meet a Shinobi from a rival village and if they weren't truly at war there would be no need to kill that rival Shinobi unless the mission's success depended on it. That was the way of Ninja.

It was great too, because it allowed the ninja to learn from their mistakes, unlike Samurai who would either die, or would take their own lives if they were left in the same situation as a Shinobi who had failed his mission.

She imagined the man shed' someday marry. Would he be a samurai like Emiko's fiancé? Would he be a merchant, or a prince? Would he, by some strange chance, be a Shinobi, like Daisuke?

Would he be Daisuke?

She smiled to herself and said "You know dad, I don't care how many kids I have, how much responsibility I have, no matter what I promise to visit you and mom every once in a while."

Nagahide smiled weakly, "I'd like that. But you know . . . all of your sisters spoke similarly. They haven't been able to actually keep up their end of the visitation and I still love them. If you can't pull yourself away long enough to see your mother and I, we won't be upset."

"Maybe not, but I would." Eri said.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Remember the message boards y'all! Feel free to make new topics if what you want to discuss isn't being discussed.


	120. The Leader of Team Ten

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Twenty**

Hitomi took a deep breath. Hara had just stepped out of Miyuki's room as she arrived and the look on his face told her he wasn't happy to see her.

Perfect.

She approached him with quick strides; he tilted his head towards Miyuki's door and said "She's about the same. She's been seen by Sakura and Shizune, and Lady Tsunade but . . . well they still don't know what the problem is."

"Yeah, I've been wondering about that." Hitomi said, forcing hostility into her voice.

Hara detected it and began to walk away, "Well if you can figure out what the problem is I'm sure Hokage-sama and her aids will feel pretty stupid."

"You _know _that's not what I meant." Hitomi scowled, "You, what's _your _problem."

Hara spun around, "What? I don't have a problem, you're imagining things."

"Then you've got no problem and you're just being a jerk." Hitomi reasoned.

"Yes, that seems about accurate." Hara nodded.

"But you're not a jerk." Hitomi scowled, "Not usually. You're one of the few men I don't hate because you're nice _and_ you don't stare at my chest very often."

"I _do _stare at your chest." Hara admitted after a long pause.

"Not often." Hitomi repeated.

"Yeah but . . . still, thought I'd fess up to it. How'd that happen anyway? You always work out, they should be flatter now than they were when you were a kid so how're they so--"

"Don't change the subject!" Hitomi hissed, "Why are you being so hostile? Don't you realize that as a commander you can't go around treating me like trash over some personal issue? So either you need to drop it, fess up to _that _instead, or for the love of all ninja arts tell me why I am, _professionally _irritating you."

"It's a mix of both." Hara scowled, "You . . . you just . . ." Hara leaned against the wall. "Why?" He asked.

"What? Why what?" Hitomi demanded.

"Why are you the way that you are?" Hara asked. "Why did you hold yourself back all this time? All this time I thought it was up to me to protect you and Miyuki, now you obviously don't need me and Miyuki . . . Miyuki might not even open her eyes ever again. So why? Why did you lie to me for _years_, letting me think I was somehow necessary?"

Hitomi scoffed, "Don't you go trying to pin blame on me, Hara Masamune," She told him. "You're just as important now as you ever were, I haven't changed. Just because we're the same rank doesn't mean I don't need you to watch my back, or that I wasn't watching yours before and won't continue to do so now."

"You didn't answer my question!" Hara snapped.

"What? Why am I so screwed up? I don't know, maybe it was my mom running out on me as a kid, maybe it was my dad dying on a meaningless mission, _maybe _it was spending a good portion of my life being called a freak. I don't know why I am the way that I am."

"You're dodging now." Hara snapped. "I know about your parents, and your past, I'm not asking you why you're a lunatic, Hitomi. I want to know why you're a _liar_. Why you hold back for no good reason. When you got into that fight during the Chuunin exams and got so badly hurt you healed quickly not because you're a good healer, but because you weren't all that badly hurt, were you? You faked it to seem weaker."

Hitomi folded her arms, "I nearly died."

"Another lie." Hara hissed. "Why am I treating you differently? Why do I not trust you with the same level of responsibility? Why am I snapping at you over little things? It's because you're a coward and a liar. I love you like a sister, I really do. People still call you a freak you know. Whenever you're not around, every once in a while I overhear them and I shut them up. Miyuki shuts them up too; we fight your battles because you're one of us. You're like our sister. It was okay because I thought you'd do the same for either of us."

Hitomi closed her eyes behind her goggles, she knew people still insulted her and she ignored it. She didn't know that Hara and Miyuki had been standing up for her. But then it made sense, after all she _would _do the same for either of them.

Hara punched the wall, "But you've been cheating us, playing Chuunin when you could have been better than that! All the times I could have used a Jounin in the squad I now have no clue whether or not you were holding out on me! What about the times before I was a Jounin? Were you at Jounin level then? Could I have counted on you to do something more than you did? The samurai and soldiers we traveled with from time to time, some of them died, but might they have been saved if you lived up to your damned potential, Hijiri?" Hara shook his head and pounded the wall again, "I don't know what to do with you! I can't _trust _you! The one person other than Miyuki-chan and Naruto-sensei that I felt _got _me, that I felt I could die for and you're not even _trustworthy_!"

Hitomi shook her head slowly, "I-I am. I would never endanger . . . I mean I never . . . I never _ever _held back when your lives were on the line. You and Miyuki and Sensei are my family, I wouldn't ever hold out on you guys."

"How do I know that?" Hara asked softly.

"You know _me_ don't you?" Hitomi whispered. "What you thought you knew, it's all still true. I'm the same, I just have a different rank."

"You got it because you fought like a Jounin, not because you _acted_ like one."

"So I can move faster when my life depends on it. I didn't land a blow, Hara, I was just trying to stay alive and every strike aimed at me was one he couldn't take at our elderly Hokage, or the nearly useless Moegi-san." Hitomi said. "I . . . I don't even know why I did it. If I wanted to die, or if I wanted to test myself, something just came over me and I charged in there thinking I'd find some sort of clarity, but I don't know whether or not it happened and I don't know why I felt like I needed it."

Hara shook his head, "I keep thinking of all the times we went into battle, I was always totally prepared to take a knife for you, to stand between you and death, now I wonder if I had would I have been wasting my life? I could have died trying to protect someone who didn't need protection. Miyuki could be dying right now and . . . I don't know. I know what happened to her isn't your fault . . . but I--"

"You're blaming me anyway, aren't you?" Hitomi blinked, "Oh my gosh. So you don't trust me, _and _you blame _me _for Miyuki?"

"I know I shouldn't." Hara said coldly, "Part of me keeps telling the rest that there was nothing you could have done. You didn't know what was going on, neither of us did. Miyuki didn't get the chance to call for help, I know that if you'd known you'd have been there to help her. _Part _of me knows that. Another part of me looks at Miyuki and thinks that you should have gone to the infirmary, checked up on her when I was called away. Maybe then you could have prevented everything, you whose eyes don't miss a thing could have seen whatever it was that attacked her, you who has the speed of a Jounin and according to Tsunade-sama the fighting skills and determination of one too, should have been able to knock Miyuki out of the way, and together you two might have been able to fight that guy before Proctor Udon died, before those kids got hurt, could have stopped everything. I know it's insane, but that's what I think . . . now tell me I'm wrong."

Hitomi blinked, "You _are _wrong."

"Really? If you were there you couldn't have done that?" Hara asked with a raised eyebrow.

Hitomi swallowed hard and looked at the ground. "If I were there . . . maybe I could have. Or maybe I'd be lying in the bed across from Miyuki. Either way I wasn't there, we can't change that. I'm sorry Hara, I know you're in love with Miyuki and I know how hard it is for you to see her like that. But . . . you and I are friends. Don't throw me away because you want someone to hate."

"I'm not." Hara said.

Hitomi looked at him and said "You know you can trust me. You _know _it somewhere in that mixed up brain of yours. But if you don't _believe _it ask that I be transferred. Send me away and I'll understand, I won't hold a grudge or hate you for it. I'll just accept it. When you're ready to trust me again, I'll transfer right back to this squad and we'll act like none of this ever happened."

Hara shook his head slowly and said "I'll consider that. Send you away to some squad that wouldn't understand you, some captain who'd expect you to be someone you're not. Basically throw my sister to the sharks. Yeah, I'll get right on that." Hara sighed and said "You're part of Team Hara, we're a family, that's what Sensei taught us. We'll work this out, we'll find out what your capabilities are and I'll do my best to listen to the rational part of my brain that tells me to trust you."

Hitomi smiled weakly, "Family huh? So . . . does that mean if you and Miyuki _did _hook up it'd be incest?"

Hara laughed, he was her captain, her friend, and she supposed on a level her brother. He was himself again to a degree but that same tension was there.

Now she knew what it was, now she knew why he felt it . . . and she felt like she'd won a victory today. He walked away without another word, and she went in to see Miyuki.

* * *

Shikamaru leaned back against a wall and smirked at his three students, "You look good Kotaro."

"Thanks, sensei." Kotaro said. "Why'd you call us out here so late at night?"

"Is it to tell us who's Chuunin?" Yomiko asked.

"I _can_ tell you now, but it'd be too troublesome, so I won't. The letters have been dispatched, you're all going to know in the morning whether or not you're Chuunin." Shikamaru said. He looked at his little group, "Keep in mind that at this time you are all Genin, you are all on equal standing. I'm proud of all of you."

He went on, "Yomiko, in the first exam you took charge and pulled your team through when they weren't well. It's true that Kotaro handled the last stage of it, but you were the truly impressive one. You didn't forget team work in the final exam, even when the stress was on you stayed on top of your game as well as anyone could have hoped for. "

He watched Yomiko swell with pride, and noted with approval the looks of agreement on Kotaro and Naomasa's faced. They weren't jealous that he'd just praised her over them. That was good.

Maybe he hadn't done such a bad job with these kids.

"Kotaro, you used strategy to nearly defeat an enemy that had a major advantage over you, it being that while you were trying not to kill him, he had no such reservation. You've acted as this group's leader before and I know you're a good one, they know you're a good one. You're a deadly combatant and a deadly strategist, a combination that spells doom for anyone who opposes this team."

Kotaro shrugged, "Just doing what I can with what I've got." He said.

Shikamaru smirked, "Well keep it up. Finally Naomasa, I mention you last but don't think that marks you as the least in this group. You've gone from a merchant's son to a Shinobi of impressive caliber. You have enough chakra to clone yourself a dozen times and still be an effective fighter, you are as adept with Fire Jutsu as an Uchiha and while some will tell you it isn't your strong suit your strategies are as creative and successful as any Uzumaki Naruto used. Take that as a compliment."

"Y-yes." Nao said.

Shikamaru nodded. "So it's time for you to know what your next mission is going to be. You'll have a bit of time to prepare, and of course any of you who become Chuunin can throw parties and what not."

"You're not throwing us a party, sensei?" Kotaro smirked behind his mask.

Shikamaru laughed, "Me? Take that kind of initiative? _Way _too troublesome."

"Figures." Naomasa said with a wink.

Shikamaru smiled, "Your upcoming mission is caravan escort. You are going to the border, to the recaptured Land of Waves, you'll get to travel over the Great Naruto Bridge. You have a shipment of medicine for the people, it's imperative that you get it there safely. You're traveling through dangerous enemy controlled territory, and you won't be alone. You'll have an Anbu traveling with you, you are _not _to speak to her under any normal circumstances. If there is a fight do as you see fit, she will be under the command of your squad's commander."

"Sensei . . . you're talking like--"

"Like I won't be going with you?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "I won't be. In my stead one of you will need to lead. Understand I've thought this out thoroughly and you'll understand it's not because the other two aren't equipped to lead, rather there are other reasons behind my decision."

Shikamaru looked at the team, "This mission is going to take you deep into allied territory, you should be safe, and there should be no need for me to go along. You will be escorting the Ishida merchant family on their way to the Land of Waves. Because I'm not going, and no other Jounin is going, one of you is going to be in command."

The other two looked at Kotaro, and he tensed. Shikamaru hated to surprise them but, "The leader I've chosen is Sarutobi Yomiko."

"What?" Yomiko squeaked.

"Kotaro has practiced time and again the qualities of a leader, I want him to try to take it easy on this mission though." Shikamaru said, "Naomasa's family is involved so he shouldn't be the one to make decisions on this trip, his father and mother would have too much influence over him, and if he gave them an order they didn't like I doubt they'd follow it."

"But me?" Yomiko squeaked.

"Yes you, Yomiko. You can use this as an opportunity to show us the sort of leader you are, and besides that you're a girl from an esteemed Shinobi clan, they'll accept your decisions more readily than they would Naomasa's, and this way Kotaro can continue to recover his strength without having to deal with a lot of stress from whiney clients."

"What about the Anbu, shouldn't she lead?" Yomiko asked.

"I told you you're not to speak with her at all." Shikamaru sighed, "The reason is classified, but when you return I'll tell you what the big deal was."

"Okay . . ." Yomiko said.

"Do you two have any problem with Sarutobi leading?" Shikamaru asked.

"No." Kotaro said simply.

"Sensei's right, Yomiko, it's got to be you." Naomasa said, "They won't listen to me at all, and Kotaro should use this light duty to rest up, not wrack his brain with decisions."

"You're just repeating what sensei said." Yomiko scoffed.

"Because it's true." Nao shrugged, "I'm highlighting the important parts for you in case you missed them."

"How courteous." Yomiko sighed with mild sarcasm. "Okay sensei, I guess I'll take the lead on this trip."

"It was never really a question." Shikamaru smirked, "I knew I could rely on you."

* * *

Hitomi smiled weakly at Miyuki, "You look good, too bad looks can be so deceiving. I wonder if you can hear me . . . if I said something really outrageous would you wake up?" Hitomi sighed and sat down in a chair next to Miyuki's bed.

She sighed again for no apparent reason and whispered "I really wish you'd just open your eyes."

"Wishing doesn't bring things about. Why don't you stop wishing and do something useful?" A voice asked callously.

It was _so _the sort of thing Miyuki would have said that Hitomi glanced at her friend even though she knew the voice had come from the door, not the bed, and it most certainly didn't sound like Miyuki anyway.

Hitomi looked at Endo and shook her head, "Maybe you don't understand how we "bleeding hearts of Konoha" work. When one of our friends is hurt, we feel concerned. What do you do, eat your dead?"

"Only if they're not too gamy." Endo smiled lightly.

Hitomi folded her arms, "So what are you doing here?"

"I said I wanted to see your friend." The young man shrugged.

Hitomi tilted her head towards Miyuki, "There she is. Pretty huh? Now leave, Endo."

"First of all, you _know _what I actually meant, don't act like a moron. Second of all, call me Hayato."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen, Endo." Hitomi scoffed.

"Then don't call me anything." Endo said with a shrug.

"I like that option," Hitomi admitted, "But I think I will go with the one you dislike the most."

"You _are _a child." Endo smirked and put his hand on Miyuki's head.

"Don't touch her." Hitomi warned.

"Too late. Look, can you shut up, or leave, or something?" Endo sighed, "You're really distracting me."

Hitomi bristled, "This is my friend, and not your patient, if anyone should be leaving it's you."

"You can let me see what I can do." Endo suggested.

"What can you do that the Hokage and her aids can't?" Hitomi demanded.

"For starters? Actual medicine, not some magical mumbo jumbo. Where was she stabbed?"

"In the back." Hitomi scoffed.

"If you're not going to be helpful, leave." Endo said again.

"I just told you!" Hitomi snapped.

"In the back? In the back. Are you _trying _to be vague, or did you think that was a good enough description? What am I supposed to do, just roll her over and check? How am I going to see through her clothes? I assume the wound has disappeared thanks to your Medical Shinobi and their idiot magic. As a Shinobi you should know the names of various body parts, act like a professional and tell me where the wound was, or else show me. Unless, that is . . . you _do _know how to point, yes?"

This guy was like Miyuki's male equivalent, except much more of an ass. Hitomi found herself smirking simply because if he did manage to revive Miyuki they might hit it off and Hara would no doubt kill him out of jealousy.

That'd be funny, and it'd get rid of the smug slime ball.

Hitomi stood up, she pointed to an area of Miyuki's chest, "Right here, but from the back, it protruded through her chest and it's been completely cured."

"No, it hasn't." Endo said.

"Uh, yes, yes it has." Hitomi scoffed, "The Hokage herself treated the wound.

"So why's she unconscious?" Endo demanded.

"I'm not a doctor." Hitomi shrugged.

"Get one, and don't come back with them." Endo said, waving a hand.

"I'm going to kill you." Hitomi decided finally.

"Just a joke." Endo said.

"Are you aware that your jokes make you sound like a complete jerk?" Hitomi asked.

"Well if I cared about what you think that might be unfortunate. Since I don't care what you think however I believe I'm in good shape."

"Can't you just pretend to have some decency?" Hitomi demanded.

"That doesn't sound like something I'd do." Endo smiled lightly. "As for your friend . . . she's not totally healthy."

"Really?" Hitomi gasped in feigned shock, "What was your first clue?"

"Don't try to get cheeky. There's nothing more I can do here, her wound has healed up nicely it's up to her to want to live now."

"Excuse me?" Hitomi demanded.

"I'm going. You should be happy." Endo said.

"Oh I am . . . but there is just one thing before you leave." Hitomi folded her arms, "The medical supplies you've stashed away on your person. Return them."

Endo smiled and didn't bother trying to lie, "When did you notice?"

"Right away fool, my eyes don't miss the slightest detail. I was going to let it go if you actually helped Miyuki, but you used wanting to help her as an excuse to get in here and steal supplies. Why did you show up in this room at all?"

"Alibi." Endo smiled, "I guess I'm not as clever as I think I am."

"No one ever really is." Hitomi scoffed, "Return them and no one needs to know about it."

"You'll have to kill me first. I know a lot of men who need these more than you leaf bugs do." Endo said coldly.

"If we were allies Konoha would give you medicine just for the asking." Hitomi hissed.

"Yeah, what they can spare. I'm taking what I _need._" Endo said coldly, "You don't need it, I don't need it, but the soldiers . . . some of them are even younger than you and I are and they need this. If you stop me the lives of scores of men are on your hands."

"You're just a self righteous thief." Hitomi scowled.

"You can call me whatever you want, just don't tell anyone about this. We gave you information well worth ten times as much medicine as I've got on me now." Endo said coldly.

"What happens when Konoha needs the medicine?"

"By that time hopefully you'll have made more. Or else you can send someone like me to steal some form some other bleeding hearts." Endo looked at her, his tough face seemed to melt away and he whispered earnestly, "Please, just let me go. You don't know what it's like to let a man die because you haven't got the right drugs to save him, you don't understand what we've been through. Those soldiers are dying even now, all I want is what's necessary to save them. If you stop me you're just as responsible for their deaths as the Lightning country is."

"Maybe so. But I've been bound for hell since I was a child, a few more deaths on my hands won't change anything. Your death won't change anything either. I'm not asking you, doctor, I'm _telling _you to give up the medicine."

Endo looked surprised, he smiled weakly and removed every bit of medication, setting vials and pill bottles down on a small table near Miyuki's bed, "Fine. Maybe we'll get lucky and Konoha will actually give us a lot of what we need. But I doubt it."

"Nothing you could get your hands on in this place wouldn't be available to our allies, it's the theft we object to. Get out of this hospital. You may be stealing _for _the sick and afflicted, but you're also stealing _from _the sick and afflicted, and so you have no right to call yourself a doctor."

Endo shrugged, "I'm just a man trying to do what he can. I don't care if you think I have any right to call myself a doctor. But I will leave. I expect you'll clone yourself and follow me out to make sure it doesn't happen again, but I assure you I'm quite trustworthy. Still, if I see you following me I'll understand."

The man headed for the door then paused, he looked at Hitomi and said, "By the way . . . you may have taken a life or two in your time, but I believe hell is reserved for the evil. Someone who cares as much about her country and her friend as you do can't be all bad . . . so you probably won't go to hell."

"I will." Hitomi scoffed, "And I'll see you there."

Sure he was defeated and her remark was uncalled for. But seeing him give up his cocky smile made it all worthwhile. Yet another victory today. As he left Hitomi managed to smile weakly to herself as she resumed sitting next to Miyuki, "Showed him, eh?" She sighed.

She didn't make a clone, if Endo wanted to steal more medicine on his way out she didn't care. She wouldn't knowingly let it happen, but if she didn't see it and it saved someone's life . . . well fine.

To be sure she'd write down everything he had tried to take and suggest to the Hokage that it all be included in whatever medical relief Konoha sent to Kiri. Her personal dislike of Endo aside the men didn't need to suffer.

**To Be Continued.**

It may seem to be moving slowly, like the Chuunin exam arc, but Arc 4 is actually just about to explode, so remember to review and hit the message boards for discussion about the story.


	121. Marching Orders

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Twenty One**

Temari leaned against a wall as Gaara handed out the orders. He used sand to reach into the scroll case and hand the scroll to each Jounin captain, Temari couldn't help but wonder if he were really that lazy, or just showing off.

She already knew her orders would take her with the group that marched through the Waterfall country; it'd give her a solid week to look for Okatsu before they moved on into Earth.

"I want you all to understand," Gaara said as the final scroll reached Temari by way of sand, "That this offensive is our last, best chance for success. Our nation and our way of life hangs in the balance, our allies will be by our side but do not forget, or allow them to forget that we of Sunagakure are _strong_. Be certain as you advance, that you remember your training. Remember who and what you are. You are Shinobi, not Samurai. Do not duel, rather work together to bring down your foes. Do not let your pride blind you, listen to your subordinate's suggestions. Fight for your country, but fight dirty. Make them bleed, make them suffer, make them realize what folly it was to oppose us."

Temari smirked, but then Gaara threw something new at her.

"We'll be marching in part as a diversion for the full force of our allied armies," he said, and she scratched her head in visible confusion.

"What?" She interrupted.

The Kazekage, her younger brother shook his head, "Our allies in Konoha advised us that the enemy military is much larger than we anticipated. Konoha, Ame, Kusa and Taki will all be marching along with our armies far enough to draw the main enemy body away but close enough to aid us or recieve aid from us if the need is dire enough, which is why it is all the more important that we do the most damage. We must show our enemies that it was unwise to invade us in the first place, not that we have the stronger allies, but that we _are_ the strongest of allies."

Temari frowned, "When do we move out?"

"Right away, you'll arrive at your stations within two weeks; the armies will be fully assembled within a month."

The Jounin in the room cheered as they were dismissed but Temari stayed behind. "Gaara, no one but the highest heads in our allies were supposed to know we were launching this attack, but if Earth is building up its armies wouldn't that suggest that they already knew we were going to hit them?"

"No." Gaara said, "Not necessarily. They're surrounded now, their only remaining ally is Water and they've been crippled. Earth has two simple options; they can surrender, or they can bulk up and prepare for their last stand. They chose to go with the more costly of their options, and we'll see to it that they pay the price."

Temari frowned, "I feel really uncomfortable about all this. And what about you? I thought you would be leading the Shinobi force, these orders say it will be Kankuro."

"I wanted to but the Daimyo suggested that I remain in the village."

"He's got some nerve." Temari scowled.

"But he's right. From the village I can coordinate the attack."

"How's that?" Temari demanded.

"One of our latest designs," Gaara said evenly, showing her a crystal ball, "Through this ball I can view anyone wearing a Sunagakure headband at any time I choose." Temari felt very uncomfortable now, Gaara quickly added "Mind you I'd never view someone in a compromising situation on the odd chance that they either forgot or chose not to remove their headband before they engaged in some base, disgusting act with some foreign Jounin."

"Gee, thanks." Temari said dryly. "For the record, that's not new, village leaders have had crystal balls for ages."

"Yes, but being able to speak into them and be heard only by the person you wish to be heard by is new, at least to us. With that I can give individuals orders while surveying their state. Unfortunately this ball cannot leave the village, so to use this advantage I must remain behind."

"It feels like we're trading one kind of power for another, and I'm pretty sure our troops would feel more comfortable if you were with them."

"I know." Gaara said, throwing his hat over the crystal ball, "Which is why I will be. I would not miss this for all the riches in this world, Temari. I'm going to be there leading our troops from the front. That means someone else needs to be here, using the crystal ball."

"Not me!" Temari squealed, "I couldn't! I have to be out there too!"

"That's right. You are a bit too busty to pass for me anyway. I suspect I will be watched while I am in the village, so someone who can pass as me and still lead our troops will do. We do have another sibling. Acting Kazekage Kankuro will remain behind to coordinate the battle from here, while I provide the symbol our troops need to rally behind. This battle will be massive, Temari. We need every advantage we can get."

Temari nodded, "But at least it's going to be the last."

"I doubt it." Gaara said.

"Cheer up." Temari smirked, "You're making the future brighter, and with the sort of bloodshed we're about to face we know it'll be many generations before anyone's stupid enough to try for another Great Ninja war."

"Let's hope that there are ninja left in those days for there to be a Great Ninja _anything_." Gaara said. "Our way of life feels like it's slipping away, and I can't seem to stop it."

"Sure you can." Temari smirked, "Just go out, get married, start having babies and train them to be Shinobi. That's how anyone's way of life survives."

Gaara shook his head, "It worked for you, it might work for Kankuro, but for me I'm not so convinced. I'll consider it when the war's finished, when I can finally rest."

Temari nodded. "I guess I'd better head out."

"Make that an order, Captain." Gaara nodded. "You shouldn't be late."

Temari saluted her younger brother, and left.

Still she felt uneasy, something wasn't right about this upcoming battle. Something in her bones screamed that there was something out of place.

She considered what Shikamaru suspected about Syako. Could _she _have told the Earth Nation what was coming?

Would she be that stupid?

Temari cracked her knuckles, when this was over, she'd get the answers to those questions.

For now she and her team needed to make their way to the village hidden in waterfalls, where they'd rendezvous with the armies and the other Shinobi squads, and then move out for the front.

* * *

Tomoko lowered herself from the tree with her chains and pulled them back into her sleeves effortlessly, taking even minor chances to practice and perfect her ninja talents.

Yuu smirked, "Neat trick."

"Isn't it?" Tomoko laughed, she threw herself back against the tree in what should have been a smooth, casual motion but ended up being a little rough and mildly painful, "So Yuu," she said, determined to act as if she hadn't just slammed herself into a tree "you probably wonder why I've asked you here this late at night."

"It's nine." Yuu said, "It's not late."

"Nevertheless," Tomoko said, "I know how unseemly this is." She swallowed hard, "The thing is uh . . . I've got a couple of things to ask of you, and they're important."

"Okay . . ." Yuu said.

Tomoko took a deep breath and said "Okay . . . so . . . uh . . . first . . ." She closed her eyes and chided herself, she'd planned this for almost a week, she shouldn't have any problem asking him this question, this was the easy one.

She reached into a pack at her waist and grabbed a collection or pages bound together with some strings, "IneedyoutoreadthebookIwrote." She forced out in such a way that it actually sounded more like one very long confusing word.

"Huh?"

"I need you to read the book I wrote." Tomoko forced herself to say in a slower, calmer manner.

"No, I caught that part." Yuu said.

"Really?" Tomoko blinked.

"Yeah, but I mean you wrote a book?" He looked at her in surprise, "that's . . . that's really awesome."

Tomoko blushed, "It uh . . . it's nothing really. So you'll read it?"

"Yeah sure." Yuu said.

"Great. I'm uh . . . going to need some help with it too. Most of the books I read are _entirely _different from it, so I couldn't use them as reference, not that I'd want to mooch off someone else's writing anyway! But reading so much made me decide I wanted to write a book too, but it's lacking some things, like a title, and an ending. "

"Those are two pretty important things." Yuu agreed. "You'll find them though."

"Yeah, with your help I think so." Tomoko said, "Just read through it."

"Sure." Yuu said. "What's the other thing you wanted?"

Tomoko laughed uneasily.

Now came the harder request.

Of course they were both pretty difficult if she really thought about it, after all she was asking Yuu to read her book, but in a way she was asking him to evaluate her creativity, her very soul.

What she was about to ask him now was no less frightening, but it shouldn't be _more _difficult.

"I uh . . . I don't want you to go out with any other girls when you get back to Kumo." Tomoko blurted.

Yuu smirked, "You thought there was danger of that, eh?"

"Hey, I just want to be sure you know . . . I'm the jealous type. I mean uh, I'm not ready for us to start _doing _anything more than we're already doing, but uh . . . I mean between you and me I kind of think if someone asked me if you were my boyfriend . . . I'd want to say that you were. Instead of just a guy I always hang out with."

Yuu grinned at her, "I'm in favor of that idea."

"Good." Tomoko said. "So uh . . . that's that then. I've got an hour before curfew so . . . you've probably already eaten. We could uh . . ."

"We could go for a walk." Yuu suggested.

"Yeah. That works." Tomoko smirked, "This time we get to hold hands."

"That might be too much of a step forward for me." Yuu smirked.

"Oh yeah? See if you can stop me." Tomoko smirked, reaching for his hand.

"Did you forget who you're talking to?" Yuu laughed, phasing his hand right through hers.

"You'll drop your guard eventually." Tomoko laughed.

"Around you? That's not likely." Yuu said.

Tomoko reached out and grabbed his hand, "Oh yeah? What's this then?"

He phased through her again, "What's what?"

She smirked, "Oh I bet you think you've won."

"The thought played through my head, yes." Yuu smiled.

"Well just keep in mind, I offered just to hold your hand."

"Eh?"

She threw her arms around him and put her head on his shoulder, "If you phase now I'll fall through you and hurt myself, you wouldn't want that." Tomoko said.

"Okay, okay, we can hold hands." Yuu laughed.

"Nah, I like this better. Get with the walking." She told him. She smiled to herself, realizing that she pretty much knew now what it was about boys that made Shiroi stop acknowledging her existence. She wondered though, if Shiroi would see her and get super jealous like she used to. She hoped not, it could ruin an already dangerously uneasy friendship.

* * *

Sasuke glanced at Tsunade and Sakura, then to Shizune and Ibiki, all seated in the Hokage's office. "I'm positive that both of these girls are wanted by the Sound Organization."

"So what do you suggest?" Shizune asked.

"We could use them as bait to lure out the Sound shinobi." Ibiki suggested.

"Out of the question." Tsunade said, "If Kabuto wants them I don't want to take _any _chance that he'll actually get them, and that slimly rat can sniff his way through our best traps and still steal the cheese."

Shiroi shifted uncomfortably, but Kasumi laughed rudely, "So you're going to kill us aren't you? Because you're afraid. Typical, just what I should have expected."

"Who said anything like that?" Sakura scoffed, "Why if we wanted to kill you it'd be done already, you're just a Genin, Chuunin if you're lucky."

"Rank is meaningless." Kasumi spat, "I know you're afraid."

"You're right." Tsunade said, "But we're not afraid of what you think we are. Kabuto is a malignant being, he'll use you like a tool to accomplish his goals and those goals will spell doom for everyone. If he needs either of you it's best for you and everyone else that he doesn't get to you. We don't fear him or his plan, but we do fear _for _you, and we don't want to let him use you the way his master used to use people."

Sasuke nodded, "You might think you're hot stuff just because he wants you, but for all you know the only thing he wants is your body."

"If I got power in exchange I'd work in a whore house." Kasumi scoffed. "What am I going to do? Save myself for marriage?"

"I don't see why not." Sakura said dryly, giving Sasuke an annoyed look.

"But that's not what we mean." Sasuke said firmly, cutting in before Hattori Kasumi could argue with Sakura, determined to remain focused on the problem at hand, "Kabuto won't want your body in that way, he would probably try to take over your body. Orochimaru sought to move his soul from body to body as a means of gaining power and living forever, male or female it didn't matter to him. Kabuto currently has infused within him a part of Orochimaru, it's possible that that part is struggling to get out, and he's seeking a body for it. His want could even come down to simply planning to pluck out your eyes and use them for himself. Kabuto doesn't care if his plans ruin your life, you're not even a person to him, you're a means to an end, and that end is the nightmare of the rest of the world."

"For you. It might be grand for me." Kasumi scoffed.

"Really?" Tsunade asked. "And why is that, child? Why do you stand before us so confident that everything we tell you is wrong?"

"Because you're a village of liars, worthless scum." Kasumi sneered, "Just kidding of course. Even if I believed it I'd have to be pretty stupid to say something like that to your faces, don't you think?"

"Indeed." Tsunade said with narrow eyes.

"Or cocky." Shizune scoffed.

"Or utterly off your rocker." Sasuke added harshly.

"Enough." Tsunade said. "You're not my vassal, you belong to the village hidden in clouds, and the Raikage will decide what's best for you."

"Like he knows, he's screwing a Konoha liar." Kasumi spat. "If this Kabuto person wants to burn Konoha I say I'm with him, so long as he takes Uzumaki down too, you all can be his slaves. Just kidding."

Sasuke massaged his forehead, but Sakura slammed her fist down on the Hokage's desk, leaving a hole that Tsunade might never be able to repair, "Enough you rotten little brat! We know you're not kidding, so stop pretending we're a bunch of idiots."

"Who's pretending?" Kasumi sneered. "You have no power over me. Unless you think you're going to murder me, like you murdered my dad."

"Your father betrayed the alliance, was condemned by his own Daimyo, and attempted to assassinate the ambassadors." Tsunade said firmly, "I don't know what fanciful scenario you've managed to substitute for truth, but the fact is your father was a traitor even to your own nation."

"My father was murdered by you evil monsters!" Kasumi screamed.

"The truth is hard to take," Tsunade said viciously, "But lies are no substitute. Your father betrayed our good will, tried to kill one of my most promising Jounin, and might I add, ruin the alliance that is keeping this village from burning to the ground."

"It _should _burn, you should all die!" Kasumi screamed.

"You'd die first, trash!" Shiroi spat, "You can't even beat me, what the heck are you harping on about? Do you hear half the things you say? Because so far you've already admitted to being our enemy, I heard that pretty clear, you insulted one of my relatives, not that I should be surprised because you insulted them all when you challenged me, and you said you were a whore, which I can _totally _believe."

"Shiroi!" Sasuke rebuked but Kasumi laughed like an insane person.

"Little sounds from little people scared of the truth, scared of what they may have brought on themselves. This Kabuto person must hate you for a reason; people don't go around hating things without a good reason."

"You're the exception then." Shiroi said dryly.

"No, I have reason. Your incompetence killed my teammate, your treachery killed my father, your alliance killed our Daimyo! Yes I know all about that, I was part of the team that carried it out. I _know _the sort of dirty deeds you Konoha Shinobi get up to, and now you know how much I know, you know I can spill the beans and who _wouldn't _believe me? Lord Taiko would be outraged! He'd lead Lightning against you in the ultimate war! Except it wouldn't be much of a fight because once your secrets and lies and traitorous tricks are blown away you're nothing!"

Sasuke shook his head, "What do we do with her? Sounds like she's in Kabuto's camp already."

"Let her go, let her brother deal with her. But first, girl . . . understand that Konoha had nothing to do with your Daimyo's death. If you truly participated in a mission to kill him, understand that it was a Kumogakure affair, Konoha had _nothing_ to do with it. Secondly, while we apologize for the death of your teammate, it was your own father's attack that distracted our Jounin from the matches and it was Kabuto's attack that took our Anbu away, the examiners were watching more than just you, and that much is regrettable, but know that before you go about declaring _us _your enemies, be fully aware of the part your heroes played in the events that you use to shape your hatred."

"Yeah, yeah." Kasumi scoffed. "It's easy to make up lies when you lead a village of liars."

"You're walking a dangerous line, young lady." Shizune warned. "I don't have to listen to you insult Lady Tsunade like that!"

"Yeah, but you will, because you're a coward either way. Either you're the coward to is too afraid to fight for her leader, or you're the coward who's only willing to fight a little kid, a Genin."

Shizune stood up, "I'll be the sort of coward that puts you in a body cast you little bit--"

"Stop." Tsunade ordered, and Shizune, face red either with rage or embarrassment took her seat again.

"Hah." Kasumi stuck out her tongue.

"Don't forget there is one Genin in here that's not afraid to fight for her leader, nor would such a fight be against someone of lesser rank . . . just lesser brain." Shiroi said.

"Never in a fair fight." Kasumi scoffed.

"Good thing I'm a ninja." Shiroi scoffed back.

Sasuke looked to Tsunade, "Well?" He asked.

Tsunade was silent for a moment, and then she said, "Well . . . you'll have to keep an eye on Hyuga Shiroi. I know you had plans for observing Jounin Hijiri--" Sasuke blinked, he hadn't told the Hokageabout that yet, had he? He had been rather mixed up since the exams, "but you will not be able let Shiroi out of your sight from this point forward. Treat anyone approaching her with absolute suspicion, her family is not even to be trusted until they're cleared by _me_. As for Hattori here, she's under _my _observation until I speak to her brother, the Raikage in the morning."

"Talk to him now, I'm not spending another minute with a dried up old hag like you."

"A dried up old hag who'll put you in a body cast you little bi--" Tsunade roared but Sakura, Shizune and Ibiki all held her back.

"Hokage-sama!" Sakura protested.

Tsunade just winked though, "You see child, _that _is a joke. When you joke, everyone should be able to laugh afterwards."

Sasuke smirked. Everyone did laugh, except Kasumi.

And the laughter was a little bit forced; Sasuke had to admit Tsunade had been fairly convincing, he wasn't so sure she'd just been kidding.

"All the same, Sakura, you keep an eye on her until the morning." Tsunade said. "It might not hurt . . . if she could meet Naruto."

Kasumi started to shake, "What're you going to do, feed me to your demon?" She demanded.

"If he's hungry for something so rotten." Sakura smirked.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Don't forget to frequent the message boards, something I myself am going to have to do more often. Link's still in my profile.

Hmm . . . almost time for another bonus chapter.


	122. A Little Talk

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Twenty Two**

Shikamaru sighed as Sumiko downed another cup of ice cream, "I swear, I'm never going to forgive Naruto for bringing you here, Sumiko."

"I'll forgive him." Kotaro said.

"Ditto." Naomasa agreed. "After all, it did mean you had to take us here too."

"I don't know, ladies shouldn't eat a whole lot of fatty foods." Yomiko sighed.

"Have you seen my mom?" Kotaro raised an eyebrow.

"Your mom is super athletic, Taro, she can eat what she wants." Yomiko grumbled.

"You're super athletic." Naomasa pointed out, "So enjoy this, it may be our last taste of civilized junk food."

"Be real, you don't leave on your mission for another week." Shikamaru smirked. "You'll find a chance to eat something without any nutritional value by then."

"But tomorrow we know which of us are leaving as Chuunin." Kotaro pointed out. "Chuunin don't eat junk food before missions."

Kotaro obviously wasn't thinking of Chouji, who'd eaten before and during missions as a Genin, Chuunin, and still as a Jounin, even though he'd cut back somewhat.

Now Naomasa looked less interested in his ice cream.

Shikamaru sighed, "Don't think too hard on whether or not you're Chuunin. The decision is already made, if you're a Chuunin it's because you already have the qualities, you're ready to be an officer, just keep doing what you're doing and you won't bring any shame on yourself or the village. What'll chance is the difficulty of your missions, then only because you're good enough for tougher ones. But if you're _not _a Chuunin, it's because you weren't ready _this _time, but don't let that leave any of you three thinking you're inferior. You're the best Genin I've ever seen."

Shikamaru glanced at Sumiko, "And this is the most _fattening _ice cream I've ever seen. That do anything for you? No? I didn't think so." Shikamaru sighed at his daughter, who hadn't so much as looked up from her ice cream.

"If you don't want her to eat it, why not just stop buying her any?" Kotaro asked.

"This could be comfort food, what with Temari being gone and her being such a mama's girl."

"And like, Syako's gone too so like, she hasn't got like her favorite like, babysitter like either . . . like ya know?" Yomiko giggled.

"Like, totally." Kotaro and Nao said together.

Shikamaru massaged his forehead, "Do you put alcohol in this ice cream?" He asked the vendor, who just shrugged. "Could you start for my sake? Or some sort of sleeping pills, just to shut 'em all up."

"I'll see what I can do." The vendor smiled.

"He thinks I'm _joking_." Shikamaru said with feigned shock.

Sumiko raised her cup in Shikamaru's face, "Yes, yes that _is_ fascinating." Shikamaru said.

Sumiko tried to urgently raise the cup higher and Shikamaru finally gave in and ordered her some more. He stared at his daughter, wondering how she managed to eat so much junk food when, according to his mother, Sumiko's nominal babysitter when he wasn't around, Sumiko wasn't really wild about eating _anything_.

Except ice cream it seemed. The child wouldn't tolerate a candy bar but look out if you had a scoop of strawberry.

Or chocolate. Or raspberry. Or vanilla. She didn't take to mint right away though. Shikamaru didn't really feel like trying her out on too many other flavors, he'd given up on figuring out what she _wouldn't _like, she seemed determined to enjoy every ice cream flavor there was.

Kids.

"So sensei, what sort of mission do we have ahead of us?" Kotaro asked.

"Simple, you take the Ishida family to the Wave country, drop 'em off, come home. No danger, no damage, you get back safe and sound. Good deal, huh?"

"So why's an Anbu coming along?" Yomiko asked.

"Just in case the Ishidas don't feel comfortable with a bunch of kids as their bodyguards, I'd guess." Kotaro suggested.

"Correct." Shikamaru lied. It sounded like a good enough excuse to explain the Mist ninja's presence with the team.

"So we just leave my family in a foreign land with an Anbu that we're not even supposed to look at?"

"You can _look _at her, just don't talk to her, about her, towards her, or anything like that unless your lives, or her life, depends on it." Shikamaru ordered.

"What's the big deal?" Kotaro asked.

"Anbu are shrouded in mystery, your dad would have told you that." Shikamaru said simply.

"Huh." Kotaro grunted. "He never mentioned any of this. He said Anbu didn't generally go by their own names, but they did at least get spoken to."

"Over the course of the mission, or by other Anbu. Take it on faith then." Shikamaru sighed.

"Sure, sensei." Nao said, "But you promise they won't be in any danger? My family I mean."

"My word." Shikamaru said.

And he meant it. Because in the end nobody really trusted Nana Miyuki and Endo Hayato. A Jounin would be following the pair, ready to strike them down if anything happened, and that Jounin would be Uchiha Sasuke, no one was less likely to tolerate any nonsense than he was.

Sasuke's presence had to be masked from the Mist Jounin, though she might detect him anyway, it would all come down to how aware she was--which would likely be _very_--and how stealthy Sasuke was going to be, which would also, likely be _very_.

But the kids couldn't know in case they hinted him away, or made mention of him. Uchiha's presence had to be entirely secret.

* * *

Kasumi shoved her hands into her pockets, ignoring the tea set out on the table in front of her, "Go on then. Tell me some lie about my dad." 

Uzumaki Naruto stared at her. "What?"

"Bubblegum head told you why I was here didn't she?" Kasumi scoffed.

"I killed your father." Naruto said evenly, glancing at Sakura. Why had she brought this kid here? Was he going to answer to the family of the fallen as some sort of test of his character? Or was this just to help the girl?

Naruto looked at her, "What do you want with me then?"

"To know how you murdered him. Of course I know you really did it. You tricked him didn't you? You led him away, promises of a mere test, and then when his back was turned you jammed the knife in. Threw his body of the cliff."

Naruto smiled weakly, "That's what you'd be telling your father if he'd won. That was _his _plan."

"Liar!" Kasumi screamed.

Naruto looked at the girl, "You're not the same girl we watched in the Chuunin exams. You're entirely different. It's a change for the worse too. But . . . if you believe you'll solve your problems through harming me," Naruto stood up and spread his arms out, "kill me now. I won't fight back."

Kasumi stared at him, she clenched her fist and said "I know it'd be a trick. You'd kill me."

"I could kill you now." Naruto said, "I haven't."

"I'm just a prisoner, that's all. You're toying with me, you want me to think there's some chance of me killing you, then you'll kill me."

"We'd stand nothing to gain from that." Sakura pointed out.

Naruto nodded to her, "That's right." He sat down again. "So tell me, what really brings you here? I mean why are you talking to me of all people?"

"The Hokage seemed to think it'd help or something." Kasumi scoffed.

"Fine." Naruto shrugged, "Help what."

"She's in a . . . fragile state." Sakura said. "She instigated a brawl with Hyuga Shiroi and got beaten badly before Sasuke-kun could intervene, but she claims she won. She threatened the Hokage, she made wild boasts, and she's been singing Kabuto's praises. The core of it seems to be the fact that you killed her father and Konohamaru allowed her teammate to die."

Naruto nodded, "I knew killing Hanzo would hurt the Hattori clan. I didn't want to do it, but that doesn't mean anything to you, my not wanting to do it didn't stop me did it? You still don't have your father."

"That's right." Kasumi grunted.

Naruto smiled weakly, "What about your family? Your friends?"

"My only worthy friend is dead." Kasumi scoffed.

"That's not true. Your sensei and your teammate are still alive." Naruto said softly. "No worthier friends than those when you need someone. Even now I know I could tell Sakura-chan anything if I needed to, she's not on my squad anymore but when we were Genin together, or when she was a Chuunin while I was still a Genin, well the bonds of friendship between comrades are strong and they remain strong years later. Don't throw yours away because you're upset, it's times like this that you need those bonds the most."

"So is that what I'm here for? A psycho analysis by my dad's murderer?" Kasumi hissed.

"Grand." Sakura scoffed.

"It's okay Sakura. What did you or granny Tsunade expect? For her to just take such a shine to me that she stopped thinking of the fact that I had to kill her father?"

"Had to? You didn't have to." Kasumi said. "You chose to."

"It's true. I didn't have to. I could have spared him. As we were falling off the cliff I could have let him hide in my shadow and survive the fall, I could have blown him back up to the top of the monument with one of my Jutsu, I chose not to. You're very correct, but that knowledge doesn't make you any happier does it?"

"Yes it does, it lets me know I was right, you're a murderer!" Kasumi screamed, pounding her fist into the table in front of her, spilling her tea everywhere.

Sakura began to clean it and Naruto looked at Kasumi. "Really? So you're happier now?"

"Well . . . not _happier_." Kasumi admitted.

"You feel vindicated? Triumphant?" Naruto suggestested.

"Yeah . . ." Kasumi nodded.

"And still alone." Naruto supplied.

"I don't have anyone anymore." Kasumi admitted. "That's why maybe I should join with Kabuto and kill you."

"Maybe." Naruto shrugged. "We'd kill you. You'd be our enemy then, and the cycle would go on. Maybe Kabuto would teach you something that'd let you kill us instead. Then what would you do?"

"Be happy, I'd have crushed you scum bags and taken revenge for my family." Kasumi said coldly.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah." Kasumi nodded.

"I doubt it." Naruto said evenly.

Kasumi looked away, "You leaf villagers took everyone important from me."

"Kabuto would tell you that he could give you something better. Revenge. Do you recognize why that's a lie? Is there enough good left in you to see that much?" Sakura asked, almost pleading.

"It won't bring them back. But it's a seductive lie." Kasumi said, "And it'd give me what I want anyway, because I want revenge."

"If you want revenge take it _against _Kabuto." Naruto said flatly. "Your father defected to Kabuto's Sound Organization before his death. It was because of that that he died."

"Naruto!" Sakura gasped.

Naruto shrugged. He knew the dangers of telling Kasumi something like that. Knowing that her father had been part of it might very well make her _want _to join the Sound as a way of being closer to his legacy. Nartuo didn't just leave off there, "Kabuto ordered him and your servants to murder the ambassadors in order to perpetuate the war, but he broke off and tried to murder me. Kabuto is like Shikamaru, having so many plots and plans, it's only lucky for us that Shikamaru can think even further and faster than Kabuto so far. But in the end it was Kabuto's orders that led to my being forced to kill your father."

"But you said you weren't forced, you chose." Kasumi spat.

"Oh? Imagine kid, your dad is set on killing everyone I love, and destroying this village. I was _forced _to remove him as an enemy of this village, I was content to have him as an ally and to be his ally, he wasn't content with that. For him my death was the only solution. So his death was the only solution for me, I wont let myself die just because someone's afraid of me. No Shinobi ever could."

Kasumi shrugged. "So what? Is my understanding your motives supposed to make me stop hating Konoha?"

"I don't know." Naruto shrugged, "Remember, this wasn't my idea."

"Right." The teenage girl nodded. Naruto had to admit though she seemed a lot more relaxed now, which was really weird considering who she was talking to.

He didn't blame himself for what he'd done. He'd been in seclusion for a while now because he wasn't willing to let everyone see just how badly damaged he'd been. The mental scarring had been severe, he'd been unable to sleep most nights and hadn't been able to go long without looking over his shoulder for a while.

The Hattori shadow clones had been the worst sort of mental pain. He kept feeling like another would pop out of some shadow somewhere and there'd be no one to help him get free of it.

After a while Kasumi whispered "Even if Kabuto is responsible for my dad defecting . . . and even if he's insane and evil . . . I don't hate him. He didn't kill my dad, you did."

"It was Kabuto's minion that killed your friend." Naruto pointed out.

"You guys allowed him to." Kasumi responded, though without the level of aggression she'd had before. She was calming down significantly. "Why didn't you stop him?"

"Why didn't you?" Naruto asked, purely out of curiosity. He hadn't actually seen the fight, he wanted to know how, if Kasumi had been the one fighting, Hibiki Masaru had been the one to die.

"Me?" Kasumi scoffed.

"You were there. You're capable of defending yourself, or your comrades, aren't you?"

"I had no idea Masa-kun would get killed, _he _had no idea, he was just trying to stop a sparring match, if he'd known it was a real fight to the death he'd have appeared _behind _Akuma and stabbed him, or something!" Kasumi cried, "I was weak, I couldn't do anything, but it wasn't my fault!"

"We were busy with the attack your father and Kabuto were launching, those of us who could have stopped Akuma from killing your comrade were detained, the others didn't expect it, couldn't believe it would happen just like you and Masaru. The only person who knew the depths to which Akuma would sink was Akuma himself. The former Raikage, Kabuto, and your father seemed to be working together and using Akuma to cause mayhem," Sakura spoke up again, "You're hating us for the wrong reasons. I can understand you being mad about your father's death, we did do that, but he brought it upon himself."

Kasumi shook her head, "No! No he didn't! Stop saying that! You killed him! You chose to kill him!" She stood up and pointed at Naruto, "Just tell me why! Why do you have to lie? Why can't you tell me the real story?"

Naruto frowned at her and whispered "I haven't lied. I have nothing to win from lying to you."

Kasumi shook her head, "Why are you talking to me at all? You don't _have _to."

Naruto shrugged at her, "Why _not_? It won't hurt me to talk to you. I'm not ashamed of defending myself, and if telling you why keeps you from making the same mistakes your father made I'll tell you everything you want to hear. In the end all I can say is this: don't make me your enemy, don't make Konoha your enemy. We will kill you, I will kill you, your age, your gender, we won't spare you because of either of those things."

Kasumi looked at him, "But you don't think I'm your enemy yet."

"I think you only _think_ you want to be. In reality you don't want to fight us, you're just confused." Naruto said.

Kasumi frowned, "What about all I've lost because of you?"

"All you've lost? Well both the people you care about, Kabuto and his group share responsibility for taking away. For my part I'm not sorry for defending myself, but I'm sorry that doing so caused you pain. But find comfort in what you still have. Look to the friends you have left. You still have your clan, one teammate, and a sensei."

"Your sensei helped us in the fight against Okatsu and the Hattori servants, if you don't believe they betrayed your Daimyo ask _her _why she did it." Sakura said.

Kasumi clenched her fists, "They can't be trusted, Yurei and Tosa."

"You always use their family names?" Naruto asked. "I called my teammates by their first names, even my sensei's always been Kakashi-sensei, not Hatake-sensei."

Kasumi shrugged, "I used to call them by their first names . . . but that was when I respected them."

"You don't now?" Sakura asked.

"Yurei's got a girlfriend from Konoha. I mean he says she's not, but I _know _she is. He's liked her since we _got _here! And Tosa, Tosa's nuts for some Konoha Shinobi, we don't know who but she's obsessed." Kasumi scoffed.

"And they haven't made time for you." Naruto reasoned.

"Well no . . . they keep trying to make me feel better."

Sakura gasped sarcastically, "No! They _didn't_! Who do they think they are?"

"They're practically in bed with the enemy, they like you guys just fine! They don't care about my dad, or Masaru." Kasumi growled.

"I doubt that." Naruto said.

Kasumi looked away, "So . . . so maybe they miss Masa, but they weren't as close to him as I was."

"Maybe not." Naruto said. "But you were defeated when Akuma struck. They weren't, and how do you think they feel about that?"

"Yurei just watched!" Kasumi hissed, "And Tosa, I guess she was off murdering my clansmen!"

Naruto looked at her, "So . . . if Yurei was _there _and he could have stopped the murder why do you think he didn't?"

Kasumi scoffed, "He didn't want to!"

"Why not?" Naruto asked.

"He was jealous!" Kasumi hissed, "Masaru was so much better than him! Masaru always had to stand up for him, get bullies to leave him alone."

"So . . . Yurei would have stood back and allowed his hero to die out of jealousy?" Sakura asked.

"Yes!" Kasumi hissed, then she paused, "No . . . no I guess not. But why didn't he do anything then?"

"Why didn't _anyone_? Because _no_ _one_ knew how dark Akuma's intentions were, even Masaru likely didn't know what was going to happen to him." Sakura said softly.

Kasumi looked away, Naruto frowned at her, "Your sensei was fighting for this village when one of her students was killed. When I was a sensei my students were my most cherished of responsibilities, if one of them had died I'd probably have become an emotional wreck."

"Tosa hasn't!" Kasumi hissed, "She's always trying to make me feel better instead, or trying to teach me and Yuu new formations now that there's just two of us."

"Couldn't she be doing that to keep you from getting hurt again?" Sakura asked.

Kasumi held her head in her hands, "Why does this have to happen to me?"

"Why does it have to happen to anyone?" Sakura asked.

Naruto slammed his fist down on the table, "I'll _tell _you why. Because Kabuto wants it. He thrives on it, he's a slime that we need to scrape off the bottom of our shoes. You, Kasumi, should be trying to stop him just like us, he's the reason Akuma was trained, he's the one who convinced your father to betray the alliance. Now he wants you, and he might not even want _you_, he might just want your eyes, or something we can't even _imagine _that makes sense in some way to him and no one else. I've dealt with him, he can seem like such a good friend, so trustworthy and helpful, but it's all a lie. Now he's fused himself with Orochimaru, he's a monster."

Kasumi looked at Naruto, "You're telling me to fight Kabuto?"

"No, leave that to me. I'm telling you to avoid him, seek your friends and family as comfort, mourn for your losses, you have the right to feel terrible. But don't assume no one else feels bad, don't assume that you should cope with the pain by harming others. And don't forget that others need your help. Your brother is the Raikage, and the head of your clan now. That's a major responsibility, _and _he's going to be a father soon. Don't you think you should help him out there?"

Kasumi wiped tears from her eyes. Naruto smiled at her and said "I think we're done here. I hope you'll take what I've said to heart."

"Done?" Sakura groaned, "Where should I take her now?"

"Nowhere." A well dressed young woman said, entering the room.

Naruto had sensed her a while ago, he supposed Sakura had too because she'd tensed at the same time he'd sensed the new chakra.

"Tosa-sensei . . ." Kasumi whispered.

"Kasumi-chan, I haven't been a perfect sensei. I played with you kids more than I should have, but it's my first time teaching people, and if I'd known what was going to happen to Masa I'd have stabbed Akuma in the throat before your match even began. I wanted to beat that kid so badly just because he was such a snot, but I was busy dealing with his mother--blast it his _cousin_ I mean." Tosa clenched her fists, "I'm sorry I wasn't there for him, but I _am _going to be there for you and for Yuu. That's why I'm here now, I've talked to the Hokage, I'm in charge of you until the morning, I'll guard you from any agents of the Sound with my life because you're my student, and indeed my most cherished responsibility."

"You were listening." Naruto said.

"You were doing such a good job, I had nothing to add." Tosa said softly.

Kasumi hesitated, then wrapped her arms around her sensei's waist, Tosa held her student and smiled at Naruto, "I don't get a vote, I know . . . but when the Fifth Hokage does retire . . . well everyone knows the Konoha Whirlwind will replace her. I think that's much to Konoha's fortune."

"I can't . . . I can't like you, for what you did to my dad." Kasumi whispered so softly that Naruto barely heard her, "But I don't have to hate you, I don't think. Which is good . . . because I can't seem to do it. I can't even be mad anymore, even though I'm trying."

"Stop trying." Naruto told her. "Anger won't make anything better. Go with your sensei and mourn for your losses, but stop giving in to anger." Naruto said. "If you need to come back and talk you can, but I think you should talk things through with your Sensei and your teammate, they need you just as much as you need them."

Tosa led the girl away, when they were gone Naruto fell back and stared at the ceiling. "Watch granny claim she planned that."

"She probably will say that." Sakura agreed. "But that was amazing Naruto. How did you do it?" Sakura asked. "She just . . . listened to you for some reason. She ignored the logic everyone else threw at her. She heard you, why?"

"I drugged the tea. Believe it." Naruto lied. Kasumi hadn't even drank any tea before she knocked it over.

He stared at the ceiling, _why _had she listened to him? Maybe Tosa was right. Maybe . . . maybe it was just a sign that he really would make a good Hokage someday.

But Naruto felt it was more likely that the girl had acted in order to get out of his presence, or else had heard him out but still held on to a lot of her own beliefs.

But who knew? Maybe she really would change for the better.

**To Be Continued . . .**

* * *

**Note: **Chapter bonus for twelve hundred reviews. Good going everyone! I comes a bit after the mark, but that is because you all review very, very quickly, good for you. I am impressed as ever, amazed even, but keep it up and don't forget the message boards, I'll try to speak up a bit more over there. Enjoy!

The next chapter will tell at last who besides Kurai became a Chuunin, reveal whether or not Kasumi really has calmed down, and of course send good old team ten off on their road trip, all things well worth waiting for eh?


	123. Chuunin

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Twenty Three**

Sasuke put his hands in his pockets as Taisho Miura, general of Konoha's armies nodded to him.

The two men didn't speak to each other, they had nothing to say.

Shiroi watched the event without saying a word or batting an eyelash, which of course meant that she was trying not to cry, Sasuke knew that she was also failing from the way she kept rubbing her eyes when she though he wasn't watching.

He glanced at Kurai, no doubt dressed in Anbu attire beneath that black cloak he wore. He probably had the mask stowed in some pocket, he'd put it on as he and Shino's team headed out.

Sasuke swallowed hard. Kurai would be out and about, but so would he. He would be taking Shiroi with him as he observed team ten and the mist Jounin posing as a Konoha Anbu.

He'd ensure that Shikamaru's students were kept safe, and he'd ensure that Shiroi was kept from Kabuto.

As he watched Saizo's funeral services end however, and saw Kurai and Shino sneak away he knew the cost of failure, or carelessness was too high to pay again.

He hadn't wanted to teach a Genin team, he'd only agreed to it in the hopes that he could outdo Naruto and train them all up to Jounin within a year. He'd failed, and now he'd failed to keep one of them alive.

He wouldn't fail the remaining two. He trusted Shino to keep Kurai safe, he'd do the same for Shiroi.

He glanced at her, Shiroi called after Kurai, but seemed unable to manage to say what she wanted to say, and instead just told him to watch his back.

He nodded to her, then to Sasuke who nodded back, and he left, pulling his hood over his head and putting his mask on.

Sasuke was impressed, the boy even _walked _like an Anbu with that soundless quick step. It made Sasuke sort of proud really. Kurai was a fine Shinobi, and though most of that was Kurai's own ability, Sasuke had contributed to it.

He'd be fine, whatever the mission. Sasuke was certain of it.

* * *

Yomiko woke up the next morning and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She hopped out of bed and quickly got prepared for the day before she realized what day it was.

Today was _the_ day; the promotions arrived today.

She felt a cold sweat come over her. What would happen if she remained a Genin?

What if Kotaro and Nao got promoted and not her? What if in the end Tsunade-sama decided she lacked something?

She swallowed, could a Genin lead a squad of Chuunin? No, of course not, but maybe that was why Shikamaru-sensei had appointed her leader back when they were all Genin, so that neither of her teammates would outrank her when the time came.

She swallowed again and sat down on her bed, "Oh man . . ."

"Miko!" Her mother shouted from downstairs, "I know you're up, I heard you moving around up there, now come down!"

Yomiko shuddered. She tiptoed to the door and peered down stairs. On the table was her envelope, her mother was standing right next to it.

"Hurry down, Yomiko-chan." Kurenai said with a smile that was no doubt meant to encourage her daughter.

Yomiko swallowed hard and tackled the stairs slowly, one at a time.

It took a very long time to reach the bottom, but her mother waited patiently. Yomiko nervously walked on to the table and swallowed hard, "Well uh . . . good morning mother."

"Good morning, Yomiko." Kurenai said through an unreadable facial expression. "You have mail."

"So I do." Yomiko said flatly, seeing no point in beating around the bush.

She opened up the envelope.

* * *

Kotaro was fast asleep until suddenly someone tore his blankets away. When he stubbornly reached out for them finding only thin air, that particular someone whipped him with one end of the blanket, so of course that meant that someone was his mom.

"Get up!" Anko ordered.

"Urg." Kotaro grumbled.

"Up!" Anko said again.

Kotaro opened his eyes and yawned, "What?"

"Eat breakfast! Get downstairs! Get dressed!" Anko ordered.

"In that order?" Kotaro yawned, his mother whipped him with his blanket again and he scrambled out of bed.

He quickly shooed her out of his room so he could change from his pajamas to his normal clothes, she in turn kept the blanket to ensure he didn't go back to sleep. She knew him so well.

Kotaro sighed and got dressed. Today was the day, he'd find out whether or not the crazy old lady who'd wanted him to kill another kid felt like he'd fulfilled his mission well enough to be promoted.

To him it didn't matter, he couldn't care any less. Shikamaru-sensei told him, he was Chuunin level whether or not the brass acknowledged it, and he felt like that was true. It didn't matter to him if Tsunade promoted him or not, a flak jacket wouldn't make him any more or less of a Shinobi. All that mattered was that his parents were proud of him, that was the only reason being a Chuunin mattered.

He took a deep breath and considered what he might tell them if he wasn't promoted. Nothing sounded really good to his mind.

"Not cool." He sighed, and opened the door where his mother was still standing.

She nodded her approval of his self dressing skills, tossed his blanket back onto his bed and tilted her head down the stairs. He walked downstairs lazily and noticed something unusual at the table.

Not the unopened envelope from the Hokage's office, he'd expected that.

But his father was sitting at the table, that was unusual. "Good morning, Kotaro." Kakashi said, holding a cup of coffee but not drinking. "House is kind of a mess."

That was an understatement, ninja scrolls, clothes, books, manuals, tools, and even the odd dish littered the entire house, even the stairs. "Mom never cleans up." Kotaro said, sitting down across from his father.

"Yeah, well you never help." Anko said, shoving the envelope in front of her son as if he'd missed it.

"I _always_ help you not clean." Kotaro said with feigned indignation, Anko ruffled his hair very roughly.

Kotaro caught a slightly flirty glance his mother gave his father, it was unusual for his dad to be visiting so early in the morning that he actually required coffee to operate. Kotaro swallowed hard as his mother sat down in the chair next to him and his father leaned forward a bit. They were both even more eager than he was to know how he'd fared.

He was only eager not to disappoint them. He swallowed again and opened the envelope.

* * *

Eri poked Naomasa hard in the side and he groaned at her.

"Wake up!" Nagahide urged.

Naomasa opened his eyes and sat up, "What are you guys doing in here?" He asked.

"Oh hey, yeah, we found out which quarters were yours and decided to wake you up!" Eri said, "You gotta get out'a bed, Nao-baby."

"Why?" Nao grumbled.

"I assume you heard that your squad will be escorting us to Wave country, where we will venture to Water in order to visit your sister, Ichiteru." Nagahide said.

"I just know we're escorting you to Wave . . . _in a week_." Nao said, but now . . . was that what the Anbu was for? To be left in Wave to infiltrate Water? It made sense . . . Water was still an enemy and he shouldn't know the Anbu's mission just in case he was captured an interrogated by Kirigakure Shinobi.

Not that he was likely to run into any.

"Yeah, well . . ." Eri shrugged, "Emiko's got to get married today, Akira and her are going to Wind, he's got some really important thing to do or something. You're gonna be there, aren't you?"

"Yeh-yeah!" Nao said, amazed at what was going on, "Of course I am! She's _my_ sister too, of course I'm going to be there!"

"Get dressed, you ninja have any sort of dressed uniform? I would prefer you dress in the red and white of our clan, but if you would rather go as a ninja . . ." Nagahide shrugged.

Nao sat up in bed, Eri scoffed, "I can't believe you don't sleep in the nude." She tossed their father some money, "Man, thanks a lot Nao-baby."

"You guys bet on that?" Nao asked.

"Why not?" Nagahide chuckled, "Easy money. Eri mentioned she didn't want to wake you up, since it could be embarrassing if you weren't wearing anything, but I know you're too modest for that sort of thing."

Nao rubbed sleep from his eyes and staggered out of bed, "When's the wedding?"

"Noon, you've got some time to round up a date if you want." Eri said with a lewd smile, "Think Hitomi-chan'll be interested?"

Nao blushed, thinking of asking Hitomi to such an event.

Witnessing a marriage might well be romantic . . . but he wasn't so sure Hitomi would go for it.

He scratched his head and Eri tossed him an envelope, "This was shoved under your door. From someone named Hokage's Office."

Nao stared at Eri, was she playing dumb or did she really think that was a name?

He opened his envelope . . .

* * *

Akira took a deep breath and examined himself in the mirror, he was so fearsome . . . even in wedding clothes his scars made him look as if he meant to fight a war.

He supposed it was fortunate, or the messenger from his Daimyo might not have taken him seriously.

'_Be wed and return immediately to Wind territory, _the letter had said. _The operation is moving ahead now, you must lead your thousand, meet up with a Shinobi task force and receive further instructions from my mouth alone.'_

He didn't know where he'd meet the Shinobi, but he knew that wasn't unusual, they would probably intercept _him_. What was unusual was that he wasn't going to be meeting his men on the front line, but rather taking them all the way back to the capital city so that he could receive his marching orders from the Daimyo himself.

It made him curious, where would he be sent?

He thought the passage that read '_I believe our security is compromised from within, trust no one but myself' _rather unusual. It made him eager to return to Wind and see his Daimyo in person.

He suspected he would likely be sent to Iwagakure, but there was no way his force could spearhead the assault, they were trained to fight Shinobi yes, but they were not capable of facing the thousands of soldiers that would stand between them and Iwa. Earth would be fought by the main army and the ninja, so it made sense that he would be sent to Kirigakure, their army was puny now and he could easily land on the main island and raze Kirigakure while the ninja were out at sea with the army.

He smirked, the idea of crossing blades with any of the Seven Swordsmen of Mist appealed greatly to Akira. He wouldn't mind one bit being able to prove himself the superior to a legend, such an act would only feed his own legend.

His smirk became a smile as he considered that part of that legend would now be the life he'd live with Emiko. In the time he'd spent with her so far he'd decided she would be a better wife than he deserved, she was clever and that would be useful, he didn't want a stupid wife.

She was beautiful, and though Akira told himself he should love a woman for who she was and not what she looked like, he had to admit Emiko's looks _did _make her easy to fall in love with.

He took a deep breath, and stepped out into the hall of ceremony, swallowing hard when he noticed that some of his clan had arrived to witness the marriage. He hated to be so gussied up in front of family.

He loved Emi, and the ceremony was important to him, but in the end all he could focus on was the war that was coming. In less than a month his men would see battle . . . and he would lead them into it, leaving this beautiful wife of his behind so that he could ensure a safe future for her and any children they might someday have.

If he survived his mission.

Looking at Emiko now it occurred to him that he might not, and the idea of dying on the field now gave him mixed emotions. On the one hand he'd be happy having known her for even a little while, but sad that he wouldn't get to spend a long, comfortable life with her.

And he'd feel sorry. It was bad enough she was getting a husband covered in cuts and scars, it would be worse if she were made a widow at such a young age.

"The blade of an enemy will ever keep me from your side." He whispered to her suddenly, and then he felt very foolish.

He'd spoken loudly enough for her to hear but quietly enough not to interrupt the ceremony, but he should have kept his thoughts to himself, Emiko didn't need a reminder that he might die before the end of the year.

To his surprise however Emiko responded in a similar whisper, "Life is a passing thing, death is eternal. If we cannot be together in passing, I will follow you into eternity."

Akira wasn't sure how those words made him feel.

He'd just have to fight all the harder to ensure that nothing happened to him, and by extension, to her.

* * *

Kotaro tugged slightly at his flack jacket. He supposed it shouldn't have surprised him, the contents of his letter.

It hadn't surprised his father either, though his mother went absolutely nuts when she found out, it was a good thing their place was a mess or he'd never have been able to talk her out of throwing a party for the entire city.

He sat on top of the wagon now, watching the Ishida clan go over their final preparations.

Nao's sister was flirting with Daisuke, who seemed as uncomfortable as Kotaro in his flack jacket. Nao's father was double checking the cargo along with some doctor Kotaro didn't remember having seen ever before. Yomiko was with them too, determined to act like a respectable leader.

She seemed to be standing just a little taller, it could be that she was trying to look older, or she'd grown a couple centimeters, or maybe she was wearing different shoes, Kotaro didn't know, still she did look pretty authoritative.

But then Yomiko was an authoritative person.

Kotaro smirked when he spotted Shikamaru-sensei talking with the Anbu that'd be going with them, he leapt down from the wagon and approached his sensei.

". . . they get hurt I will come after you, you understand?" Shikamaru said coldly.

"I don't harm Genin, if _that's _what you're insinuating." The woman scoffed behind her mask, designed like a cat's head.

"I'm not insinuating anything, it might not be you. They might trip and scrape their knees, and I'd come after you. The point is if you double cross us and my kids pay the price I won't just kill you, I'll make you _beg _me to kill you." Shikamaru said darkly.

Kotaro had never heard his sensei speak this way, the woman laughed, and Shikamaru-sensei slapped her on the shoulder in a friendly manner as she left, so he guessed Shikamaru was just kidding around.

But he'd sure sounded serious.

The young Chuunin decided he'd better be on his guard around that Anbu.

"What's up, Kotaro?" Shikamaru asked, turning around to face Kotaro.

Kotaro shrugged and said "I was just curious, who else got promoted to Chuunin? Did any of Temari's students? Or Chouji's, other than Daisuke? Or do you not know?"

"You'd be surprised." Shikamaru said evenly. "Yurei Yuu of Kumogakure was promoted, and Hibiki Masaru was posthumously promoted, their teammate however failed. Keep in mind that decision fell to their new Kazekage, Konoha doesn't promote posthumously."

"You think it's a bad idea?" Kotaro asked.

"I think the dead have no use for promotions. Honors for the departed are only to comfort those still living." Shikamaru said.

Kotaro shrugged, "I guess so. Who else passed?"

"Daisuke as you know, is a Chuunin. Tsunade-sama pretty much declared him so before the final match, she's slightly bound to her word but he did plenty to deserve the promotion really. Tomoko forgot her basics and nearly died so obviously she's got some things to learn yet , and Kyusaku failed for pretty much knocking _himself _out." Shikamaru said.

"Shiroi failed, but Sasuke says she threw the fight anyway. Saizo failed for various reasons, among them the fact that he was no longer eligible for promotion due to his unfortunate death. Kurai is a Chuunin however, and currently on assignment."

"Already?" Kotaro was surprised.

"Already." Shikamaru confirmed. He smirked at Kotaro, "As for Temari's team, I'm not sure. The final decision for their promotions would have been Gaara's, he withheld the promotions until Konoha announced theirs, but I don't doubt he knew right off who he was and wasn't promoting, he's the only leader who actually _watched_ all his troops in the exams."

Kotaro felt disappointed, he wanted to know whether or not Kyoko had been promoted.

He smirked at Shikamaru and said "Well sensei, it'll be a few days before we get back, what with the trip there, and back . . . you going to be okay without us?"

"I'll have lots to do." Shikamaru-sensei said with a shrug, "If I get bored I can tease Chouji and Ino about being in love with each other and not admitting it, or I can encourage Naruto and Sasuke to fight with each other for everyone's amusement."

"The whole Konoha Twelve are going to be in the village eh?" Kotaro raised an eyebrow. Kyoko had told him that Suna wanted to strike back, Kotaro had guessed she wasn't speaking of an idea for the future but rather a plan for the current, if Suna was marching he wasn't sure why Konoha wasn't also mobilizing.

"Members of the Twelve never _leave _Konoha as far as anyone needs to know. If you catch one of us out and about it's actually a case of mistaken identity."

"So it was a stunt double with us at Black Monument, and in Sunagakure." Kotaro reasoned.

"That's right." Shikamaru smirked. "I stayed in my room giving him instructions by radio."

"You're nuts." Kotaro laughed, Shikamaru just messed up his hair the way an older brother might and nodded towards the wagons, which seemed ready to get underway.

Kotaro nodded and turned back to the group.

He'd have to tell Yomiko what he'd heard Shikamaru-sensei tell the Anbu woman. Even if it'd been a joke, as the team captain Yomiko should be aware of it.

And Kotaro knew he should be keeping an eye on that Anbu.

* * *

Naomasa bit his lower lip when his father leapt onto one of the wagons and called for him to sit next to him.

"Go on then." Tomoko said with a shrug, "Get on with your first mission as a Chuunin."

"I'm not really Chuunin, am I?" Nao laughed uneasily.

"The Hokage decided you are." Hitomi said.

"She only promoted me because she said she would in front of all her clients, I don't really deserve it do I?"

"Don't talk like that." Tomoko said. "You beat the bad guy no one else could, you won every match before that, you deserve to be Chuunin."

"I get Kotaro being promoted. I get Yomiko being promoted. But me . . . it feels like some sort of dream." Nao said.

"Don't worry about it." Hitomi told him.

Naomasa frowned, "Hitomi . . . being a Chuunin, I feel like the whole world's changed."

"It hasn't." Hitomi said.

"Don't tell him that, of course it has!" Tomoko said, "C'mon Nao, you're _Chuunin_, you're recognized as the talented kid you are, the world _has_ changed, and for the better."

Nao frowned at Tomoko, "You didn't get promoted. It doesn't feel right."

"I'll get promoted next time, just a few months to wait. Besides, now I'll end up taking the exams with Shiroi, so we'll pass the first two even easier than we did before." Tomoko shrugged. "You should get going though.'

Naomasa looked at Hitomi. It felt funny, he'd thought if he passed and became a Chuunin they'd be the same rank so they'd be equal in at least one way, but it seemed she'd always be ahead of him. She was older, she was taller, she was higher ranked.

She was out of his league, he knew that.

But still . . .

He swallowed hard and said to her, "Hitomi. Someday, I'm going to marry you."

"What?" Hitomi scoffed.

"I'm going to marry you. Not today obviously, not next month, not for several years really. But someday, I'm going to marry you."

Tomoko smirked and glanced at Hitomi who folded her arms and looked away, "Naomasa I'm--"

"Not interested in me because I'm a kid." Nao shrugged.

"Exactly. And no matter how old you get I'm always going to see you as a kid. My student sure, even my friend but never more than that." Hitomi said firmly.

"That's true for now, but it's not going to be true forever. I'm going to perfect your Jutsu, someday I'm going to be a Jounin, then you'll have to stop seeing me as a little kid, and when you stop seeing me as a kid you're going to see me as your equal. And then, someday you'll see me as more than that. We'll get married."

Hitomi shook her head, "It's a nice fantasy, but it's just that: fantasy. It's not going to happen. What makes you think you'll someday suddenly catch my eye when no one else ever has?"

Naomasa smirked, "You said it yourself, remember? I'm going to _try, _I'm going to try harder than anyone you've ever met before, and trying really, really hard sometimes leads to success, which is why I'm going to succeed, Hitomi. I'm going to keep on trying until I do."

Hitomi shook her head at him, "Naomasa . . . winning my hand, and winning my goggles are two very different matters. In any event neither of us has time for this conversation, we both have missions to get on with."

Naomasa smirked and turned away, leaping onto the wagon with his dad.

"What was all that about?" His father asked.

"Nothing, I was just saying the scariest thing I've ever said to a girl." Nao said evenly.

His father laughed, "Yeah right. Wait till you ask one to marry you, _that's _scary."

Nao just smirked and shook his head, "Well let's get underway, huh?"

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Bonus Chapter! This story has reached a review to chapter ratio of ten to one, so here is your bonus chapter just like the readers of Red Eyes got. Two chapters in one day, aren't you folks lucky!

Remember to check out the message boards, feel free to start topics if we're not discussing what you want to discuss, and as for the bonus chapter: _Enjoy_!


	124. Girl Talk

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Twenty Four**

Hitomi was sitting on a railing on the roof of the hospital, Matsuri was leaning over the same railing, shaking her head slowly, "Looks so peaceful early in the morning, doesn't it?"

"Aye." Hitomi sighed. She had so much on her mind, she'd fallen asleep in the hospital room with Miyuki and Matsuri had shown up and woken her up just a little while ago.

Hitomi frowned, she had a lot to think about, for example whether or not she would be a reliable Jounin for Hara and Miyuki--when she woke up--to trust in. Would she prove too weak? Would she just be no good as a teammate?

And one other thing. She glanced at Matsuri, she'd known the woman for a long time now, they'd worked together during the Chuunin exams for the past two years and they'd fought together over the course of the war, back when they were both Chuunin.

Now Hitomi was a Jounin, Matsuri remained a Chuunin examiner.

Hitomi knew she could talk to Miyuki about anything and Miyuki, for all her harshness usually gave her a good answer. Hara was hopeless on most conversations because, well, he was a guy. Naruto-sensei had his favorite Jutsu that turned him into a naked woman--she kind of wondered if there was some _reason _he'd developed such a Jutsu--but still he too was a guy.

Matsuri was the only girl she could talk to right now because Miyuki was ill . . .

She glanced at Matsuri and whispered "Matsuri . . . uh, can I talk to you about uh . . . something personal?"

"How personal?" Matsuri asked.

"Like uh . . . something of a romantic nature." Hitomi said.

Matsuri was quiet for a while, then said "Sorry, I'm not into girls. You had me considering it though."

Hitomi shoved her, "Dope. You know I don't mean that."

"Now you've hurt my feelings." The older woman said with a smirk. "So get on with it, you like a guy don't you? So tell me, who is it?"

"I can't tell you." Hitomi said. "I mean, I might not even be talking about myself you know? I could be talking about a friend, or even Naruto-sensei."

"Yeah, there's a guy who needs help with his love life. You know some days I wonder if I shouldn't ask him out just to see if he notices Hyuga Hinata's reaction." Matsuri rested her chin on her palm and sighed, "I know he's too far out of my league though. Go on, tell me about this guy or girl that you or your friend may or may not like."

Hitomi frowned, "So . . . uh, let's say you might have some sort of relationship with someone, and despite yourself you kind of like it. _But _lets say you definitely don't want it to go too far, let alone get physical."

"Well is he pressuring you? Sorry, I mean is he pressuring _your friend_." Matsuri smirked.

"We--they--that is there was a kiss between these two parties, statements were made . . . it's a cause for concern." Hitomi admitted.

"Really good kiss?" Matsuri asked.

"Awkward. But I mean what if it's a sign that the other party is trying to . . . you know, start getting physical."

Matsuri was quiet for a moment, then she said "Look, I know you forget all the time, but you're still just a kid Hitomi. It won't be that way much longer, I know, but for now it's the case. You shouldn't let anyone pressure you into anything, lest of all a physical relationship. I would suggest that if it makes you uncomfortable you not kiss at all, since kissing leads to other things."

"I didn't _want _to kiss, he caught me off guard."

"You mean your friend." Matsuri smirked. "This hypothetical guy caught your hypothetical friend off guard."

"Shut up." Hitomi laughed.

"So it _is _you. I have to say I'm surprised you're allowing yourself to be drawn into a relationship, Hitomi."

"I'm not trying to, this isn't a relationship I should be in, nor do I have any _real _interest in the guy romantically . . . I don't think I do anyway. But I really like having him as a friend you know? And he . . . makes me feel different than other guys do. He's really different." Hitomi sighed.

"So what's the problem then? I mean I get you being nervous about getting physical, but why run from a relationship at all if it makes you happy? Tell him you can date, you just can't sleep together. Problem solved."

"There's kind of an age difference." Hitomi scoffed.

"So?" Matsuri scoffed, "Did I not just tell you I consider asking Uzumaki-sama out every now and then?"

"It's really, really different here." Hitomi grumbled.

"What? Because you're seventeen and this guy is, presumably over that? Since you are not sleeping together, legally you have no probem. You'll be over eighteen in what, six months?" Matsuri asked.

"Five actually." Hitomi said softly. In five months she'd be an adult, but it would be five _years _before Naomasa could make the same claim. What was she even doing having this conversation with Matsuri? Nao wasn't a romantic option for her, even if she waited five years for him to turn eighteen too he still wouldn't be a romantic option, it would be too weird.

But what he said worried her. He probably _would _keep trying to get her to fall in love with him, and eventually he'd probably trick her into thinking he'd succeeded, make her believe that she had feelings for him, but she knew she could never, ever have feelings for another human being.

If she ever had children . . . they'd be like her.

Freaks.

She sighed. Marriage. If Naomasa wanted to love her, why couldn't it be in a manner that wouldn't eventually lead to her having to give up her body to him and risk carrying a child? Why did he have to say they'd get _married_?

He could have said they'd be best friends, she could live with that. Might have said they'd be rivals, she could live with that too. But husband and wife? It felt wrong in about fifty different ways.

And it felt right in a few too. After all why shouldn't she get married someday? If not to Naomasa, then why not to someone else?

Didn't she have just as much right to romance as anyone else?

If she ever went insane and decided to have a child, didn't she have just as much right to pass her genes on to the next generation?

No. No . . . she couldn't do _that_. She couldn't make some poor kid suffer the way she'd suffered.

_Freaky Hitomi, Feaky Hitomi _she thought bitterly.

She could never be Naomasa's wife. She could never give him the heir his clan needed.

She could never be _anyone's _wife, no man would ever understand being married to a woman who'd never agree to have sex with him, and all any man would really want was her body anyway. If they ever saw her eyes, or if they remembered her eyes from her childhood . . .

She glanced at Matsuri, "Matsuri . . . do you think . . . I mean, don't take this the wrong way, but do you think you're _ever_ going to get married?"

"Hope so." Matsuri sighed. "Haven't met the right guy though. You offering?"

"I told you not to take it the wrong way." Hitomi laughed.

"Which is why I _had _to." Matsuri grinned. "I think someday, if I live long enough, I'll get married. It's what we human beings _do_, you know? We go out, make babies, overpopulate the world, then fight wars to reduce the population."

Hitomi frowned. She watched Matsuri for a moment then said "What if I don't want to go down that road? Suppose I, against human nature, intend never to reproduce."

"Mother nature planned for mavericks like you. Because you don't want to reproduce you've become the answer to yourself, your self-destructive genes won't pollute the rest of the gene pool. Unless you get really drunk one day. But then there are operations you could have to make sure that even then pregnancy never happens."

"Couldn't do it, Miyuki doesn't do that sort of thing and I wouldn't trust any other doctor enough to be unconscious under their knife." Hitomi grumbled.

Matsuri shrugged, "Well then I think that's a shame. You're a good person, you'd probably make a fair parent."

"I have certain traits I don't want to risk passing on." Hitomi admitted.

Matsuri frowned, "Can't imagine what they are, everything about you is just cute as can be." The older woman ruffled Hitomi's hair, "I bet you'd have a whole bunch of cute, busty daughters."

"Yeah probably, then guys can make fun of them when they're young, and lie about being love with them when they're older."

"Men." Matsuri laughed.

"Yeah. Men. Nothing but a bunch of jerks." Hitomi sighed. Was that why the only "man" in her life was a kid? What a sickening and sad thought.

She clenched her fists. Children were just what she would have if Naomasa was given leave to try to win her heart. She knew him, he'd be so annoyingly persistent, and she'd fall for some line eventually because despite what she liked others to believe she wasn't perfect, her body would demand a male's attention eventually and Nao would be there, eager to give it to her.

She knew what she'd have to do. She'd have to distance herself significantly from Naomasa.

But how? What could she do to force him to lose interest that wouldn't hurt him physically, or unnecessarily harm him emotionally?

She sighed. She had a few days to think on it. And to think on how she'd properly serve as a Jounin of the village.

And how she'd keep her eyes from ever appearing on another face, how she'd stop her own body from wanting to perpetuate the human species.

If she was even human. Maybe she was some offshoot, some subspecies. Maybe everyone with a bloodline trait was.

_Everyone with a bloodline trait is a freak, why should mine be inferior? Why shouldn't I have the chance to reproduce? Why should I deprive myself of the life I deserve just because some ignorant brats threw rocks at me as a kid? _Hitomi clenched her fists and looked at the ground. _Why should I devote myself to a village that would hate my hypothetical children just because their eyes are weird? What made my stupid mother decide to reproduce in the first place? What makes any woman want to reproduce? And why do I care? What they decide has nothing to do with me, it's _my _decision to make._

"You okay?" Matsuri asked, "You're starting to look a little surly."

"I'm just thinking . . . so what if I _do _want to have kids? If some of my flaws get passed down genetically, so what? Maybe this village just needs to deal with that."

Matsuri shrugged, "You know what I think your pal Yamamoto would say to that?"

"What?" Hitomi asked.

"She would say . . . _duh_! You're still just a kid, it'd be sad really if you had a baby now, but in the future, sure, why not? I mean you have as much right to raise a family in this village as I do, as anyone does. You fought this war, you've bled for this village, your children should be proud to be related to you, even if they have really big hooters because of it."

"You really think my breasts are the genetic flaw I don't want to pass on?" Hitomi demanded, folding her arms over her chest.

"They seem to be the thing that ticks you off the most." Matsuri pointed out. "I know you've got your aversion to sunlight too, is that what you're worried about?"

Hitomi had forgotten that that was the lie she told Matsuri to explain what the goggles were for years ago. Matsuri, being the laid back individual she was, hadn't cared enough to press further, or ask why Hitomi still wore them in the dark.

Hitomi nodded and said "My . . . my sensitive eyes are a cause for concern."

"Don't worry about it. It got you teased when you were a kid because no one understood it. But you have an opportunity here, the war is ending and there is gonna be a big battle, you're a Jounin. Make yourself such a legend that even sunlight aversion won't get your kids teased. Make yourself so big and bad in the history books that kids studying you will be _jealous _of your kids for having to wear goggles all the time."

Hitomi smirked. "I like that idea a bit." She admitted. "So that's that then. The only way I'll ever finally agree to reproduce is if I can make myself and my disability so feared and respected that my children couldn't possibly suffer the way I suffered over it." She laughed slightly.

Both she and Naomasa had set unrealistic, impossible goals they'd have to meet before their marriage and copulation. She had to make her eyes legendary without showing them to anyone, he had to get her Jutsu to stop killing people, and make her stop seeing him as a kid.

She felt better now, that statement alone would distance the kid somewhat.

The rest she could do by simply pretending he didn't exist anymore, staying away from him, busying herself with work instead of spending her free time with him. Eventually he'd get the hint, and stop trying to flirt with her.

He'd find another girl, he'd move on, then they could go back to being friends. She _did_ want to be his friend.

She sighed again and leapt back, away from the railing, she'd go see Miyuki again.

How she wished she could talk to her old friend. Miyuki would just _know _what to tell her. Miyuki always did.

Hitomi sighed, "Why can't you just wake up, Miyuki? What's happened that's keeping you from us?"

* * *

Hinata smiled slightly at Naruto, "Do you feel better, N-Naruto?" She asked, stumbling with his name and hating herself just a little bit for it.

"Yeah, I'm pretty good." Naruto said, smiling at her, "I think I'm over the fight, I'm ready to report for duty and see what the grand _old _Hokage has lined up for me."

"That's good." Hinata said without stammering but a little too quickly.

"You know Hinata . . . I just wanted to thank you, I mean for being with me when it happened, for jumping in when you did. I'm pretty sure if you hadn't bought me the time I needed to recover Hanzo would have won."

"Don't mention it." Hinata smiled and hoped she wasn't blushing.

Of course she knew she was.

"Look, Hinata . . . you're the only one who knows how bad I was up there on the monument," Naruto said, "I haven't told Sasuke or Sakura-chan."

"I won't either." Hinata said quickly.

"I'm not telling you not to tell anyone." Naruto smiled, "I think . . . I think we _should _tell everyone. I think we Twelve have gotten to the point where we've fallen in love with our own legend, where we know we _could _die, but we doubt we will. I don't want that to cause us to make stupid mistakes so if the others all know how close I came to dying maybe they'll try just a little harder to take better care of themselves. So that when this war is over we'll still be the Konoha Twelve."

Hinata nodded, "Okay."

"One more thing . . ." Naruto said, looking oddly nervous now, "I don't want you to take this the wrong way, or faint at my audacity or anything, but . . . well I was wonder, if you hadn't eaten yet--"

"Yes!" Hinata said.

"You've eaten already?" Naruto sounded disappointed.

_Disappointed!_ Hinata thought with glee. "N-no! I mean I haven't, but I'm uh, I'm very hungry." Hinata struggled to get the sentence out.

"Okay, well I was uh, just about to go out to dinner if you want to come along. I mean it's not like I'm asking you out or anything, you know, just uh, if you wanted to come with me that'd be okay."

Hinata was about to scream 'yes, yes, and again yes!' but then she frowned.

It wasn't a date, it was just him being nice. He was hungry and she could tag along if she wanted, like a stray dog or something.

"I don't think so." She decided.

"No?" Naruto asked.

What was she thinking? Why would she say no? Was she insane? Even if it was just a casual thing that didn't mean it couldn't _become _romantic.

Hinata swallowed hard, she could only speak clearly by looking away from Naruto and pretending she was talking to someone else, "I just . . . I mean you make it sound like I'd be tagging along, intruding on something. I don't want to be a burden."

"It's not like that at all!" Naruto said, sounding surprised, "I didn't mean to make it sound like that, no way! Dattebayo, I just wanted to uh . . . you know, didn't want you to feel uncomfortable about the whole thing. Guess I messed up. Let me try again?"

"Sure." Hinata said, struggling to keep her teeth from chattering. It was comforting though, to know that Naruto messed up sometimes too. That she wasn't the only one.

Naruto cleared his throat, "Hinata you uh . . . that is I notice you haven't gone on a date in a long time," _or almost ever_ Hinata thought but didn't interrupt Naruto, "and uh, I haven't either so . . . do you think maybe you might want to uh . . . go out with me?" Naruto asked, sounding nervous.

Hinata nearly fainted.

Nearly.

She only really had one answer to that question. But now that he'd asked she found she couldn't speak anymore.

She just nodded slightly.

* * *

Kasumi spun her sword and shoved it back in its scabbard, she smiled at Takumi, "Thank you. I will treasure this."

Takumi smiled slightly, "Don't get too worked up now. It's not _that _fantastic. But I found a weapons shop in Konoha run by one of the Konoha Twelve, they have really fantastic blades and . . . well, that one seemed perfect for you. The blade is as black as the shadows you wield, it's a chakra blade so you can use your elements with it, and since you've been getting pretty proficient with swords over our taijutsu training sessions I just figured . . . you know, you ought to have one of your own."

"Yeah." Kasumi smiled. "My brother approved of such a gift?"

Takumi shrugged, "I'm not his vassal, I'm a Samurai. Kaori was there when I picked it out, Tetsuo might want to scold her for her involvement but, oh well, she's had worse lectures."

Kasumi nodded. With this blade . . . she would take her revenge, she swore it. She'd be eternally grateful to Takumi for providing her yet another fine tool in her quest for vengeance.

She turned to Tosa-sensei, "Pretty cool." The young woman said.

"Yeah well, I've had it since I left Konoha, I couldn't find you to give it to you then since you guys were sort of shut off from the rest of the world, I'm glad you finally got home so I could give it to you." Takumi said.

"I'm glad we're finally home too," Kasumi scoffed, "That place was terrible. It'll never be anything but a bad memory to me."

Tosa frowned at her, but Kasumi ignored it. Her sensei just didn't understand. Could never understand. Even if she didn't _hate_ Uzumaki Naruto she couldn't forgive him either.

She put her hand on the hilt of the katana, being a ninja she had no right to own it or wield it, Takumi, a samurai, was acting against all propriety in giving her such a weapon.

But she knew that he was still a ninja at heart, knew that ninja didn't much care what the law said about weapons and other tools they might need to finish their missions.

And Kasumi had a very important mission indeed.

"I just wish you guys were the _only _ones to come back." Takumi grumbled, looking at something in the distance.

Kasumi raised an eyebrow and turned to see what Takumi was referring to. There was Minoru, her brother's rival and Takumi's rival, basically the rival of all "nice guys" everywhere.

Kasumi scoffed at him, but he ignored her and the rest of the group, instead he nodded to Yuu, "Hey kiddo, I don't suppose you'd ask your sister to have a chat with me, eh? Around nine at my place would be good."

"No, I _don't _suppose that's something I'd do." Yuu said, tensing.

Hikaru shrugged. "Just make sure you tell your sister, let _her _decide whether or not she wants to hear what I have to say. I think you should respect her enough for that, don't you?"

"I respect her, you're the one who doesn't." Yuu said coldly.

"Oh no? I wouldn't be asking to talk to her if I didn't respect her. If I didn't respect her, I'd just march right on over to her place and give her what the bar tender probably isn't, because the fact of the matter is I can, I would, she knows it, and she's probably praying for it, understand kid? But no worries, I won't bang your sister . . . without her permission. If our talk goes super well though, and she throws herself at me, well I can't be blamed for what my body does in response. So stop trying to defend a whore's chastity, tell your sister to meet me, or I'll beat the tar out of you until you do, understand?"

Takumi glared at Hikaru, "Hikaru, you should really try to be more friendly. Otherwise, who'll mourn when you're found murdered in a back alley?"

"You think there's chance of that eh?" Hikaru laughed.

"I'd say you should definitely watch your back." Takumi said evenly.

"Only if you remember to watch yours." Hikaru winked, "Because the way I see it your days are numbered, and that number is running out quick my friend. Oh what the heck, why bother with subtleties you'd be too stupid to understand . . . I'm going to kill you, Konjo Takumi. First I'm going to do Kaori over, and over, and over again, in front of you, whether she likes it or not, and then I'm going to kill you."

Yuu's fist flew forward and into Hikaru's chest, Tosa pulled Yuu back but he was phasing.

Kasumi smiled darkly. So Yuu did still have a killer instinct, falling in love with some Konoha girl hadn't taken that away. Maybe he wouldn't be useless to her after all.

"Go on Yuu. Kill him. He Just threatened to rape your sister. Kill him! You can do it, and he deserves to die. Rip his heart out. Murder him right here!" Kasumi said darkly.

"Keep in mind," Hikaru warned, "I know how to make you solid, I know how to kill you, boy. Remove your hand now."

Yuu glared, "You come near my sister and I'll kill _you_."

Hikaru smiled, "Fair enough." He reached into his flack jacket and produced a strange knife.

He slashed out for Yuu's throat but Takumi lunged forward, though Yuu and kicked Hikaru back, "No blades on the streets, Shinobi!" Takumi barked, a pair of Samurai noticed the commotion and came over, standing by Takumi, since he was after all, one of their own now.

Kasumi smiled at Yuu, who looked confused, "Too many witnesses, Tak-kun didn't want you to get arrested." She said. In reality she guessed that the knife Hikaru had would have actually cut Yuu whether he was phasing or not, and that Takumi didn't want the boy to die.

Neither did she, especially not now that she knew she could use him. But she wouldn't mind getting her hands on that knife.

Given Hikaru's character . . . she had a pretty good idea of how a cute girl like her could get the dagger.

And once she had it, she could pretty much force Yuu to do whatever she wanted him to.

* * *

Hikaru smirked at Takumi, "Need friends to win a fight huh? All right, I'll leave you and the kiddies alone then. See you around, Tak-kun."

Takumi would have to be dealt with. He didn't like the confident way the bar tender now, so brazenly dared to challenge him. Before, when Hikaru had just smiled, forced a laugh whenever Hikaru insulted him, and died on the inside every time Hikaru touched Kaori, it'd been fun letting Takumi live.

Now . . . well now the samurai had to die. Once Hikaru had Kasumi he could kill Takumi, Kabuto wouldn't care as long as his mission was done first.

And he smiled at Kasumi, so eager to see bloodshed.

Maybe she'd make a pretty fair member of the Sound Organization after all. With her father dead she'd need a father figure, and clearly even she knew her brother was too weak to be a good one.

Hikaru fooled around with enough girls in Kumo and abroad that he probably had kids he didn't know about, and didn't care to know about, so he wasn't super well practiced in the arts of being a father. But he could fake it well enough to get insane Kasumi to go with him to Kabuto, he was sure of that.

If that didn't work, he'd shove the little brat in a sack, kick her until she stopped resisting and drag her over the most rugged of terrain to the nearest Sound base.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	125. Kasumi and Kaori

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Twenty Five**

Kasumi stared out at the horizon. Somewhere out there the beings responsible for her pain were alive, well, and no doubt plotting more evil deeds against her and other innocent beings.

For that reason she would do whatever it took to stop them, and just now, what it took was getting the knife from Hikaru so that she could threaten Yuu into helping her.

It had not been hard to find out where Hikaru lived, she'd just had to ask the first attractive woman in sultry clothing that she spotted.

Now she stood at the door, a door into a dangerous enemy territory, but also a doorway to her future, to her possible vengeance.

Vengeance she'd do anything to experience, she would lie, cheat, steal . . .

And she'd murder. Which was exactly what she might have to do to get that knife.

She knocked, but the door drifted open as she struck it.

She fought with her instincts now. She wanted to sneak in, see if she could find the knife on her own and leave, but Hikaru was a Jounin, and if he was home, he'd detect an intruder and no doubt kill her.

She swallowed hard and knocked on the opened door; a hand gripped her wrist and pulled her roughly through it.

She was thrown to the floor and melted into her shadow to avoid a painful landing, drifting up to a wall and emerging, her hands help up so Hikaru could see she wasn't going to attack him, "Easy now!" She said, "I didn't come to fight."

"I know that," Hikaru scoffed, "if you wanted a fight you wouldn't knock. But do you really think I, with a reputation like mine, want people seeing an underage girl standing in front of my door? Not that your worthless brother would need much of an excuse to arrest me, I'd like not to provoke him outright."

"Yeah, Tetsuo _is _pretty useless." Kasumi agreed, "He shouldn't even be Raikage."

At this point having fully black eyes came in handy, since Hikaru wouldn't be able to tell that she was looking around his place, taking in her surroundings, looking for possible weapons, possible traps, and of course the knife.

"Don't try to suck up, what the heck do you want?" Hikaru demanded, "Big brother send you here to see if I'd talk treason so he could have me executed?"

"Oh please," Kasumi scoffed, "Like he's smart enough to think up something like that. But then again, you do seem pretty worried, huh?"

"I'm not worried, I'm weary." Hikaru smirked.

"Well, in that case you're probably not interested in what I have to offer."

"Your body in exchange for this?" Hikaru asked, revealing the knife he'd been about to use on Yuu, "Of course I'm not interested."

"R-really?" Kasumi blinked, taken aback.

"You're what, fourteen, fifteen? You barely have breasts." Hikaru laughed cruelly, "You think I didn't plan this? Twit. I can kill Takumi whenever I want, and I'll have Kaori one way or another before I leave this place again. I only picked that fight so _you'd_ see me. Pestered Yuu so he'd give me a chance to threaten him, all so you could come here and be caught in my web."

"Tipping your hand a bit early, aren't you?" Kasumi scoffed.

"What have I tipped apart from the fact that I _tricked _you into coming here? Why do you assume I don't have a plan?"

"I can just fall into my shadow and escape."

Hikaru laughed and suddenly a second ninja emerged from behind her and pressed a knife to her neck, "Can you _really_? I'd like to see you try."

Kasumi sighed, "So you were prepared, big surprise."

"Shut up already," Hikaru said, "it's time we talked business."

"Business?"

"You want this don't you?" Hikaru smirked, holding up the knife, "I want something from you in exchange."

"What?" Kasumi asked. He didn't want her body--which was sort of a relief now that she thought of it--but what else did she have to offer him?

"Where do your true loyalties lie?" Hikaru asked, "Tell me, are you loyal to Lightning? Are you loyal to Tetsuo?"

"No." Kasumi scoffed.

"The Alliance then? Do you serve the interests of those who harbor demons?"

"Never. I'm loyal to myself and no one else, my own interests, and chief among those interests is taking what's owed to me, vengeance against those responsible for my father's death and my teammate's murder."

"Brave statement, are you ready to back it up?"

"I came here with every intention of throwing my virginity away just to acquire a _knife_, so what the blazes do you think, that I'll get bored with revenge and take up scrap booking?" Kasumi raised an eyebrow.

"Scrap booking is a noble hobby." Hikaru smirked, "Well if you're truly serious about wanting revenge I know the people who can help you take it. If you'll serve them . . ."

"Who are they?" Kasumi asked, "Some resistance cell against the Alliance?"

"That's something a spy for Tetsuo would ask." Hikaru laughed.

"I'm not his spy!" Kasumi hissed, "What I said just now is true, I only care about revenge!"

"In that case . . . you're perfect." Hikaru tossed her the knife, "Have it, a gift."

Kasumi raised an eyebrow, "What about those people you talked about?"

"Oh it'd look awfully strange if you and I ran off to meet them now, don't you think? What would people say about us?"

"Who cares as long as it leads to me getting my revenge!" Kasumi snapped, and Hikaru slapped her.

"Don't be an idiot. I need a few things before I leave, and I assume you have a reason for wanting that blade, hmm? In two weeks you'll be assigned a mission and I'll "abduct" you in the field, that's plenty of time for both of us to finish off whatever we have to do."

"How do you know I'll have a mission?" Kasumi asked.

"Because in two weeks the armies of Lightning are going to march for the final conflict, they'll need as many ninja as they can get, even Genin like you."

"Rank means nothing, I could kill a Chuunin."

"I'm sure you could." Hikaru shrugged, "I could kill a Raikage, but I won't because I've been asked not to by someone who has more power over me than I'm happy with. But in exchange for accepting his influence I've become _stronger_, and that is no small thing."

Kasumi stared at Hikaru, "So . . . you mean Kabuto?" She asked attentively.

"That's none of your business yet. Now you have your knife, get out of here. In two weeks you'll meet the master, until then . . . well, you _really _need to work on your seduction technique, it's terrible."

"How do you know I won't tell my brother everything you've told me? Or tell Takumi that you plan to kill him?"

"Two reasons, first you'd have to admit that you came to me, second, I don't care. Takumi knows I'm going to kill him and that he can't stop it, Kaori probably _thinks _that I'll kill her for her infidelity--"

"You're one to talk." Kasumi scoffed.

"And your brother's power isn't absolute, or even _real_. I think when the time comes you'll find he has far fewer supporters than he thinks."

Kasumi frowned, "I want to know more."

"And you will, in two weeks." Hikaru said, shoving her out the door.

Kasumi looked around, no one was there, no one was watching her, so no one had seen her go in or come out.

Which meant of course that somewhere a Hishu was watching her.

She shoved Hikaru's knife into her equipment pouch as if she didn't want him to know that she had it and ran away as fast as she could while he, no doubt thinking the same thing she was, shouted "If you ever come spying for your brother again I'll cut you into little pieces and feed you to him!"

It may not fool any Hishu watching, but it was something.

* * *

Kaori folded her arms, standing outside of Hikaru's home less than an hour after Kasumi had left.

She took a deep breath and walked up to the door.

She roughly kicked it once to announce her presence, then phased right through.

Hikaru was lying on a couch with a scroll, he seemed not at all bothered by her presence.

"So your brother told you eh?" Hikaru yawned.

"Actually, no. What would he have said to me, that you threatened him? I heard it from Takumi actually."

"Ah yes, the new boyfriend." Hikaru smiled his charming smile.

Kaori shook her head, it bothered her realizing that she still found Hikaru attractive. Was there still something between them, as she had feared? Maybe she shouldn't have come alone . . .

She put her hands on her hips, "We've got some things to discuss, Minoru."

Hikaru smirked, "If by 'discuss' you mean--"

"I haven't got the time for your shenanigans." Kaori scoffed. "We need to have a talk."

"If you insist." Minoru Hikaru said, "Why don't we "exercise" first, I'll be in more of a talking mood then."

"I'm not here to sleep with you." Kaori said.

"We don't have to _sleep_ when we're done." Hikaru said, standing up and approaching her.

Kaori stood her ground, though it might have been smarter to back away. She shook her head and snapped at him, "Ami stabbed me during the Konoha Chuunin exams."

"Oh that! I'm over Ami's death, I've forgiven you, it can be just the two of us from now on." Hikaru said, smiling at her.

She was half tempted . . . that bothered her.

She loved Takumi . . . but she had a history with Hikaru, a very carnal history. She and Takumi hadn't reignited their physical relationship yet for a number of reasons, and so while they'd had many memorable romantic encounters years before, her encounters with Hikaru were far fresher in her memory.

"That's not what this is about, I didn't come for your _forgiveness_." She said, forcing herself to glare at him. If she seemed more hostile, he might back off.

"No?" Hikaru raised an eyebrow.

"Ami _stabbed _me, Minoru. She gloated about knowing my weakness before, and then she stabbed me with a blade. I couldn't have cared less when I thought we were both going to die, but now that I'm still alive I want to know how she knew, who she talked to, how she got it."

"And?" Hikaru shrugged.

"And? Well Takumi tells me you tried to slit my brother's throat, that you claimed you knew how to make him solid, he said you weren't using a chakra blade so he had no idea how that might have worked but I know, and I think you do too. So I want to know who told you, and were you the one that told Ami? Because if you were . . . if you gave her _permission _to kill me--"

"Is _that _what this is all about? All this whoring yourself to another guy?"

"The only whoring I ever did was when I let _you _into my bed," Kaori scoffed, "And for your information I haven't been sleeping with Takumi."

Why had she said that? It was none of Hikaru's business, what was she doing?

Hikaru smirked and reached out for her, she stepped back, "Look, Kaori . . . I'm not going to lie, I liked having you and Ami at the same time . . . but Ami was just for fun. You're intelligent, you're efficient, frankly, you're far more useful in a fight. If I loved anyone, it was you. It _is _you. I know you came here thinking I'd ordered Ami to hurt you, but I never would have, I always wanted the two of you to get along."

Kaori knew she _shouldn't _believe all of that, but amazingly, she found that she _wanted _to believe it. She forced herself to remain aggressive, "Don't try to butter me up, just tell me what you know about my clan, tell me how you know our weakness!"

"Kaori I don't know how Ami found out, at the time I thought the only thing that could hurt you was chakra, the elements you hadn't learned to channel." Hikaru said, "If I'd known I'd have told her not to do it, I promise."

"You lie is more like it. Who told you then?" Kaori demanded.

"I have educated friends . . . but if you and I were a team again you wouldn't have anything to fear from them. Come on Kaori . . . if you really haven't been sleeping with Takumi you must be frustrated by now, and even if you have been I don't care, I still want you."

"Yeah, Tosa made mention of _that_, how you plan to rape me before you murder my boyfriend."

"Get real, I couldn't force myself on you, you can go _through _me." Hikaru said.

"Which is why tricking me into being willing would work so much better?" Kaori scoffed.

"That was all bluster," He said, "I was just mad, mad that I'd lost you to that worthless Samurai. But . . . I'm not willing to just give up, I won't lose you. Come on, just like old times, only this time it's just you and me, like it always should have been."

Kaori laughed, "Oh please. Everything's about sex with you, and that's one of the _many _reasons you lost me."

"Lost you? I think not. You're right here, and I know what you came for. You want one last go with me, just to make sure you're really over me. We haven't even undressed, and you can already see that you're not."

"Sex, sex, sex, that's all you ever think of! I don't _want_ to have sex all the time, a relationship needs _more _than just a physical basis. Takumi _talks _to me, he knows me, he understands how I feel, and, oh yeah, he _cares _about my feelings too!"

"Seems to, you mean." Hikaru scoffed, "If he really loved you he wouldn't have let you go all those years ago, he wouldn't have let me have you for as long as I did, if at all." Hikaru put his hands on his hips, "I understand you Kaori. You feel that old friendship with him, he used to be the person you looked up to, and you were right to do so, he _used _to be a really impressive Shinobi, I called him my friend because he was almost as skilled as I was. But you realized long ago that he wasn't right for you and I was, that's why we got together. That's why we stayed together for so long, why you put up with so much of my crap."

Hikaru took a step towards her, she took a step back, "Kaori, the thing is . . . you're not the same person you used to be. You're not the girl who loved Takumi anymore, you've changed and you know it. You changed into someone darker, more lethal, more beautiful than that girl ever was, you're a woman now, finer than any this village will ever see again. You know I'm the reason for that, I helped you."

"Forced me. I never enjoyed the killing." Kaori whispered.

"Don't lie, not to me." Hikaru told her, coming in even closer, she backed up into the wall now. She could leave, phase through the wall and escape.

But she'd be leaving without any of the answers she'd come for. "I came here for a reason, Hikaru!" Kaori said.

"I know. It just isn't the one you thought you were coming for." He leaned in to kiss her, and she phased through him.

Emerging behind him she said "Don't you try it!"

"Come on Kaori, you know you want it. You're dying for it, I can feel it." Hikaru smirked at her.

"I don't, you're wrong. I'm not like that, unlike you I don't fancy the idea of having two lovers at once."

"You won't, you said yourself Takumi isn't your lover." Hikaru smirked, "It wouldn't even be cheating, we never really broke up, you and I."

Kaori was getting angry now, "I asked you a question, you're going to answer it!" She shouted.

"You're getting flustered," Hikaru laughed, "You're so cute. You know how this is going to end Kaori, you knew it the instant you phased through my door. You legitimated your decision by claiming that you came for answers to questions you knew I'd never be able to answer. In truth, what you came for was to see if there was still anything between us, and of course, now you know there still is. You know that even if you wanted to leave me you couldn't, you're as much enslaved to me as I am to you."

"That's just not true, Minoru." She said, shaking her head, "I love Takumi, not you."

"Who are you trying to convince?" Hikaru laughed, "You've gotten used to getting laid almost nightly, it's been how many weeks since we were together, and he is _not_ giving you any? You know what you want, you're just too ashamed to admit it. You don't have to be ashamed."

"Stop finding new ways to tell me the same stupid thing and tell me what I want to hear!" Kaori screamed, drawing a pair of kunai from her pouch.

"What you want to hear? Okay. You want to hear that I'm sorry for taking you for granted, that Ami meant nothing to me," He said, closing in on her again, this time she took a defensive stance and held up her kunai, but he knocked her hands wide open and put his hand around her waist, "You want to hear that I _love _you."

He leaned forward to kiss her, she didn't phase.

She let him kiss her, and then broke out of his grip with a smile.

"You see?" Hikaru smirked.

"Oh yes . . . I see." Kaori smiled, "I see that I can kiss you and feel nothing. Because the woman who let you into her bed night after night against her better judgment and against the advice of her wise younger brother, never felt anything, did she? She was dead inside, cold and empty. I'm not that woman anymore. I have Takumi's undying love to thank for that, and you? Well I pity you. You'll never be half the man he is, but you won't ever realize that. You'll sit here in your house alone, or with some cheap tramp, telling yourself you're the universe's most magnificent of creations, but deep down inside you'll know . . . you're trash. Useless, worthless trash."

Hikaru forced a smirk, "Really? That's what you think, eh?"

"Oh I think a great many things indeed, you wouldn't notice because you never cared about what I thought. You didn't care what I thought about Ami, you didn't care what I thought about killing the helpless, you didn't even care what I thought about the drinks you ordered me. You just cared about yourself, and how good I could make you feel physically you ignored the good I could have done for you intellectually. Oh we could have been quite a pair, both strong, efficient killers, we could have been partners. You weren't interested in that, I was just a bitch in your pack of strays."

Kaori walked towards the door, "Takumi though, I'm a partner to him, and I will always choose him over you. I love him, I always have and I always will. I risked my life just to help him, I don't think I can see myself doing that for you. Not anymore. You had your chance Hikaru, you took what you wanted from me and I received nothing in return, so I think it's best that we conclude our business together. You say we never officially broke up, well consider us now quite officially broken up."

She turned her back on him and opened the door, "Other than that I can see I won't get any answers from you, you just want to waste my time with suggestive talk and innuendo. The thing is, I have this thing called a life now, so I'm finished with you, goodbye."

"Goodbye for now." Hikaru scoffed. "Just for now. I'll have you again. I'll _own _you again, you whore."

"I doubt it." Kaori said with a shrug. "I am a whore though, my stupidity leaving Takumi and going to you those years ago saw to that, didn't it? Well, that's over too. There's just one man in my life from this point on."

"Yeah. That'll be _me_, when I kill Tak-kun." Hikaru sneered, "But when that happens, when you come crawling back on all fours I won't favor you as much as I would have if you'd come over to me now. In fact, I think I'm disgusted with you now, so go on, walk away, tell yourself you won't come back. You're right, I did take what I wanted from you, I don't need anything more."

"Good, then we're both done with one another." Kaori said with forced cheerfulness, "I'll see you again, Minoru, when Takumi kills you. Because you know even though he won't _need _my help against you, he'll have it. We're partners."

* * *

Hikaru slammed his fist into the wall, "That fool!" He shouted to himself, for Kaori was long gone, "That whore!" He hit the wall again, leaving a deep dent, "Who does she think she is?" He laughed bitterly, "You picked the losing side, you fool! You had your chance, I _forgave _you for killing Ami, and you go off like you don't need me? You need me, this whole village needs me!" He kicked a chair and it shattered when it hit the wall, "You'll see. You'll all see!" He laughed again, "Nobody says 'no' to me, not for something I really want. Nobody."

He paced back and forth, he'd been willing to spare Kaori the wrath she deserved. And she did deserve wrath, after all, she'd been under orders, she'd ignored them, but he'd been willing to look past that. He hadn't been lying, she was the most beautiful woman in this village.

He punched the wall a third time, still shouting at her as if she were still in his house, even though she'd left three hours ago and he'd been yelling for two.

"I'll kill you, you tool! You and Konjo, he's dead too! Once Hattori is safely on her way to Kabuto, the two of you die, one at a time or together it won't make any difference. Together, you might have been stronger than me before . . . but not now." He said, giving in to the euphoric effects of his cursed mark's second stage, reveling in the new body it gave him.

The body that would kill Yurei Kaori, and Konjo Takumi, the body that would abduct Hattori Kasumi, removing from the land of Lightning two of its greatest warriors and one of it's more promising.

Such a blow would see his name go down in Kumogakure history books . . . for as long as they'd exist before Kabuto and the Sound Organization did away with them, and all traces of this village.

"You chose the losing side, Kaori." Hikaru said darkly, then he began to laugh again.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Do not forget the message boards, where all sorts of new topics are currently being discussed from chapter discussion to the identity of the new Sound Five! Have fun all!


	126. Premonitions

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Twenty Six**

Kotaro poked the fire with a stick, pretending to be very interested in it, but subtly keeping his eyes on the Anbu.

She probably knew what he was doing, but he just wouldn't be a ninja if he didn't at least pretend he wasn't watching her.

He pretended to be interested in the story Nao's dad was telling.

"It was her birthday, so we had to have this ridiculously lavish party even though I insisted it was a bad idea, Atsuko just likes having any excuse to dress her daughters up. So she starts by giving Eri a bath, after the bath Eri slips out of Atsuko's arms while she's drying her, and runs off screaming 'no mekkup!"

"I made the mistake of telling her how pretty she'd look in her new kimono once I'd made up her face," Nao's mother admitted, "I forgot that she hated putting makeup on when she was little."

"So just imagine, our naked little three year old running around the mansion screaming like a wild animal. The maids went into an uproar, they didn't know if they should try to catch her or stay well out of the way, she must have run us around the mansion for a good ten minutes, it was ridiculous, we tried cutting her off, surrounding her, she just slipped right past our clutches!"

Eri, who should have been terribly embarrassed by the story--Kotaro would have been--laughed and said "Don't forget what Ichiteru did."

"Oh yes, her oldest sister just happened to be around, and she was getting a kick out of all this. So while her poor pregnant mother, myself, and all our maids are trying to capture this surprisingly fast three year old without tripping over her or something, Ichiteru opens the door and shouts 'run free' to which Eri complies. It was then we learned she could climb trees. It was a huge spectacle, people thought we were _beating_ the girl, she just hid up in that tree screaming 'no mekkup!"

"So what happened?" Yomiko asked, giggling.

"Luckily one of our neighbors' wives was a washed up Genin," Nagahide admitted, "she climbed the tree without her hands, which mystified Eri long enough that she could snatch her and bring her back down, still screaming--"

"No mekkup!" Eri shouted.

Yomiko laughed, Nao laughed too, but nervously. Kotaro suspected he didn't want his father to tell any stories about him, so keeping his friend's worry in mind Kotaro spoke up and said "So why didn't you have any more kids after Nao?"

"We didn't have to." Nagahide said, "I had my son, I could leave the family business to him instead of having to pick a worthy man from the husbands of my daughters, or one of my subordinate managers."

Kotaro noticed Nao look away shamefaced, Kotaro supposed it might have been better if he hadn't said anything at all, but he had no idea Nao would be ashamed of being the only heir to his father's business.

"Also, we worried that another child might be unnecessarily stressful on us. Didn't you just hear my story? Raising this family was half joy, half nightmare!" Nagahide added. "To be honest the sooner I get these last two married off to whomever, and talk Naomasa into giving up the ninja ways and taking up the business the sooner I can relax."

Nagahide glanced at Kotaro, "What about your parents? Why do they let their only son travel on dangerous missions like this when he's still recovering from an injury? If you should die who will take over your father's legacy?"

"It's not dangerous at all." Kotaro said, "That's why we were assigned it. If I die, well my father's legacy is already recorded in the history books of Konoha, he's a legend. That'll live on a lot longer than I will."

"But surely you don't want to see your bloodline die out, your family name." Nagahide said.

"What's in a name? My mother's family name won't be advanced through her, she gave me my dad's name, so hers is effectively ended unless they decide to have another kid with her name."

"Women have to give up their names for their husbands, it's only proper." Nao's mom said. Kotaro didn't bother to point out that his parents had never bothered to get married.

"I won't." Yomiko said, "The Sarutobi clan is extremely prestigious, my husband would want to be called by _my _clan name."

"Possibly," Nagahide nodded, "Even I've heard of the Sarutobi clan. But suppose you marry into the Uzumaki, or Uchiha clan, aren't they prestigious too?"

"Difficult to do considering that neither Uzumaki Naruto nor Uchiha Sasuke have heirs my age," Yomiko smiled, "Or heirs at all."

"So maybe they'll have kids down the road you can marry. Sure you'll be older, but what does age matter, eh little brother?" Eri grinned, winking at Nao.

Kotaro smirked, Nao blushed.

"I feel we're discussing rather useless matters here," The Anbu spoke up.

"Yes well, I don't think any of them asked you." The doctor said lightly.

"We _need _to be talking about how we're going to get these wagons into Water territory. The Seven Swordsmen Bridge can take them to Wave, but no further."

"Seven Swordsmen was the Kiri name for it. It's the Great Naruto Bridge again." Eri pointed out.

"Whatever," The Anbu said, "How do we traverse the ocean? Lightning isn't going to like the idea you know."

"Lightning has no jurisdiction in Wave Country," Nao's dad said, "Isn't that so, Captain?" He asked Yomiko.

"Yeah." Yomiko said. Shikamaru told them not to speak to the Anbu--though she didn't seem to have those same orders--but they could speak to others for her benefit, or so the kids had decided.

But the way she referred to the bridge by its Kirigakure name, rather than the real one, the one that everyone in Fire, Lightning, and Wave countries were so proud to have restored to it wasn't lost on Kotaro.

Neither was the fact that she was faking a Konoha accent, and poorly. It was the stereotypical accent, the sort you saw at foreign plays, not the sort that actually existed in Konoha.

Kotaro knew Nao and Yomiko had noticed it too, but they seemed less concerned than he was. They hadn't heard Shikamaru-sensei threaten the woman.

"So Lightning has no jurisdiction, do you suppose the Wave will be pleased that we're carrying medicine to the soldiers that conquered their country and held them for nearly four years?" The doctor asked.

"They have no ninja village, just a small militia." Yomiko told the doctor, "We can do as we see fit, and in any event we can lie and say that we're taking the medicine to the ships in the Lightning fleet."

"If you say so." The doctor said.

Kotaro and the rest of the team weren't surprised by the medicine's destination, Nao had told them his sister said they were going to be going to Water Country, which was probably why the Anbu was going along, for their protection. The doctor was likely going to make sure the medicine was properly handled, but the Ishida were Fire citizens, it was true they had shops all over but would they really be _allowed _into a foreign nation's territory during wartime?

And how would they get out? Kotaro knew that Nao was concerned about that very thing, he had been since they left Konoha, so he said to him "Just how do you plan to return to Fire territory once you've made your delivery?"

"We don't." Nao's father said evenly, "Not for some time anyway. I've dispatched letters on how business should be handled in all the shops, and I trust the managers to carry on well on their own judgment for some time, however I am prepared to be confined to Water Country's territory until the war's end. I am told that it will end before much longer."

"Hard to say, Iwagakure has the critical mass to put up a major last stand, even if _every _country allied against them." Yomiko pointed out.

"That's not likely," The doctor said, "You'll find some countries are still quite friendly with them, and don't forget that just as deception is a ninja's tool, it's favored by many a noble and politician."

Kotaro shrugged, "Everyone says the war is ending though. Ninja may be tools of warfare but even we get tired of it, this war has gone on for almost four years now and there's no real point to it anymore. All sides are sick of fighting, as far as we can tell Iwagakure is just too proud to admit it."

"How would you know?" The Anbu asked. "Hidden in Cloud doesn't seem terribly tired of the war, they're not even trying to talk peace with Mist."

Kotaro shrugged. He knew because Shikamaru-sensei said it was so, and Shikamaru-sensei wouldn't lie about something like that and wasn't often wrong.

* * *

Akira bowed down before his Daimyo, the man cleared his throat, "Rise, Taisho."

Akira rose, as ordered. The Daimyo's tent was a small one, but fitting for a field commander. The Daimyo would be leading the main army, as Akira had suspected.

They had met in the deserts far from the cities, far from anyone but the Daimyo's honor guard and of course Akira's body guards, who were currently protecting his wife.

Alone--save for a pair of body guards for the Daimyo--the man handed Akira a dagger and held out his hand.

"Draw blood from my hand, Taisho." The Daimyo ordered.

Akira shook his head, "You cannot ask me to do such a thing my lord!"

"I can and will ask what I will of you and you will act." The Daimyo said flatly, "What I will tell you will stun you, it will horrify you, and ultimately you will believe I am an enemy Shinobi lying to you. Draw blood from my hand with your own so that you will know that I am no clone, and under no transformation. Only then can I tell you of your orders."

Akira nodded and produced his own knife, "Then I must use my own blade, the one you offer me may be cloned or in some way intended to deceive me."

"I understand." The Daimyo said, and he held out his hand.

Akira moved the blade quickly over the daimyo's out held palm, leaving a thin cut that bled somewhat sluggishly, "You see that I am myself." The Daimyo said, holding out his hand to be tended to by one of his guards while he continued speaking to Akira, ignoring the man tending his wound.

"You will take your one thousand warriors, and a task force of ninja. You will carry out your mission without hesitation, or mercy."

"Yes my lord." Akira said.

"You will spare not even the children, but the bodies of the fallen will be preserved so that we may extract from them any bloodline traits that we can."

"I understand, my lord." Akira said.

"Then I tell you your mission, Taisho. Your mission is to destroy a Shinobi village down to the last Genin, and that village is . . ."

* * *

"Naomasa," Nagahide said, "Come, I want to talk to you for a moment."

"Can't," Nao said, "I've got the first watch and I need to pay attention."

Yomiko shrugged, "I can cover your watch until you're finished speaking."

"Thank you Captain," Nagahide said, but Nao just slumped.

He wondered if Yomiko had said that to be nice or to be mean.

He walked off with his father and the older man rested a hand on his shoulder, "Naomasa-kun, we need to talk. Just you and me, man to man . . . what will it take for you to stop playing ninja?"

"I'm not going to stop." Naomasa shrugged.

"You understand the consequences this act will have on our family? If you die our family name dies with you, our traditions back to the very beginning of the clan die out. Is that what you want?"

"I'm not going to die." Naomasa shrugged.

"Then wait. Become a ninja after you come of age and have produced a male heir." Nagahide said.

Naomasa was stunned. "Is that all that matters to you?" He demanded, "Whether or not I have a son? Just so you can keep your business in the family?"

"No, but I--"

"Haven't you ever considered that one of my sisters' husbands might be better suited to running things?"

"Yes, however--"

"The business needs new blood or it'll die. So does Konohagakure."

Nagahide closed his eyes and sighed, "I just wanted to be able to give you something other than material possession."

"What?" Nao blinked, "What do you think a business is?"

"Not the business. My experience, to train you and teach you all the skills I know. That's one of the reasons people have children you know? I imagined that you and I would spend years together, me teaching and you learning and growing into a brilliant young businessman."

Nao frowned. "I hated being rich."

"Why would you hate that?" Nagahide asked.

"Because it meant I had no freedom. Mother already had about three brides picked out for me to choose from when I came of age, and by my choosing of course you know I really mean _her _choosing. I had no friends before, but now . . . I've got my team, I've got friends from other teams, I even think of my sensei as kind of a friend."

"And this has brought you happiness?" His father asked.

"Why wouldn't it?" Naomasa blinked.

"That's a question, not an answer. Has having friends, and knowing you won't have to marry the cute, wealthy girls your mother picks out made you happy? Not seeing your family, running away and disappearing so that we didn't know if you were alive or dead until we learned you'd become a ninja, does that make you happy? Because if it has you and I are very different. For me, the love of my wife, and knowing my children are safe makes me happy. Working hard every day makes me happy, this extended vacation is grinding on my last nerve to be perfectly honest."

"Living in Konoha _has _made me happy." Naomasa said. "I missed my family, but I couldn't stay with you guys any longer."

His father smiled, "I think I may know you better than you think, and yet I know I don't know you half as well as I'd like to. You're my own son and I cannot even guess at your favorite color. I don't know what you like to do to pass the time. All I know is that you're not a child anymore, you've become a soldier and now I've lost the child I never knew. I'd at least like to know the man he's become, but . . . in truth I haven't the time to learn half of what I want to know about you."

"You'll have years, I'm still a kid . . ." Nao said.

"No, you're not." Nagahide said softly, "You're a child in body but an adult in mind, so are all the members of your team. But you know what troubles me is that while I do not know you as well as I'd like, while I do not wholly approve of the world you've made yourself a part of, and though I have tried to disapprove of you sternly enough to guilt you into coming home I cannot deny that I am _proud _of you."

Nagahide frowned, "I tell you this because Kirigakure will be dangerous. Water and Fire have almost always been enemies, even during peacetime things there were rocky. I've spoken to your mother about it, and we agree it's going to be dangerous. It's entirely possible that we'll be held hostage, or worse. If the worst should happen to me, or . . . against all my prayers if the worst should happen to _you _as you fight this war, I wanted you to know just how proud we both are of you. I know that whatever choices you make in the future, they'll be good ones. When you _do_ make a bad decision I know you'll learn from it."

Naomasa looked off into the distance, "You'll be safe in Kiri, I know it."

"We may be. We hope to be." Nagahide said softly, "But I am a Fire Country citizen, and a valuable one at that. Ransom by their Daimyo or merely an ignorant act of hatred by a commoner, either can end me and your mother. That's the reason that we've agreed that Eri is going back to Konoha with you."

"She's what?" Nao blinked.

"Eri will be running the Konoha store." Nagahide said softly, "It was her idea you know, though she thinks I've decided against it, I'll tell her the truth when we arrive in Wave Country tomorrow. She will be the head of the store and you, Naomasa, must keep an eye on her when you can. She's sixteen, it's a dangerous age for a girl. You are my only son, while I am away at Kirigakure you are the head of the Ishida clan. I've bought the two of you a shop to run, Eri and I had hoped that the two of you would run it together, but if you are _utterly _opposed to the idea of having anything to do with the merchant blood flowing through your veins, then at the very least take care of your sister."

Nao had a lot to think about. Did he want to try running a store? Maybe it wouldn't be that bad. "Where's Eri going to live? She can't stay in a hotel forever, and she can't stay in the barracks with me, even if she is my sister there's strict rules about boys and girls sharing rooms."

"No, she can't stay there. That's why she has a house now. At least until she gets married, at which point it becomes your house and she'll have to move in with her husband. It's not very large, but enough for the two of you to live in without trying to strangle one another after your first day. I don't think you need to remain in the barracks. It's fine if you meant to make your own way in life, but right now your sister needs you more than you need your ego. She's never been on her own before, but you have been for a good long while now. Show her how it's done I suppose."

Nao frowned, "What if something happens to me _and _you?"

"In that event Akira-san has already agreed to adopt Eri into his clan as his sister and see to it that she marries well. Each of your sisters' husbands has made a similar promise down the line of whom your mother and I deemed the most well established and therefore most capable of suddenly taking on another mouth. The only one who made no such promise is Ichiteru's husband, being a soldier of the Water army I have no way of reaching him or even knowing if he is alive, and if something happens to me odds are it will be _because _of the Water Country's army."

Naomasa shook his head, "Nothing's going to happen to you."

"Maybe not. But your mother and I wanted to be prepared . . . and I wanted you to know how much respect and faith I have in you, my son."

Naomasa nodded. He wasn't sure what he could say to that, so all he said was "If that's all I'd better take over the watch from Yomiko, it's not fair to make her keep covering for me."

His father smiled slightly, "Go on then. And good night, Chuunin Ishida."

"Good night, Client Ishida." Naomasa bowed slightly, and though his father was smiling, he, fearing his response might sound too cold and formal added "Sleep well, dad."

"Are you kidding? A cold tent and the hard ground, how could I _not_?" The merchant laughed and slapped his son on the back.

* * *

Yukio trudged dejectedly at the rear of the troop, Temari-sensei and Kyoko had hitched a ride on a wagon carrying war supplies, but Yukio trudged along on foot and Ryu walked with him.

Not that Yukio wanted company.

"You should have become Chuunin." Ryu commented.

"Shut up!" Yukio snarled, "Don't you think I know that? No . . . no I'm sorry Ryu, really. I don't mean to be so upset, but I am." The boy clenched his fists, "I _should _have become a Chuunin! If I'd been in the final match I'd have killed that Akira boy right out, my sand shields would have stopped his sword and my sand blades would have ended him. But no . . . they called it a tie, we both failed. They couldn't just let me have it because she'd surrendered or anything!" Yukio shouted, then fell quiet as several soldiers were now staring at him and Ryu in confusion.

The two ninja moved a little further away from the marching column, "Sometimes that's just the way things go, Yukio." Ryu said. "Don't let it bother you."

"It wouldn't really, if only . . ." Yukio sighed and glared off in Kyoko's direction.

"It's not her fault." Ryu reminded Yukio, "She didn't make the final decision, and what would you have had her do? Fail purposely so as not to surpass you when her whole desire was to succeed and make Temari-sensei proud?"

"I told you, I don't mean to be so upset but I am." Yukio scowled, "I know it's not her fault, that's why I'm avoiding her, I don't want to say something that'd hurt her feelings. But . . . instead I just keep snapping at you, and that's no better."

"I can handle it." Ryu shrugged.

"You shouldn't have to." Yukio said, "I guess that just goes to show I truly do deserve to remain a Genin. I'm not _mature _enough to be a Chuunin." Yukio said bitterly. "Kazekage-sama was right, but I can't stop being mad about this. Sarutobi Yomiko passed too, Temari-sensei said. Now if she sees me still without a flack jacket she'll think I'm a joke!"

"Ask Kyoko if you can borrow hers next time we're in Konoha, I'm sure she'd let you--"

"Let me lie so that the truth becomes even _more _shaming?" Yukio scoffed.

"Well . . . yes." Ryu admitted.

"Oy you two!" Temari shouted from the wagon several meters ahead of them--far enough away that she couldn't hear their conversation, close enough that they could hear her shout--"We're entering Waterfall Territory now, we're peeling off for a bit so come here and stay close to me!"

Yukio blinked, surprised at this news. He rushed over as Temari and Kyoko leapt from the wagon they'd been riding on and he followed them into the woods.

"What's going on?" Yukio asked.

Temari said "We're here looking for a criminal, an escaped Jounin called Okatsu. She might not be here, but if we can find any clues as to where she went that'd be a start. The army will only be in the area for a day while they rendezvous with the Waterfall army, that gives us just one day to find clues, but we can't split up _because _the target is a Jounin. Sound fun?"

Yukio smirked, "Sure does." He said.

It sounded like a chance to redeem himself, if he could do well in a fight against a Jounin . . .

* * *

Akira felt numb as the Daimyo explained the political reasons behind the decision. He couldn't believe it.

His orders . . . they were . . . insane.

"You must understand that Wind will never have such an opportunity as this again. Our Shinobi are a precious resource and there are few left. Nonetheless more and more of them are being wasted in this endless war, you will be ensuring that this stops through your sacrifice."

Akira couldn't even speak, he just nodded as he took in all that the Daimyo was asking him to do.

Impossible, insane as it sounded to him, he supposed the Daimyo must have had a strategy. His actions made sense when put together with the larger picture he was sure.

"The village will be all but empty of its most powerful Shinobi, they will be fighting with the main army, they will not know what you've done, and even if they found out they would be too far away to reinforce the village."

Akira nodded dumbly.

"Taisho . . . does this mission trouble you?"

Akira looked hard at the Daimyo. _What do you think? _He wondered, _Do I not seem troubled? Why would you ask me a question with such an obvious answer?_

He clenched his fists, "My lord . . . it is the honor of a soldier to perform his duty. My duty is my life, your word is my command."

"Then you have your orders. Link up with your army within the week. I understand of course if you first wish to escort your new bride to the capital where she may await good news of your mission. She will have every comfort the wife of a general deserves."

"Yes my lord." Akira said.

He doubted very much that Emiko would consider any news of his mission good.

Either he would fail and not return to her, or he would succeed and then still, very likely not return to her.

_The finest men in the Wind nation's army, trained Shinobi killers to the last . . . and we're given a suicidal assignment. The funny thing is, a month ago I would have been _happy _about this chance to die in glory. And now . . ._

Akira didn't finish the thought, he bowed before his Daimyo and took his leave when the man nodded his permission. Marching automatically and without much use of his brain towards his entourage the Samurai took to his horse and they set off for the capital without a word spoken to anyone.

He knew he'd have to tell Emiko about the mission, but . . . well he wouldn't let his bad news ruin her first impression of the city that would be her new home.

He wanted her to be able to enjoy what a beautiful place the city was, for it truly was magnificent place . . . worth dying for even.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	127. Akira's Mission

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Twenty Seven**

Sasuke had been very careful to keep a close eye on things with the convoy, but he was also keeping a close eye on Shiroi.

"You're feeling okay?" Sasuke asked.

"Of course I am." Shiroi scoffed, "Why wouldn't I, Sensei?"

"You're underperforming." Sasuke told her flatly.

"Well maybe I'm not taking this mission seriously . . . you know, what with it being so boring."

"Take it seriously then." Sasuke scoffed, "All your late nights with Kurai and now you can't even stay awake to keep watch. You're starting to make me wonder."

"Wonder what?" Shiroi demanded.

Sasuke didn't answer her. He didn't have to, he knew from her reaction that he was right about his suspicion, and she knew he suspected the truth.

"Oro-Chi kept watch, if anything had happened the snake would've woke me up, I don't see why I should go through the motions myself, and what Kurai and I do isn't your business." Shiroi said with a smirk.

Sasuke wasn't in a playful mood though, "The snake doesn't see as well as a Hyuga, I didn't charge the snake with keeping watch, I charged you. As for what is and is not my business, I am your sensei, and your commanding officer, I am Kurai's superior officer, so your nightly liaisons are in fact very much my business, the consequences and what it could cost my squad are very much my business."

"You're wrong, sensei, it's not your business and you know it." Shiroi said, catching on to the fact that Sasuke wasn't joking around.

"You don't think things through Shiroi, it's one of your greatest flaws as a ninja and as a person. You're a favorite student of mine but your life choices are endangering your future."

"What right do you have to criticize me as a person?" Shiroi asked.

"None," Sasuke said "But then what right do you have to offer yourself up sexually while you're still just a child, and to expect Kurai to do the same?"

"He hasn't complained." Shiroi snapped. "We're adults according to law."

"Are you?" Sasuke scoffed, "That's a pretty dated and unpopular law, and you're dancing at the edge of definitions."

"Bite me sensei." Shiroi spat, "You don't understand anything."

"Then explain it." Sasuke said, "I've got nothing but time to understand the complicated bundle of nerves and emotions that is you, Shiroi."

"Are you trying to hit on me?" Shiroi scoffed, "Just because you've guessed that I've become sexually active doesn't mean you have to--"

"Cut the crap." Sasuke said flatly.

"Fine. What do you want to know?" Shiroi sighed.

"Why did you keep Saizo's snake?" Sasuke asked.

"Needed a home." Shiroi said with a shrug, "Saizo showed me how to communicate with Oro-Chi a long time ago while he was stilly trying to get me into bed so I have no problems."

Sasuke looked at her, Shiroi was different, something about her looked . . . different.

He narrowed his eyes, he had his suspicions, he didn't want to confront her with them right away but he might take a round about way of asking . . . "How are things between you and Kurai since Saizo's death?"

"You trying to get cute? You know what we're doing. I don't know _how _you know, but you know." Shiroi scoffed.

Actually Shino had told him, but he would have strongly suspected it just from having spent the past day with Shiroi. "I mean do you think there's a future for the two of you? Honestly? Or are you just living in the moment."

"I'm planning things through, sensei." Shiroi said flatly, "I know how Kurai feels about me, how I feel about him, and we've got a future together, I'm certain of that." Shiroi smirked slightly, Sasuke wanted to bang his head on a rock.

Stupid, stupid girl.

Did she have any idea what she'd done? What she'd done to her future, or to Kurai?

"Final question," Sasuke ventured, "Since you're planning things through so well, tell me . . . what're you naming the baby?"

Shiroi was quiet for a moment, then she shook her head, "Can't get anything past you Sensei. Fine. If you must know . . . boy or girl . . ." Shiroi whispered, gazing off into the distance, "The child I'm carrying right now is going to be named Saizo."

* * *

"My mission will be over before you know it," Akira was telling Emiko, "Until then you'll be happy in the capital . . . it's not far from Sunagakure so you'll be . . . safe." He said. It was difficult to claim such a thing, after all Sunagakure was almost empty of its remaining ninja.

"Taisho!" One of his body guards shouted as a trio of Sunagakure Jounin approached them.

Akira glowered at the three ninja as they came closer to him, "Ho there! Pleasure to meet you Mister Samurai guy." A female ninja announced.

Of the three she was the smallest, they all wore rags around their faces likely to keep the sand from their mouths. The tallest one wore a sword and had several scars, though Akira was pretty sure he had more than the Shinobi did.

Akira scowled, "What do you want, Shinobi?"

"We are part of your Ninja task force," The scarred Jounin said flatly, "we will remain with you as your body guards until you link up with the rest of the force."

"Very well, do your job quietly." Akira said with a shrug.

"Of course. Supposing we needed a refresher though . . ." The woman said.

"Our mission, Jounin, is to enter Sunagakure to link up with the rest of our ninja task force and be inspected by the Kazekage and a representative of the Daimyo before marching on our final objective. Is that not so, master Samurai?" The scarred ninja said smoothly.

Akira folded his arms, "You're not certain?"

"I am, but if your orders are different than my own I must follow your lead." The Jounin shrugged.

"You're correct." Akira acknowledged.

"Yessir!" The woman said cheerfully, "Can't wait to start bashing in heads sir!"

"Forgive her, she's very stupid." The third ninja in their group said.

"Evidently." Akira said eyeing the woman suspiciously. Was she newly promoted? Didn't she know that typical Sunagakure Jounin showed more respect when their captains were speaking? "Well before I link up with the force I will be escorting my wife to her new estate, until then amuse yourselves as best you can, I will not need ninja body guards in the city."

"Akira-san . . ." Emiko whispered from the carriage she rode in. Akira heard her because he'd been riding his horse right alongside her window, "I . . . I will not leave your side."

Akira frowned, "What?"

"Wherever you go, if you face danger I can predict the outcome, I would be valuable to you, and I do not want you to face this mission alone. Let me come with you."

"Yes, let her." The third Jounin, who had been quiet up to this point said, "After all sir, you have no choice."

"What?" Akira demanded, "The Daimyo said--"

"The orders have changed." The scarred Jounin shrugged, "You are to lead the force to Sunagakure _immediately_, there's been something of a security breach, and we can't wait any longer to set our plans in motion."

"I . . . I see." Akira said, clenching his fist and wondering how those ninja had heard Emiko's whisper when he, so close to her, had had to strain to hear it.

"Then shall we off?" The female Jounin asked cheerfully, "I really can't wait. We're about to make history! This is the army that's going to wipe out an entire ninja village, can you believe it?"

Akira narrowed his eyes at her, "How dare you speak of it so lightly."

"What? Not like secrecy's going to matter much longer." The woman scoffed, but her scarred companion punched her roughly in the face.

"Do not show the general disrespect, Jounin! And do not speak lightly of classified missions." The scarred ninja shouted at her, and she, holding her face staggered to her feed and nodded.

"Y-yes, yes sir."

Akira shook his head, "That was unnecessary, Captain."

"If you say so, General . . . but her skull is particularly thick, I doubt that light blow so much as rattled her pea sized brain."

"So mean, senpai." The woman sighed, the scarred ninja spun around again and punched her, she didn't even flinch, though she did fall backwards again.

"Captain!" Akira shouted.

"You have your methods, I have mine." The Jounin said gruffly.

"Indeed. Don't do it again in front of me, Captain." Akira warned. He'd show this sword wielding ninja how to truly use a blade if he wouldn't stop disobeying orders.

A glance at Emiko showed Akira that she was terrified because of what had just happened, she was shaking. She'd be shaking even worse if she really followed him along on his mission. He'd find a way to dump her off in Suna, leave her behind. "Come along then, to our army, to Sunagakure." Akira said. _To certain death_. He thought.

The group moved out to rendezvous with Akira's army.

He was truly surprised by the number of ninja in the task force, though there wasn't time for a head count they were more than double what he'd expected in his wildest of fantasies.

Maybe there was a chance they'd survive this after all . . .

* * *

"It was intentional?" Sasuke sighed.

"One hundred percent on my part . . . I like to imagine on some biological level, Kurai knows too."

"Don't count on it." Sasuke scoffed.

She just didn't think things through . . . she never did, it was her greatest flaw and it would ruin her life now, and Kurai's and probably their baby's life too because there was no way the Hyuga family would let the Aburame raise that child if it had the Byakugan, and since Shiroi was a member of the branch family the baby would be too.

Shiroi hated the whole idea of the branch, but she'd stupidly, knowingly brought a new life into it.

Sasuke massaged his forehead, "Shiroi . . . what am I going to do with you? Why did I allow myself to fail you so terribly?"

"You didn't sensei. I know you think you did . . . but I really did think this all through. I know what I'm doing . . . just don't tell Kurai or anyone, it has to be a secret. I promise I know what I'm doing." Shiroi whispered.

"When is he going to find out?" Sasuke asked.

"When I tell him." Shiroi said firmly.

"Just pray that the war ends and Hokage-sama steps down and hands her position to Naruto before your child is born and receives his seal."

"You don't have to try to scare me sensei, this whole thing is plenty scary," Shiroi whispered, "But for pity's sake Sensei . . . trust me. I know what I'm doing . . . I planned it all out. I know you think I'm too young, but . . . I might not have ever had another chance, Kurai could die at any time."

"I could die at any time, you could die at any time, that's what it means to be a soldier fighting a war."

"You'll never understand, sensei. You don't know what it means to be in love, to want children." Shiroi scoffed, "You flirt with Sakura-sensei but you don't make any attempt to do her, like she's getting any younger, like her child-baring days aren't flying by faster than you realize. Out of you _great_ Konoha Twelve only Nara Shikamaru bothered to procreate and he did it on accident."

"Maybe my generation took premarital sex and procreation a little less lightly." Sasuke said. "I have an entire clan to rebuild, I will have children someday, but not until the war ends."

Besides he needed the future Uchiha generations to have the best possible chance at success and happiness, regardless of his personal feelings their mother needed to be the finest kunoichi he could find . . . Sakura was a contender for that title, but not a clear winner. Whatever his personal feelings for her--and they were rather complicated he'd admit--his obligations as the last of the Uchiha meant that he could only marry the woman who'd give his children a good shot at aiding in the clan's restoration to greatness.

Unless . . . unless somehow Hijiri Hitomi . . . with her mysterious eyes . . .

Sasuke shook his head. Hitomi probably didn't have the Sharingan, but if she did . . . he could marry Sakura or whoever, it wouldn't matter because there would be another source of Uchiha blood out there, the responsibility wouldn't all fall to him.

"Whatever you say Sensei." Shiroi shrugged. "I wonder though, do you think the child will have the Byakugan?"

"The Aburame clan infests their young with insects, the Hyuga are born with the Byakugan . . . I'm no expert, or geneticist but I don't see why your child couldn't inherit the powers of both clans."

"Neat." Shiroi whispered.

"Not that either will let their bloodline go free to another clan, and since the Hyuga are the more powerful if the child has the Byakugan it'll be a Hyuga. A branch family member, like its mother."

Shiroi smiled a strange smile, "Oh I doubt that so much, sensei. You see . . . I really have thought this through. I've thought out every single detail."

"I'll bet." Sasuke said.

"Don't you doubt me sensei. This may be my last mission for a while, so it's lucky it's a milk run . . . however . . ." She smirked, "It's a stepping stone really. The first step of a road, and when I reach its end you'll never doubt me again, sensei. You'll never again doubt my ability to lead. And the Main Family . . . they'll realize how wrong they were to put this seal on me."

"When Naruto is Hokage--"

"He'll scold them, sure." Shiroi said darkly, "they'll stop putting the seals on us, their own flesh and blood . . . but that doesn't make up for the fact that they did it in the first place. That they needed to be _forced _to stop doing it just so these eyes don't get out and about."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "What're you planning to do?"

Shiroi smiled, "You'll see Sensei . . . I promise you'll be impressed."

Sasuke shook his head, "Let's hope so." He was quiet for a while, watching the convoy.

It was hard to accept that Shiroi, his student, was hosting a new human life inside her body.

If she and the child survived she'd have begun a family of her own . . . and here he was, having done nothing to truly restore the Uchiha.

Instead he'd devoted himself to protecting the village, keeping as close to Naruto's level as possible and keeping these kids alive.

It wasn't a life wasted, but it wasn't the life he wanted . . . at least not forever.

But what sort of father would he make? Would his own daughters run off and get pregnant like Shiroi? Would his sons die like Saizo? Or would his children be like Kurai, successful, talented?

He knew he wasn't the Shiroi or Kurai's parent, he wasn't responsible for their upbringing, but he'd found over the last three and a half years since he'd taken command of their squad he thought of them sort of as his children . . .

He massaged his forehead, "I hope you'll make a good mother Shiroi."

"Me too." Shiroi said. "I've got everything _planned _out, but . . . how I raise the kid . . . that's got me a little worried." She sounded honest, and she did sound worried.

_You say you've thought it all out, but in the end you're the same as ever, Shiroi._ Sasuke thought.

But he was interested in seeing how Shiroi might prove herself right, how her forethought in regards to this matter might cause him to be impressed, rather than mournful.

* * *

Kankuro smiled at Gaara, "I've got to go now. There's some troops here you forgot to inspect and I've got to think of a way to do it without letting them know I'm not you."

"It's nothing," Gaara said, "A special task force, all you have to do is look at them. Do it from the balcony and they won't know who you are."

"Right." Kankuro said, tossing a cloth over the crystal ball and taking up Gaara's Kazekage hat.

It was funny how like Gaara he could look when he wore the robes and hat of the Kazekage. Sure they were brothers but it bothered him, he'd always thought they had unique faces at least.

But they were so similar that so far those not involved in the conspiracy that left Gaara on the front lines and Kankuro home to man the crystal, didn't realize that Kankuro was not Gaara.

Of course they'd never seen him up close . . . he hadn't even seen Syako since Gaara, disguised as him, had left.

He stood out on the balcony and surveyed the troops as they marched into the city.

Over a thousand elite soldiers . . . and a lot of ninja . . . why were there so many ninja?

Why were there _any _ninja? The four Chuunin strike teams meant to go with the war party were in Sunagakure, that was why the army was being inspected by the Kazekage . . . had the entire ninja force of Sunagakure abandoned the front lines to escort the task force?

It didn't make sense unless . . .

Kankuro's eyes narrowed, "Close the gates, sound the alarm, we're under attack!" He shouted to his nearest attendant, but it was too late.

One of the enemy ninja drew a sword and with that scores of alien ninja surged forward.

Kankuro laughed bitterly, "Not on my watch you cowards."

* * *

"What's going on?" Emiko gasped as the Shinobi in the task force dispersed throughout the city.

"It's nothing." Akira said emotionlessly.

"Akira. . . something's not right. What's happening?" Emi pleaded.

"The Daimyo . . ." Akira said softly, his gaze refusing to meet hers, "The Daimyo ordered most of our ninja out of the village . . . because they're a precious resource. But their leader, the Kazekage, refuses to end his alliance with Konohagakure. The Kazekage must be assassinated, those loyal to him must be silenced so that the other ninja won't revolt."

"Akira . . ." Emi gasped, "What are you saying?"

Akira closed his eyes for a moment and whispered "Sunagakure's Kazekage might stand with Konohagakure's Hokage . . . but the Wind Nation and the Fire Country are no longer allies. A new world order needs to be established, Emiko, the Daimyo need to wield absolute power and someone needs to wield power over the Daimyo. Wind has suffered throughout this war because the ninja had too much power, the Kazekage controlled the ninja so he controlled which side of the war we fought, we could have allied with Earth from the beginning and saved so many lives. The price of peace between Earth and Wind is the life of the Kazekage and his supporters."

"So the village you're ordered to destroy is your own Sunagakure?" Emiko wept.

"No. Suna is our training ground. We're not here to destroy it, we're here to purify it. The Earth ninja take the Kazekage. My soldiers are here to ensure that no damage is done to the city itself."

"Then . . . then where are you . . ." Emiko gasped because she already knew.

Akira had been ordered to study Sunagakure . . . there was just one other place he'd told her he studied.

"Please . . . please tell me that for once the outcome I have predicted--"

"Konohagakure . . . will burn to the ground. With it the last of the Demons, and the last resistance against peace. I am sorry, Emiko, that you have to witness the dark side of history in the making. Your parents and your sister will be out of the country with our new allies, Water, so you needn't worry for them. I can make no promises of your brother's safety but I will try, Emiko, I promise you that I will _try _to preserve him from the fall."

Emiko stared in horror at the "purification" of Sunagakure.

As the Stone ninja laid waste to the feeble defense, as a thousand armored soldiers kept the masses from interfering with the capture of the Kazekage she closed her eyes.

She didn't need to think very hard to know who would win the battle.

She was surprised however, when after only ten minutes a new flag rose to the top of the Kazekage's palace.

The fighting was still raging fiercely, magical explosions were going off everywhere, screams from the dying rang out loud as anything Emiko could imagine.

What shocked her about the sudden flag raising was the flag itself.

A purple flag with a single character on it; a musical note.

"So begins the era of the Sound Shogunate." Akira said, and Emiko noted with at least some relief the disgust and hatred in his voice.

If he didn't believe in this . . . she might be able to talk him out of it.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **This is a week late so I'm putting it up with the other chapter as well. Sorry for the delay! This is a pretty big chapter. Shiroi is pregnant and Akira's target is Konoha as a surprising number of you predicted.

Did I not tell you the arc was about to explode?


	128. To Purify the Sands

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Twenty Eight**

Syako sat patiently in her bed chamber, smiling lightly to herself.

The door burst open and the Kazekage stood there, he waved a trio of Genin into her room.

She feared that she'd been discovered, that they knew she was with the invaders and that they meant to use her to barter Gaara's escape.

"What is the meaning of this, Gaara? What's happening here?" Syako demanded, sounding as innocent and confused as she could.

"Pardon us ma'am, but we've been ordered to get you to safety, the city is under siege and it doesn't look good." A teenage Genin with glasses said, grabbing Syako by the hand.

"Go!" Gaara shouted, he sounded odd.

A pair of Sound ninja, or technically Stone she supposed, charged through the corridor, Gaara stood firm, looking almost heroic.

Of course he was her enemy so he couldn't _quite _look heroic to her. The Genin rushed her away and Syako saw the ninja reconsider targets, after all if _she _were important enough to be escorted away while the Kazekage himself covered her escape she might be more important, or the Kazekage might be a decoy.

But Gaara threw himself at the pair of enemies shouting "Don't even think of it, you've come this far, you go no further!"

So strange . . . had his throat been injured? Why didn't he sound like himself?

Why did he sound like . . .

Syako's eyes widened, "Kan-kun, no!" She screamed, trying to shove away from the Genin but the children forced her away.

"Don't worry ma'am, the Kazekage can take 'em!" The bespectacled Genin assured her.

Sure Gaara could have taken those two Jounin, but Kankuro . . .

Kankuro should have been safe on the front lines where the announcement of the alliance would reach him just in time for him to join with the Earth Nation's army on its way to Konoha, he shouldn't have been here . . . did that mean that the real Kazekage was on the front lines instead? Suna's shinobi would never defect if Gaara was there to tell them not to.

Syako felt tears roll down her cheeks as she heard an explosion behind her, Kankuro didn't fight with many explosives so it probably wasn't him who caused it and that could only be bad news.

She had to find Kabuto, or whoever he'd left in charge and tell them, Kankuro wasn't Gaara, the mission had to be called off.

What could she do?

A familiar face appeared and sliced the lead Genin in half with a single sweep, she screamed as the child came apart at the waist and the other two looked around wildly for another escape route.

"Ho there kiddies . . . I don't suppose you've seen the Kazekage, eh?" A woman snickered.

"You can't do this! The Kazekage isn't here, go away!" Syako sreamed.

"Yeah, he's not _here_, but you can't protect him, we know he's still in the building. We'll kill you all for the answers we need." The woman laughed.

One of the Genin, a girl with a rather pretty face stood forward, shaking like a leaf she still held up her kunai and waved her remaining comrade and Syako back, "You can kill _us_, but you won't beat Kazekage-sama even if you find him!"

"Yes to the first statement, no to the second." The woman said calmly, then without warning she sprang forward with blinding speed, ripped the blade out of the teenager's grasp and stabbed the girl in the eye socket with her own knife, she thrust forward on the blade's handle, snapping the child's neck around so that Syako was forced to see the shocked, lifeless expression on the girl's face as her body fell to the ground.

"C'mon ma'am!" The remaining Genin told her, using a Jutsu of some sort the stone floor crumbled beneath them and they landed roughly on the second floor.

He grabbed her arm and dragged her along, Syako looked back over her shoulder and saw the woman scramble through the hole in the ground after them, "Come back, I want to play some more!" She screamed.

And Toshiie dropped through the floor in front of her, "Nice trick boy, mine's better." He said.

The teenage boy shoved Syako past Toshiie and shouted "Run, ma'am!"

Syako couldn't.

She wasn't the one in danger. The fact that Toshiie had all but stepped aside to allow her to get past him safely signified that.

So she turned back and shoved Toshiie aside, after all he wasn't going to hurt _her_.

She grabbed the boy by the wrist just as the female Jounin's blade came down for his neck. Syako pulled him with all her might so that it grazed him rather than stabbing him, and they ran.

"Come on, we have to reach the Kazekage, he'll protect us!" She cried.

Of course she wouldn't lead Toshiie to Kankuro, he'd think that she was trying to help him and he'd follow her.

Kankuro might be able to fight his way through the rest.

"Oh please be safe, Kan-kun . . ." Syako wept as she and the surviving Genin ran for their lives, Toshiie, the woman and now a third enemy ninja leisurely jogging after them as Syako thought desperately of a way to lose them.

* * *

Eri kissed Naomasa on the cheek, "I'll see you around little brother," she said as she started towards the small boat their parents had hired to take them out to the Lightning fleet.

Though of course that wasn't where they'd actually go.

"No, Eri-chan." Their father said softly, "You're not coming aboard."

"Oh come on dad, I won't flirt with the crew." Eri said, giving their father a playful punch on the shoulder.

Naomasa swallowed hard, his father put his hands on Eri's shoulders, "You're going home, Eri."

"Say what?" Eri raised an eyebrow.

"You're going to live in Konohagakure from now on. When the war is over we all will, you've got to go and . . . supervise the unpacking." Dad said with a smirk.

Eri's face went white, "You're lying to me. No way! You . . . you're going to let me . . ." She trailed off then laughed. Naomasa took a step back so as not to get drawn in by the sudden surge of familial affection between her sister and parents when their mother tearfully hugged Eri and their father explained about the Konoha shop.

The doctor however tapped Nao on the shoulder, "Hey kiddo. Listen, that girl you were talking to when we left Konoha, the one with the goggles, you know her pretty well right?"

"Uh, sure." Nao said.

The doctor handed him an envelope, "See that she gets this. Don't worry, it's not an explosive tag or anything."

"What is it then?" Yomiko asked, Nao almost jumped when Yomiko leaned over his shoulder to look at the envelope.

"I don't really think that's any of your business." The doctor admitted.

"Let's _go _Endo!" The Anbu shouted.

"Yeah, yeah." Endo scoffed. "Anyway make sure she gets that letter, okay?"

"Why? What's in it?" Yomiko asked.

"It's nothing important." The doctor said, hopping off the peer onto the boat.

Naomasa's mother tacked him suddenly and hugged him tightly, he knew he was blushing as she said "I hope I'll see you again really soon, Naomasa, watch out for your sister."

"Uh-huh." Nao grumbled.

Eri seemed a little teary but she was smiling too. She didn't realize that their parents weren't leaving her behind to be nice.

They were leaving her behind because they didn't want her to be in the sort of danger they were in now.

They said their goodbyes, Nao managed not to cry and embarrass himself in front of Yomiko and Kotaro because he'd already said his goodbyes last night, after speaking to his dad.

As the boat began to sail away Nao folded his arms and glanced at Yomiko, "What now, Captain?"

"I want to look around a bit. Do you guys mind?" Kotaro asked.

"No." Yomiko shrugged. She glanced at Nao and Eri, "You two as well?"

"We might as well," Nao shrugged, "I mean after all none of us have ever been here before."

Eri put her hands in her pockets, "Aren't you ninja supposed to be businesslike and military? Shouldn't we get back to Konoha as quickly as possible so that you can pick up your paychecks for the mission?"

"No." Nao said simply.

Kotaro shrugged, "My dad led Uzumaki Naruto and his team here for their first big mission, he told me a few stories, I just want to look around."

Nao nodded and the four of them began to seek out the sights of Wave Country's capital city.

"Dad said this was little more than a town before the bridge was built, but it's a huge city now." Kotaro said with an impressed whistle.

"Even with the war they've managed to expand and thrive, they must have a really dedicated architect guild." Eri agreed.

"No guild, just one guy with a vision." A man chuckled from nearby.

Kotaro turned around and Naomasa raised an eyebrow, "Who're you?"

"The guy who built this city." The man smirked, "Well, not _literally_, but the designs are mine."

"Oh gee, that's great." Eri said flatly, "I have to warn you, if you're trying to pick up on us, I'm sixteen and she's thirteen, we're not interested."

Nao was surprised. Eri was generally pretty flirtatious, but he guessed that didn't apply when she was the nominal elder of a group of kids being approached by a guy in his twenties.

But the man laughed, "You don't understand, I heard you mention Uzumaki Naruto just now, I knew him. He came through here almost sixteen years ago on a mission to protect my grandpa. You're the son of his sensei, Hatake Kakashi?" The man asked Kotaro.

"Yeah." Kotaro shrugged.

"I can see the resemblance." The man nodded. "Anyway I'm Inari, and if anyone's going to show you around my city it might as well be me, I drew up the plans for the whole place. I even included an area where we could someday begin the construction of our own Ninja Academy."

Inari smiled, "Well we used to have it. Water Country used it as their base of operations, and Lightning destroyed it when they took the city back from Water."

"Can't you rebuild it?" Kotaro asked.

"Oh sure." Inari shrugged, "But there's not much point now."

"Why not?" Naomasa asked.

Inari's expression darkened, "Let's just say . . . I have more than one reason for wanting to escort you through our city."

"What's that?" Yomiko asked.

Inari looked away, "Let's not let it ruin our tour, huh? What would you like to see first?"

"The shops." Eri decided.

"The remains of the Academy." Naomasa said.

"Yomiko's the captain, what do you say, captain?" Kotaro asked. Nao groaned, Yomiko would want to see the shops.

After all she was a _girl_, and she'd probably want to spite him for suggesting the academy instead of asking for _her _opinion like Kotaro had.

Yomiko shrugged, "Well Nao wants to see the academy right? Let's go there first. I mean we're bound to spend more time in the shops so let's make sure we go to the academy first so we don't miss it."

"Sounds fair." Eri shrugged.

Nao was surprised though, he hadn't expected Yomiko to say that. But she smiled at him cheerfully, "You wanted to see it, right Nao? Why do you look so surprised?"

"Uh, nothing." Nao shrugged.

"There's not much to see there." Inari warned them.

"Yeah, but my teammate here wants to see it, his opinion is important to this team." Yomiko said with a firm nod.

Naomasa smirked, "Why thank you Captain Sarutobi."

"No problem, Chuunin Ishida." Yomiko giggled.

Inari smiled wryly, "All right then."

"On the way," Kotaro said softly, "maybe you can tell us _why _Wave is giving up it's ambition of having a Ninja village."

Inari was quiet for a while, then he said "If you look around, and listen carefully you might just find out for yourself."

* * *

Kotaro frowned when he saw the remains of the ninja academy.

It had been burned to the ground, some people were poking around the ruins, probably looking for souvenirs.

"Did the Lightning army do this?" Yomiko asked.

"No." Inari said softly. "The Wave Militia did it. It'll be replaced by a barracks for conscript soldiers."

"Well maybe you can build the academy someplace else." Yomiko suggested to Inari consolingly.

Inari shook his head, "Let's get to those shops, huh?"

"What's that?' Eri asked, pointing to a crowd of people near the academy ruins.

Inari didn't answer. He just said "I guess it was just a matter of time before we stumbled on one of them."

"One of what?" Yomiko asked, but Inari didn't answer.

They moved close enough to hear what was going on in the crowd, "The wild days of this world are coming to an end, they _must _come to an end! The Lands of Fire are our allies, have always been our allies, but the _ninja _are not, the _ninja _fight for the highest bidder, they murder for money!"

There was a roar of mixed responses from the crowd, the man speaking held up his hands, "There _are _some heroes, it's true, but don't forget that it was a ninja who started this war! It's because of a ninja village that this war has continued for nearly _four _years! The Shinobi of Hidden in Leaves are harboring a _demon_, you've all heard the rumors and you all know in your heart that they're true!"

Kotaro felt his fists clenching at his side, "They can't be serious." He scowled as the crowd shouted their mixed response, though this time far fewer of them were disagreeing.

"We were under occupation for a long time . . . you have to understand a bit of resentment." Inari said evenly.

"Oh I understand it." Eri said coldly, "That doesn't make it okay."

"Get used to it, because it's spreading. The entire Land of Waves is pretty adamant about never establishing a ninja academy." Inari shrugged.

"No nation that harbors a demon can be heroic, and the mere fact that Fire failed to protect us proves how cowardly they really are. Even now it was Lightning's armies that liberated us, and then it was the _Samurai _and their brave warriors who rescued us from subjugation! None of you remember the days before the ninja villages, neither do I, none of us were alive, but can you _imagine _it? A world where all men are equal?"

"Men huh? What about women?" Eri shouted.

But the man ignored her and instead screamed at the top of his lungs, "Take up arms my brothers, join the militia, help us drive the taint of the Mist Shinobi from out oceans, show the Konoha and Suna ninja that we don't need to pay them for our protection any longer!"

The crowd roared in approval of that idea. Inari shook his head, "The Daimyo's agents have been running around turning people sour to the idea of a ninja village built within this country. They just want a large conscript army under the direct control of the Daimyo. They want a feudal system. Personally, if it comes to that, I think I'll miss seeing women running around in skirts and fishnet . . . maybe they'll let that slip under their reformation radar but who knows."

"You're so calm about their suicidal proclamations." Yomiko scoffed.

"I'm just used to hearing them complain about ninja by now, that's all." Inari shrugged. "They don't want ninja in this country."

"Why? So they can get rolled over next war?" Yomiko scoffed. "You _need _ninja, when you've grown too big and prosperous, other nations will want that prosperity! You _need _a ninja academy!" Yomiko screamed over the crowd.

Kotaro frowned. That might not have been bright, now the crowd's entire attention was on them.

"Look," the speaker laughed, "see their children? See how they're dressed for war? They send their children to fight, to die in their wars! These children should be in school learning their math, not out here wearing vests and making a nuisance of themselves!"

"The only nuisance is you," Yomiko shouted, "You're spreading lies and bile to these people. There will always be ninja in the world, when you're a small nation that cant afford to train a village up then you have to rely on the greater nations like Fire or Wind, even Water for their protection and their ninja contracts, but what happens when you get so big and prosperous, like now, that those nations decide they want what you've got? Tell me smart guy!"

"They pay us for our products and the common man becomes wealthy!" The speaker laughed, "Silly girl."

"Uh, sorry, no." Naomasa spoke up, "In the _real _world that isn't always how it works for countries without any real military force. Why pay for something you can take for free? They'll just send their ninja in to take your stuff. You need your own ninja to protect yourselves."

"We have a militia now, and it will be a true army by the year's end." The speaker laughed, his laugh was pretty annoying.

Kotaro shook his head, "Please. A single Chuunin is equal to an entire platoon of regular soldiers, do you understand how suicidal it is to train hundreds of thousands of men when a thousand ninja is enough to police an entire country?"

"Ninja started this war!" The speaker roared.

"And Ninja have died fighting it!" Eri shouted, "I've _seen _them dying right before my eyes and every night I pray for my brother, but I would never ask him to stop being a ninja!"

"_You _pray?" Nao whispered.

"Shut up, brat." Eri whispered back, Kotaro smirked despite the situation.

"You're just a child yourself, you speak as if we should look favorably upon your words but you've confessed that your brother has fought this war, a _child _fighting the war! Will he be able to let it go in the end, the allies he's seen murdered, the men and women he's had to kill? And you, what if you didn't _have _to pray for your brother? What if he were a normal boy learning in school?"

"He'd be pretty bored I think." Eri laughed, turning her back on the speaker, "Come on you lot, this guy's jokes are amusing but they're just jokes, nothing he says really makes any sense, nothing he says is worth listening to."

Kotaro was surprised by the crowd's reaction to this.

A few of the people who'd questioned the speaker before looked ready to walk away just like Eri, but the Speaker seized control back with such blinding speed that Kotaro had no problem believing the young man worked for the Daimyo.

"Silence whore!" The man laughed, "You believe in ninja because you're a wealthy little girl who's never had to suffer! But we have been under subjugation while you were sipping tea in your summer estate! While you attended balls and feasts we've starved and scraped for scraps! You say I speak jokes but in truth the joke is you, thinking we don't recognize the Ishida symbols on your shoulders, thinking we don't know you're not one of us, that you have no right to speak here!"

Some of his supporters roared in agreement, Kotaro's eyes narrowed as a few drew knives.

"No brothers, let her go, back to her balls and feasts, we have no need for her." The speaker said smugly and now the dissenters looked embarrassed, as if they were ashamed of taking Eri seriously, they shouted half-hearted agreements with the speaker just to avoid being seen as part of the out crowd.

"That's enough," Inari said, "The girl said what was on her mind, you had no right to call her such a name and these ninja came in peace you have no right to make them feel unwelcome!"

"You're just a ninja lover too, Inari!" The speaker laughed, "Ever since we were kids you've been so blind! Ninja are a plague with their unnatural abilities, every man should be equal, when you stand on a battlefield with a sword looking at your opponent it should be a fair fight!"

The crowd roared in agreement.

Eri folded her arms and laughed, "Sorry Mr. Inari, I didn't mean to embarrass you. It really is none of my business what Wave Country does with its military."

"He shouldn't have called you a whore." Nao said coldly.

"Yeah well since it's not true it doesn't bother me." Eri smiled.

Kotaro let Inari lead them away from the crowd and looked at Yomiko and Eri, "I know you wanted to see shops but . . . I don't feel like we're really as welcome here as we thought."

"I agree, I'm pretty sure Mr. Inari's presence with us is all that's kept some of these people from throwing things at us . . . or you three anyway." Eri said lightly. "Anyway I've got my own shop to look over back in Konoha."

"Yeah, who wants to stick around here anyway?" Yomiko scoffed, "No offense Mr. Inari."

"None taken. I'm just sorry you all have to leave with such a poor experience. Do me a favor though and give Naruto my best."

Kotaro shrugged. They hadn't noticed it when they came in, but now he noticed the number of people who were staring at them with hatred in their eyes.

_It's because Konoha couldn't protect them during the war_, Kotaro realized, _they blame us for their subjugation because we couldn't defend them. Not that we knew the war was coming until it was too late. The Daimyo's propaganda is a problem but the real issue is these people and their mistrust of us, they're ready to _hear _the message the Daimyo's spreading._

Kotaro shook his head as they exited the city. They left the wagons behind, after all they couldn't drive them.

He shoved his hands in his pockets, _The Daimyo doesn't want ninja villages springing up in his land, but why? Ninja are powerful weapons. What would make him not want them, worse make him want his people to hate them?_

He'd have to run all of this by Shikamaru-sensei when he got back to Konoha. Maybe the Konoha Genius would see the answer that eluded Kotaro.

* * *

Kankuro staggered into the lower chambers of the palace, clutching the crystal ball.

His left arm was completely lifeless, he couldn't feel it, he couldn't move it, he was down to controlling his four puppets with just one hand.

It was possible but difficult.

This looked like the end for him, but at least he knew Syako had gotten away.

He didn't _know _of course, she could have been ambushed, but allowing such thoughts any place in his mind made going on all the harder. He had to tell himself that she was safe, that she'd escaped, that she'd be okay.

He just had to get away too and make sure she was safe.

He fell to his knees and held the crystal ball up. He hadn't had a chance to use it before, and now he was worried that its use might alert the enemy to his location.

He fell down against a wall and looked into the ball, "Gaara . . . Gaara . . ."

Kankuro saw Gaara's image appear, he responded, "Kankuro? What's the matter, you don't sound so--"

"Attacked."

"What?" Gaara asked.

"City was . . . attacked. Over . . . a hundred." Kankuro struggled, amazed at how difficult it was to speak.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise, was he . . . dying?

Or was he just completely out of chakra? He was still controlling his puppets, so that couldn't be it . . . but he hurt all over, he was struggling just to breathe let alone speak to Gaara in the crystal ball as he held it in his palm, his fingers still moving to control the puppets.

He was so caught up in his own worries that he didn't hear what Gaara said, he decided it probably wouldn't matter, he spoke on, "Gaara . . . I don't know what's happening . . . but we fell under attack . . . during the inspection. Our . . . troops didn't try to . . . fight the enemy. I don't know . . . if they knew what was happening . . . or if they were enemies too . . . I've been in the office . . . fighting off one attacker after another . . . I've killed ten so far . . . but there's more of them. A lot more."

"I understand Kankuro, I'm already on my way back." Gaara said through the ball.

"No . . ." Kankuro whispered, "We won't . . . last. I think . . . I think it'll be over . . . as soon as they find me. But Gaara . . . everyone . . . has been trying to get . . . the Kazekage. I think . . . I think all this . . . was meant as a way . . . to get at you. If . . . if I'm right . . . and you come back . . . they may succeed."

Gaara's eyes hardened, "The village is more important than my own life Kankuro, and I won't leave you to fight for it alone."

"Your life . . . is more important . . . than mine, K-Kazekage-sama." Kankuro coughed and tasted blood.

He was messed up pretty bad . . . how disappointing. "Don't . . . come back . . . not alone at least." He told Gaara, "Rally the armies."

"What about you?" Gaara demanded.

"I'm . . . done. Just promise . . . me one thing . . ."

"Anything." Gaara said.

"Take care of Syako." Kankuro said as clearly as he could.

"You have my word on it." Gaara nodded, knowing that Kankuro could see him even if he couldn't see Kankuro.

Kankuro was glad, he didn't want to see himself just now, let alone have his little brother see him. He imagined he couldn't look good.

He looked at Gaara in the crystal ball, dressed like him. He smiled weakly, "Gaara . . ."

"What is it, Kankuro?"

"Even though . . . you still scare me a bit . . . I love you, little brother . . . Temari too . . . let her know, okay?"

"You'll be the one to tell her, Kankuro. Don't give up. Find a safe place and wait, we're coming back now. All of us, every Sand Ninja, they're not getting our village without paying the tithe."

They were more than a day away, there was no chance they'd get back before Kankuro was discovered, though he wasn't so sure _he _would last until he was discovered. "Don't . . . know if . . . I can . . ." Kankuro's eyes went out of focus.

He dropped the crystal ball and his hand fell to the floor.

He gazed through hazy eyes at the door he'd come in through. He could barely hear anything now, blood was rushing through his ears, so he suspected the ninja he heard must be very loud.

"I can smell the blood, someone's alive around here!" Someone yelled.

"Find him, if he's one of them kill him!" Someone else shouted.

Kankuro smiled darkly, not willing to expel the energy necessary to get to his feet instead he lay back and made sure he could still move his fingers and thought _Come, I can still send a few more of you to hell._

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **I feel like I should note that the Government Speaker is the kid from Inari's past who torments him and steals his dog. I could not remember his name at all, someday when I do I will revise the story accordingly, until then consider it a fun fact. I meant to research it before putting this up, but I have been ill and unmotivated.


	129. Temari and the Master

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Twenty Nine**

Temari shuddered when she saw the sands around her kick up, Gaara's voice rang in her ears, "All Ninja to fall back point three"

It was a simple message, but an irritating one.

She needed a little more time to track Okatsu; she had a lot of leads.

But Gaara wouldn't call a withdrawal unless it was important, she couldn't ignore him. "Pack it up team!" She said wearily, "The Kazekage needs us."

"Hold it," A hooded figure said, "You have something of mine."

Temari raised an eyebrow, "Oh really?"

The hooded figure smiled and removed her hood . . . it was Okatsu.

Temari raised her other eyebrow, "You!"

"Not quite." Okatsu said, and her face melted away to reveal a different form, one Temari was not familiar with. "But don't you want to know where she is?"

"Sensei . . ." Kyoko whispered.

Yukio thrust his hands out and sand blades appeared, Ryu swept out his fan, "Sensei!" Yukio shouted, "This is the guy who attacked the infirmary!"

Temari's eyes narrowed, "Is that a fact." She said, falling back into a defensive stance.

"If I wanted a fight you'd be dead now." The man said, his features were a gross cross between a human being and a serpent, he smiled at Temari and said "Sunagakure has been captured. Your brother Kankuro is very likely dead by now."

Temari wasn't sure how to react to that statement, she just laughed, "Yeah, right."

The man laughed too, "Yes, I _am _right. Anyway I have for you an offer . . . you see, Nara Shikamaru is the Konoha Genius . . . I can respect his intellect."

"How clever of you." Temari scowled.

"I want him." The man said flatly, "You want Okatsu, she's yours, you want Toshiie," the man added, changing his shape again to look like Toshiie briefly before returning to his true form, or what Temari assumed was his true form, "they're yours. I want your husband, I want your daughter."

"Sorry but no." Temari said coldly.

"Do you understand what you're turning down?" The man asked softly. "I am offering you this opportunity, defect and save your life. I have already promised Toshiie the right to kill you, but in the end you are far more valuable than him because you are the wife of Nara Shikamaru and the mother of his child. With you in my force Shikamaru will be willing to join us, this war can end and you can be on the wining side. Come now . . . don't you want to be part of this?"

Temari scoffed, she spotted the three teams of Waterfall ninja moving in on them, "Look here buddy, I suggest you give it up before I turn you in."

"Turn . . . _me _in?" The man laughed, he turned to the Waterfall shinobi and laughed.

"Do you require our assistance, Lord Kabuto?" One of the ninja, a Jounin said.

Temari swallowed hard.

"You see, Nara Temari . . . I have you surrounded. And now that you know that Waterfall and Sound are in league with one another, I cannot let you walk away and rejoin your doomed younger brother. Lord Gaara will be dealt with swiftly if he is fool enough to attack Sunagakure, if he goes into hiding we will find him."

Kabuto spread his arms wide, "Konoha is going to fall. Fire moves it armies to the front to mingle with its secret enemies, we will kill them all. Then, when nothing but a few hundred Shinobi stand between us and total domination Konoha will eat itself alive trying to avoid our wrath."

"Shikamaru will find a way to stop you." Temari said smugly, "Gaara will retake Sunagakure. Don't you realize who you're dealing with? No. How could you? Gaara can control the sand, and Sunagakure is full of it, he can retake the city single handed. The defense of Konoha, well that's easy too. Shikamaru is in charge of the defense, he'll thwart every plan you hatch! Numbers won't be enough against him."

"He didn't stop me from infiltrating during the Chuunin exams. He didn't stop me from placing my spies in the city five years ago. Your husband, while talented, is not omnipotent . . . I am." Kabuto smiled, "You and your team join me, I will let Shikamaru join me, your daughter, you can live a happy life under my rule, and I will be a fair ruler I assure you."

Temari laughed, "Convince me. Sell yourself. Tell me everything about your plan."

"Certainly." Kabuto shrugged. "I know you're inching closer and closer to your genin's blades, no doubt in the hopes of cutting yourself and distracting me with a summoned monster, but in reality your chances of escape are only as good as _I _choose to make them. So, if it will help you to make up your mind, listen carefully . . . I will tell you exactly how this war is going to end . . ."

Temari swallowed hard and listened.

She heard every word and her heart got tight, fear crept through her whole being and she almost wanted to scream in terror because the odds were ridiculously stacked.

She smiled though.

She wasn't Shikamaru, but she was smart too. Far too many people examined her next to her husband and only saw the Genius, they didn't notice how clever _she _was, and it suited her fine. Let fools like Kabuto underestimate her.

She'd already seen a hope for Konoha and Suna. Her smile widened . . . She had herself, Ryu and Kyoko, her Chuunin, and Yukio who had the skills of a Chuunin.

And she had the scroll.

"Kids . . ." She said, "I hope you trust me."

"You know we do, Sensei." Yukio said.

With that she cut herself on Yukio's blade and summoned her old, trusty Kamatari.

Kyoko summoned as well, Tombugiri and Naginata.

"What you villains don't understand is that as long as a cause is worth fighting for it's also worth dying for, I'd do anything to keep my family alive, but I'd die to keep them free!" She drew out Shino's scroll, "I'm not as helpless as you think." She said, and the swarm emerged.

"Dead heroes have one thing in common with dead cowards," Kabuto said, unmoved by her whirlwind he swatted her weasel aside with one hand, "in the end they're both defeated, failures."

* * *

Sasuke had followed the team into Wave country and he'd gone entirely unnoticed by the Chuunin team.

He hadn't gone unnoticed by the trio of Kirigakure Shinobi infiltrating the city though. Luckily he'd been a more interesting fish for them to fry than the Chuunin.

They were shadowing him and Shiroi, who was enjoying the shops.

She wasn't a Chuunin so she had no vest, and he never wore the typical uniform so most people didn't recognize them as Shinobi unless they got a look at their eyes.

Sasuke had had Shiroi remove her forehead protector when he noticed the strong anti-shinobi sentiment in the city, and also because in a place like this it would draw way too much attention.

But while Shiroi could pass as a young blind girl and Sasuke didn't _have _to have his Sharingan activated all the time the Kirigakure ninja must have seen something about them that clued them in.

Sasuke supposed it might have been his face, he guessed he was probably still rating pretty high in the Kirigakure Bingo Book.

He cracked his knuckles and Shiroi looked up in surprise, torn from whatever thought she'd been thinking.

"What is it, sensei?" She asked.

"Team Sarutobi has left the city," Sasuke said easily, referring to Shikamaru's team as Team Sarutobi since Sarutobi Yomiko was the acting commander for this mission, "but we've been made by a trio of Kiri ninja disguised rather well as townspeople."

"I noticed we were being followed, but I thought we were trying to keep quiet about it just in case the chance came to ambush them." Shiroi stretched her neck and said "If we're taking them now though . . ."

"No." Sasuke said. "Konoha may or may not be allied with Kirigakure, they may not be hostile, they may be trying to make sure the medicine got shipped out."

"What?" Shiroi blinked, "Sensei, when the blazes were you going to mention the alliance between Konoha and Kiri?"

"When it became confirmed one way or another. This may be the confirmation."

"So can we take 'em?" Shiroi asked.

"I'd like it if we didn't have to." Sasuke admitted. He didn't say it out loud, but he rather felt like _he _could take them all himself.

But reckless thoughts like that got good ninja killed.

Sasuke led Shiroi into an alley, if there was going to be a confrontation he wanted to know now, and if there wasn't the alley would be a good place to negotiate.

Sure enough in no time two men followed them into the alley, feigning a conversation.

"The woman dove into the building behind us; she's ready to jump out of the window." Shiroi told Sasuke.

"She knew which alley we'd go down." Sasuke smirked.

"They probably herded us, sensei." Shiroi admitted. Sasuke didn't want to believe that, but it was probably true, he'd been more focused on thinking of how he'd get poor pregnant Shiroi out of this than thinking of whether or not they might be walking into their enemy's hands.

He folded his arms and said "Hello there comrades."

"You're coming with us, Uchiha Sasuke." One of the men said, bowing low.

"Really? By whose authority?"

"The Mizukage's." Another said. "Mizukage-sama wants you to come specifically and learn of the Sound Organization's plans because of your past experience with the organization."

"Do I have a choice?" Sasuke asked.

"We won't harm you, we're allies." The first ninja said.

"Then let the girl go and I'll come." Sasuke said.

"She'll be safer if she stays with you." The first ninja shrugged.

Sasuke noticed how they said 'with you' rather than 'with us' and he nodded slowly, "Fine. Take me to your leader."

* * *

"You understand now?" She asked Yuu as she shoved the knife into its scabbard.

Yuu shoved his hands into his pockets, "I get it." He grumbled.

"It'll work, especially with your support. Vengeance is our right; Masa was our friend wasn't he?" Kasumi demanded.

Yuu nodded.

Kasumi smiled to herself, everything was going so well. "We'll make them pay, Yuu. Believe it."

Yuu nodded again. His expression was surprisingly hard. Kasumi folded her arms, "Well?" She demanded, "You have something to say then say it, Yuu."

He nodded slowly, "You're making a big mistake. If even one person we care about gets hurt because you wanted your silly little game of revenge, will it still be worth it? Someone's going to get killed, it could be your brother, it could be me, or even Tosa-sensei. What good is vengeance if it costs you everything you have left?"

Kasumi scoffed, "You're just upset because I thought of it first!"

"I wouldn't have thought of it at all." Yuu said.

He wasn't complimenting her, but Kasumi chose to pretend to take it as one, "I know, but don't worry about it. Masaru will guide us from heaven and keep us all safe, okay?"

Yuu nodded. "I'll help you Kasumi, because you were my teammate, and because I'm still your friend . . . I think I am anyway. But I don't know you so well anymore, I don't like who you've become, I'm helping you only out of the hope that you'll someday show me that all of this was worth it, the hope that someday you'll be the girl I used to know."

Kasumi swept her long raven hair over her shoulder, "That girl died. She was weak."

"That would be a shame if it were true. I hope it isn't." Yuu said.

Kasumi put her hand on the knife, "You're doing it then?"

"Yes, yes, I'll do it." Yuu growled.

"For Masaru!" Kasumi said.

"No, for Kasumi. Masaru wouldn't ask us to do this, he wouldn't want you fighting your own personal war."

Kasumi scoffed, "Like you know. You didn't know him like I knew him."

"I wonder if _you _knew him at all." Yuu said. "He was in love with Kasumi, but you've already said you're not that same girl anymore. Does this new Kasumi even remember what Masaru was like?"

Kasumi wanted to argue but Tosa-sensei showed up then, tossing each of them a pack, "We're moving out kids, you ready?"

"Ready." Yuu said.

"Ready." Kasumi nodded.

"Yuu, you're Chuunin now," Tosa said, "You're still under my command. Keep an eye on Kasumi."

"No kidding." Kasumi smirked, Yuu nodded sharply and the trio joined the group of Ninja preparing to move with the army.

* * *

Tetsuo sighed, "The Daimyo has requested that you remain in the village while the army sets out . . . I can't pretend I don't agree." He told his wife, Hanabi.

She nodded, looking down at her swollen belly, "I guess I'm too far along to fight anyway."

Tetsuo smiled, "I'll fight for the both of us."

"The three of us." Hanabi corrected.

"Right." Tetsuo smiled.

"Raikage-sama," Yurei Kaori said, standing in the doorway, "I hate to interrupt you but the army has moved out, it's time we were going."

"Yeah, okay." Tetsuo said. "Don't worry, Hanabi, Water Country might not even try anything, we're just going to guard the borders and that'll be that. If they do want a fight we'll smash them once and for all, when I come back this war will be over, we can raise our child in peace."

"I know." Hanabi said. "Go on, Raikage. I'm proud of you, proud to be your wife. I know you'll succeed if it comes to a battle, and if it doesn't then so much the better. You're a fantastic ninja, a worthy leader of this village; I know I have no need to fear for you while you're gone."

Tetsuo smiled, "Goodbye for now." He told her.

He left the room and immediately Kaori whispered "Raikage-sama, why did you lie to her?"

Tetsuo blinked, "What? Lie?"

"You said Water might not try anything when our sources say they're already moving to attack Konoha."

"Yes . . ." Tetsuo said softly.

Konoha.

"Kaori, I strongly suspect that Water has no intention of contributing to Earth's attack on Fire. I believe their strike is meant as nothing more than a means to attack us."

"Why?" Kaori blinked.

"The Raikage didn't plan on being deposed, his loyalists got rid of a lot of important information but not _everything_. From what I can determine the former Raikage was still in league with Stone and Mist when he allied with Leaf."

Kaori frowned at him, "Raikage-sama . . . have you considered that the files you've found were left for you to find? Have you considered that perhaps Lord Taiko wanted you to believe that?"

"To what end?" Tetsuo asked, "Taiko loves the princess from the Land of Fire, he would not try to hint at a secret alliance between us, Earth and Water."

"No . . ." Kaori nodded, "but some of the things Takumi has told me . . . well none of the Samurai ever talk about how eager they are to fight Earth soldiers, but they keep referring to the 'next time' they fight Fire soldiers. He says that it seems like the majority of the Samurai don't know or care that the war is over between Lightning and Fire, they act like we're attacking Fire instead of Water."

Tetsuo laughed, "That's just old habits, don't worry about it."

Kaori shook her head, "Tetsuo said it feels like more than that."

"The way things feel and the way they are aren't always the same. Don't worry." Tetsuo said. "Even if the soldiers moved to attack Fire--which they won't--the Daimyo would tell me long beforehand if he intended for the ninja to do so too. He hasn't so clearly our war is still with Water and Mist."

"I hope so." Kaori said.

"Anything else bothering you?" Tetsuo asked.

Kaori swallowed a lump in her throat and said "I uh . . . I don't suppose you can execute Hikaru, can you?"

"I looked over all the laws and rules . . . no luck." Tetsuo joked. "He is bothering you?"

"It's nothing I can't handle . . . I hope. He's been making threats." Kaori said.

Tetsuo laughed, "He's just annoyed at not being on top of the world anymore. Don't mind him, he won't do anything to hurt you, if he tried I'd have an excuse to kill him and believe me I'd take it."

Kaori laughed, "To think, you assigned _me _as _your _aide-de-camp and bodyguard, yet in the end you just want to be nearby if Hikaru gives you provocation to attack him."

"If he so much as pinches your butt, I'd have to execute him." Tetsuo said solemnly.

"I think Takumi might beat you to it." Kaori smiled.

"Even if he were on the other side of the country I expect." Tetsuo laughed.

* * *

Hikaru smiled at Kaori when he saw her. _Go ahead and enjoy the time you have left, slut. Once I hand Kasumi over I'm coming for you and Tak-kun. Consider your days ended._

He fell in with his squad of Chuunin and marched along with the rest.

He kept his eyes peeled for a sign of his illustrious Raikage.

If the chance came he might take a swing at Tetsuo too. Not to kill him, but to show him that he wasn't afraid. Then he'd leave, go back to Lord Kabuto and help bring the war's end about.

Perfect plan.

Kidnap Kasumi, kill Takumi, kill Kaori, spook Tetsuo.

Hikaru felt his curse mark burning. He couldn't wait.

* * *

Shino leapt down from the trees next to Temari, eyeing the situation carefully, "Well . . . it would seem we've found a new fugitive to capture."

"Good to have you here." Temari said with a slight pant, "You took your time."

"I consider sixty seconds a rather good response time. You're lucky I wasn't far." Shino said flatly.

"Well at least you're here." Temari said with a smirk.

"Not just me." Shino said, "Kurai and Sai are here too," He glanced at Kabuto, "Surrender while you can, you're outnumbered."

"Really? I have nine ninja at my call, there are seven of you."

"Wrong. Why? Because when you fight an Aburame you're always outnumbered." Shino said calmly as his swarms as well as Kurai's began to fly.

Kurai and Sai were hidden, but they'd reveal themselves soon, there was no point in trying to hide from someone on Kabuto's level.

Insects filled the air, darkening the area, Shino leapt into the air again, out of the way of Temari's fan as she swept it out, blowing a whirlwind towards three of the enemy ninja though only one was actually thrown off his feet, the other two became puddles of water.

Clones. Shino swept his hand back and a swarm of bugs attacked the two Waterfall ninja who'd tried to take advantage of the element of surprise granted by their clones. They saw the swarm and hesitated, they seemed about to withdraw when one of Sai's ink creations slammed--or perhaps _splashed_--into them, covering them with powerful smelling black ink that Shino's bugs swarmed to.

Kabuto thrust his arm out and it shot towards Shino like a giant snake of ridiculous length, in fact his hand became a viper's head.

Shino raised a shield of bugs and quickly used substitution to appear behind one of the Waterfall Chuunin whom he quickly lashed out at with a kunai but the Chuunin dodged the moment he sensed Shino.

Shino didn't wait for even an instant, he swept both his hands up into the air and his insects swarmed towards the fleeing Chuunin.

They'd eliminate the lesser enemies first, and then focus as a group on Kabuto; they'd poison him and take him alive, bring him to the Hokage and see where things went from there.

It wouldn't be easy, but then few really important missions were. Aburame Shino knew that very well.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **The belated update with my apologies. I've gotta do something about my poor immune system.


	130. Enter Mizukage

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Thirty**

Kasumi took a few deep breaths as she walked with Tosa and Yuu.

When would Hikaru come and "kidnap" her? When would she finally take the next step on her quest for vengeance?

The girl clenched and unclenched her fists and walked dejectedly. Yuu was keeping an eye on her, ready to play his part in her scheme. Tosa-sensei, ignorant of the whole plan was keeping her eyes on the surrounding countryside, wary of any attack.

Any that is except for the one Kasumi was waiting for. Tosa wouldn't expect Hikaru to attack them; he was one of their allies after all.

The teenager clenched and unclenched her fists. _Where the heck _is _he? _She wondered.

* * *

Hikaru threw his flack jacket away and spread his arms, closing his eyes and activating his second level curse.

He felt the changes coming over him, his clothing ripped; he checked his deck of Jutsu cards.

He wouldn't need them, but just in case . . .

He laughed a sinister laugh with a voice that wasn't truly his own, "The time has come . . . I will take Kasumi and then kill Kaori and Takumi. Yes . . ."

The monster swaggered forward and Hikaru smirked to himself.

Why just Takumi and Kaori? That slut Kaori had betrayed him, refused to accept his forgiveness and return to him.

She needed to suffer _before _he killed her.

And her little brother would be with Kasumi . . .

There was no way he'd be any match for Hikaru.

He could just imagine the agony in Kaori's eyes when she found out that her brother was dead.

* * *

Tosa heard the twig snap and spun around to see what it was.

The soldiers they were marching with screamed in horror and the young Jounin turned to get a look at what was coming.

It stood perhaps two meters tall, sort of like a tall man. Its arms were grossly long and its hands were covered in thick claws, it had four gray, bony arms on its back that ended in meter long, scythe-like blades rather than hands.

The monstrosity shoved her aside and lunged for Kasumi and Yuu.

Its huge, clawed hand tore through her flak jacket, ripping into her shoulder. She gripped her shoulder and felt blood cover her hand as she fell.

But there was no pain; she didn't scream as she fell, the only thing that registered in her mind was that the monstrosity was headed for _her _students.

_No, not them too! _Tosa thought, rolling as she hit the ground and forming hand seals as she rolled.

"Summoning Jutsu!" She shouted.

The badger poofed into existence where her bloodied hand hit the ground, it knew right away what to do, using the smoke cloud from its own summoning as cover it began to dig under ground.

Tosa sprang to her feet and leapt for a low branch in a nearby tree, she began forming more hand seals, "Earth Style, Barrier Jutsu!" She shouted, and stones erupted from the ground around her Genin just in time to block the monstrosity's blades from sinking into them.

The beast spun around, glaring at Tosa, "You won't stop me!" It shouted with a deep, throaty voice.

Tosa smirked, "My students are the most precious thing in this world to me, if you want them you'll have to kill me first, and that won't be easy."

"I beg to differ!" The monster roared, his four bladed limbs suddenly lit up with fire and lightning. The two lower blades burned with flames ready to strike out and eliminate the Genin when the Lightning enhanced blades cut through the earth shield.

"You have mere seconds before reinforcements arrive, that platoon you spooked will get someone's attention. The clock is ticking!" Tosa shouted.

"I have plenty of time!" The monster laughed, but his eyes betrayed him. They looked troubled.

Tosa looked closely at it; something was familiar about this monster.

Its head was sort of like that of a human being, except that it had a series of short curved horns on its head, protruding from its short brown hair.

Tosa began forming hand seals again, but the monster pulled something from his side and laughed.

It was a card of some sort, he tossed it towards her and it became a ball of fire, Tosa screamed and fell out of the tree.

She hit the ground hard, but heard her summoned badger finally explode from the ground, the large black and white beast wrapped its short but strong arms around the monster and Tosa used a new Jutsu.

Her outstretched hand cackled with lightning, for a brief second, and then from her fingertips sprang a jolt that would have stunned a normal human being, but of course it seemed only to irritate this monster.

"Tick, tock beast, more Shinobi should be arriving any moment now!" Tosa shouted, rapidly forming more hand seals.

In truth she wondered why they hadn't shown up already. This had gone on for nearly two minutes now.

What the blazes was going on? Where was everyone?

The monster turned on her now, "You're a nuisance! I'd be done now if it weren't for you! You're getting in my way! No one gets in my way!"

Tosa smirked; her only reply was "Earth Style, Earth Prison Jutsu!" She shouted, punching the ground, a series of stalagmites erupted from the ground in a circle around the beast; they twisted and combined to form a sort of cage.

The lightning blades cut through it without difficulty, Tosa was stunned.

Her summoned badger was thrown away like a rag doll, it fell limp and didn't move again. The monster came on for her then, and finally she recognized him.

Her eyes widened in shock, but she was professional enough not to let that shock carry over to the rest of her body, she threw herself to the ground and sprang between the beast's legs to safety.

Something heavy slammed into her back, pinning her.

She looked over her shoulder.

This monster Hikaru . . . had just sprouted a tail.

It was thick and heavy, the pain she felt in her back and the fact that she was pinned attested to that.

The edge of the blade was covered in blades like knives. He raised the tail and twisted it so that the knives would come down on her head.

She smiled darkly, but said nothing.

She wouldn't close her eyes, she'd meet death without showing any fear.

She'd like a true Shinobi of the village hidden in Clouds.

* * *

Shiroi placed a hand on Sasuke-sensei's shoulder, "We're not dead yet, Sensei, good job so far eh?"

"Shut up." Sasuke-sensei laughed slightly.

They were making light of the situation, but the fact was they were sitting in a little boat floating out towards the Water fleet.

All because a few Chuunin had said that they were their allies.

Shiroi suspected that Sasuke-sensei wanted to see what the Mizukage had to say about the Sound Organization, Shiroi was just eager to meet a woman who had managed to retain the rank of Mizukage for so long.

Mist was one of the most brutal ninja villages, they had a tradition that made Fire seem like a docile place, the sick traditions of the Hyuga clan included the Mist ninja were renown for being far crueler.

So a woman who could rule them for years was the sort of woman Shiroi wanted to see. And she was allegedly elderly, yet she held on to her position.

Shiroi knew that the Hokage was old . . . but Konoha was docile, no one had tried to assassinate the Hokage from within the ranks of Konoha's ninja for by then years.

Shiroi leaned back and sighed, "The ocean really is pleasant. So . . . calm." She said.

"Not much longer." One of the ninja with them said, "It'll be chaotic with battle soon enough."

Shiroi shrugged. "Battle is nice too in its way."

The Kiri ninja laughed, Sasuke-sensei shook his head.

"If you weren't from Konoha I'd say you've never been on the losing end of a fight." One of the ninja laughed.

"She travels with one of the Konoha Twelve, she's _never _been defeated!" The female ninja said.

The entire ship laughed except Shiroi. She just smirked, "I've suffered defeats. I try to learn from them."

"Everyone says that. Few do it." Sasuke-sensei said.

Shiroi raised her eyebrows when she spotted the ships on the horizon.

She could see in the distance several war ships, they looked just like the pictures in the history books. Shiroi's breath was taken away as the small boat neared the largest of the fleet, she smiled weakly when she saw the Ishida boat had already docked with the same ship.

"Hey sensei, we'll see some familiar faces aboard."

Sasuke-sensei said nothing.

* * *

Yuu grasped Tosa-sensei the instant before the bladed tail could slam into her head and phased her so that it stuck in the ground instead.

"Come on you monstrous trash," Kasumi shouted, "Come and get it!"

"Stop right there!" Yuu heard, and he saw a trio of Chuunin running towards them.

Which meant of course that there was at least one more Chuunin in the trees.

The monster growled, looked at Yuu and charged with its fiery scythe arms.

Yuu held Tosa, he couldn't carry her and he wouldn't get underground in time to avoid death.

Instead Kasumi threw herself at the monster which Yuu understood would have to be Hikaru.

Kasumi fell into her own shadow as it was cast over Hikaru, and she took him with her.

They disappeared.

"What happened?" One of the Chuunin demanded.

"Jounin Tosa was attacked by a cursed being," Yuu said, "Genin Hattori has . . . neutralized the threat."

"It's over?" Tosa whispered, hoisting herself up to a sitting position, then falling back down again with a groan. "You . . . saved me?" Tosa whispered.

"Yeah. I phased Kasumi out of the shell, we wanted to make sure you didn't get hurt." Yuu said, even though he could tell he'd been too late.

Tosa smiled though, "That's . . . that's kind of you two. Where's Kasumi? Is she okay?"

How to answer a question like that?

"I don't know where she is. She's . . . I'm sure she's okay." Yuu said.

"We . . . have to . . . go after her!" Tosa grunted, trying to get to her feet.

Yuu shook his head, "No, you're too badly injured."

"No, no, I was just hit once!" Tosa laughed, "I uh . . . I just . . . I can't move my uh . . ." Tosa looked down at her legs, "It's uh, it's probably nothing." She smiled a very forced smile, "Someone has to get Kasumi, you can't--you can't just leave her. I . . . I can't--" Tosa slammed her fist into the ground, "I can't fail her too!"

Yuu frowned, he hated to see his teacher like this. "You didn't fail her at all Sensei. You never failed any of us."

Tosa shook her head, "She has to be rescued, Yuu. She has to!"

"We're on it." The Chuunin captain said.

Yuu looked at Tosa, "I'll get you to a medic. They'll be able to do something." He told her.

He wasn't a medic himself, he wasn't familiar with the nature of back injuries. If Tosa had lost the use of her legs was it _possible _for her to get it back?

How hard had Hikaru hit her to do that sort of damage? Shinobi took back injuries all the time, they rarely lost the use of their legs because of it.

What would happen to Tosa-sensei if she couldn't regain the use of her legs? All because she'd tried to protect him and Kasumi.

And Kasumi hadn't wanted protecting. That wasn't part of her plan.

Yuu swallowed hard and listened to the Chuunin squad radio for a medic. He looked off into the shadows of the trees, wondering if Kasumi was still there, waiting to move on.

He wondered if she knew that Tosa may have lost everything but her life itself trying to protect her, he wondered if she cared.

No, he doubted it. All that mattered to her was her revenge, and he'd helped her get it by making sure that she got away.

By helping her escape Tosa's protective Jutsu, by failing to attack Hikaru, by not going after them immediately.

He'd helped her this time. He'd never help her again. _Good luck Kasumi._ He thought. _The next time we meet . . . we may not both survive. Odds are we'll be enemies. I won't make the mistake of helping you again._

That he'd helped her at all of course meant that he wasn't free of guilt over what'd happened to their Sensei.

_I'll make it right_. He decided. "I . . . I'm going after Kasumi, sensei. I won't disappoint you. I'll bring her back." He said, his gaze hardening, "I won't let her do this. I'll find a way."

* * *

Sasuke sat down in the captain's cabin aboard the Water Country command ship.

The Ishida family was there, as well as the doctor and the Jounin who'd gone to Konoha. Shiroi yawned, "When's Mizukage going to show her face?"

"When she chooses to." Sasuke said simply.

The Kiri Jounin, still disguised as an Anbu scoffed. Sasuke guessed she hadn't had an opportunity to change, or else simply wanted to give her report before doing so.

Sasuke kept his eyes on the door, waiting for the Mizukage to make her appearance.

He thought hard on what could cause the Mizukage to ally with Konoha, to betray the Sound Organization, and to want to tell Sasuke all about it.

True he'd been Orochimaru's apprentice but he'd believed Sound to be destroyed along with its master. He hadn't considered Kabuto powerful enough, charismatic enough, or even, for that mater, ambitious enough to rebuild the Sound Village as the Sound Organization and cause all this trouble.

And how could Kabuto be stopped at this point? Did the Mizukage know?"

"This is one late village leader." Shiroi sighed.

"Yes, well the Mizukage _is _just an old woman, isn't she?" Endo laughed.

His comrade tensed and looked irritated, "You fool. Mizukage-sama could snap you like a twig if you want to keep--"

The door creaked open, a trio of Jounin entered and set down a large silver bowl filled with water.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. So the Mizukage wanted to make an entrance huh? Well he'd humor her.

Slowly the robed form of the Mizukage began to slowly emerge from the water.

The Mizukage fully formed and stood in front of the bowl, long flowing robes completely dry despite having emerged from the water. A massive, familiar sword formed right along with the rest of the body, strapped to the Mizukage's back, but impressive as the sword was Sasuke's breath was taken away as the Mizukage removed _his _hat.

"Suigetsu!" Sasuke fought to quickly hide his surprise.

"Long time no see, Sasuke." The Mizukage said, drawing and leaning on his giant sword.

"So . . . this explains it. Kirigakure changed allegiances because it changed leaders." Shiroi reasoned.

"And with its armies so decimated when Kiri swapped sides Water was only too glad to come along for the ride," Suigetsu smirked. "We lost the old Mizukage in the battle where Lightning shoved us out of Fire and Wave lands, we don't know how either, someone got past our guards someone around her level no less and assassinated her during our falsified route. Then we got mad and tried to fight back, but we were too disorganized and Lightning wiped the floors with us. We kept Mizukage's death a secret and I've been in command ever since. Sound keeps sending me messages meant for her . . . they don't realize she's dead and that's been a major asset."

"Why did you decide to betray Sound? If they think the former Mizukage is still alive they can't be the ones who assassinated her, and other than that you just admitted that you turned a false route into a real fight." Sasuke said.

"After spending so much time as Orochimaru's test subject, now that I'm leader of my own village I won't be satisfied to serve the half snake that's leading the Organization. Whether they assassinated our former leader or not it was their plan that left her exposed, I think they wanted her dead, but since they failed they try to be buddies and send her more instructions with little get well soon cards." Suigetsu said in a tone that made Sasuke wonder if there really were get well soon cards being sent and what sort of cards Kabuto would send an old woman he might have tried to have assassinated.

"Anyway, report Jounin." Suigetsu told the disguised Kiri Jounin.

"Mizukage-sama," The Kiri Jounin said, leaning forward and removing her Anbu mask, "I have returned, my mission was a success and we brought medicine for the injured."

Sasuke noted that her voice took on a slightly flirty tone too.

"Which," Endo spoke up, not bothering to show the Mizukage any difference, "is why I see no reason for me to be here. I don't care about your meeting, I _do _care about the men who need me to _give them _that medicine."

"Show respect to your Mizukage!" The female Jounin shouted at the doctor, who just shrugged.

"He's not _my _Mizukage, I'm not a ninja. Anyway if he felt disrespected I'd be dead now."

"Surprisingly that danger doesn't seem to bother you." Suigetsu scoffed, "I wouldn't have ordered them to drag you in here if I didn't have a good reason _doctor_. I need your assessment on the medical stores of Konoha. How long will they last under siege?"

"That really depends on how many injuries they take. If it's as bad for them as it was for us they would last a few days. On the other hand since they're not likely to have thousands of troops defending their village their supplies will actually outnumber their soldiers, there will be medicine to spare after everyone's dead."

"Excuse me?" Shiroi demanded.

"Mizu-chan?" Suigetsu raised an eyebrow, and the Jounin seemed to shudder with joy at the familiar way her referred to her, which Sasuke didn't doubt was jut Suigetsu messing around with her.

"My mission succeeded, I gave Konoha our proposal of peace and they accepted. They agreed to the plan."

"Good. _Now _you can go doctor, Jounin Nana, you can remain if you choose."

"Thank you sir!" Nana Mizuki said cheerfully.

"Though I'm sure you must be very tired." Suigetsu said.

"No no, your presence energizes me Mizukage-sama, why I feel as if I could climb a mountain just looking at you, oh noble one!"

Suigetsu folded his arms, "Really? Well in that case as I understand it we've received so much medicine our unloading crew is having trouble getting it all aboard in a timely manner, maybe you should help them out."

"Wh-Uh I mean . . . yes Mizukage-sama, of course!" The Jounin said, looking deflated and a little troubled, "Uh . . . I will amaze you with my unloading skills!"

Suigetsu flashed Sasuke a smirk, in spite of himself Sasuke couldn't help but smirk as well.

Inwardly anyway, he kept his face an expressionless mask.

"And what did you want me for?" Sasuke asked.

"Well in truth Sasuke I made the decision to kidnap you--so to speak--the instant I spotted you with my magical crystal ball. In part I wanted to show off my new rank--what's yours again? _Jounin_? Get with it man--also I felt like I should clue you in on what's been going on. You were part of Sound once, you know how things go."

Sasuke nodded slowly.

"What about us?" Ishida Nagahide asked.

"You? Ah well your son-in-law wanted me to keep an eye on you until he arrived to receive you. I guess you can hear me and Sasuke catch up until the loony shows up."

"Ito is no loony." Ishida Atsuko said calmly.

"Then you haven't seen him lately, the man's all but suicidal." Suigetsu scoffed. "Anyway to the point the tale begins years ago, I'm not sure how many, Kabuto and his Sound Organization began by provoking Konoha to attack a smaller country, provoking Uzumaki Naruto to show off his darker side if you know what I mean."

"Of course I do, it's ancient history and I was _there _when it happened." Sasuke scoffed.

"Right," Suigetsu nodded, "Anyway the villages now knew that Konoha had the last of the demons and that they had the most powerful. Well since Akatsuki had stripped everyone else of their demons it was easy for the other villages to claim that they didn't believe in harnessing dark powers to make a super ninja."

"There's nothing dark about Uzumaki Naruto's power! The Nine Tails is more a spirit than a demon by now, he's docile, controlled." Sasuke said.

"Yeah right, I doubt it and I doubt Naruto-san should trust it not to make a bid for itself when the carnage gets out of control." Suigetsu said, "Anyway we're getting off track. The fact is Kabuto gave the great nations the perfect reason to take on Konoha. Because Fire had already attacked a smaller country the smaller nations were eager to get in on the war too out of fear that Fire would ravage them too."

"Look, we all know how the war began," Shiroi scoffed.

"But you don't know how deep this runs, how involved Sound was or what's about to happen." Suigetsu said, "Konoha is going to be destroyed. It's too late to stop it, Sound began it's machinations years before the war even started, everything is laid out perfectly. Kabuto's design is to control the world yes, but he's got it set up so he wins no matter what."

"How do you mean?" Sasuke demanded.

"The villages began the war because of Konoha's demon. When Konoha falls under siege from all sides by the sheer mass of the Earth and Lightning armies Naruto will either have to become the Nine-tails in order to defeat them, thus proving himself a demon and terrifying the entire world into hating Konoha forever, or he'll die. Either way Kabuto wins."

"And if Konoha wins the battle without Naruto using the Nine Tails?" Sasuke asked.

"That's not possible, you'll need an army." Suigetsu shrugged, "But then again . . . we have an army . . . if we could just get it to shore, get it to Konoha . . . well maybe we can turn this into a scenario Kabuto hasn't predicted."

Sasuke smirked, "How can I help?"

"Help us punch through of course, we'll land our fleet, fight Lightning and push them back before their full force arrives, we'll blaze a trail to Konoha and bolster its defenses while skeleton crews of Shinobi keep these ships sailing and hopefully draw off Lightning's own fleet, keeping them from reinforcing Earth's assault on the village. If everything goes according to plan we'll have a defensive position and we'll be able to nullify Earth's numbers somewhat." A tall samurai said, entering the room.

He was thin, he had a crossbow in his arms and two quivers at his sides, a spear strapped to his back. He was Ito Yoshi, the general of Water's armies, admiral of their navy, and son-in-law to the Ishida clan.

"A little overdressed aren't you?" Suigetsu raised an eyebrow.

"I think not," The samurai said, "We've spotted it, gray flags and white hulls on the horizon, the Lightning Navy found us, they're coming."

Suigetsu smiled, "Well then . . . time to run. We can't have them catching us before we're ready, Shinobi teams get ready to slow them down, tell the soldiers to rain bolts down on their heads until the ninja board their ships. Sasuke . . . you and me are going to take their command ship down, any objection?"

Sasuke got up and said "Just one . . . I'd give myself away in these clothes, covered as they are in the Ishida symbol. I'll be needing some Kirigakure gear."

"We may only be able to spare Chuunin gear," Suigetsu smirked, telling Sasuke that there probably was Jounin gear available but his old comrade wanted to see him dressed in lower ranked gear, not that it mattered since Sasuke's eyes were about all he really needed , "We've just spotted them so you have time to get dressed. Your little girlfriend to." Suigetsu said.

"Student. I'm his student." Shiroi said.

"We should charge them," Ito said with a far off look in his eyes, "fight them with our cannons, board them and use our swords and spears to finish them all, and if the fight turns against us ram them and take them with us to a watery grave . . ."

Suigetsu gave Mrs. Ishida a look as if to say 'see what I mean?' then he turned back to Ito, "You know the drill, don't give me that look, our glorious suicidal charge comes _later_, we need to give their fleet a few smacks and outrun them first, then we hit the land past Wave, take the shores from Lightning and march for Konoha's defense! You can have your charge then, on the land!"

Ito smiled, but his eyes still seemed to be looking at something far off into the distance, "Yes . . . a glorious charge it will be. My men valiantly giving their lives for a cause greater than themselves, in that way we will earn our immortality . . . yes."

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **The late 1300 bonus, thanks for all your support, these come sooner and sooner. It may be late, but here it is for you to enjoy!


	131. High Sea Combat

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Thirty One**

Temari lunged forward and swept her fan out, the whirlwind tore into one of the waterfall ninja but he just used substitution and appeared behind her.

Yukio nailed him then with a san shuriken, the surprised ninja fell back with a shout that allowed Temari to spin around, and drop kick him in the mouth, blood stained her shoe, but in a very satisfying way.

Yukio used a sand blade to make sure the job was done, leaving a deep gash across the enemy's throat though Temari was pretty sure she'd done a good job of making sure her enemy was dead.

Then she was thrown back several feet, slamming into Yukio as she flew.

She never struck anything, though there was a building nearby a long serpentine arm stretched out and wrapped around her waist and pulled her in towards Kabuto.

She closed her fan and used it as a club in an attempt to break Kabuto's arm but it didn't happen, instead his other arm gripped her fan once she was close enough and he tried to rip it out of her grasp.

"You're strong." He admitted, though he was succeeding Temari was making it difficult, "Join me, I can use your strength."

Temari didn't answer; the time for banter was long past. Instead she abandoned her own fan and held her hand out shouting "Ryu!"

Ryu threw her his fan, she swept it towards the ground and was thrown into the air, Kabuto with her.

He let her go and she threw the fan back to Ryu who caught it juts in time to blow an enemy Chuunin back so Kamatari and Naginata could cut into him with their razor fur.

The enemy ninja were mostly Jounin but there were some Chuunin. Nevertheless Temari, Sai and Shino were succeeding at holding them off while the Chuunin dealt damage.

Even Yukio, the lone Genin was proving that he had what it took to at least _fight _on a Chuunin level.

The fight would be theirs eventually if not for Kabuto. He was toying with all of them, Temari knew it. He was too powerful for even the three of them together and she didn't understand _why_. She'd never faced a power like this.

Three Jounin at their level should have been enough to worry Kabuto, of course with his body guards he probably didn't even need to involve himself in the fighting.

Temari shook her head as she descended towards the ground and was caught up by a swarm of bugs belonging to Shino.

It was gross, sure, but it slowed her and they brought her fan to her so she put up with it. She swept her fan out and flew overhead, surveying the battle.

Two down for the enemy, no losses on Temari's side but that was due in large to the efforts of the summoned weasels and the bug herders who kept the enemy off balance while simultaneously salvaging any dire situations, like Temari's until Shino caught her in the air and gave her back her fan.

The woman tried to think of a plan, she wasn't Shikamaru but she wasn't a moron either, sure her husband was a genius but one of the reasons he put up with her because she was pretty intelligent as well..

Kabuto was the key, he had to be removed if they were going to have any hope of winning. Without him these others would go down.

It had to happen fast though, her team had had too many close calls already, and this kind of high chakra output fighting would attract attention.

Either Gaara would sense it and send someone or, far more likely, more Waterfall ninja would come and turn the tide, and Temari was pretty sure her team wouldn't be able to just turn tail and run, Kabuto wouldn't allow that.

But if this kept up someone would slip up, the bugs would miss something, the weasels would be tied up doing something else, and one of her Chuunin, or Yukio would pay the price for it.

Temari thought fast, she thought hard and she almost considered trying out Shikamaru's deep thought pose, but knew that with her current situation tit would be suicidal, if not for her for someone else.

Kabuto was toying with them, that was a given, he used just enough power to ensnare them and not enough to really hurt them . . .

So long as he was toying however he was vulnerable. If she could just catch him off guard . . .

Tombugiri was running a slight perimeter around Kyoko, keeping her safe while she used her Jutsus.

Kabuto was ignoring Kyoko for the most part . . . Temari considered what Kabuto had said at the opening . . . they had something he wanted . . . they had . . .

Was he after Kyoko?

Temari's brain went into overdrive thinking of ways that her student might be useful to the man, she thought of ways to use Kyoko as bait without hurting her, letting Kabuto rely on the fact that she wouldn't actually hurt her herself, or anything like that.

She thought so hard that her head actually started to hurt and she felt an irritating giggle take her.

If Shikamaru were here he'd make some joke about her thinking and it making her head hurt.

* * *

Sasuke was fully dressed in Mist Jounin gear, a wet suit, a breath mask, several pouches and cases filled with gear he probably wouldn't use. Shiroi had been given a Chuunin vest even though she was just a Genin.

They stood with Suigetsu, Mizu and several other Jounin. "First we take their command ship, from there we branch out to other ships." Suigetsu said and drew his sword.

Three of the other ninja drew large swords and Sasuke assumed they too must be Swordsmen, Nana Mizuki didn't create a water blade for her weapon yet, Sasuke assumed she'd do that once she was on the enemy ship.

The Jounin all threw themselves over the ship, Shiroi and Sasuke jumped as well.

No one but the Konoha ninja used their chakra to keep themselves afloat, instead falling into the water and swimming towards the enemy fleet at a shocking speed.

Sasuke knew he and Shiroi would never be able to keep up under water, but their presence above water would probably attract bowmen and give away the position of the Kiri attack squad.

"Stay with me, we're going up the side, and keep your head down, you're fighting for two now!"

"Bite me, Sensei! This better not be the start of a whole bunch of similar jokes!" Shiroi shouted, but she followed him closely.

They ran at top speed across the surface of the ocean towards the enemy fleet.

They reached the command ship and Shiroi began to climb, Sasuke however spotted a nearby ship advancing towards them, bolts raining from their crossbows Sasuke took a stance and held his hand up to his mouth, "Fire Style, Fireball Jutsu!" He shouted, sending an enormous ball of flame towards them.

There was a loud splash and he saw the Joinin strike force leapt out of the water like dolphins, soaring into the air and landing on the deck before Shiroi had even finished her climb.

Sasuke leapt too and threw a pair of kunai at the enemy soldiers charging for them.

The swordsmen were cutting down crew left and right, where a Shinobi emerged those without swords teamed up to take him down, the Lightning command ship clearly had several Jounin however and the fighting was far from one-sided.

As Sasuke landed on the deck he was immediately attack by a Samurai, the man's sword came to life with flames and Sasuke quickly blocked with his own sword.

He caused Chidori to course through the blade, then caused it to course through his entire body as he kicked up into the man's groin, his foot a part of the lightning blade Jutsu his upward kick cut the man's lower half up the middle, stopping at his stomach when Sasuke lowered his foot and allowed the dead body to fall.

He spun to meet another Samurai, this one attacking wildly with his spear.

At first Sasuke believed that this Samurai was not quite so talented as his fallen comrade as his spear was just that, not a chakra spear, he hadn't learned to conduct any elements through it.

But then the Samurai raised his spear into the air and slammed the butt down on the deck, there was a blast of sound that nearly sent Sasuke to his knees.

Still it wasn't enough to throw him off balance, he'd heard worse from Shinobi. He cut with his sword and sliced the spear in half, kicked with his leg and knocked the man back.

Shiroi took up the slack then, finally joining the battle she slammed a kunai into the man's neck, took his half spear and threw it at a conscript, the man seized up as the spear slammed into his chest and he fell overboard.

Shiroi then struck out at a nearby ninja, using her Byakugan to seal off his chakra points.

He was probably Jounin since he was on the command ship, but she still managed to strike him twice before he spun around--he'd been facing someone else--and threw her back with a wind Jutsu.

He lunged in to take her out but Sasuke got there first, kicking him back.

He used substitution with a dead body, Shiroi however was safely on her feet and she sprang forward out of the way when the Jounin returned and tried to stab Sasuke in the back.

Sasuke however spun around and blew a fireball in the man's face, he stumbled back and Suigetsu cut him down the middle.

"Sasuke," The Mizukage shouted, "we need to take that ship there!" Suigetsu pointed to a large ship on the horizon.

"What is that?" Sasuke demanded.

"Their artillery," Suigetsu said evenly and as Sasuke looked he could see that the ship was equipped with quite a few catapults and even a ballista.

"This ship is mostly secured, there's a few samurai in the lower decks fighting with Team X and Z, may be dead by now, they haven't got a prayer." Nana Mizuki said.

"Good. I want Team X and Team Z to stay aboard and hold this ship, as long as we have it their fleet wont pursue ours. You take Team Y and capture that Dreadnaught, Sasuke and I will take Team W and take other. You're free to attack targets of opportunity along the way."

Sasuke looked out at Lightning's fleet. There had to be hundreds of ships, many of them small, ten man assault vessels but a few larger vessels as well.

The metal behemoths made the smaller, cheaper, wooden ships look like toys, and in reality that was all they really were. Small, fast moving boats designed to give a fleet more crossbows firing per salvo.

Sasuke turned to Shiroi, "Stay here," he told her, "It's safest here. I'll come back and get you when we're done."

Shiroi nodded, "Good hunting sensei!"

"Let's move!" Suigetsu shouted and leapt overboard as the artillery ships began to fire their catapults on the smaller Water fleet.

Sasuke saw one wooden ship of the Water fleet snap in half as the huge fiery boulder slammed into it, the crew that hadn't died fro the impact leapt off but the other ships were running, they'd never swim fast enough to save their lives.

The large ship had about a dozen catapults on its deck, firing at the Water fleet, most of which was made up by smaller, fast wooden ships with a few metal vessels that had obviously been captured.

He wondered why. Maybe Water's heavier ships had been too slow to escape during the route, or maybe they were part of another fleet.

It didn't matter just now though, right now all that mattered was taking out that Dreadnaught.

Sasuke blew balls of fire at a few of the smaller wooden vessels as he ran over the water's surface, he didn't have time to ensure his aim but out of the four balls of flame he blew only one missed so he considered himself to have done rather well.

When they reached the ship he was about to leap but Suigetsu's hand reached up out of the water and held his ankle, "We don't cap this, Sasuke, we sink it!"

"How?" Sasuke demanded, tapping the metal hull, "This is too thick to cut through, even if I used Chidori I'd just end up shocking all of us."

"We have ways. Come down here and help us, they'll be sending their ninja over the edge soon.

As if the Lightning army wanted to prove the Mizukage right there were several loud splashes and Sasuke knew the enemy Shinobi were jumping overboard to deal with him and the Mist Jounin.

Sasuke fixed the breath mask over his face and fell beneath the water.

Ninja were swimming in all directions, water Jutsus went off left and right, Sasuke could tell by strange rippling patterns in the water shooting forth between different ninja.

He didn't really have any good water Justus . . . but he had the Sharingan, which meant this was a smorgasbord of Jutsus to copy and attempt, besides which his Genjutsu would do fine as well.

The battle was going to be one-sided, the Cloud Ninja outnumbered the five man team by three to one, but several of them were probably Chuunin.

They would go down. Sasuke singled out one target and used a Genjutsu to make the young woman think that a great beast with tentacles had come out of the waters to consume her.

It was one he'd just mimicked Suigetsu using on another target, Sasuke would have to improve it to take more than just one target.

One of the swordsmen swam by at high speeds cutting both stunned ninja in half at the waist, the water around them became dark with blood.

More ripples of water Jutsus being used, Sasuke knew he couldn't use his Lightning Jutsus and his Fire Jutsus would fizzle out underwater.

But then . . . there was something he could try.

In all his time observing Hitomi she had on occasion observed her pupil Naomasa attempting the Implosion Palm, or Incineration Palm, whatever she called it.

Sasuke had seen enough to extrapolate the proper use of the Jutsu . . . but could he use it on the ship? Would it have an effect? It would burn the ship but it might just superheat the hull and boil the water around them.

Not that Sasuke would mind, the constant movement and his wetsuit kept the ocean's cold from being his biggest concern but it wasn't like he couldn't feel the cold water at all.

Before he could attempt it though Suigetsu slashed his own palm and slapped his shoulder.

The blood in the water from the dead came together and began to take form, Sasuke's eyes widened in surprised and he realized that Suigetsu had just summoned something far removed from the usual animal spirit.

This was some sort of monstrosity made entirely out of blood, yet when it struck out at the bottom of the ship it proved very solid as it ripped a hole in the bottom of the ship.

A pair of Jounin swam quickly for the hole, one Cloud ninja caught one of them with some sort of snare and stabbed him with a kunai, but the man's blood filled the water and was absorbed by Suigetsu's minion, which lashed out at the Cloud-nin and crushed him.

Suigetsu waved Sasuke in and the entire group picked up speed, boarding the ship.

It was filling with water at a surprisingly slow pace, Sasuke supposed that not enough air was escaping for the ship to sink rapidly.

There were crewmen aboard, Suigetsu and Sasuke charged them, most of them tried to run.

None of them made it, the blood spirit surged onto the ship and congealed over the doors, Sasuke noted that it had done the same to the hole in the hull, by no means barring a determined Shinobi from entering but stalling them a bit.

The blood spirit crushed anyone who tried to open the doors, Sasuke and Suigetsu killed the rest, empowering the monstrosity.

Sasuke didn't want to imagine fighting such a thing, it was lucky Suigetsu had decided to ally with Konoha.

Suigetsu raised his hand and the surviving Jounin began slapping the walls of the ship and Sasuke soon saw that they were lining them with explosive tags.

"That's enough, next level. Come on Sasuke, you have a case of tags too, we need to make sure this baby makes a big blast!" Suigetsu said, one of the doors cleared and the strike team charged up to the next level of the ship, the Blood Spirit leading the way.

There were several more crewmen on this level, as well as some Shinobi who attacked the blood monstrosity with Lightning Jutsus.

It knocked the first one away before the Jutsu could be completed but the second sent a bolt of lightning at the beast that chained out and hit Suigetsu and one of the other Jounin too.

Sasuke copied the move and did the same thing to that unlucky Chuunin. Suigetsu's minion had taken the majority of the damage from the lightning bolt and so Suigetsu and the other Jounin were just stunned, this unfortunate ninja had a hole punched through his chest by Sasuke's copied Jutsu and the blast tore out hitting several crewmen, stunning them too.

Sasuke smirked, he liked this Jutsu.

The Jounin again distributed explosive tags, this time Sasuke joined in, finding that he did indeed have a waterproof case filled with tags.

They did their evil deed and then proceeded to the deck, "Jump ship boys!" Suigetsu shouted, most likely for Sasuke's benefit, he guessed the other Jounin had done this before.

Someone helped the injured Jounin but Suigetsu seemed not to need assistance, he leapt onto the side of the ship and pointed to the other artillery vessel, "Look at that!"

The ship was aflame, and then its hull exploded outward taking several other ships with it. "Blast, they beat us!" The young Mizukage laughed.

They jumped onto the water, running across the surface with their group, Sasuke sticking close to Suigetsu. "Back to the command vessel, we'll regroup then see if we need to inflict any more damage before we regroup with the fleet." Suigetsu told him.

Behind them Sasuke heard their target explode, he saw shards of metal fly past him and wondered just what was in those tags, they seemed to be more effective than the Konoha variant.

Or else the sheer magnitude of them had been enough to blast the ship to slag.

Sasuke felt both guilt and exhilaration, they really just had Suigetsu's word that Lightning and Cloud were going to betray them, yet here he was helping Suigetsu deal a powerful blow to Lightning's fleet.

But it didn't matter, they'd attacked the Water fleet while Sasuke was aboard a Water vessel, they'd endangered him and Shiroi.

This was an act of self defense.

* * *

Shiroi stumbled backwards as the Cloud Jounin in black robes came charging out of the lower decks, one of the Jounin with her raised his hands in a defensive stance but the woman threw caltrops to the ground behind him, kicked him as she came down so that he fell on them.

She took a pair of kunai from his own pouch and slammed them down into his eyes, ripped them free and threw them at an un-expecting Chuunin.

None of the Mist Shinobi were expecting such a sudden attack, they'd killed the last of the Samurai, the ship was theirs, where had this woman come from?

She threw her robe off and it blinded one of the other Jounin, she leapt into the air and lightning cackled into her hands, she thrust her hand out and a bolt struck forth, slamming into her own robe, cutting through it into the man it was blinding.

Shiroi leapt up to meet her in the air, the woman's chakra points were her target.

The Jounin spun in the air and Shiroi got a look at her forehead protector.

Sound . . .

The woman's face was familiar too, she was that Akuma's mother, or cousin or whatever she'd turned out to be.

Shiroi felt conflicting emotions and it caused her enough pause that the woman could drop kick her out of the air and land roughly next to her.

She smiled at Shiroi, "Do you want to live? You have ten seconds to decide."

Shiroi scowled, "Your boy killed my friend."

"That's neither here nor there, do you want to live girl? Five seconds."

Shiroi scowled, her hand moved unconsciously to her cover her womb.

Like Sasuke-sensei said she wasn't fighting just for her own life.

So what other option did she have?

"I want to live." She said with a scowl.

Okatsu just smiled a sinister smile, there was an earsplitting sound and everything simply . . . went black.

* * *

Sasuke's eyes widened as they neared the command ship.

"No! Shiroi, no!" He screamed as the vessel suddenly exploded just like the artillery barges that they'd sunk.

Suigetsu swore and waved his team to one of the small fast ships but Sasuke kept running for the command vessel.

Suigetsu grabbed him, "She's lost! She's gone!"

Sasuke couldn't believe it, he couldn't accept it. "She was supposed to be safe there!"

"There's no safety in war, those Samurai below decks must have had some tags of their own. We'll get 'em back, Sasuke, when we mess up their plans for Konoha. Come on!"

Sasuke shook his head in amazement.

Saizo . . . now Shiroi and her unborn child.

Who _wouldn't _he fail?

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note**: This was a difficult chapter, we have no clue what ships look like in the Naruto world. Do they have modern looking war ships or do they use wooden ones? I decided if they have TVs and heavy construction equipment it is entirely possible for them to have several other modern things, and a ship with an armored hull would make sense when you have enemies who can walk on water and hurtle fireballs.

In the end I decided on a mix, the cheaper mass produced war ships being wooden, sail powered crossbow platforms while the more expensive vessels are destroyers, and command vessels. In regards to the cannons, I imagine them being rather primitive ones, which is why the artillery ship had to use catapults, it was actually based off of the Fire Nation ships in Avatar, only much wider and more heavily armed.

Until Kishimoto-sensei shows us what sort of ships and weaponry exist in Naruto I can only guess. Since we have no evidence of rifles the only evidence of gunpowder at all appaers to be the explosive tags, they may not have cannons at all for what I know. If the idea of cannons bothers you, imagine the "cannons" being large, armor piercing crossbows built onto the ship.

This is a fan fiction after all. Enjoy!


	132. Easy Information?

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Thirty Two**

Temari grabbed Kyoko before Kabuto could snare her with his serpent arm, she tossed Kyoko into the air where she opened her fan to glide to safety--relatively speaking--and Kabuto's arm wrapped around Temari's waist instead.

It coiled up around her like a constrictor and squeezed tight, Temari smiled rudely, "Yeah, _that'll _get my husband to join you, squeezing me and holding me close."

"I have no problem making Shikamaru a widower." Kabuto said evenly and the snake arm began to squeeze her all the tighter.

It kept his attention long enough that Yukio and Ryu working together managed to take down another Waterfall ninja, and Kamatari and Tombugiri had gotten into position.

They leapt out and began to spin like a pair of deadly, razor sharp disks.

They cut into that serpent arm and Temari fell away free, unscratched by her minions though Kabuto retracted his arm with a growl.

He glared at her, "That really hurt! It won't be easy repairing that."

"Boohoo." Temari scowled, "Now surrender, come quietly and we can end all this."

"You gain a minor advantage and you think you can force my surrender?" Kabuto asked.  
"No, I gained a major advantage and I offered you a chance to save yourself before you die. I'm glad you didn't take it." Temari smirked, the ground exploded beneath Kabuto as a geyser of bugs emerged and covered him.

And Naginata emerged from the hole too, spinning and cutting into the man but he disappeared, replaced by an uprooted stump.

"You were too cocky," Shino scolded, "He saw what was coming."

Temari scoffed. She'd _wanted _Kabuto to see his death coming, she'd _wanted _him to escape it.

It was all part of her plan. She turned to her team and the Anbu squad, "All right, everyone get ready, it's time to use Special Maneuver Alpha!"

"What is that?" Sai demanded.

"My squad will walk you through it, eliminate the last two Waterfall ninja and then execute on my mark and _only _on my mark!" Temari shouted.

Kabuto had disappeared for a moment, and that would be all the time they'd need to eliminate the remaining Waterfall shinobi.

The group fell upon the two Jounin. Due mostly to Shino having already drained a good deal of their chakra they didn't last very long.

The instant before the second died Kabuto reappeared right behind Temari, he wrapped his good arm around her neck and placed his injured arm against her head, applying pressure as if he meant to break her neck but had never quite learned how to do it properly.

Nonsense of course because he was a medic, he _knew _how to snap a neck, and he knew that Temari would never have let him, indeed the moment she sensed him, an instant before he ever touched her she initiated a new Jutsu.

Wind chakra poured out of her chakra points, blasting Kabuto with razor sharp winds for an instant which was enough to force him to back off.

Back off and be consumed by Shino's bugs.

"So what is maneuver Alpha?" Sai asked when it seemed like nothing special had happened.

Temari shrugged, "Who knows, I just wanted him to try to stop me from giving the signal."

Shino swore, Temari raised an eyebrow at him, she was about to ask him what the problem was when his insect swarm receded to reveal that Kabuto was in fact nothing more than a young woman wrapped in black robes.

She didn't even wear a forehead protector, he might have just grabbed some girl off the streets.

Temari swore too and kicked the dirt, "That scum."

"It doesn't matter sensei." Ryu said, stowing his battle fan on his back, "We have more important things to do now. He told you his plan, you need to tell the generals of the allied armies."

Temari smiled, proud of Ryu for keeping a clearer head than she. True she would have taken the information to people who could use it, but only after she'd killed Kabuto. This way if he wanted to be a coward she wouldn't spend time looking for him, just pass his plan on to the people who needed to hear it to stop it.

"You're right Ryu, I just wish I'd had the chance to finish that slime off." Temari admitted, "Getting this information to Taisho Miura, Hokage-sama and Kazekage-sama is what's important. All right we have a lot to do and not much time to--" Temari was saying, then she sprang forward and shoved Yuikio out of the way when one of the dead Waterfall ninja suddenly took the shape of Kabuto and struck out.

His serpentine arm bit into her shoulder and she felt, literally _felt _the venom course into her, she tumbled forward and the serpent arm wrapped tightly around her.

She laughed weakly, "You have _got _to be kidding." She said, working hard not to pause or break in her speech even though she was in terrible pain.

Kabuto's eyes were wild, "You played right into my hands little madam." He said. "This is your last chance . . . give me what I want, or I'll take it. If I have to take it . . . you will regret angering me."

"Sensei!" Kyoko screamed in terror.

"Go kiss a toad. Uzumaki has a ton of them, and you'll have to go through them and him before you win this war, killing me won't matter." Temari spat, and Kabuto squeezed her, her chest hurt and she heard cracking noises that she was going to have to work hard to ignore.

Temari felt faint, but she laughed and said "This isn't how it ends, I know that. You won't kill me like this."

"No . . ." Kabuto agreed, "I won't kill you. But I'll hurt you, I'll make you feel all kinds of pain you never imagined."

"Try childbirth." Temari suggested.

"When I'm done inflicting pain on you I'll fix you," Kabuto said, ignoring her quip, "I'll put you back together again and I'll make you more submissive, maybe take a few parts of your brain out . . . oh yes. Then as my loyal little slave you'll convince your husband to give in to me, hand your daughter over to me, bare more children in the name of the Sound, and you'll be _grateful _for the opportunity. It's more than your brothers will get . . . oh I'm sorry, _brother_, you only have one now, and soon he'll be dead too."

Temari wanted to put up a greater fight but she just couldn't.

Still she thought to herself that there was no way either of her brothers was dead. Kabuto was either lying, or he was mistaken. Gaara had just spoken to her, Kankuro was safe in Suna.

She smiled and said "My brother_s _will kill you, my husband will outthink you at every turn. Your plan is far from brilliant, even if I couldn't escape to warn everyone the ninja of Konoha and Suna would no doubt be able to survive your attacks."

"Really?" Kabuto laughed. "Because . . . Sunagakure has fallen, and your brother Gaara is dead."

Temari laughed, "You fool, I know you're lying now!"

"You think him invincible?" Kabuto asked.

Temari smirked, the venom inside her was making her feel numb, it was either paralyzing her or killing her, either way she managed to force a laugh as Kabuto fended off the others' attempts to rescue her, she said "I know you're lying now Kabuto because Gaara wasn't _in _Suna. He marched with the armies."

"Then his double is dead." Kabuto shrugged.

"I doubt that too, you see if his double were dead you'd know him, and you'd tell me."

"Perhaps I haven't received a detailed report." Kabuto suggested.

"Perhaps you're just a lying scum who knows he'll never be able to defeat the Kazekage!" Ryu shouted, leaping in between Kabuto and Temari, slamming his fan down on the serpent arm with amazing strength in fact helped along--Temari noticed--by some of Yukio's sand.

The young Chuunin kicked Kabuto in the lower abdomen, just missing the monster's crotch and Temari was pulled back from the limp serpent arm by a swarm of insects.

"Sunagakure has fallen!" Kabuto shouted, "Whoever posed as the Kazekage is dead! You see I left a vital detail out of my plans, but now that Shino-kun and his team are here I can share it! I killed more than just your chances of winning this war, my machinations brought about the end of the Grand Alliance of Suna and Konoha! Sunagakure was done away with by your own Daimyo in preparation for his full scale invasion of Konoha!"

"Impossible!" Ryu gasped.

"Ninja are a thing of the past, they're more expensive than and yet outnumbered by conscript armies, more effective certainly but unnecessary in large numbers . . . or so the Daimyo will believe!" Kabuto roared, triumph in his voice, "When the new era dawns with the destruction of Konoha do you truly believe any nation will maintain a strong Sninobi force? No . . . small elite teams will be everyone's idea of a true ninja army, no more than a hundred ninja per nation what with their ridiculous cost to maintain."

Temari shook her head in disbelief, feeling some sensation return to her body as Shino's bugs sucked the venom from her body.

Kabuto smiled, "You may tell Konoha that her sister has turned on her. Tell her and it won't change a thing. You see the armies of Konoha are out and about, the ninja of Suna are marching with the very armies that will soon crush Konoha's Samurai, the ninja of Konoha, few more than two hundred fifty men women and indeed children are going to be all that stands between the end of your way of life and the future!"

"You can't stop our way of life," Kyoko shouted, "Ninja will still exist in the other nations even if in small numbers. Smaller numbers of ninja will only mean that they'll need to be all the stronger, Ninja will never die out!"

"You're right about one thing. Ninja will never die out. The reason why is because the Sound Organization within the Sound Shogunate, the uniting force of the world will be the only one to employ a true ninja army made up from the survivors of the five great nations. Ninja will continue to exist as the enforcers of the Shogun's will."

Temari shook her head, "You think it'll be that easy?"

"When I prove myself the most powerful of all ninja, when I become their one and only hope for salvation . . . I believe anything I want to do will become terribly easy. So tell me now . . . before I start actually killing people . . . who wants to join me now." Kabuto laughed, "Who wants to be a _trendsetter_?"

Temari felt feeling returning to her body, she stood up straighter and said "We'll never serve you. You _really_ need to learn how to sell yourself."

"Don't you understand you're all pawns?" Kabuto smirked, "Join me now and survive the coming storm . . . or at least have a much better chance of it." He looked at Temari, "Isn't there anything you want? I can give you anything . . . anything you want. And if you defy me you may not be the one to suffer. Just . . . think of your father, fighting on the front lines."

Temari realized then that Kabuto wasn't looking at her . . . he was looking at Yukio who stood behind her. She turned towards her Genin, "Yukio . . ."

He smirked, "It's okay Sensei, I'm not going to fall for that."

"Won't you?" Kabuto laughed. "You're the only member of your squad who hasn't advanced to Chuunin."

"Yeah right! That's not true, only Kyoko advanced!" Yukio said. He glanced at Ryu.

"I uh . . . didn't want you to feel bad." Ryu said

Temari frowned. That probably only made Yukio feel even worse. But now wasn't the time for this kind of nonsense.

"Don't listen to him, he can't make you a Chuunin." Temari said.

"Neither could you. You failed him as a sensei." Kabuto said.

"No she hasn't, my failure at the Chuunin exams was my own fault!" Yukio shouted.

"No, it was hers. Your so-called Sensei has held you back because she's afraid of what you could be. You could be more powerful than the Kazekage, more powerful than her, then she'd be at your mercy just as she is at mine now, she would have to answer for all the wrong she's done to you. She doesn't want that, she doesn't want you to become truly powerful . . . but I do."

Yukio scoffed, but Kabuto continued, "All the times you've wanted to wring her neck . . . you've held back because you knew she'd destroy you for it . . . but I think in reality it should be the other way around. She should be afraid of you."

Temari shook her head, "Yukio's too smart to fall for your crap, Kabuto."

"Your father's life would be spared if you served me. If you didn't . . . I'd make certain that the next time you saw him he was very much dead." Kabuto said. "I have agents everywhere, they've been ready to strike your father down for some time now . . . all on my word."

Temari smirked, "He's lying Yukio. He wouldn't stalk your father for so long, he had no way of knowing you'd be here, no way of knowing he'd have to try to make a deal with you."

Kabuto laughed again. "She's lying to you. She knows _exactly _why I'd have had your father watched in advance child. She knows _exactly _why I'm here, I've already told her. I'm here to recruit new agents . . . she's just made the mistake of assuming that she was the only one I came for."

Temari glanced back at Yukio who looked surprised, "You're saying . . ." He laughed, "You mean you really thought I'd betray my nation and serve you?"

"Betray your nation? Fool boy, your Daimyo is my puppet, on my word he's killed the Kazekage, on my command his armies will sweep over Konohagakure. Be his agent still by joining my organization. I will see to it that you become the greatest Sand Master of all time, greater than any Kazekage, greater than any ninja in history."

Yukio shook his head, "Don't worry Sensei. I'm not a selfish child anymore, his words won't sway me."

"Well in that case . . ." Kabuto said, "I suppose I have no choice. If you're not going to serve me I'd better make sure you don't serve anyone else. You're going to die."

Kabuto lunged forward but he staggered and stopped suddenly.

A pair of large black golems held him in place, they'd appeared out of thin air.

Temari glanced at Sai, the one who'd summoned them no doubt.

"Everyone go now," Sai ordered, "I can hold him for sixty seconds. Escape, warn the Kazekage and the Hokage, tell the Konoha generals of the betrayal they are about to face, run away now."

"Why not kill him?" Ryu demanded.

Temari shook her head, "We can't. He'll just come back in a new body, one of the several dead Waterfall ninja I suspect. That's the nature of his Jutsu, he can keep possessing new bodies, isn't that right, Kabuto?"

The half-man sneered and said "You are a clever one. I wonder just how much of my Jutsu you've figured out."

_Whatever I haven't Shikamaru will be able to determine once I tell him what I know. _Temari thought.

Sai cleared his throat, "Please run away _now_." He said.

Shino nodded and said to Kurai "Move out."

"What about--" Kurai protested.

"He'll be fine." Temari said, putting a hand on Sai's shoulder.

He smiled a smile that didn't really seem sincere and said "Before the Jutsu wares off I will escape as well, do not worry."

"You see?" Temari said, waving the crew on, "So run. Just run."

They'd escape, they'd tell the people who needed to know . . . they'd split up.

As soon as they were out of Kabuto's range Shino said what Temari had meant to. "Temari go with Kurai so his insects can continue draining the poison. Go to Konoha, tell the Hokage everything you know. I will take one of your students to the Konoha generals so that they can be warned right away, the other two will have to get to the safety of your brother the Kazekage, he must be warned as well."

"No, the trip to the Konoha generals is longer and more dangerous, besides the kids won't know the way. You need to go to the generals, the kids will go to Konoha and I will go to my brother." Temari said.

"You need a doctor, if there are agents amongst the Kazekage's followers then that place is a danger to you, Konoha is the only safe place for you to go, you're going to Konoha." Shino said, "But you're right. Only I can get to the armies, so I will take one of your students and go, the other two should be safe with the Kazekage."

"And we'll help him take back Suna if it really was attacked." Yukio said darkly. "Sensei, let me go to the Kazekage, he's on the front lines, I can see my father and help lord Gaara!"

"Right. Then Ryu, you're going with him, Kyoko you're in charge of telling the Konoha generals everything they need to know . . . Yukio and Ryu will have the shortest distance to travel but they're in just as much danger as we are." Temari said.

More actually. Kabuto had made it clear that he was interested in Yukio. If he got free of Sai Temari knew exactly where he'd go.

"Right, break up and move out." Shino ordered and the ninja all set off in their different directions, Temari waiting an appropriate amount of time before breaking off her travel to Konoha to pursue Yukio instead.

"What are you doing?" Kurai demanded.

"I can give my boys and escort and still go back to Konoha, nevertheless you go on ahead, just in case anything happens to me. You're a Chuunin it's your responsibility to warn the village of the danger."

"You know all the details I don't, it's my responsibility to keep you safe." Kurai shot back.

"I'm your superior officer, I'm ordering you to report back to Konoha."

"I will, when you do. Until then I still need to extract the poison from your veins, and don't forget you're still a Sunagakure Jounin for this mission, so you're not my superior officer just yet even if you are registered as a Konoha Jounin."

Temari smiled slightly, "Fine, now _move_!" She ordered, leaping onto her fan and soaring above the trees, she saw Kurai keep a relatively good pace dashing through the trees after her.

They'd see to the boys' safety first, then go to Konoha. Shino could protect Kyoko, and Sai would have to take care of himself.

Temari's team, their safety, mattered more to her right now than the information she carried.

She didn't know if the information was actually accurate or even worth anything, but she knew her students were worth _everything_. She'd make sure they were safe.

* * *

The large ink ogres disappeared and Kabuto smiled at Sai, "Time's up." He said. "You didn't run."

The Konoha Anbu shrugged, "Sixty seconds is an insufficient delay. Whatever else I can do to stall you and put distance between yourself and the others I will do, regardless of the cost."

"What makes you think I can't just take another body and pursue them in that?"

"I have no way of knowing if you are capable of that, however as long as I keep you here there is a good chance that you cannot take another body, or that if you did your consciousness would be divided enough that you might make a fatal mistake."

"Clever boy. So how would you like to join me? You're talented, and not a member of the Konoha Twelve so I needn't shame you publicly."

"I have no interest. I may not be counted with the Twelve, but I am still a friend to most of them, I would die before I allowed your evil plans to come to fruition."

"So be it then." Kabuto said. "I do not _need_ you for my organization and your death will not prevent anyone I _need _from joining me. Therefore, as per your request you shall die."

Kabuto clenched his human fist, his serpent arm was broken too badly to be useful.

He would make short work of this youth, then move on to his real target.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Many appologies for the delay, but I'm back and I intend to get caught up on updates. Two chapters today, more on the weekend.


	133. Pursuit

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Thirty Three**

Yuu ran through the forest at top speed. He heard the sound of distant marching and he leapt out of the trees to the side of a long column of soldiers.

He was instantly pinned, he heard someone shout and a blade was pressed to the back of his neck.

"Stand down!" Tetsuo, the Raikage shouted.

The ninja rolled off of Yuu's back and pulled him to his feet, "What's the meaning of this?" The ninja demanded, keeping his hand on Yuu's shoulder.

Yuu shoved past the man--who turned out to be a member of the Hishu--and approached Tetsuo, "I have to speak to your wife, Raikage-sama."

"Then you've come to the wrong place." Tetsuo said, raising an eyebrow, "What's the problem?"

"Kasumi has been abducted and your wife is the only one who can track a body moving through the shadows!" Yuu said, growing irritated. He'd wasted his time finding the Raikage.

"Wait a second, slow down--"

"No sir, I've been slowed enough, I need your wife's eyes or we'll lose your sister."

"My wife is pregnant, she's not fit to fight," The Raikage said, "Where is Tosa?"

"Too injured to continue, I have to find Kasumi."

"What are you going to do if the culprit hurt Tosa?" The Hishu demanded.

Yuu didn't answer.

What did he plan to do? Kasumi was going of her own accord, he'd probably have no chance of convincing her while fighting a Jounin, if anything he'd be lucky to get one shot at Hikaru and he'd have to make it good. He looked away and said "Kasumi has gone willingly with Hikaru to the Sound Organization."

Tetsuo was quiet for a moment, then said "Then there's nothing we can do. By the time we'd brought Hanabi out here the trail would have gone cold, and if Kasumi went willingly to our enemies that makes her our enemy."

Yuu clenched a fist, "She's just confused! She's not thinking properly, she has this insane, worthless plan and we have to--"

"Continue with our mission." Tetsuo said. "See to your sensei. When this war is over we can find Kasumi and this Organization."

Yuu stared at Tetsuo for a moment then said "You _seem _not to care. But I know that can't be true."

"She's my sister." Tetsuo said.

Yuu nodded, "I understand. She's my teammate too and I don't want to stand by while someone who doesn't know her or care about her gets sent after her. So promise me, Raikage-sama that when we _are _ready to retrieve Kasumi you'll give me the job."

Tetsuo was quiet for a moment, then he nodded, "When the time comes you'll be at least one of the ones I send."

Yuu nodded, "Then that's all I need to hear." He turned and headed back the way he'd come, fully aware that that Hishu was probably watching him.

When he reached the trees again he whispered "The time is _now_, Raikage-sama, thank you for unwittingly approving this mission."

He phased into the ground and "swam" off through the earth at top speed in the direction of the old Village Hidden in Sound. It was an unlikely base because it was so obvious, but the area around it was near enough to the army and it was only obvious if someone knew Sound was out and about, and so it could very well be where Hikaru would take Kasumi.

Yuu would devote most of his focus on finding enormous chakra sources, that would no doubt be Hikaru.

Then . . . then he'd have just one chance, one shot to kill Hikaru, if he failed he'd die.

He didn't like that plan.

_Observation. Find them, observe them, when the time is right I'll strike. Even if it costs my life the Sound wants Kasumi, if I can keep them from getting her, upset their plans at all that's worth at least one life._

He smiled weakly and thought of Tomoko's book.

It was in his equipment pouch, he was near the final chapters but he hadn't finished it yet.

_Until I've finished Tomoko-chan's book I won't allow myself to die. After all, I have to tell her what I think of it._

He smiled slightly, at least there was that to look forward to. A slight reason to go on living. Assuming he even found Hikaru that could be useful.

* * *

Tetsuo threw off his white robes and leapt off of the horse which he'd been riding. Several members of the Hishu suddenly appeared at his side.

"Get me Yurei Kaori and Konjo Takumi, they'll be my squad. Send two of my clansmen out to seek Minoru Hikaru and my sister Kasumi."

"Raikage-sama it is vitally important that you remain here with the army, let us find Hikaru."

"Hikaru is an S-Class missing nin now, he is very near my own level of skill, I should be the one to face him or lives will be lost." Tetsuo said.

"You expect us to risk losing a second Raikage in a single year?" The Hishu scoffed. "Stay here with the army, you're safe here. We'll go."

Tetuso raised an eyebrow, "Are you ordering _me_?"

"I'm begging you." The Hishu said.

"Get Takumi and Kaori anyway, send them to Tosa to be briefed on the situation, I'll stay here. Since you're so keen you lot will indeed go after Hikaru, under Yurei Kaori's leadership. Takumi may take some Samurai if he chooses, tell the Daimyo that I approved the action and if he doesn't like it he can take it up with me personally."

_If he can find me. _Tetsuo thought.

The Hishu was surprisingly adamant that he remain in this set location which meant frankly he wanted to be anywhere but there.

He'd go after his sister with Kaori and Takumi, he knew he could trust them and he'd never assumed he could trust the former Raikage's special force teams.

He trusted them to act in the best interests of the village of course, but no further. Besides the village's best interests were really up to the eye of the beholder.

When he was fairly certain none or few of the Hishu were still watching him he pulled sharply on the reins of his horse and fell backwards with a shout.

He performed two Jutsus, one after another.

First he created a clone, then he fell into his shadow.

The clone used substitution to appear on a nearby tree, with luck the Hishu would think that the smoke was caused by their jumpy Raikage using substitution, they wouldn't realize that Tetsuo had made a clone.

His shadow stayed with the horse which galloped off into the trees and had to be recovered.

He then moved at top speed through the cover of the forest's shadows sensing for the strongest chakra signatures.

He located several powerful ones, but focused on finding one moving at about his same velocity--the top speed of a shadow walk.

* * *

Syako shuddered as the sole surviving Genin led her through the halls of the Kazekage's headquarters.

She was certain the stone ninja were still following them, she had to lead them away from Kankuro but she just didn't know how she'd get back to him later.

Or what her explanation would be when they tired of the chase and caught her.

She wiped sweat from her brow and tears from her eyes, this was far from the glorious restoration of Samurai power. If Gaara had died then the Sound Organization and the Daimyo could have seized full control of the ninja forces on the front lines, Syako might even have convinced Kankuro to serve the Daimyo directly, if he proved loyal he'd have become the next Kazekage.

It would all have been so perfect, but Gaara had ruined it all.

"That scum! That unforgivable scum!" Syako panted as she ran.

"Don't worry ma'am, they won't get away with this." The Genin assured her.

Syako ignored him. He obviously didn't know who she meant and it didn't matter anyway.

She wasn't even very enthusiastic about running along with him. She'd rather be alone, except of course for the fact that if he broke off from her now Toshiie would almost certainly kill him and it'd be a waste of life.

He was only a child, Syako was currently trying to forget the gruesome sight of his comrades' deaths, the fact that she was running as if for her life and worried about Kankuro surprisingly wasn't helping at all, she was just envisioning all the ways he could die.

It was horrifying, it was making it harder and harder to focus on running.

And she was running out of places to run to.

She had to think of something.

* * *

Akira folded his arms, "Well?" He demanded.

"The city is secured. We suspect several Genin are in hiding, likely with their families." The stone ninja reported.

Akira nodded slowly, "Our agents have complete dossiers and your Genjutsu specialists should be able to see through any Genin transformations, track them down and arrest them. But even if they resist, spare their lives. They _are_ Wind citizens."

"If they're arrested they might be freed at some point. Then they will tell others what happened here." The stone ninja said.

Akira frowned, "It is likely that the Daimyo will have a plan to ensure their loyalty. Until then just quarantine the area. Don't take any lives but don't let anyone get out of the city."

The ninja nodded and said "Captain Toshiie has reported that his squad is following Lady Sachiko, he is uncertain of her intentions but there is the slightest of possibilities that she will lead him to the Kazekage."

"So we still haven't found him." Akira growled to himself.

"We have no clue where he is." The ninja nodded.

Akira clenched a fist and said "As long as he remains missing there's a chance for an organized resistance to be drawn up against us. We're needed for the march on Konoha, if _you're _going to come along Sunagkure needs to be completely secured."

"We've known that since the beginning, I assure you we are all doing our best, we want to be part of the Konoha invasion as much as anyone."

Anyone except Akira maybe. He'd fight Konoha because he'd sworn an oath to his Daimyo.

But that didn't mean that this betrayal, which began with the sacrifice of Sand shinobi sat well with him.

Still the Daimyo was their lord chosen by right of birth. He was a proven civil leader and descended from a long line of military geniuses. Akira would be fortunate to ever have half the knowledge and understanding that the Daimyo possessed, if the great man ordered him to sacrifice some of the ninja that served their country for the sake of saving the country itself he knew that it must be the right thing to do and that if they understood the situation, _truly _understood it the ninja themselves would willingly lay down their lives.

So what did he object to? Was it the fact that they had ambushed their own men? At least this way they could die with a measure of honor, and only Stone ninja were being sacrificed against them, none of Akira's Samurai and Ashigaru were being killed.

Their unit would be blooded on Konoha, here they were just meant to keep the crowds under control, and to help ensure that no one escaped.

Akira had trained in Suna as a child, had nearly become a ninja, many of the women in the crowd looked at least vaguely familiar.

There were no young men, they were all serving in the army. There were old men and boys too young to fight, Akira suspected that the lack of men in the village was all that kept the outraged civilians from rioting.

That and the thousand spearmen glaring at them.

This was the action necessary to save this nation.

This was the correct course.

Why did Akira feel uncertain? There was no call for it. He should have been proud, excited.

He nodded slightly to the all but subdued headquarters of the Kazekage.

Kazekage Gaara had his respect for holding out this long . . . but in the end the man would only be causing more problems if he held up this battle.

There was a timetable, Akira's men needed to be in Konoha at the same time as the rest of the army, their ninja entourage--which had suffered far fewer losses than anticipated, in large due to Gaara not using any of his sand Jutsus to wipe them out--needed to be leave for Konoha within the next day or so--ninja could travel faster than soldiers--if they were going to be part of the invasion and one hundred stone Jounin and Chuunin were a major part of the invasion force.

Akira shook his head again and glanced at Emiko.

How could he dare to claim such a woman as his wife when he was even now preparing to make war against her nation? He'd do what he could for her parents and her sister but her younger brother . . .

There would be nothing he could do for her brother, he'd likely die. The boy was a ninja. Akira felt like he understood the boy better than the rest of the family did, after all he'd tried to be a ninja too, turning his back on a wealthy home life.

There was a need to carve out one's own path, a desire to be greater than others expected. A need to be judged by one's own exploits, not by those of one's father. Akira understood this, and respected Emiko's brother for his decision to join the ninja ranks during the war, the most dangerous of all times to do so.

After all the Ishida clan was not a Samurai clan and would therefore never _be _a Samurai clan, yet who could deny at this time, a man's need or even a young boy's need to fight for his country, his land, at the most primal of levels his territory? His nation, his people, indeed his family.

Akira believed that all men and, in the case of Shinobi, sometimes women, who decided to take up arms for their country, rather than being forced to, deserved at least some measure of respect that often was not afforded to them. It was easy for a man sitting at his dinner table to criticize a Taisho's battle plan, or the actions of soldiers on the field or even off the field.

They didn't understand because in most cases they had never experienced the amazing calamity that is war. A general didn't stand over the battlefield slowly moving squads around like pieces on a board, his opponent did not wait patiently for him to take his turn. War was fast moving ever changing and lethal, men lost their lives in war and they never got them back.

It was easy to say that it had been for nothing but in Akira's eyes that was never true.

Wars might be fought for unjust reasons, armies might be led by poor commanders but in the end no battle was ever for nothing.

It was for the soldier by your side, it was for the family you left back home, the nation you represented. Men like Akira and Naomasa joined the military and fought this war because their very way of life was in danger--Naomasa's more now than Akira's--because the people they loved were or would eventually be in danger.

Because something in them demanded they defend what they held dear. For Akira it was his Samurai blood.

For Ishida Naomasa? Who knew. But Akira respected it, considered it an almost Samurai quality.

And he considered how many others would die today because of that quality. But from even the greatest defeat there was a chance for rebirth and a new tomorrow.

Akira nodded slowly. No matter how dark things looked now the sun would rise, things would get better.

The people of Sunagakure might need some time . . . but eventually they'd understand that this had been for the best.

The ninja could no longer have free reign, they could no longer act independently of the government, or be the only military force.

The time of the ninja was over. The nation needed to move on. Supreme power needed to be in the hands of the Daimyo and the Daimyo needed to be under the control of a wise, just and fair Shogun . . . right?

"We humans need supervision, we cannot be left to make decisions on our own." Akira said, reciting the words that the Daimyo had told him when he revealed the target of his army's attack.

_When normal men are left to make their own choices without law or order they invariably choose wrongly sooner or later and then someone is wronged. With a government that has ultimate authority over her subjects mankind can be propelled to the greatest depths of tyranny, or else can be led to a golden age of enlightenment and prosperity. It all depends on whom the supreme leader is. _Akira thought. _Do I not believe my own Daimyo to be such a man? No, that's not even the issue. Clearly this Shogun intends to be that man and yet his throne is bought with the blood of ninja and samurai from my nation, from the Earth Nation, from Fire, Lightning and Water Nations. How many of his own men and women will bleed? Is he even leader enough to attract his own followers, or must he sacrafice the followers of others?_

_Should such a man be allowed to rule? _Akira wondered.

His Daimyo seemed to think so. Could the man be deceived?

Akira closed his eyes. Who was he to question one ordained by the heavens to rule? The Daimyo was worthy by right of birth, Akira was nothing but a tool for that great man.

Still he didn't like thinking that way. Why would he question the Daimyo now?

He wouldn't, he decided. He'd continue on, loyal and determined.

If this was what it took to end the war so be it. It had lasted only four years, others had lasted decades, even centuries, nevertheless this war had been devastating, it had changed the face of the world.

When the world was finished changing . . . would there be any more ninja?

Akira opened his eyes. Somehow everything looked a little different.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	134. Former Friends

**Note:** I still want to say that I'm sorry to anyone who was worried, but fear not, this story will be completed even if it's the last thing I do.

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Thirty Four**

Shiroi was shaking as Okatsu led her through the darkened tunnels.

She wasn't afraid. She was apprehensive. She was also very cold. She was still wet from the ocean battle, and she was dressed as she normally did, fishnet, skirt, vest . . . and pretty much nothing else.

She'd left all of her gear and all the gear she'd borrowed from the Mist ninja at the proverbial door--or rather the large empty room that Okatsu had teleported her into.

The nature of the teleportation Shiroi did not understand. Okatsu claimed it was just a Jutsu of hers, but Shiroi had common sense, despite what Sasuke-sensei believed. Even if the woman _could _teleport her anywhere she knew there was no way Okatsu could teleport her such a distance.

She suspected that it had been some sort of summoning Jutsu designed to summon her. Given that Okatsu had been sent to find her specifically it wasn't far fetched to think that, and it might be part of the reason that she'd had to give her consent before they took her.

Not that it mattered _how _she'd gotten in, the fact was she was in. This was her new Hidden Village, Sound was her new emblem . . . for all she knew Okatsu would be her new sensei.

She put her hand over her womb. _It's all for the best, _she told herself.

"These halls are designed so that any sounds echo all the way to the master's chamber." Okatsu explained.

"Must make it hard for him to sleep." Shiroi commented by mistake.

She really didn't care, she was tired and she was freezing, she didn't want to _learn _anything about echoes.

_No you nitwit, learn _everything _you can, don't let your current mood affect your ability to absorb information, no good ninja would._ She scolded herself mentally.

Okatsu laughed though and said "Could be. I've never seen the master sleep. But I suspect he's reached a physical plateau that normal man cannot. I believe he has evolved into something smarter, faster, and stronger than any normal human being and that he doesn't require sleep."

_Unlikely_. Shiroi knew the man must sleep, perhaps there was a special room in which his did all of his resting, maybe he just didn't want to let his servants catch him sleeping, maybe he was worried that they might take that as an opportunity to harm him.

_That _implied that he might not be quick to trust others, or that he might be paranoid, which wouldn't be good for Shiroi. Not if she wanted to keep her unborn child safe that is.

"We're nearly there; remember to maintain proper respect before the master, more than you ever showed that weak whore Hokage."

_Calling someone weak doesn't make them less powerful, less of a threat, it just shows that you're either so afraid of them that you're in denial or that you underestimate them and could find yourself paying for it. I certainly hope if you're my new sensei, you don't expect me to learn your way of thinking too. _Shiroi thought.

Sasuke-sensei would never make such a blunder. But then again this woman had trained Akuma, made him the dangerous monster he'd become, a boy capable of murdering Saizo in secret and killing another boy right before everyone else's eyes.

Shiroi considered briefly the idea of getting revenge for Saizo. She couldn't hope to kill Akuma because Ishida had done it already. But she could kill the woman responsible for his power.

Or she could learn from her, become the sort of ninja that Neji-sensei wanted her to be . . . but through a different path than he'd expected of her.

Okatsu reached a large double door and waved her arm, a pair of ninja dressed in black and gray shoved the door open and Okatsu strolled boldly into the large room,

As soon as she entered Shiroi could hear a terrible jumble of noise, she guessed it must be the sounds from every other room echoing into this one.

"It sounds like a terrible cacophony to you and me, but to the master the noise is neatly sorted out. He hears all this and sorts it out in his amazing brain."

_I'll bet._ Shiroi thought. She looked to the center of the room and there, sitting upon a large ebony throne surrounded by torches that burned with green fire was a . . . well she wasn't so sure he could be called a "man" more of a creature.

He was a sick cross between a man and, she would hazard a guess at snake. His eyes were wide open, staring around the room, landing eventually on her though the rest of his body took no action.

He was barely breathing.

Okatsu bowed down before him, falling to her knees before the throne and Shiroi guessed she was meant to do the same thing.

"The Master is using his ultimate Jutsu. He is aware of his surroundings but he is clearly far more interested in whatever he's doing with his astral body than he is in us, be patient and we'll be spoken to in time."

"Astral body?" Shiroi whispered.

"Yes of course. The master's Jutsu allows him to project himself miles and miles away from this place. He's nothing but an illusion, but he takes the body of a willing servant or someone near death to give him physical form. In that state he's immortal because the body he fights with is not his own. To harm him one would need to strike down his astral projection and no one can even see it. We're not sure about Uchiha of course, but he's one man."

Shiroi shook her head slowly, "How do you know all this, and why are you telling me? What if I'm a spy, or an assassin?"

"If you're a spy the master will judge you and kill you when his conscious mind returns to us. If you are an assassin . . . well, let's just say that we're being watched by more Shinobi than the mind can safely envision just now, one aggressive step and you die before your brain sends the signals to move your other leg."

"Comforting to know." Shiroi whispered.

"As for how I know all about this Jutsu . . . well the Master taught it to me. How do you think I got you?"

"Couldn't know or care." Shiroi said.

"Well you should. I'm going to teach it to you as well."

"I'll fail to learn it." Shiroi said.

"You would refuse such power?" Okatsu raised an eyebrow.

"I would never take another's body to achieve my own goals. That I will do with my own flesh, bleeding my own blood."

"Noble, but stupid. Normal men and women are tools to be used by those with power. You have power; to refuse to use it is utterly ludicrous."

Shiroi smiled, "My beliefs are what make me strong old woman. A victory bought with another's blood is cheap and tainted."

Okatsu laughed and said "Interesting. Do you therefore claim that the master's victory is tainted?"

"You assume he's seeking victory. He could be grocery shopping." Shiroi pointed out.

"That level of insolence will find you dead before long." Okatsu chuckled.

_We'll just see. _Shiroi thought. She wasn't so sure . . . but had these astral projections ever been tried against a Hyuga's eyes?

No. No of course not, if the Hyuga could see the astral projections Kabuto would have had the entire clan wiped out.

He'd have _failed_, she was quite sure, but he would have tried and she was rather sure she'd have remembered something like that.

Or perhaps he'd never dared go near a Hyuga in that state.

She waited patiently in silence listening to the cacophony of the surrounding rooms, watching the monstrosity illuminated by the green flames and wondering if she'd made the right choice.

This was so . . . so _different _than Konoha.

She'd need time to adjust . . . still this was going to have to be her new home. This was going to be her new nation.

* * *

Kaori scowled as the Hishu briefed her on her mission.

"Track down someone moving through the shadows? Why not have a Hattori do this?"

"Raikage-sama expects you and Konjo Takumi to perform this task." The Hishu said simply.

Kaori sighed. What was Tetsuo up to, sending her and Takumi on a wild goose chase?

"I must speak to the Raikage on this matter." Kaori said.

"Impossible, you must depart now and locate Hattori Kasumi before it is too late."

"Doesn't this usually fall into _your _jurisdiction? It is the duty of the Hishu, like the Anbu of Konoha and the Hunters of Kiri to track down and do away with missing-nin from our village isn't it?"

"The Raikage has requested _you_." The Hishu said irritably.

Kaori smirked beneath her mast and began using her bloodline-enhanced feminine whiles, "Come on now, this is _your _job isn't it? Why am I being sent?"

The Hishu stirred uncomfortably and said "I don't know ma'am, Raikage demands it."

"Yes buy why didn't he send you?"

"Perhaps he was afraid that we would kill the girl." The Hishu said.

"Ah but surely he knows you can control yourselves." Kaori said, leaning in closer to the man and putting a hand on one of her kunai just in case he figured out what she was doing.

"I don't think he trusts us." The Hishu said simply.

"That's silly. You're a trustworthy lot aren't you?" Kaori giggled.

"No ma'am, we're not." The Hishu said flatly. Kaori saw his arm tense and she leapt back and began phasing just in time to avoid having her stomach sliced open by the Hishu's kunai. Soldiers marching nearby looked at them in confusion, Kaori drew her own kunai and the Hishu said "You have your orders ma'am, don't try anything foolish like that again."

Kaori scowled. She should have known a ninja trained to hunt down anyone with a bloodline would be trained to know when they were becoming to target of a bloodline ability.

Still something about the way he'd said that he wasn't trustworthy seemed believable. She wouldn't just take his word, she'd get Takumi and they'd see Tetsuo in person and figure out what was going on.

* * *

Taiko smiled when the army rode past a hunched over figure dressed in a hooded robe, hiding away his face.

The young Daimyo knew that even without the hood the man would be wearing a mask.

He didn't nod to or regard the old Raikage in any way as he rode past him. That would be too obvious.

He knew that most if not all of the Hishu with him were secretly peeling away from his security detail to be there when their old Raikage made his move.

Taiko had done nothing to warn Tetsuo, but that didn't mean he wanted the younger man to fail.

A younger, idealistic Raikage, powerful and easy to influence giving a higher level of control over the hidden village. Or an older Raikage, veteran of a thousand battles with the experience to help him propel their nation forward in this time of immense change.

He would have both if he could but he knew it wasn't possible.

Still either way it went so long as one or the other survived regardless of the victor he would be the winner.

* * *

Kasumi took deep breaths as she walked towards the seemingly endless horizon. "We're getting pretty close to the border." She commented.

"That's our objective." Hikaru grunted.

"Well I figured as much, I was just saying--"

"Stop saying." Hikaru commanded. "Your miserable attempts to get the location out of me won't work, I have half a mind to knock you unconscious and drag you the rest of the way."

"Whatever." Kasumi grunted. She'd had to stop moving through the shadows a while ago. It was exhausting and her chakra was too low to continue with it. Not that they had to anyway.

She had just enough chakra to defend herself if trouble arose, but not for a very long time. That was Hikaru's job she supposed.

He'd melted back to his original body, dressed in tattered rags he looked rather like a homeless bum.

Kasumi realized that she too was rather a homeless bum now. Proof that looks were deceiving she supposed, she might not have a home any longer but she had a mission.

She just needed to reach the Sound Organization alive. "How much further?" She asked.

"Exactly as far as you've come, except this half of the journey begins with you turning around."

Kasumi raised an eyebrow and turned around to see the source of that all too familiar voice.

She smirked as she saw the speaker standing unafraid, "Really? Hasn't it occurred to you that I might know exactly what I'm doing? I'm not a child anymore big brother."

"You're as much of a brat as ever." Tetsuo growled, "I don't know what's gotten into your head but you're coming back. Now!" He roared the last word.

"Losing your cool, huh?" Hikaru grinned, "Don't worry, I'll take good care of your little sister . . . right after I take good care of you!" The Jounin roared with rage to match Tetsuo's and threw himself forward, cursed form rapidly taking hold o him as he moved.

Tetsuo fell into his shadow and emerged again behind Hikaru only to be caught by surprise by the tail.

For a brief moment Kasumi thought her brother was doomed but he just melted back into the shadows, going halfway this time then springing up again, stabbing a kunai into Hikaru's long tail.

The beast's extra, bladed arms reached back for Tetsuo and he use the Lightning Clone Jutsu, two of his clones threw themselves at Hikaru who didn't seem terribly bothered by the attack.

Kasumi backed away, she was a small fish witnessing a pair of sharks battle over her, she was helpless in this situation and she knew it.

She didn't know the way, couldn't reach Sound on her own

Hikaru needed to win, but whatever she did to interfere would only cause him an unnecessary distraction if indeed he could distinguish friend from foe at this point.

As for Tetsuo . . . well he'd made his decision in coming after her, he should have minded his own business, if he got hurt or killed because he was too stupid to let her go about her own business that was his fault, not hers.

She folded her arms, "This had better end quickly."

She spotted movement from the side of her eye and Yuu emerged from a tree, a kunai in each hand. "You have other worries." He told her.

Kasumi drew her chakra katana and said "You'd better have decided to come with me and join Sound." She warned.

"I set out at first to stop you." Yuu said coldly, "But I've thought it over a lot. I know I won't talk you out of this. I know I can't convince you that this isn't what Masa would have wanted."

"Very good." Kasumi nodded, lowering her blade a bit.

Yuu's eyes were pools of rage, she'd only ever seen him like this when Masaru died.

He gripped his kunai tightly and said "I set out to stop you, but I've thought it over a lot." He repeated. "I have only one way to keep the Kagegan from Oto, only one way to keep you from serving the same slime responsible for our teammate getting killed and our sensei paralyzed. Only one way to keep you from becoming a threat to everyone else I care about."

Yuu was shaking when he said finally, "I set out to stop you. Now I intend to kill you."

She scoffed, "Stupid idiotic fool! You know my goals are such that I can't allow you to stop me!" She sprang forward and swept out with her blade, Yuu's form dissipated into a ball of lightning.

A lightning cone. Kasumi quickly channeled her own lightning chakra through her blade in an attempt to stop or at least soften the blow of Yuu's attack; simultaneously she reached behind her back and drew the knife Hikaru had given her.

_Somehow I knew I'd end up having to use this. You just don't have any sort of vision, Yurei Yuu. You didn't know Masaru like I did, you don't have any right to assume you know what he would have wanted me to do and for being so vain as to think otherwise I do believe I might as well kill you, since you are _so _totally asking for it! _She thought while a venomous scowl cam across her face. "You're dead pretty boy, I'll slit your throat and leave you to die here alone while I go on to true power and sweet revenge! Tosa-sensei had the good sense to leave well enough alone, too bad she didn't teach it to you!"

"Tosa isn't here because she couldn't be." Yuu said behind her, she felt the cold sensation of his hand phasing into her back, "Let me show you why." He said darkly.

She spun around, elbowing him in the face though she moved right through him.

She slashed out with her knife and he fell back, hitting the ground hard.

For the briefest of moments horror flooded through her.

_What have I done? _She thought. A familiar pain beginning to grip at her heart.

But Yuu staggered to his feet, his face was bleeding but he was otherwise fine. He smirked and with eyes blazing with anger it was quite possibly the most fearsome she'd ever seen him. He wiped the blood from his face revealing a cut from his left cheek to his nose, Kasumi, safely back to hating him hoped that it'd leave a terrible scar.

"Ready to give up? Your phasing can't hurt me and you've got nothing else. Your lightning will be stopped by my blade, and I'm better than you at Taijutsu."

"So you cut me. Don't count on that happening again, Kasumi, and don't think you've won just because of it."

"You should have died instead of Masa." Kasumi scowled. "Then you could be buried in your precious Konoha with that tramp you like so much. That's what this is about isn't it? You're betraying me, and by extension Masaru's memory because you're in love with some Konoha whore!"

Yuu didn't answer with words, instead he lunged forward again, Kasumi swung her sword out, letting her lighting chakra course through it just in case this was another lightning clone, but Yuu nimbly dodged to the side, nevertheless getting burned by the lightning he came closer to her, she struck out with her dagger and he lashed out with both kunai.

One slammed into her blade and threw her arm out wide, the other came for her neck but she threw herself backwards, kicking him in the groin--though she felt him phase through it--as she fell into her shadow.

She came up again ten feet from Yuu. "This would break Tosa-sensei's heart." She said.

"You have no right to mention her name." Yuu said coldly, "You have no right to mention Masaru either. You're a traitor to everything the both of them believed in, you're becoming that which you claim to be fighting. You're not the girl I used to know."

Kasumi scoffed, "Not my fault if I've grown up and you haven't. Come on Yuu, see the light. We can do this together, get revenge together! I'm your friend, remember?"

"Hattori Kasumi _was _my friend, my best friend's girlfriend and my teacher's favorite student. But _you_, whoever you are . . . _you killed her!_" Yuu roared with the darkest hatred in his voice. He sprang towards her with blinding speed, throwing both of his kunai, one after the other.

As they left his hands Kasumi saw the briefest of flashes of . . . _something_.

It wasn't until the first kunai sailed past her, narrowly missing her head that she realized what he'd attached to them.

The explosive seal went off before she could even begin to think of what to do about it, the second one sailed in for her and she sank back into her shadow in desperation.

She was outraged now, _Yurei you fool, Yurei you fool! _She screamed in her head over and over again, _I'll kill you! I'll rip you apart!_ She would have screamed if it were possible to do so in a shadow state.

She moved quickly getting some distance between her and Yuu, and she came out of her shadow again, spinning towards him sword ready to strike, he turned to her, unarmed and unable to phase, still she knew better than to think that she'd won this fight just yet.

When he was dead, a bloody mess on the ground she'd relax, until then she'd give him every degree of respect an enemy deserved. She raised her katana high into the air with one and, swept her dagger out, ready to slash him across the chest with the other and leapt towards him.

If he tried to phase into the ground she'd throw the dagger and he'd die, if he didn't she'd cut him with it or the sword, and he'd die, even if he tried to harm her the momentum of the leap would carry her to him anyway and she'd make sure that her arms operated properly and thus he would die.

But Yuu, it seemed, wasn't willing to conform to what _she _thought he should be doing. Instead he leapt out too, colliding with her in the air, he reached out and grasped both her wrists and slammed his forehead into hers.

They hit the ground hard and Kasumi lost her grip on her katana.

Yuu phased through her and she staggered to her feet, she rose and saw him kick her katana back to her. She laughed and picked it up, "Showing me a kindness? I won't return it."

"I'm showing you mercy, and you won't have to return it because you're not going to win this fight." Yuu said coldly.

"Nice move a moment ago, I really didn't expect you to leap _towards _your doom. I knew you'd think of something though. You're determined to be difficult, but I understand it all so perfectly now." Kasumi laughed, "When I kill you I'll know I'm above Chuunin level. After all, you're a Chuunin, I'm just a lowly Genin and yet you can't kill me. I'll bring your head to my new master, he'll title me a Jounin, then Konoha will know the truth, will fear me as they should. You're nothing to me, Yurei; this fight's just a light workout."

"Nothing but a dog barking to hear its own voice." Yuu spat.

Kasumi laughed, "Very well, then let's end this." She advanced on him; both blades ready to strike and finish the game.

This time though she move with a greater level of caution, he'd already proven that she should expect the unexpected from him.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note 2.0: **Trying to keep New Blood in line with the manga is far too difficult at this stage. I lucked out with a few things; confirmation of Kurenai's pregnancy for example, Sasuke's disloyalty to Orochimaru, and there are certain things that have never been true of the manga, for example Kakashi and Anko having had a child around the same time as Kurenai and Asuma. I cannot however go back and change everything in the story just because Kishimoto-sensei chose to remove Sasuke's curse mark, give him new eyes or anything like that.

I remind all of my kind readers that this is a fan fiction; accuracy is important but difficult at this point because the story has lasted so very long. However for those who demand accuracy anyway the following has been prepared and will be posted at chapter 1 when the story is over and I revise it in its entirety for spelling and grammar.

Sasuke's transformations are possible because he's mastered his physical body so greatly that turning into the cursed being is possible even without the mark. He doesn't use these new eyes of his because at this stage I don't know what the devil they do, but we can say that he's been _capable _of using them and hasn't chosen to for whatever mad reason he can concoct.

But I have no real intention of _going back _and changing anything in this story because of the latest turn in the manga, so even with the knowledge I have now, should I want Sasuke to transform in an upcoming fight he most certainly will. He will not use his new eyes until such time as I feel I sufficiently understand them, which may be quite a while as I find myself growing more and more bored with the manga's current arc, having never been a major Sasuke fan I feel smothered by the Sasuke-focus.

No disrespect meant to Kishimoto-sensei, without whom this fan fiction would not exist in the first place. I simply cannot read his mind, or predict what he will do with his story and so will not attempt to mirror it perfectly in mine.


	135. There Can Be Only One Raikage

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Thirty Four**

Shikamaru stared at Sumiko across the game board.

She stared back.

She was a clever child in that she knew now not to eat the pieces, but it was probably still too soon to expect her to be capable of actually playing the game.

Shikamaru knew this, he wasn't stupid. He wasn't one of those parents who believed their child developed at the speed of light, he wasn't trying to push her in the direction he wanted her to take.

But he'd felt like keeping an eye on her while he worked, and as far as any spy might be concerned it would look as if Shikamaru were simply trying to teach his daughter how to three very complicated strategy games at the same time.

Shikamaru would make statements such as "Oh you don't want to move there, try this" and move the pieces around for Sumiko, who watched in confusion and probably boredom and had in fact taken to drooling on some of the game pieces, likely in an effort to make them less interesting to her father.

Or, far more likely, she was just drooling and Shikamaru was reading too much into it.

But bored as his daughter might be before him on the three boards was, in rough terms, the entire planned defense of Konoha.

Shikamaru had three scenarios laid out and in two of the tree Konoha would endure.

At least through the initial battle. In most of the scenarios he'd worked out Konoha would suffer grievous losses if any siege lasted longer than a week. Ninja warfare was such that a week's fighting was laughably unlikely, but Shikamaru wouldn't chance it.

He had plans upon plans, plans within plans. Provisions, preparations. He knew that if he went to the Hokage now she would tell him that he'd thought of everything.

But he knew better. The one thing he was failing at, utterly failing at, was defending the village against himself.

Every time he felt like he'd thrown a proverbial wall around a weak spot his ever adapting mind simply found another, and once he found a way to protect that spot his diabolical mind found yet another opening.

Battling himself was becoming a terribly tiring and depressing exercise, which of course was probably why he'd wanted Sumiko around; so she could cheer him up.

_Sad to think of how easily it would be to trounce a village full of ninja. Enough Samurai and conscripts and we're in trouble. The problem comes from the civilians, we'd have to keep them safe. But if we put them below ground they're still at the mercy of most ninja with the Earth element, or anyone capable of moving through the ground really._

_In the end the best we can do for the civilians is take the fight away from Konoha, but then we give up the protection of our chakra repelling walls, we'll suffer more losses that way and we have no way of knowing whether or not enemy reinforcements will arrive the slaughter them, or use them to force our surrender._

Shikamaru sighed and glanced at Sumiko, "Any ideas?"

"Dah." The girl said.

"Clever, but not quite enough." Shikamaru smirked, and pretended to move a piece for her.

"Booo-muh!" Sumiko squealed, giggling to herself.

Shikamaru paused as he was preparing to move the piece.

He stared at the board, each piece represented a different strategy, a massive web contained in his brain. He'd memorized every single one, and in a bit he'd go and tell Lady Tsunade all about them. Then she'd probably give him more military reports to look over

He looked at the boards and then at Sumiko.

"A child's mind is an amazing thing. I wonder if you actually mean to inspire me, or if you're just pleased that you can make noises." Shikamaru said. Sumiko didn't respond but Shikamaru smiled and said "Yes I'm pleased you can make noises too. "

* * *

"You got to play at being me for a while Tetsuo." The former Raikage said, "No longer, The pieces are falling into place . . . now's the time to forge the future, I havent worked this hard to let you get all the credit . . . Lord Taiko's ambition must succeed, our village requires it."

The Raikage saw the approaching Tetsuo and noted his Hishu.

Several of them were missing. He understood immediately when he saw the clone of Tetsuo.

Sure it would fool someone for a moment--long enough to get away--but not for long. But the clone's existence indicated that Tetsuo wasn't all that far away, it also explained the missing Hishu.

The Raikage clenched his fists at his side, "He's gone after Hikaru, he must have . . . find him! All of you track him down now, I need him alive!"

* * *

Yuu leaned back just in time to avoid the sweep of Kasumi's sword.

He kicked up sharply, hitting her wrist so that the blade went flying away.

"You lost it again. Pick it up." He said coldly.

Kasumi glared at him, "You're stopping me from claiming revenge for Masaru, for all of us!"

"I understand your plan, you explained it," Yuu said, "That doesn't mean I agree with it, doesn't mean it's very intelligent or even plausible. You're just a mindless beast, a monster as bad as the demon ever was. Akuma and you are basically the same person."

"He was a murderer who fought only for himself, I'm fighting for a cause!"

"You're a murderer fighting for a cause, he was a murderer fighting for a cause, one's self _is_ a cause. A poor cause, but none the less." Yuu said.

"I'm not a murderer. Every life I've taken has been in the line of duty." Kasumi said.

"You _intend _to commit murders, that makes you a murderer of the heart. The difference is you can take back that hatred, forgive those whom you _think _have wronged you! Do your best to bring an end to the war, not prolong it, be yourself and not this person you've invented because you're too afraid of your own feelings!"

"You don't understand _anything_!" Kasumi screamed.

"I understand _everything_, now stand down." Yuu warned. "I don't _want _to kill you, but I am a Chuunin and I am capable of carrying out my duty."

Kasumi scoffed. "I spit on your rank, I spit on you. When I kill you they'll know I'm meant to be a Jounin."

Yuu nodded slightly. She was irrational and that concluded negotiations.

Kasumi reached for her katana and Yuu sprang, grabbing her head and throwing her into the ground. She tumbled forward but came up holding the blade. It ignited with lightning and she charged.

Yuu scowled and threw a kunai at her, she just deflected it with her knife.

The knife that had cut him moments before. He could feel its metal poisoning his body, draining his strength, he needed to end the fight before he became too weak to take Kasumi to safety--just in case Hikaru won against Tetsuo.

Yuu wondered, in the back of his mind, how that fight was going. He and Kasumi were a distance away from it by now because the two great ninja were constantly moving as they battled, though Yuu could still hear the clashes of thunder as the two Cloud Ninja hurtled bolts of lightning at one another for lack of a better term.

He glared at Kasumi. "I've already won, Kasumi, you just don't realize it."

She was holding the katana, that was all that mattered.

* * *

The master's eyes fluttered open, Shiroi shuddered as life flooded to her new lord.

She was still kneeling in his horrid chamber, whatever he'd been doing before must have concluded, or become less interesting than her. She supposed it would bode ill for whomever he'd been dealing with that even before his eyes fell on her he looked pleased.

But when he saw her he looked, for the briefest of moments, elated. As if everything twere going his way. Well, Shiroi had a few surprises for him, she'd see how glad he looked after that.

"Kamikage," Okatsu said in a reverent voice, "I have brought you the first of our new avengers, I have brought you Hyuga Shiroi."

Kabuto stared at Shiroi for a moment and then said "The first. Hopeefully the second will arrive soon."

Okatsu sneered, "So I arrived back before--"

"Escort him from the gate." Kabuto said abruptly.

Okatsu frowned, "Is something the matter, Divine One?"

Kabuto shook his head, "I was only checking up on something."

"Another of the Five." Okatsu reasoned aloud.

"Hmm." Kabuto nodded, looking at Shiroi. "The message has been delivered, they must come willingly. Though it may take time but they will come. Like you, young one, when the powerful seek even greater power they come willingly. In time we always find something to lure them in."

"I had little choice really." Shiroi said.

"Don't lie to yourself," Kabuto sighed, "you came seeking power, did you not? Freedom for yourself and your child."  
"Well now that you mention it," Shiroi said, "You mentioned removing the seal."

"Indeed I did." Kabuto said. He smiled sinisterly, "But you see there is a slight problem. I wanted a warrior, a ninja capable of doing a job. Tell me, oh young bearer of life, why a pregnant teenager is of any use to me."

Shiroi scoffed. She'd thought this through entirely.

"This child is only the first. Born by myself or my kin this child represents the freedom of the branch family. I will raise this child to be the undoing of the main family because he will be free of their seal. He will be raised in the Sound organization, taught your ways, become your vassal, and master the arts of both the Hyuga and the Aburame. That is my gift to you, in exchange for my freedom I offer you a new clan empowered with both the Byakugan and dominion over insects."

Kabuto smiled darkly, "And how will you teach this child the dominion of insects? Aburame children are not born with the bugs in their bodies, they must be implanted. Even if I knew how to do it--and indeed I may--how would you teach your spawn to control the swarm?"

"I couldn't expect to." Shiroi said simply.

Now was the time to spring her trap, the condition for her service aside from mere removal of the seal.

She took a deep breath and said "To properly found this clan will require not only myself, but the father of this child. Let me have him and I promise you not just a lifetime of loyal service, but generations upon generations."

Kabuto smiled at Okatsu, who stood just behind Shiroi, "In time we always find something to lure them in."

"Just as you predicted my lord." Okatsu said, sounding amazed.

Shiroi was pretty impressed too, but not in a positive way. She was worried.

Had all this been predicted? Had they expected her to want Kurai? "You wanted Kurai for Sound too?"

"My dear child Aburame Kurai's name was on the list long before yours." Kabuto said, "And your first task will be to obtain him from the fires of Konoha as it burns to the ground."

Shiroi nodded, shaking a bit now, she hoped it was just the cold. "And the seal?"

"Well obviously," Kabuto said, extending his hand, "We'll need to remove it before the Hyuga learn of your death and activate it to destroy you're the useful parts of your body. Unfortunately I can't bring about the seal's removal without causing you to miscarry, and we wouldn't want that. I'll have to place a block around it, the seal will remain on your head but be more or less ineffective. Death commands will hurt but you won't die, pain commands will register in your mind bur you will feel nothing."

Shiroi nodded slightly, "Just how are you going to remove the seal?"

"All in good time, you have, I would guess, just under eight months to try to guess. In the meantime we have much to do, and your condition will not wholly spare you from performing your tasks. First we must gather the Five, we must see to the fall off Konoha, the empowerment of a Shogun over all the Samurai and a Kamikage over all the Ninja. Both men, incidentally, will be myself."

Shiroi might have guessed that.

She nodded and said "I am ready to serve."

"Good. Help Okatsu bring in our second."

Shiroi nodded. She got up and followed Okatsu out of the room.

She didn't dare ask _when _she'd be allowed to go after Kurai, or rather she supposed, in the grander scale of things, _when _Konoha was scheduled for demolition. She didn't even dare ask when the seal would be temporarily blocked, or if it had been already--and so simply--when he raised his hand towards her.

She was far too nervous.

Had she walked right into a trap?

Was she in fact nothing but bait for Kurai?

No . . . he'd tried to take her at the exams, she might have been bait then, but now he'd called her the first of some Five . . . she wasn't just some bait, though she was certain she had walked into a trap it was the sort she'd sprung intentionally, the sort she'd suspected she'd be walking into.

As long as she could be with Kurai, free of her seal and free to raise her child without having one of his or her own she would be content regardless of whom she fought for or against.

She thought of Tomoko for a moment, but shook her head.

They were still friends. But now that friendship seemed unimportant, distant, irrelevant. They were childhood friends and childhood was over. Shiroi needed to be an adult in order to raise a child, she needed to be an adult in order to co-found a new clan and more importantly she needed to be an adult in order to bring up the avenger that would destroy the main family for all time simply because she knew that the destruction of Konoha wouldn't do it. Like rats some of the Hyuga would escape and they would have to be hunted down.

Not out of hatred, but out of necessity. She didn't _hate _the main family, but she hated what they stood for. To brand your kin with a mark that caused them to feel pain at your slightest thought, to die at your whim, all to protect the "greater good" of the clan.

It was wrong. It had to end. She believed that someday it might end.

But the people who did it would still be around. The people who had to be _forced_ to stop enslaving their family, the people who had to be _forced_ by the Hokage--assuming Naruto ever became Hokage and actually made such a law--to stop violating their own family members.

Because that's exactly what the seal was, Shiroi felt. A violation of her right to live as a human being. If asked she was fairly sure any member of the branch family would gladly die for any member of the main family _because _they were family, because they were blood and on a level they still loved and respected the main family.

But to _force_ a being to die for you was a different matter, her forehead began to ache as she thought of the hateful mark on it. Some thrice cursed elder had decided one day that due to her birth she would be branded to die, branded to suffer, branded so that she could feel shame for her entire life over something she'd had no control over.

Her children would be branded regardless of their potential, wasn't Neji-sensei proof of that? Neji-sensei who surpassed Hinata-sama in _every _field, Neji-sensei who should have been head of the Hyuga clan by now, instead was merely a favored guardian.

Shiroi felt her fist shaking as she marched behind Okatsu.

She stopped, watching Kabuto without having to turn around--she was a Hyuga after all, even if the main family didn't consider her a _worthy _one--she called over her shoulder, "Tell me that this will all be worth it. Tell me that I'm making the right decision."

"Why should I do that?" Kabuto asked. "Don't you realize that I can lie to you and tell you this and that, but at the end of the day the only one who knows whether or not you made the right choice is yourself? Did you do what was right for yourself in coming to me to be freed of that mark? Did you do the right thing for your child, your future family by siding with the side that will not only end this war within the year, but _win _it?"

Shiroi lowered her head for a moment, considering all that her new master was saying.

"If you need further assurance," Kabuto said, "Know that I will remake this world. Human beings need strict supervision, they cannot live and rule on their own."

"And what about freedom?" Shiroi asked

"You will not be marked a slave again, that I assure you." Kabuto said, and Shiroi shuddered.

Had he been reading her mind or something?

No, if he had he'd know what she meant with her actual statement, not what she meant beyond it. "I mean for the common people as well."

"The ignorant masses need just three things. Roofs over their heads, food in the bowls, and security. I will give them all of those things and in return I will be their very god. You, and your four brothers and sisters will be my archangels. The reborn Sound Five, the ultimate ninja, the seen and yet unseen fist of the Shogun . . . now go bring me my second angel while I check on the fifth."

Shiroi nodded and marched on with Okatsu, who'd stopped to listen to her conversation with the Kamikage.

* * *

Kasumi fell back as Yuu charged at her again, she swept her sword through him, immediately irritated that she hadn't gone through the proper precautions to make sure he didn't just phase through her sword.

She heard a sound behind her and spun around, leaping through the air so that Yuu's attack would fail to strike her she managed to leap out of the way just in time to avoid Hikaru.

Did this mean that Tetsuo was dead? Kasumi felt shocks of guilt and sorrow rip through her in that instant.

Takumi's blades were alive with chakra, Yuu wouldn't be able to respond in time to avoid death, he might phase into the ground but he was too close to Hikaru.

The monster would eliminate Yuu, Kasumi's hands were clean. Masaru would approve of that, she'd fought for her beliefs but she hadn't had to kill Yuu.

Hikaru roared as he came nearer, Yuu scowled.

She knew what he was thinking. He could stand his ground and likely die, or he could run away now and survive. Normally it would be an easy decision but he knew Kasumi well enough to know she wouldn't stick around, she'd spend as much chakra as it took and flee with Hikaru.

She smirked at him and waved her dagger, "Quick decision!" She shouted, swiping out towards him.

Yuu sprang towards her, she slashed his shoulder with the blade and he thrust his hand towards her face.

A flash of lightning and Kasumi averted her eyes, she felt an intense pain in her chest and she knew Yuu had grabbed her heart.

She staggered, Yuu held her by the neck with one hand, his other hand was phased into her chest.

"Give up now," He said quickly, "I won't ask again."

"Oh very brave, very noble, kill me and die as well, how heroic, you'll go down in the history of the Village Hidden in Clouds . . . except for one thing," He squeezed her heart and she gasped, she gripped his arm, he wasn't phasing all of it, probably didn't have enough chakra. She glared at him, "There's no one else here Yuu. Your heroism will go unsung, unnoticed because there's no one here to remember you fondly. Your girlfriend will never know how you died."

Before Yuu could answer Hikaru reached them, he swung one of his arms and knocked both of them forward.

Kasumi fell into her own shadow as she hit the ground, Yuu's arm phased into the earth and out of her.

He was finished.

* * *

Yuu spun around and thrust his fist up into Hikaru, the monster roared and Yuu solidified his hand, ripping Hikaru's insides, he couldn't aim at any particular organs nor would he want to haxard a guess at where they might be; considering the fact that Hikaru was a monster he could have a very different anatomy.

Yuu fell into the ground, phasing as quickly as he could to avoid Hikaru.

_And that's that. Assuming I survive, I win. Assuming I don't survive, I still win but it'll be a hallow victory. As long as you hold that sword Kasumi the true victory belongs to me._

He smirked and resurfaced, far too near the end of his chakra to keep phasing.

His injury hurt, and unless the Raikage was still alive there was no hope of help arriving at all.

He closed his eyes and fell forward. He might survive to wake up and find help on his own . . . maybe.

He smirked as he struggled to draw a design in the dirt with his finger. If anyone found him it'd be Kaori, she'd understand the symbol and she'd realize what he'd done.

_Sorry about all this Masaru, but Kasumi's got to be stopped. I know how you felt about her, but I think if you were alive you'd agree. If it were up to me she'd be brought in alive but if I die now I won't have much say in anything._

His thoughts became sluggish then and everything went black. He could have sworn he heard footsteps approaching right before he lost his grip, but he supposed it didn't matter anyway.

* * *

Tetsuo stood over Yuu, the boy had gone unconscious but at least he'd come above ground before doing so, thus sparing him from burying himself in his own grave thanks to the amazing ability to phase.

Tetsuo shook his head. Hikaru had had him for a moment, had tried to strike and then seemed to think better of it. He'd simply turned around and tore off after Kasumi, ignoring Tetsuo as if he didn't matter anymore.

And Tetsuo supposed he didn't. Hikaru had proven in that instant that he was now more powerful than Tetsuo, the fact that he could have taken the Raikage's life and hadn't was proof of that.

But Tetsuo wouldn't just leave things at that. "The both of us have some growing to do if we're going to get Kasumi back, I suppose. But we _will _get her back."

"If you don't die first." A familiar voice said behind him.

Tetsuo spun around, "What the--" Tetsuo began but there was no point in speaking.

He leapt back to avoid the swipe from the aging ninja, "Did you really think I could be killed so easily?" The former Raikage growled.

Tetsuo scowled, it would figure that of all the times for him to be ambushed it would happen right after he'd fought with Hikaru.

Luckily--he supposed--he still had quite a bit of fight left in him. "I guess I'm just fortunate Hikaru decided to run off instead of sticking around to fight."

"He left because he knew I was here," The Raikage said with a smirk, "He left because he knew that your life is mine and I will do with it as I see fit, _end _it if I see fit."

"So you're in league with Sound." Tetsuo growled.

"Fool. Don't you see? Don't you understand? Everything I've done until now has been to stop the Sound Organization from destroying the independence of the Lightning Nation, ripping away the freedoms of Kumogakure. Every step I've taken has been taken with care and planning on an intellectual level that would make your head explode. My replacement, _hah_! You're not fit to shine my kunai, boy."

Tetsuo fell back into a fighting stance, "What are you talking about? You ordered Takumi to become your personal assassin, ordered him to kill anyone that got in your way."

"Name me one village leader not responsible of the same thing in one way or another. Every ninja village from Cloud to Leaf has its own dark secrets, the Hyuga clan enslave their own kin, the Hattori let their sisters get kidnapped, I ordered one of my best Jounin to take a few lives in secret. Did you forget that a ninja is an assassin? Mercenary work pays the bills Hattori, but murder . . . that is our _art._" The Raikage said.

"As for the prince, well frankly he was unnecessary and beyond all salvation. He was a tool of the Sound Organization, who knows what subliminal teachings were given to him. We entered him into the Chuunin exams as a way to observe him, to see just how powerful the cultists had made the little wretch, to know just how powerful their next generation was going to be before we decided whether or not to let them take your sister."

"What?" Tetsuo blinked, "You mean you knew they wanted Kasumi?"

"Of course I knew, they asked for her very politely." The Raikage said.

Tetsuo's anger flared, he sprang forward, "You let them just take her?" He roared.

The Raikage sidestepped and kicked Tetsuo hard in the side, "As of this moment, had I wanted you dead you would be. Consider that fact. You've been beaten twice today, so show some humility and listen to what I have to say. The fact of the matter is that I won't live forever, your father is quite dead, and Takumi, despite my efforts to rid him of all emotion, has too much heart, too much _sympathy _to ever be the Raikage. You are, for the time being at least, the only successor I have. I can control my own selfish needs for vengeance for the sake of my village and my country."

"What?" Tetsuo demanded.

"An army without a clearly defined leadership hierarchy is doomed to failure. Rest assured I'll kill you someday, once someone better than you comes along to become the next Raikage. But until then should the worst befall me, the fate of our village is in your slippery hands so listen to what I'm telling you."

Tetsuo glared, "Talk old man."

**To Be Continued . . .**


	136. To Stand Together or Apart

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Thirty Six**

The Raikage folded his arms as the Hishu arrived, "Area more or less secure sir," One of them said.

"More or less?" Tetsuo raised an eyebrow.

The Raikage shrugged, "We never know when we're being watched. Hopefully, with Hikaru taking your darling sister to the Sound Organization everyone will be too excited and too busy preparing to debrief her, or indoctrinate her, or baptize her, or whatever it is those demented lunatics _do _to their new recruits, to really bother with us."

Tetsuo nodded, not wanting to imagine what might be happening to his baby sister at that moment--especially given that he had already seen through the monstrous Hikaru some of the Sound Organization's handiwork.

Imagining Kasumi turned into a monster wasn't something he wanted to do.

"Konoha is about to fall. I give them another week just so that the Kamikage so-called can get his forces into place, then the massacre begins. Too many of Konoha's own belong to the Sound Organization; the Fire Daimyo himself might even be part of the organization, a fact which Lord Taiko was unable to determine even after getting close enough to the man to be allowed to marry his daughter."

Tetsuo frowned, "So Konoha is still our enemy? The wedding was a hoax?"

"Sound is our enemy, but Konoha is by no means our ally. Ninja are opportunists, if we have an opportunity to wipe Konoha out I intend to take it. However we need to do it in a manner that harms the Sound Organization in the process, and if it so happens that leaving our technical sister village intact happens to be the only way to accomplish that then so be it, otherwise I hope to wipe out the Fire Country's ninja village and eliminate as many members of the Sound Organization as possible."

Tetsuo shifted uncomfortably, Konoha was _his_ ally . . .

"I can't let you just destroy that village."

"Thinking two dimensionally? I never said I'd destroy it. I said I wanted to wipe out the Leaf Village in a manner that harms the Sound Organization. There are two ways we can do this, the first is to let Konoha fight its war, maybe even pretend to ally with them and see all the Samurai armies crushed against each other, another is to let Konoha be destroyed . . . arrive just a bit too late, and then save as many of our brother and sister ninja as we can, welcome them to their new home . . ."

"Kumogakure . . ." Tetsuo reasoned.

The Raikage smiled, "An abundance of new blood and talent even if we save just a handful."

"Provided they're the right handful." Tetsuo said.

"You're catching on. Hyuga, Uchiha, Aburame, bloodlines worthy of being added to our ranks _must _be. This is our plan, this is the best possible outcome, the destruction of Konoha and the bolstering of the ranks in Kumo. We seem like the heroes, sheltering the exiled survivors and they join us in our future war against Sound. Don't you doubt either that we will eventually fight Sound in the open, all the sides are building up, setting up their armies for the war we'll fight after this one ends."

"That's madness, if there are reserves--" Tetsuo began but the Raikage cut him off.

"Not like that boy, the physical armies are all being thrown at each other now, the armies wearing national colors and waving flags are established but the ideology has not been laid down. The Sound Organization is attempting to change the world, make mankind so oppressed that no one will be able to fight, convince the people that losing all of their rights and being ruled by a Shogun is the only way to enjoy true peace and security but in reality the human mind will never accept that forever."

The Raikage got a far off look in his eye, "Lord Taiko will spread our civilized ways to the people, we will bring the ninja under our banner. _That_ will be the salvation of the ninja way of life, of the independent village, of the things we hold dear. You see when you change the way that mankind _thinks _so that they think more like you do they'll want to have fewer wars against you, thereby providing peace and security."

Tetsuo frowned, but he caught himself nodding.

It was a good plan in a way, but the most important to him was that the Hyuga clan would become vassals of Kumogakure, no need for Hanabi to worry whether or not her family would strike out at her or their baby . . . the Konoha ninja would join Kumo, they wouldn't be enemies anymore. There would be some segregation but only for a while. The two sides could be pulled together, especially if they fought a war against a common enemy.

The Lightning country could really come out the big winners in this war, and set themselves up to win the next one.

Earth's massive army would break against Fire's village, Water was crippled already, and Fire would fold into Lightning, Taiko's marriage to the Daimyo's daughter, even Tetsuo's marriage to Hanabi had set the stage for a friendly union, a joining of the bloods rather than conquest.

He stared at the Raikage, "What of Wind? Won't the Konoha ninja try to join Suna, their closer ally?"

"Sound already saw to it that that wouldn't happen. A short time ago today, my sources tell me, Sunagakure was seized by a coalition force of Stone Ninja . . . and indeed Wind Soldiers. There was an attempt made at the Kazekage's life, luckily for us and for him, he wasn't there. The Wind Daimyo, I believe, would have meant to remove the Kazekage and replace him with someone more easily controlled. The ninja in the field wouldn't know that Wind soldiers helped to assassinate their Kazekage, likely the entire population of the village will be silenced, subjected to Genjutsu, killed, who knows. In any event, because the coup failed in its most important of objectives the Kazekage will no doubt rally his ninja to him, their loyalty to the Daimyo will disappear. If he acts quickly enough he can lead a reverse coup, if he delays many of his men are likely to surrender to the Daimyo for the sake of their families. Never the less for all intents and purposes the bulk of Suna's ninja are likely to follow their Kazekage, either becoming rogues or waging a war against the Daimyo and weakening Wind further, nevertheless the ninja in Konoha will know that the only safe place for them is Kumogakure."

Tetsuo closed his eyes, "And what role do you want me to play in all this?" He asked.

"Before I heard the news this morning the role I wanted you to play involved you being six feet underground for daring to think you could usurp my throne. But I can accomplish more dead than I ever could alive which is exactly why I pushed Takumi over the edge when I realized how close to it he was. The so called Divine Shadow does not know I still live, does not know that my Hishu and I know as much as we know, so one of the things I need is someone to go on pretending to be the Raikage while I go on pretending to be dead. I need someone who can be an ambassador of sorts, someone the people of Konoha have reason to trust. Whether or not that person is you . . . well that depends on your standing: if you're with me or if you're against me and therefore dead."

"I'm very much with you. The strengthening of our village through the absorption of Konoha and perhaps even Suna's ninja corps is more than even I could have imagined and it'll be the first step towards changing the world for the better. Spreading our light to all the corners of the world. To be conquerors seen as liberators . . . I am most definitely with you, Raikage-sama." Tetsuo said, bowing down before his master.

* * *

Syako's run was brought to an abrupt halt when her escort's head was removed from his shoulders by Toshiie's incredible sword.

"No more running for you." The Jounin said, "You clearly are not leading us to the Kazekage."

Syako stared at the dead ninja. He was just a child . . . he didn't have to die.

Yes he was a filthy ninja but still . . . he was young enough to learn a different way, perhaps a more honorable way, and he'd been so determined to save her life . . . she didn't even know his name, or the names of his comrades.

The woman lowered her head, she had to compose herself, her very life might depend on it.

She forced a cold smile and said, "I only played my part, I expected, because he had been so determined to see me taken to safety, that the Kazekage would appear if you killed all of his men, but you left that last one alive for so long . . ."

"It seemed rather like you wanted him spared." Toshiie said.

"You killed him anyway." Syako pointed out.

"To vent my frustration at being taken for a fool." The stone ninja growled.

"I didn't take you for a fool, I truly believed the Kazekage would come for me. I suppose you captured him then . . ." She said.

_Please don't let it be so, please don't let them have taken Kan-kun. _The samurai woman thought desperately, though she allowed none of that desperation to show on her face.

She was a master spy, had been one for many years now, had served the Sound for many years and had gotten close to the Daimyo, the Kazekage, and indeed even Kankuro all for the sake of her orders.

Skill at spying might be the only thing to save her life now, being a talented actress, a master liar might spare her Toshiie's wrath.

The large ninja folded his arms and shook his head slowly, "The Kazekage has not been found, by our accounts of force strength here he is the only person unaccounted for, every other sand ninja is dead or captured, the battle is won."

Syako's relief was such that she couldn't stop the smile that spread over her lips, she quickly salvaged the possibly deadly situation and said, "So you say, but I call it a failure. Your mission was to assassinate the Kazekage and you failed utterly, he's escaped, might very well rally his forces for a counter attack."

Toshiie glared at her, "Even if he does we'll be too busy fighting in Konoha so it hardly makes any difference." The ninja did a sharp about-face and marched away.

His female companion appeared and shoved Syako after him roughly.

"Excuse me," Syako scowled, "I'm like, royalty you know."

"Not to me." The stone kunoichi scoffed.

* * *

Kuto stared at Toshiie-sama's back as he marched.

She shook her head in amazement. What _weakness _she'd just witnessed. He'd let this woman speak down to him, laugh at him, act as if the Kazekage's escape had been _his _fault when her own stupid conceited self had run them on a wild goose chase when they could have been truly hunting for the Kazekage.

He hadn't hit her, hadn't shouted at her, hadn't beaten her to the ground and left a bloody gash across her pretty face--which is what Kuto would have done--he'd just . . . just growled and walked off.

The kunoichi shook her head again. What had that been all about? Did Toshiie want this woman? No, there was no lusty tension, he wasn't even interested in her from a purely physical standpoint.

Did he fear her, or the power she represented? That was utterly ludicrous, and besides a hero of Iwagakure didn't _fear _anything. Fear was an emotion for cowards, and cowards deserved to die. Toshiie-sama was a hero so therefore the idea that he was a coward was so repulsive that Kuto wouldn't allow it to linger in her mind.

But why had he just acted like such a weak fool? He'd struck _her_ a _real _woman for saying less, yet this posh little trap had insulted their effort, laughed at him and he hadn't even told her to hold her tongue lest he cut it out.

Kuto stared at Toshiie's back as he walked. Was he the man she imagined he was or _wasn't _he?

* * *

Temari arrived in front of Gaara seconds after Yukio did, "What the--" the Genin cried but Temari fell to the ground and whatever question he'd been about to ask seemed lost.

The young woman smiled weakly at her student as Kurai's bugs and Ryu helped lift her up, "Sorry, sorry, I uh . . . I've been better." She said.

"That's a bit dramatic, don't you think, Sensei?" Ryu asked.

"Didn't do it on purpose, you twerp." Temari growled.

"We don't have time for this." Gaara said, and Temari shrank back when she saw the rage in his eyes.

"Wh-what's going--"

"Sunagakure has been sacked, Kankuro could be . . ."

"We fear the worst," One of Gaara's aids whispered, "Kazekage-sama plans to march on Sunagakure immediately, before the ones responsible have a chance to get far."

"No!" Temari shook her head, "Gaara that's not possible!"

"It's true, the Daimyo turned on us, destroyed our village in an attempt to get _me _and now Kankuro might be the one to pay the price for it." Gaara said, his voice perfectly calm though his eyes were terrifying.

Even though she knew it was impossible, Temari half expected her younger brother to suddenly become the one-tailed demon again, or to threaten to kill her as he used to and now just like back then she knew he was completely capable of doing it.

She shook her head though and said, "That's not what I mean. We can't attack Sunagakure--"

"What?" The aid shouted, "Are you mad? We _have to_! They betrayed us, took our homes!"

"Don't be stupid!" Temari snapped, "Our families might still be alive and if they are us showing up spoiling for a fight just gives the enemy a whole lot of hostages. "

"Just because your family is in Konoha-" The aid said but Temari's hand was around his throat before he could finish the sentence.

"Is Kankuro _not_ part of my family?" Temari growled and the look in the aid's eyes told her she was being every bit as frightening as Gaara was right now.

She turned to her brother, wondering why in his volatile mood he hadn't made a comment yet.

Gaara clenched his fists and said, "We can't just let them take our home."

"We won't Gaara, I agree." Temari said, "But we can't just go running in there, they must have had ninja they couldn't take the village without a good number of them so they'll know we're on our way even before we get there, they can start executing civilians just to break our morale or force us to do something suicidal."

"What's the alternative?" The aid demanded.

"The Sound Organization is the real enemy, they're the ones that need to be stopped." Temari said. "We spoke to their leader, Kabuto, he told us his plans boldly he was _gloating_. He told us already that our Daimyo was his servant, for that reason I believe the entire Wind army is under his control, when they join with the Stone armies the rest of the coalition will be crushed since Lighting is too busy fighting off Water right now to participate."

Gaara shook his head, "If not for the attack on Suna I'd think he was just lying to drive a wedge between me and the Daimyo . . . yet now . . ." Gaara folded his arms, "So we continue to the front lines, we fight alongside the Konoha ninja, we annihilate the Wind and Earth soldiers and then with the full force of the Coalition's army at our backs we take our revenge."

Temari shook her head, "No, no, I think Waterfall might be traitors as well, and in that case there's no telling what the true loyalties of any of the other villages are, we cant trust the coalition's armies, I think the only force we _can _trust is the Hokage and her ninja."

"What are you saying?" Gaara demanded.

"While all the armies are away at war Konoha is meant to be burned to the ground, not simply captured like Suna. They're going to destroy it and kill everyone in it, the Sound is going to throw their full force at Konoha. If everyone else is busy, fighting in the Earth Nation's territory no one will be able to come to Konoha's aid in time. No one except for us, Kabuto didn't _know _you were here, didn't know that we would be in a position to aid Konoha. Gaara we _have _to throw our full weight into the defense of the leaf village."

"Nonsense, that's utter nonsense!" Gaara's aid shouted, "Kazekage-sama it's clear where her loyalties lie. Even if the attack on Sunagakure _is _futile we must go just to see if we can break our families free, if we can find your brother."

Gaara stared at Temari. "Maybe your feelings for a Konoha Shinobi have caused you to forget where you come from, where your true loyalties should have always been."

Temari's anger flared, she wanted to scream at Gaara but that look in his eyes, that cold murderous look kept her quiet.

"We will rescue our families from Sunagakure . . . once we have them we will decide whether or not to aid Konoha." Gaara said.

"Divided we fall, Kazekage-sama." Kurai said softly.

"You _dare _to speak to the Kazekage in such a manner?" The aid demanded.

"Yes." Kurai said simply. "As the only Konoha ninja here I feel obligated to inform you that being our ally was never a mistake. Konoha will put everything into seeing your families liberated, I know that much to be true. Lady Tsunade would rest at nothing."

"We don't _need _her." Gaara said.

"Maybe not. But Konoha needs Suna. The alliance is all that's kept the leaf village alive for the course of this war, the fact that it's been struck at now is clearly the reason the Sound Organization feels brave enough to move openly against Konoha now. They're hoping you're not in Konoha because with this army of more than a hundred ninja the Leaf Village will be all the more impossible to take down. The Daimyo is their ally, they could have taken Suna at any time, they waited until now."

Temari nodded, "This is the end of the line, the final battles are going to be fought and they're going to be fought in Konoha. If the Daimyo had his way Gaara, you'd be dead now and Kankuro would be his puppet. I hate to say it but there it is, why else would the Daimyo have been so incredibly approving of Syako's relationship with him? It makes sense doesn't it? Then this army of ninja would have fought alongside the samurai and turned on the Coalition, alongside Earth's army it would have been a massacre whether or not Waterfall has also turned traitor. But if we can pull the coalition armies back, get as many trustworthy ninja as we can to Konoha we can make a stand like no other, not just break our enemy's backs but shatter them."

Temari looked at all the ninja around them, "Our families in Suna are important but the Daimyo won't abuse them as long as he thinks he can use them to get to us. Right now he doesn't know Gaara is alive, doesn't know we know about his treachery. If we march now we can reach Konoha with enough time to help plan its defense, we can fight alongside them and see to a final end to this war that favors us. No one, not even Konoha expects us to be there, we're enough to throw anyone's plans off."

_Maybe even Shikamaru's._ Temari thought with a mischievous grin.

"What about our families?" One ninja demanded.

"When the Sound's army is crushed we'll be able to dictate the terms of their release, if we go now the only way to make sure they get out safely is to surrender. To attack is to risk them being killed by their captors. The enemy caught our garrison off guard, they must have many skilled ninja, sneaking up on them just isn't possible so forget it. We can't sneak into the village and save our people but we can be in the last place that the enemy expects us to be." Temari said.

Gaara folded his arms, "Temari . . . are you sure?"

"I'd bet my life on this." Temari said.

"You _are_." Gaara nodded slowly, the rage in his eyes was gone though he was still far from calm. He turned to the crowd of ninja. "There is wisdom in what my sister says, but is it the best course? We don't have time to think on this, we don't have time for a debate." Gaara closed his eyes, "I have to have faith in my brother Kankuro. We have to honor ourselves, and our obligations to our families by ensuring that the world they live in is a safe one. There is no easy answer to this question."

Gaara turned and glared at Temari, "But this is a military, not a democracy. I give the orders, you will follow them because you are the finest soldiers the world has ever known. So hear my orders, carry them out and make me proud."

Gaara turned to his men again, though Temari felt as if the words he'd spoken as he looked directly at her were somehow _aimed _at her, "Even if we free our families they have nowhere to go. With our numbers compared to what can be thrown at us, Sunagakure is indefensible and to roam with our families in tow would only be a slower form of slaughter. We must, therefore go to Konoha. We will fight there and offer up such a fight that the Sound Organization will, as my sister so eloquently put it, have their backs not simply broken but shattered. When they're defeated, when they fear us as they should, we will demand the freedom of our families. The war must end now and we must fight it. We of Sunagakure are no strangers to hardship and loss, but to the best of our knowledge now, our families are still alive. The Daimyo would be a fool to abuse them. If you love them, if you love Sunagakure fight _in_ Konoha _for_ Suna and when this war is over we will not be the only ones marching to take our village back. We will have our allies' support."

He turned to Temari and said, "Isn't that what you hoped I would say?"

"It's what you wanted to say all the long, your anger just wouldn't let you see it that way. You're a good leader Gaara, you know better than to let anger be your dictator." Temari said with a smirk.

The men didn't cheer but they didn't complain. There were grim but eager looks on every face.

They wanted revenge, they understood that their Kazekage did too and they knew he'd see to it that they got it.

_Divided we fall, as Kurai said. The time for vengeance will come later, for now we must stand with our allies, Kabuto's plans cannot be allowed to come full circle. _Temari thought as some of Gaara's medics began to tend to her and her students informed Gaara of Kabuto's plan.

_I know you're still alive Kankuro, you can't be dead. Hold out little brother, we won't be apart forever._

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Can the Raikage be trusted? What's going to become of Kasumi and Shiroi? Where is Kankuro? What is Team 10 up to? Find out in the next exciting episode of Dragon Ba--er I mean in the next chapter of New Blood!


	137. Trying to Understand

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Thirty Seven**

Yomiko smiled brightly at her companions, amazed at how changing her own mental image of the two of them had helped her change her actual opinion of them.

Once she stopped seeing Kotaro as the guy who was too injured to do any real work but smart enough to think up all the plans anyway she was able to see him as the guy who was injured but actually could do a lot of things, he had for example been the one to find the cave they'd taken shelter in once the storm rolled in.

As it clashed outside Yomiko sat close to the fire as it burned brightly filling their small cave with light.

Once she'd stopped thinking of Naomasa as the loser from a nobody clan thrown into the team to drag her down she'd been able to accept him as her equal and being nice to him was no longer a mental chore, it simply came automatically and asking him to make a fire without any sarcasm hadn't been difficult at all.

And so she'd stopped seeing them as teammates and begun to see them as comrades in arms, friends even. It wasn't just that they were Chuunin, on the whole she felt as close to them as she imagined she would have felt towards any brother she might have had if her father hadn't fallen.

"We'll be home tomorrow . . . Shikamaru-sensei will be pleased." Yomiko said.

"Yeah, he must be bored without us." Naomasa agreed.

"I doubt it," Nao's sister said thoughtfully, "I mean he's a Jounin and there's a war on, he's probably being kept busy with patrols or something right?"

"I suppose." Kotaro said, "He said that the entire Konoha Twelve were being kept in Konoha, but I wonder why. I mean by now everyone knows there's going to be an invasion of the Land of Earth, so why aren't the Twelve on the front lines?"

Yomiko frowned, "I don't know."

"Maybe intimidation." Eri suggested. "I mean if Konoha says the Twelve are in the village the enemy is going to hear about it and think 'well what have they got with the army that's so scary they don't feel like they need to use the Twelve."

"I'm with you," Kotaro laughed, "And if it turns out that some of them aren't in the village then the enemy has to wonder where they actually _are. _A major ninja like Uzumaki Naruto or Uchiha Sasuke out and about without Earth knowing where they are is bound to give even the Tsuchikage some anxiety."

"Especially since the whole world is about to gang bang his nation like they did to ours." Yomiko said.

"Kind of wish we could be there, don't you?" Naomasa whispered.

"Be glad you're not." Eri said. "The Fire Alliance is about to show how thoroughly they can beat a dead horse. I mean Wind has retaken all of its land, Fire's lands are returned, Lightning has grown much larger and the three border nations, Rain, Waterfall and Grass are all protected. But look at the enemy, Earth's armies are massive but they're mostly conscripts, men who'd rather just go home than face down a ninja army. The war is over, it's just up to all the Daimyo to understand that so the rest of us can go about our business."

Yomiko smiled weakly, she knew that Eri was only saying that because her parents were in enemy territory on a peace mission. In truth the older girl must have known that the Earth Daimyo and the Tsuchikage wouldn't just admit defeat as long as their standing armies so outnumbered Konoha's ninja corps and Fire's military.

Water might be ready to talk peace but Earth was going to make the Alliance pay for it with blood.

Yomiko frowned, "What's the real reason for all of this?" She asked suddenly.

"Hmm?" Kotaro raised an eyebrow.

"I mean . . . why do we do this?" Yomiko said. "Why are we fighting this war? Why do they hate us so much? I mean when you're a kid the enemy always has this way about them. They respect the good guys when they fight a good fight or beat back impossible odds you know? But in real life it just makes them hate us even more. It's as if they hate us so they want to attack us, but there's no winning situation. We can either stand back and let them kill and enslave us all, force their traditions on us, or we can fight back, push them out of our lands and defend our homes which causes them to hate us even more so they just come back with more men, more weapons, more ninja, angrier, meaner, more determined."

Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Naomasa said, "Maybe we just need some kind of understanding. Maybe we need to find some way to coexist. At the core, we're all the same. Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth and Water. Every one of us has dreams, goals, and ambitions. We have loved ones, friends and family, people we want to protect, people whom we want to make proud of us, people we're proud of. We laugh, cry, smile and frown, we're born, we grow up, and we die. We have different beliefs and ideas, but that doesn't change the fact that at our core we're all the same species. But for some reason when someone's ideas are different, it rubs us the wrong way. We have to have laws that tell us not to kill one another, moral codes that tell us not to say or do things to hurt one another's feelings when in fact we should just _know_."

"You really think the world can just peacefully coexist?" Kotaro asked.

"Of course not. It can't, we're not wired that way. Everyone has to believe what we believe, everyone has to do what we do, think how we think, that's the way human beings are. But the question is _why_?"

"Exactly." Yomiko nodded. "Why do we do it? Why do we fight wars? Why aren't we all content to stay at home?"

Kotaro smirked behind his mask, "You two must be eating something strange, you should have realized by now why. It's the human condition, we're afraid of what we don't understand and almost none of us take the time to understand everything or even try."

After a few moments when Kotaro didn't continue speaking Yomiko leaned closer to him, "Elaborate?" She suggested.

Kotaro sighed, "Look . . . take Shikamaru-sensei for example. He fell in love with a woman from a different country, but not everyone accepted that. Her own family wouldn't let them get married even _after _they'd had a daughter together. Something as simple as having different birth places, something that shouldn't have _mattered _in fact became a major hurtle they've just barely managed to partially clear. They haven't even fully cleared it because there are still some people who don't trust Temari-san, who think she's going to be a sleeper agent or something. Because she's different they're afraid of her, and that fear makes some of them hate her." Kotaro said.

"But Temari's a great person," Yomiko said, "She and Sensei are in love, that's all there is to it. Why does it matter if she's from a different country?"

"It _doesn't_ matter to her and Sensei, and that's something really rare and special." Kotaro said calmly. "Shikamaru-sensei is smarter than most people, so, technically, is Temari-sensei, and I think that higher intellect helps them realize that where you come from shouldn't matter. As for everyone else? Well it's none of their business is it? Still we humans are so determined to make everything our business aren't we? If everyone in Konoha and Suna really understood who Temari is, who Shikamaru is, they'd understand that the two of them being together isn't a threat. An even easier way to put it is to recall your earlier childhood, I mean there must have been some instance where some shape in the dark scared you. As soon as you shone a light on it, you knew it was nothing to be scared of. You understood it, its nature, and knew that particular shape was no longer a threat to you. Now if you were still afraid of other things after that is beside the point, the fact is once you understood that one object _it _probably stopped worrying you."

"But what does being afraid of the dark have to do with war?" Yomiko frowned.

"If everyone understood one another there'd be a lot less of it. If charismatic leaders and frightening dictators couldn't control the masses through ignorance they could hardly force them to fight against each other, could they? A good leader spreads understanding, and I think that's what Shikamaru-sensei has done for us whenever he could whether he realizes it or not. We spared those Rain ninja remember? What happened as a result? They became our allies, I don't want to sound pompous but our actions encouraged a minor understanding between our peoples and that was enough to bring peace. Rain didn't understand Earth, so they feared them more than us, they broke their alliance with them in favor of us."

"So basically what you're saying is that understanding is the key to ending this war though not necessarily all wars." Yomiko nodded slowly, "How do we build understanding?"

"Who knows?" Kotaro said. "By now it's too far advanced for a simple sit down, people have died, families have been torn apart, too many people want vengeance and satisfaction. Once it progresses to that stage maybe violence really is the only way to stop it. Understanding can only go so far, it can prevent wars I think, and I also think it can end them provided they haven't gone on as long or been as bloody as this one.

"But whenever I start to think I might hate a different country I think of Shikamaru-sensei and Temari-san. They met each other as enemies during a Chuunin exam, Temari-san was part of a mission to help destroy our village, and most people would never forgive that. Still, not long after that they fought side by side. I think Shikamaru-sensei understood then that alliances and enemies were fleeting, but I don't know when he fell in love with Temari. Maybe it was right away, maybe it was over time. The point is at some time he did fall in love with her and they have been loyal to each other ever since. They found the one allegiance that, if it's made with the right person, doesn't grow weak with time and, even if no judge or priest would agree the two of them were married long before the actual ceremony. I think that alliances need to be like marriages. Allies need to be faithful to one another, and they need to be willing to suffer all things together. They have to be willing to compromise, to make deals, and most importantly they have to be ready to give ground every once and a while, or admit when they're wrong."

"You're describing a perfect marriage," Eri said lightly, "No marriage is perfect, I doubt even your teacher's marriage is that perfect."

"It's true, though none of my business, that Shikamaru-sensei's marriage probably isn't perfect," Kotaro admitted, "But that's beside the point. What I'm saying is that a good marriage, a good alliance, is one that endeavors to emulate a perfect one, and most importantly, there has to be love. This is the whole problem with Lightning and Fire. There's no real love. There's gratitude but not love. It's like . . . like when a stranger pulls you out of a burning building. We're so grateful we're all but willing to name our first-born child after this hero, but that's gratitude, not actual love. I think that love is an important step on the road to understanding because if you don't love someone in one way or another you won't care enough to understand them."

Yomiko laid back and thought about it.

"You really spend time thinking about that sort of thing?" Naomasa asked.

"Why not?" Kotaro shrugged. "I think of a lot of things, but not every question I ask myself can be answered alone, I haven't experienced enough to really know anything and everything I've said now is incredibly subject to debate. It's just one of the things I've come to personally believe."  
Everyone was quiet for a while, then Naomasa said, "Maybe the world needs more thinkers."

"You wouldn't be one of them, you're not qualified." Eri said.

Everyone laughed, but Yomiko thought to herself.

What would it take to bring about real understanding?

* * *

Kankuro opened his eyes slowly and tried to get up but someone held him down.

He blinked and tried to see in the darkness, but all he could make out were outlines.

"You're deep beneath Sunagakure," A man's voice told him, "You're safe, and when you're well enough you'll be moved."

"Moved? Moved where?" Kankuro grunted.

"To a safe place of course." The voice answered, "Enough questions. I know it's hard, but try to rest."

"Syako, is Syako okay?" Kankuro asked.

The voice was quiet for a while, then answered, "Better you shouldn't ask."

"What? Why? If any harm's befallen her I want to know!" Kankuro said, sitting up in bed but pain ripped through his entire body and he collapsed back down onto the cot.

"The Lady was never in any danger." The voice said.

"Hostage then?" Kankuro gasped.

"No . . . listen I'm not the one who can tell you the answers to these questions, I don't have the authorization. Suffice it to say that Sunagakure has been sacked, the majority of the garrison force has been killed and the people are currently being subjected to powerful Genjutsu by several Jounin specialists from Iwagakure."

"What? Why?"

The voice was quiet, then answered with a slightly hesitant tone "Our people on the inside say that it's so that they'll forget the entire attack. Those related to the fallen Genin will be told that their loved ones died on the front lines. The Daimyo wants this to continue being a productive Wind village."

"The Daimyo . . ." Kankuro groaned, remembering that Wind soldiers had been present during the attack. So they were part of it . . .

"I'm sorry for your loss, but at least their attempted assassination of Lord Gaara failed."

"How can Genjutsu alter the memories of so many people?" Kankuro demanded, "It doesn't seem possible."

"We're not sure actually, it shouldn't work, but it has been. Personally, I suspect that the Genjutsu isn't necessarily _changing _the memories of the people, rather it's offering them a more acceptable reality, one they latch onto so that they block out the truth. After all, how can you expect these people to be comfortable in the knowledge that their Daimyo betrayed them and murdered their children in a bid to kill their beloved Kazekage?"

Kankuro closed his eyes, "For someone unable to tell me everything you certainly have told me a lot. Why can't you tell me what happened to Syako? It would help me rest." He suggested.

The voice scoffed, "I doubt that. Fine then, my master would have told you himself anyway . . . Lady Sachiko, or Syako as she calls herself, is a member of the Sound Organization. She used you, Jounin, and used you well. Through you she learned more about the defensive makeup of this city than she could ever have hoped to otherwise, she helped draw up the plans that would allow the Daimyo to subjugate the ninja without harming the populace."

Kankuro grasped out in the darkness, aiming for the source of the voice, "Liar!" He roared, "You're lying, you scum! Tell me the truth, why are you--" Kankuro slumped back down, screaming in pain, his entire body still hurt.

"I'm sorry, I told you that you shouldn't be told." The man said. "I will see you later, try not to work yourself up too much."

"Who are you?" Kankuro growled.

"I am Hishu, we have no names, and we have one master. It was he who ordered your rescue, mind you we thought at the time that you would be Lord Gaara you should nevertheless show gratitude when we take you to meet the Raikage."

Kankuro closed his eyes and groaned softly.

Syako . . . it just couldn't be true.

But if it were . . . then he was partly, no _largely_ responsible for all this.

_I'll find the truth of it, _he thought, _I'll see where your true loyalties lie, Syako . . . and if you're a threat to my brother and my people . . ._

He couldn't finish the thought.

He'd what? Kill her?

Fulfill his duty by eliminating her, taking vengeance for the families of the lost Genin?

If that were the case, why not kill himself as well? He was responsible too.

He tried to let sleep claim him but it was slow to do so. All he could think of was Syako . . . what would he do if he saw her again? Where did _his _loyalties lie? To Gaara and the other ninja . . . or to Syako and the Daimyo?

* * *

Kasumi was still shaking when she and Hikaru reached a large stone that looked like the opening of a snake's mouth.

"A bit obvious, don't you think?" Kasumi laughed uneasily.

"Only members of the organization can see it, you're not a member yet but you're seeing it because they've dropped the Genjutsu for us." Hikaru grunted. "I wonder why, actually."

That's when two figures emerged from the cave, one was the robed form of a woman Kasumi knew all too well, for she'd trained Akuma, the other was a girl that Kasumi recognized the moment their eyes met.

"Hyuga!" Kasumi hissed, "Lightning and Fire have reached the base, that must be why the--"

"Down girl," Hikaru scoffed, "Okatsu is going to be your new Sensei, show her some respect."

"Your student killed my friend!" Kasumi screamed.

"You mean your _boy _friend." Okatsu scoffed. "Nobody made him step in-between you and the blade, in any event it's lucky for you that he did. If he hadn't done it, if you hadn't become the loveable ball of traitorous rage you are now, my master wouldn't give you the time of day. You're just lucky you're one of the Five now."

Kasumi growled and lunged forward, but with movement that was too quick to see Okatsu closed the distance between them and hit Kasumi sharply in the stomach, "Don't you dare raise your hand against me girl. In just under a season I turned a spoiled prince into the killing machine that nearly ended your life so do not test yourself against me."

Kasumi fell to the ground, holding her stomach and gasping for air, "I hate you!" She managed.

"Oh no you don't." Okatsu growled. "Before this year is out you two will know what it _really _means to hate me, in two years you'll be on a level far beyond hate, you'll wish harm on every molecule in my body, and you'll curse me and my ancestors. If you survive the third and final year of your training you'll be so far lost to this new feeling, so much more intense than hatred that you'll be ready to sell your soul just to see me uncomfortable."

Okatsu shoved Kasumi into the ground with one foot and stepped hard on her throat, "What you, little avenger, and the knocked up whore over there don't realize though, is that you've already sold your souls for power. Don't worry though, the master intends to see you worthless little ones get your money's worth, that's why _I'm _your new keeper."

The woman released Kasumi, who was surprisingly helped to her feet by the Hyuga girl.

Too weary and shaken from Okatsu's assault and Hikaru's inactivity in the face of it, Kasumi didn't manage to shove away the Hyuga girl's aid.

She was even a little grateful for it.

"You two, and the three others, are going to be my play things. I will make you suffer every pain and indignity I can imagine. Whatever I put you through know that you have just one way out, only one means of escape," the woman said as she lit a cigarette and blew smoke in their faces, "be stronger than me. Be strong enough to protect yourselves from me and all the evil I'll seek to put upon you. That's how you survive, that's how you know when you've got results."

Kasumi scoffed. She'd know she'd gotten results when she was finally able to kill Okatsu.

When she could take revenge on the woman who'd trained the boy that killed her beloved Masaru. That's when she'd know she didn't need anything further from Okatsu.

Until then she'd take it all, suffer everything in exchange for power.

She'd been willing to trade her virginity for a knife, did Okatsu really think she could throw Kasumi down any further than she'd already fallen? The girl was an agent of her own revenge, and nothing would cause her to stray from that goal.

"Do your worst." Kasumi spat.

Okatsu laughed, "I've heard that before, and I've never done anything but."

* * *

As the two girls were led inside Hikaru leaned against one of the serpent statue's large, stone fangs and said "What was all that about? I notice _your _ward doesn't have any bruises, why did you attack mine?"

"Mostly for the benefit of my own. The Master has charged her with bringing in another member of the fifth you know, and I don't think she's loyal enough. So rather than pussy foot around them until the training begins I've more or less told her what she'll be bringing her lover into, and if she's loyal to the master it won't matter, she'll bring him in anyway. If she isn't she'll kill him or in some other way fail and the master can do away with her."

"Don't like her?" Hikaru raised an eyebrow.

"I don't like anyone." Okatsu laughed darkly.

Hikaru shook his head and walked into the hideout, "Well until the boss tells me otherwise Hattori Kasumi is under my care and protection, strike her again outside of training and I'll take your hand off."

"Whatever." Okatsu scoffed, "I got the message across I think, and I shouldn't have to even look at these students until they're all assembled and ready to be trained."

* * *

Sasuke leaned back against a wall, his eyes half closed. "I should have protected her, she shouldn't have left my side."

"You're going to get your chance for revenge, Sasuke," Suigetsu said, "Don't worry about that. We're all going to get that chance soon, and Lighting will never recover from the hells we're going to unleash on them. You know what they say, old enemies make strong allies and with our past Leaf and Mist will be the strongest allies in the world."

The Mizukage scratched his chin, "Or something like that. That's what my aids tell me. To be honest I always thought that old enemies make untrustworthy allies, and if it weren't for the fact that both our nations are crippled I'm pretty sure neither of us would trust the other. As it is now I'm sure you probably don't trust me."

Sasuke didn't answer. He had no comment, he hadn't been thinking about it. The Hokage had said that Mist was now their ally, and he'd acted as if they were, he hadn't really spent too much time thinking about how trustworthy they were as allies.

But now that he did, Suigetsu had a point. The saying that old enemies made powerful allies wasn't popularly known because it wasn't really all that true in large because, as Suigetsu said, old enemies made _untrustworthy _allies.

Was the Mizukage trying to tell Sasuke something?

Sasuke shook his head. He couldn't even guess now what it might mean if Mist were trying to attack Konoha in some way, couldn't imagine what they might expect to gain from it.

He was probably just paranoid after having lost the last member of his team.

Kurai stood as the only successful one, alive and a Chuunin.

Sasuke wondered how much of that was his own doing and how much of it was Kurai.

He'd taken on a team largely just to show Naruto that he could do a better job but Naruto's entire team were now above Chuunin level after less than six years. In just under four Sasuke had gotten two of his three killed.

He closed his eyes and shook his head slowly, I never was meant to lead Genin. I'm not a teacher._ I'm a fighter, it's my job to kill the enemy. Leave it to others like Shikamaru or Sakura to teach the next generation of ninja. _He thought.

Still he knew that when the ships set them loose on the Lightning soldiers he would not be able to stop himself from exacting revenge on Shiroi's behalf.

He'd kill every one of them that crossed paths with him, killing as quickly and indiscriminately as a natural disaster.

He waited patiently through the rocking of the war ship as it made its way towards its next objective. When the fighting started, he would know satisfaction whether Lightning and Cloud were still technically Konoha's allies or not.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	138. Taisho Miura

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Thirty Eight**

Kotaro couldn't help but whistle when he saw the Leaf village in the distance.

It was . . . well, impressive.

Impressive, and a little sad.

The forest around the village had been completely decimated; there wasn't a tree to be seen for nearly a hundred paces in every direction.

Kotaro put his hands on his hips as the four youths walked back towards Konoha. "I can't believe they did that."

"There aren't even any stumps," Yomiko said, correctly guessing what Kotaro was talking about, "The ground doesn't look disturbed at all, see?"

"Well there's a war going on, this perimeter would make Konoha easier to defend.

"Maybe, but it's too small to be truly effective," Kotaro grunted, "So why bother?"

"Maybe they're not finished." Nao said.

"That's a frightening thought." Kotaro said. "They'll rip down all the trees around our village and for what? The wide open space would just hamper us ninja, the trees have always been an adequate defense."

"I don't know," Yomiko said, "I'm sure the Hokage had a reason, she's not exactly a big campaigner for deforestation."

Kotaro shrugged, "I guess."

"Why does it bother you so much?" Naomasa asked.

"You mean it doesn't bother you?" Kotaro raised an eyebrow.

"Wars call for extreme measures. I admit that it's unsettling, but the trees can be brought back. If Konoha falls it's gone forever." Naomasa said.

"Yeah . . ." Kotaro said, "it's just . . . it seems like we're destroying our own world for fear of the enemy, and anyway it's not like Konoha is in any real danger, we're not going to be attacked here."

"Don't be so sure." A voice said, and Kotaro spun around to see Shikamaru walking towards them with his three summoned deer. "We're pretty sure that members of the Sound Organization are going to try to attack Konoha while all our armies are out fighting. That's why the twelve haven't been allowed to leave the city."

"You're outside of the city right now!" Yomiko cried.

"Yeah well . . . you know how it is." Shikamaru shrugged. "Misinformation is to a ninja as a hammer is to a blacksmith."

"So we were right," Kotaro said, "The Twelve being in Konoha is just a ruse, something to make the enemy worry."

"I can't confirm or deny that." Shikamaru said with a shrug. "So how was your mission? Troublesome?"

"A real pain in the neck," Kotaro said.

"The people in the land of Waves are . . . well they're nuts! They're so anti-shinobi it was like being in a whole different reality." Yomiko nodded.

Shikamaru frowned, "We received word that that might be the case."

"Huh? You knew?" Yomiko blinked.

Shikamaru-sensei tilted his head towards Konoha and the group walked over the barren landscape towards the city's massive gates. "We'd heard. Anti-ninja sentiment is on the rise, more and more people want the easy way out, to pick up a spear and be a war hero, rather than spending their entire lives devoted to learning the ninja arts. The masses are being molded and manipulated, and honestly, after nearly a hundred years of running around like demigods it's only natural that now the common people would feel disillusioned. After all, ninja aren't being reinforced very much, they see ten of us die and think us weak when a thousand spearmen die in the same battle."

"Because where there's hundreds more ninja, there are thousands more soldiers." Eri reasoned.

"Pretty much." Shikamaru said, "In some cases it seems like every dead soldier is replaced by two more. Younger, less experienced and less likely to make it out of the next battle alive. Ninja are expensive to maintain, our fees for missions can seem extreme and we take too long to train. A warrior only needs a weapon, he can die or live, gaining experience with each passing battle and all he needs is a bit of food and some sort of wage. Since the armies are mostly conscripted it isn't as if the Daimyo needs to offer competitive wages."

"So a highly trained volunteer army loses out to a poorly if at all trained conscripted army how?" Eri asked. "I mean logically speaking you'd think that people would be happy to leave the war in the hands of the few, the proud, the shinobi."

"But the ninja have butterfingers." Kotaro reasoned, and Shikamaru-sensei nodded.

"That's right," The Jounin said evenly, "we've messed up too many times, let too many villages get destroyed and whether or not the ninja defending them went down with it is irrelevant to the common man. The Daimyo are very quiet about it all too, as if they don't care that the public is growing to dislike ninja more and more. Those countries without ninja villages of their own, like the Land of Waves, have pretty much determined that they're better off without them."

Shikamaru frowned, "We didn't expect them to harass you though."

"I wouldn't call it harassment," Kotaro said, shaking his head slowly, "just ignorance really, and a refusal to see the light."

"What you or I would call light anyway." Eri pointed out. "To them it's just ninja lies, isn't it?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "Doesn't matter. When the war is over and things go back to normal you'll get the recognition you deserve, Kotaro. Cheer up."

"It's not the land of waves that bothers me," Kotaro said, kicking the dirt, "Look at all the trees. On the other hand, I guess I should say 'don't' since they're all gone. We're ruining our home out of fear."

Shikamaru laughed, "No we're not." He held a radio to his head and said "Yamato, execute four near the gates."

With that, the earth erupted and a pair of trees shot up on either side of the great gates, four proud trees returned from beneath the ground.

Kotaro blinked, "The trees have been pushed underground? But why?" He asked.

"That's classified information. We have a little surprise in store for any invaders." Shikamaru smiled.

"But who would or could invade Konoha?" Yomiko asked.

Shikamaru frowned, folding his arms he said, "Well . . . that's a bit complicated."

As the group walked through the gates, Kotaro frowned at Nao, "Why are you so quiet?" He asked his friend.

Nao frowned, "I just uh . . . I sort of . . ." He shrugged, and Kotaro noticed him holding that envelope the doctor had given him.

"You're wondering where your girlfriend is." Eri sneered.

"That's not true." Nao scoffed.

"She's busy." Shikamaru said evenly, "She knows you're set to arrive back today, so I'm sure you'll see her when she finishes her duty."

"Hey, Shikamaru-sensei, what's it like dating an older woman? Maybe you can give Nao some tips!" Yomiko jeered.

Kotaro smirked under his mask, but Shikamaru-sensei chuckled, "That's neither here nor there, we're getting off subject. The trees will be returned to their normal position by tomorrow, after all our tests are completed. You see, the opposite of what you were thinking Kotaro, we've buried the trees to _protect _the trees."

"Don't they die under ground?" Yomiko asked.

"Of course not, Yamato is using his Jutsu to sink the trees into the ground; others are using their Jutsus to keep the trees from being crushed by all the earth around them. As for water, well the ground is damp enough and sunlight they'll get by tomorrow morning, a single day won't wipe out the forest, but if it were still above ground during our defense testing we'd probably burn the whole place down on accident."

Nao nodded and Kotaro felt like he understood but Yomiko was the one who asked the important question, "If spies see your training won't they know what to expect?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "So what if they do? It's just a small part of Konoha's defense, besides which they'll have to ask themselves two important questions. First, sure they see what we're training for, but what are they going to do about it? Second, do they really want to try an attack with us so well prepared? It's as much a psychological weapon as anything, but don't worry, Hitomi is one of the dozens of Jounin currently patrolling, making sure no one sees what we're doing."

"How'd we get through?" Eri asked.

"You were allowed through, you're friends, remember?" Shikamaru smirked.

Yomiko smiled, "It's good to see you again, Sensei." She said.

"Yeah, those two missed you." Kotaro nodded.

"So did you." Nao laughed.

Shikamaru shoved his hands into his pockets, "Irritating as it is to accept, I kind of missed you bothersome brats too. To think when we first started all you wanted was to trade me in for someone else and all I wanted was to let you."

"To think when we first started Kotaro was afraid of talking animals." Yomiko pointed out, patting one of Shikamaru's deer, the red one.

"Just weasels." Kotaro said, "They shouldn't be speaking."

"But deer can?" Nao blinked.

"It's complicated." Kotaro said, not wanting to admit that he himself wasn't sure why it was just the weasels that bothered him. Snakes and deer didn't, as Nao had pointed out.

Then, fishing for an excuse, he threw out "Look, anything with a brain smaller than a grape just shouldn't be talking, okay?

"That's reasonable." Yomiko shrugged. "Hey Sensei, can you teach me to call out weasels?"

"Ask Temari when she gets back." Shikamaru said.

* * *

Kyoko squealed when strong arms grabbed her from behind, she saw Shino; a few meters ahead of her suddenly stop and raise his hands.

What was he doing? Why would he just raise his hands in surrender?

"Easy, it's me." Shino said.

"Me? Me who?" A kunoichi asked as she dropped down from a tree next to Shino. She had her hair tied into a pair of buns, Kyoko thought that looked rather nice, and she wore the traditional flak jacket along with the navy blue jumpsuit, though her sleeves were different, more ornate, and she carried a pair of scrolls tied to her hips.

She eyed Shino suspiciously, Kyoko fought the urge to squirm against her captor, seeing quite clearly that these were Konoha Jounin and knowing that if they wanted her dead she would be.

"Come on, I haven't got all day, we have urgent news for the Taisho." Shino said.

"Throw it by me," The woman said, "I'll pass it on."

"Over your dead body." Shino barked, drawing a kunai.

The two Jounin stared each other down while Kyoko tried to scream at Shino, unfortunately her mouth was covered.

What was he doing? This was a Konoha ninja, the very people they'd been trying to find, was he insane?

But suddenly the tension broke and the kunoichi laughed, "Gotta be Shino," She told the others, "Let the kid go."

Kyoko was released and she turned on Shino, "What was all that?" She demanded.

"What was that? A test, that's what." Shino said, "Tenten knows I'd never give her the information out in the open like this, but every word we said is part of a very carefully laid out script that we of the Konoha Twelve have memorized. The interaction is different between each of us, but the words and the tone used while speaking them are all part of one large, intricate code." Shino said as he and Kyoko continued on their way, Tenten herself leading them.

"Can't people learn the code?" Kyoko asked.

"Not unless they captured one of us." Shino said, "So far everyone in the Land of Earth is under orders to kill us on sight."

"What about me? What if I report this to the Kazekage?" Kyoko asked.

"He and his siblings do it to." Tenten said, "It's useless knowledge to them, it's like knowing that the enemy is speaking a language you can't speak. Unless you can speak it too, it's pretty useless to know that they're speaking it."

Kyoko nodded, and suddenly she could hear the sound of men talking in the distance, the rustle and hubbub of a camp of warriors.

Her heart pounded in her chest when they emerged and saw the great and grand army of the Land of Fire.

There were barely any without scars, the youths and the elders alike had seen and survived scores of battles and, according to the banners Kyoko saw these were the soldiers of The First Legion of the Spear of Flame, the elite of the elite short of the Daimyo's personal brigade, the Phoenix Cavalry.

Kyoko's breath was taken away by the look of these soldiers, who had been pushed back, and beaten down so many times, men who had suffered victories and defeats for their nation now preparing to fight in one last campaign that would change the face of the world.

It was the sort of thing she'd tell her children about if she lived long enough to have any.

Shino and Tenten led her to a tent and a pair of Samurai crossed their spears in their path.

"What's going on?" One of them demanded, "Why is there a Sand Shinobi with you? We received word that they've all abandoned the front lines!"

"Halt, who goes there" is all you have to say." A middle-aged man said as he emerged from the tent.

Tenten and Shino bowed so Kyoko did the same, "Taisho Miura," Shino said, "This girl is a messenger from Konoha Jounin Nara Temari; she has vital information on the war and the enemy's plans."

"Have her explain it to my Aid-Decamp; I'll hear it from him. I have no time for ninja, or women." Miura said coldly as he marched out of the tent, his two guards following him.

Kyoko's eyes narrowed, "Sir what I know could help you win this war!"

"And my aid will properly convey anything you care to tell him. Speak to him as if you were speaking to me." The Taisho said coldly, "I'm done wasting words on you, captain get the first spear wall ready to march, order the second to start drilling--" He was saying buy Kyoko wouldn't accept it.

She swept her fan out, knocking the guards on their faces though the Taisho only staggered.

Like lightning the soldiers had their spears in hand, the Samurai drew their swords and Shino and Tenten fell into defensive postures around Kyoko though Tenten didn't seem so sure about it.

Kyoko said, "I recognize your name, Miura. Your son was a ninja, wasn't he? Would you hear these words if they came from him?" Kyoko demanded.

"I would hear any words if they came from him. Can you get him to speak to me? Can you ninja return the boy you stole away from me?" The general demanded, spinning around and storming towards Kyoko, his Katana in hand, "Little girl who dares to speak to me as if she were my equal, girl who fails to remember that outside of her ninja village she is lower than dirt, girl who assumes that because the Kazekage and Hokage are so chummy that I would listen to her words as if she were a friend, girl who dares dress in a warrior's vest, dare you to speak another word and I will run you through!"

Kyoko glared, she was about to speak but Shino's hand on her shoulder told her to stop.

"Catering to his ego in the first place would have avoided this scene," Tenten said, "Doing so now is the only way to prevent tragedy."

Kyoko nodded and Miura turned his back on her and walked away, Kyoko turned to the man's aid and said "With men such as him leading your armies, Konohagakure and indeed your entire country are doomed."

"He is a great man." Shino said.

"A skilled general perhaps, not a great man." Kyoko shook her head. She followed the Taisho's aid-decamp, who was indeed polite, helpful and even apologetic as she detailed most of what she knew.

She didn't tell him everything though. As of this point she considered this particular legion of Fire soldiers unreliable. The men were valorous warriors but their general's hatred of ninja would make convincing him to move to Konoha's aid difficult, especially if he wouldn't speak directly to her. She'd have to find a different regiment, a different general, someone who'd listen.

Kyoko was a ninja, and a girl to boot. Her lifestyle hung in the balance and it meant more to her than her actual life. Those who wouldn't stand with her in its defense might as well have been standing against her, and Taisho Miura was most definitely against her.

* * *

Miura Katsue was shaking as he walked away from that girl.

He'd lost face in front of his men, that was unforgivable, but he couldn't bear to be accosted by someone such as her.

So young, did she really know what war was about?

No. How could she? She wasn't old enough to have a child, see them grow up, see them defy their clan; learn they had died in a barbaric ninja ritual.

Katsue was the last of his clan, did that irritating little girl know what that felt like?

Of course not. How could she? She wasn't a Samurai, she didn't belong to a clan, at least not any clan worth speaking of.

She was just a teenager, she probably thought she knew everything, she probably thought she was immortal, just like Saizo had.

Katsue clenched his fists at his side. Saizo, his son, lost forever because of the incompetence of ninja. The war would be won by Samurai now, Katsue wouldn't have it any other way.

Ninja were done for.

He wouldn't have that any other way either.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	139. Doubts and Assurances

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Thirty Nine**

Toshiie thrashed about in his sleep, unable to control himself as he had the same nightmare as always.

Keiji's death haunted him because he could not avenge it. He could still remember the helplessness he'd experienced as he was held in place and his brother was killed.

He woke covered in sweat. He reached for his sword and found it nearby though there were no enemies to fight.

Only phantoms against which he could do nothing. He owed his freedom and perhaps his life to the Sound Organization, if he opposed them now he'd be going against the Tsuchikage's orders, for Stone and Sound were allied, but if he let those serpent zealots have enough time they'd recruit Temari of the Desert and so also Nara Shikamaru, he would have no vengeance, perhaps even be offered up to them instead.

_Temari of the Desert won't be in Suna . . . _he thought to himself. That was pretty much what he'd been told, right? So where else would se be? In Konoha with her husband of course.

He looked away and clenched his teeth.

He got up and left his tent, "Gamo!" He shouted, not caring which of the two siblings showed up.

Though he was far from surprised when Kuto showed up and her brother did not.

"Yes sir?" Kuto asked, saluting smartly even though Toshiie was out of uniform for it was not his habit to sleep in a flak jacket, or to wear his forehead protector to bed.

"Have we found the Kazekage?" He asked.

"No sir." Kuto said.

"What of the attack on Konoha?" Toshiie asked, "How much longer before we risk not making it?"

"The Samurai and his army have already left," Kuto said, "They set out at sunset,"

"Yes, I know that, that isn't what I asked!" Toshiie hissed. He folded his arms and said "Pack up the camp."

"Sir?"

"We're going to Konoha; I won't be left out because the Kazekage eluded his Daimyo's executioners. I want a piece of Konoha; I will see it burned to the ground."

"And what about Suna?" Kuto asked.

Toshiie thought for a moment. "I _would _tell you to slaughter the entire population like the sheep they are, but that would be too time consuming--"

"We could do it _fast_!" Kuto protested eagerly, "Let us force them out of their homes and then set the city to flame. If the Kazekage is hiding here, that'll urge him out."

"You can't do that." A new voice said, and Toshiie spun around to see his second in command, Kuto's brother.

"What's that, Kata?" Kuto scoffed, "You think--

"Burning a city of Wind would be a declaration of war against our new allies; we have no orders to make any such declaration." Katashi said calmly. "If you're determined to attack Konoha with this army then let's simply do it. If the Kazekage is still here--doubtful--he'll pursue us in an attempt to defend his allies, or else leave us alone and continue hiding, it doesn't matter. We'll claim that we had reason to believe he'd snuck off to Konoha--likely--to seek refuge. In any event there's no need to harm the common people."

"People?" Toshiie raised an eyebrow, "There are ninety ninja in this city, thirty squads. Not one of my ninja is "common" so what _people_ are you talking about?"

"The people of the city, the ones you're contemplating the murder of." Katashi said, irritably.

"Those aren't people. They're just animals that _resemble _people. They're not human beings, they have no souls, no rights, I could kill them all and it wouldn't matter." Toshiie said.

Katashi folded his arms, "Give the order and I'll relieve you of command. A city full of people or a field full of pineapple, we don't carry out acts of genocide without the Tsuchikage's orders, we don't break alliances without the Tsuchikage's orders, we don't _act _without the Tsuchikage's orders."

Toshiie frowned and nodded to Gamo Katashi, "You're right. I . . . forgot myself in a moment of anger." He said. "Jounin Gamo, pack up the camp, we'll take the army and destroy Konoha. Captain Gamo, select five others to help you garrison this city, just in case something should happen."

"That should be sufficient." Katashi said with a nod, and Toshiie returned to his tent to throw on his gear and prepare for the attack on Konoha.

_Soon Nara Shikamaru, whether your wife is there or not, I will have your head._

* * *

Kuto frowned as Captain Juukei returned to his tent.

He should have cut her brother in half with his sword and fed his entrails to the dogs of Suna whilst she and the other Shinobi went about exterminating the populace. Disappointing as it might have been to lose a brother, Kuto would have supported him in that, it was clearly the right thing to do.

But instead he backed down, heroes didn't _ever _back down.

Even if the Tsuchikage hadn't given them orders to kill the populace that didn't mean they couldn't, her brother had been grasping at straws with that excuse and for what? To protect the alliance between the Land of Earth and the Land of Wind? Earth would smash Wind with hardly any effort; let the Wind Daimyo complain it wouldn't matter.

No, her brother and Captain Juukei _knew _that a field commander was always free to do whatever the situation dictated on the field of battle, the Tsuchikage would have recognized the necessity of their action, exterminating the populace, and who were these Sound Cultists to complain against the Tsuchikage's Ninja?

Kuto clenched her fist before going to carry out the Captain's orders, part of her wondering why she should even bother.

It was becoming all to clear that Toshiie was no hero.

But there was only one way to be sure.

A true hero would never fail to stop his own murder, when the opportunity arose Kuto would test Juukei Toshiie's worthiness to be called a hero. Either he would kill her and lay her fears to rest along with her righteous soul, or he would die by her hand and pay the ultimate price for daring pretend to such a title.

Iwagakure Jounin Gamo Rikuto carried out her Captain's orders . . . for now.

* * *

It was getting late when Hitomi arrived back at the gates. By then Yamato-sempai had restored the trees, everything looked as it should. If the village were attacked whatever Shikamaru-sempai had planned--and Hitomi wasn't sure what it was, her job had just been to patrol and make sure no one saw any stage of the preparations--would go off and no doubt devastate the enemy.

Hitomi yawned and Hara punched her in the shoulder, "A Jounin doesn't yawn." He pointed out.

Hitomi licked her lips and spun around, elbowing him in the back, knocking him forward, "A man doesn't hit a woman."

"There's a woman here?" Hara gasped in feigned shock. The two friends laughed weakly, and then Hara got to his feet and said "I'm going to go see Miyuki. Coming?"

Hitomi shook her head, "No . . . only one visitor overnight you know." Hitomi said. "If I go to her now I won't be able to leave again until someone gives me a direct order."

Hara nodded, "I know what you mean." He put his hands in his pockets.

Hitomi sighed, "I don't know whether or not she can hear what we say but tell her I'll be there to see her in the morning."

Hara nodded and the two friends went their separate ways.

Hitomi glanced up at the moon, a frown slowly spreading across her face.

She was just seventeen years old. People told her that was young.

But she felt ancient. She felt like a person three times her age, she was tired of the world, she was irritated with her life, she was frustrated about everything to do with the war.

And her friend, her best friend was only barely being kept alive by Shizune and Sakura's combined efforts. Even stabilized she still needed regular treatment.

She closed her eyes for a moment and found herself near a bench.

She collapsed onto it and stared up at the sky.

_Why? _She wondered.

She didn't pray, she didn't "believe" she simply asked no one in particular. The question itself was as broad as she could make it. She didn't ask "why am I different" she didn't ask "why can't I help Miyuki" she didn't ask "why is this war being fought" instead she simply asked "why" and all of those questions and so many others were bundled into that single word in her mind.

She didn't pray, she didn't "believe" she simply asked no one in particular.

And so, because "no one in particular" had no answers to give she received none.

But that was the nature of the universe, as far as Hitomi could make out. One asked the ether a few questions, it ignored them, they came to their own conclusions and if their solutions were clever enough they were called philosophers or sages, considered to be wise until they were proven wrong.

She wasn't a sage or a philosopher; she didn't have answers to give herself.

Just a helpless feeling. For all her power, all her ninja skills, she was just a small player in a very big, very dangerous game that was the world. If she had her choice she'd be like any other girl her age. She'd go to school, titter when boys walked by, wear all kinds of makeup and perfume so the boys would forgive her for tittering, fail tests and most importantly she'd rebel against her mother and father because in this imaginary world they'd still be alive and with her and they'd forgive her for being a tittering test failing fool because in this imaginary world they'd love her and by astounding coincidence she'd love them too.

She smiled weakly.

_I don't even like my imaginary life. _She realized.

And it wasn't as if her _real_ mother and father hadn't loved her. Her father did at least, and had been a good father as far as fathers went. Her mother, on some level, probably loved her too, and if Hitomi had been more patient with her, more respectful she might still be around today.

She sighed and stood up, she headed towards home.

"Hey," a familiar voice said, and Hitomi folded her arms and turned around.

Of course it was Naomasa. Who else would it be? Life wasn't miserable enough, now she had to actually get around to disillusioning this kid, breaking his heart and of course viciously destroying his dream of ever receiving her affection.

"Look kid," Hitomi said, "I don't have time for you, I can't play in your dream land today, can't act like I'm your friend, can't put up with your flirting. I've had a long day, and seeing you just makes it feel even worse."

Naomasa smirked, "Yeah, I figured you'd say something like that when I saw you again. I almost didn't want to come back because I was so nervous about how mad you'd be at me for what I said before. I think you're turning me into a pessimist, I used to hope for the best whenever I thought about you, but now I know I'm always going to be disappointed."

Hitomi raised an eyebrow trying to determine whether he was joking or trying to bite back.

"Yeah, I think I hate you now, so we should never speak again," Naomasa said with a roll of his eyes, Hitomi narrowed hers though he couldn't see it. "That _is _what you wanted to hear, isn't it?"

"Well I'm glad you finally get it." She said. "What do you want?"

Nao shrugged. He'd done nothing with his hair and it'd gotten even longer over his trip. It hung not only down his back but also over his shoulders. He wasn't wearing his uniform and flak jacket, he wore instead a red and white Ishida coat like the one his father had, and a pair of black slacks with an equipment pouch strapped to each thigh.

So even in his casual dress he kept his ninja tools close at hand. Hitomi approved of that, but felt like he should have been more subtle about it.

He reached into his pocket and revealed a small envelope, "I have this for you."

"I don't have time for a love letter." Hitomi scoffed.

Nao shrugged, "It's not from me, it's from that doctor, he wanted me to give it to you."

Hitomi rolled her eyes. It was probably nothing more than a 'ha ha, I win, I got the supplies I needed and you couldn't stop me' note, even though it was Hitomi who'd submitted a list of the nearly stolen medicine to the Hokage so that she would know what supplies to give.

She'd read it later, if at all, but Endo had given her a fantastic gift in the form of this letter.

"Oh!" Hitomi said, trying to sound embarrassed, "Well a love letter from _him_ I'll take. You didn't read it, did you? It's probably full of really private details you know."

Nao shrugged, "I didn't." He said, though Hitomi noted that his casual, comfortable air was gone, he looked uncertain now.

"Yeah, Haya-kun and I really hit it off." Hitomi said, eyeing Naomasa malevolently behind the impenetrable shield of her black lenses, "I don't want to say that we've fallen in love, but then I don't want to lie either. We're just sort of two of a kind you know, both extremely talented in our fields, and," she added as if it were merely an afterthought, "oh my yes, we're almost the _same age_! Now do you understand, Naomasa?"

Nao shrugged, "He sure seemed great," the kid said, and Hitomi had to wonder whether or not he was lying just to be nice. Even _she _didn't really think Endo was great.

But she went with it anyway, "He's the _greatest_," she said. "He really understood me. Maybe you're just too _young _to get it."

"I understand you." Nao grumbled, and indeed his air of confidence was completely gone.

She noted his words too. Was he saying that he had understood her before Endo--in which case he'd be fairly correct since, though Hitomi felt Naomasa didn't actually understand her, she knew he at least came a lot closer than Endo did--or was he saying that he understood her intent now, and was yielding?

She didn't ask, and he didn't volunteer an answer, he just hung his head and looked away from her. For an instant, Hitomi felt a stab of remorse. Nao seemed genuinely hurt and that was exactly what she had wanted to avoid. If he were irritated she could live with that, but she didn't want him hurt.

_It's for his own good,_ she decided and she shoved the letter into her pocket, "Anything else then?"

Nao seemed unsure now. He shoved his hands in his pockets and said "I dunno. I guess not." He turned to leave, turned back as if he meant to say something, thought better of it and turned away again. "G'night then."

Hitomi worried for a moment. Naomasa seemed hurt and she didn't want him to leave like that.

But if she acted worried now, if she tried being nice to him at this point he might think he still had a shot.

Hitomi frowned, _I of all people know what it feels like to be hurt and to feel unloved, it was Miyuki, Hara and Sensei that took that feeling away from me, friends that I love and would die for. Do I feel any less for Naomasa? Wouldn't I die for him too? He's my friend, why should I care what the world thinks of it? We're not doing anything wrong by just being friends._

Friendships were too important and true friendships were too rare to just be thrown aside over an uncertainty or disagreement. Hitomi wouldn't scar Naomasa just because he had a crush on her, and that's all it was anyway, a crush. She was overreacting; he'd move on in time, he didn't have to be shoved aside.

Hitomi took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. She dashed after Naomasa, moving quickly but silently so that he wouldn't hear her approach, she suddenly fell in behind him, matching his step and then struck, her hand flying out and messing with his hair, "So you're not going to tell me about your trip to Wave? Come _on_, I'm on patrol all day bored out of my mind thinking 'gee, I wonder if anything interesting happened to Nao' and you're going to blow me off just like that huh?"

"Oh sure, it's all about you." Naomasa grumbled with a weak attempt at a laugh.

Hitomi smirked, "Sorry your majesty, have _you_ eaten yet? _You _and I can grab something to eat while _you _tell me all about _your _visit to a foreign country. Is that better?"

Nao looked away as she caught up and walked alongside him, "I'm not hungry right now."

"Neither am I," Hitomi said honestly "but you've been gone for a while, I want to know how things went. What'd you see, what'd you do, come on don't blow me off. I . . . was rougher on you just now than I had to be, I was uh . . . excited by the letter," she said, that sounded believable, "I didn't mean to be rude, and I'm sorry." She slapped his shoulder, "Now stop being a big baby about it."

Nao shook his head, "I can't . . . Eri made dinner back at our new house, so . . . I should be going home."

Hitomi raised an eyebrow. His sister? New house? She really _did _need to catch up with him; these were some pretty big developments.

Nao looked nervous and said, "You uh . . . could come with me, I'm sure Eri wouldn't mind and I mean that way you don't have to pay for dinner or anything."

Hitomi shook her head, how did it always end up this way?

Nao was the second guy to kiss her, the first guy to sort of propose to her, the first guy to ask her over to his place for dinner, and he was just thirteen years old.

Men closer to and over Hitomi's age hadn't ever bothered to treat her with the level of respectful affection Naomasa displayed, and even when she fretted over it all she kept coming back to thinking _Why?_

Whomever she married she'd never surrender her body, so whomever it was that married her wouldn't have to be a sexual partner, they'd just have to respect her and make her happy whilst finding happiness in that. Naomasa did that . . . most of the time.

But, he's thirteen. She thought to herself. Don't forget the times he doesn't respect you, when he kissed you, when he stares at your chest._ Endo would be a better match for you, he didn't even act remotely attracted to you, you could be his wife and never have to do anything physically. No matter what you tell him Naomasa is physically attracted to you and that's a major problem._

_But what if he liked someone else? _Hitomi thought, considering all the girls she knew of closer to Nao's age. There was Tomoko for starters, and since both she and Nao were Hitomi's pupils it'd be easy to set them up.

But then again . . . there was also his teammate.

Sarutobi Yomiko would spend more time in the field with Nao than Hitomi ever would, they'd have lots of opportunities to grow close, especially if Hitomi set them up now. To do that . . . well she'd think of something.

She struggled with this simple question Naomasa had asked her, her mind tumbling as she thought _Why not?_ and yet still told herself that she knew exactly why not. She knew exactly why she needed to leave Naomasa alone, exactly why she needed to just wait until later to learn all about his adventures in wave.

Still, though Hitomi meant to say "No way, I'll just see you tomorrow," what actually came out of her mouth was "I guess we can do that. I want to hear about your trip after all, how did you end up with a house and why is your sister here?"

Nao smiled, "I'll tell you all about it, but there really isn't much to tell."

* * *

Shikamaru stood on the walls of Konoha.

"It looks good. The defense I mean." Naruto told him.

Shikamaru shrugged, "It's hard to accept that it may come to it, but we have to be prepared to defend our village to the last man. I just want to do everything I can to make sure that the "last man" is an enemy about to be defeated."

Naruto slapped Shikamaru's shoulder roughly, "No worries."

Shikamaru nodded slightly, "But I am worried. There's too much I can't prepare for. How many ninja the enemy will have, how many soldiers the enemy will have, how quickly they'll catch on to my tricks, how the people of the city will respond if we can't prevent a siege."

Naruto stared out into the distance; he said "Shikamaru, I've had this vision for a long time . . . a vision of me standing over the ruins of this city. In this vision I see death everywhere, I see all the people I care about torn to pieces and the terrifying fact is I don't know if it was done by the enemy, or by me. I've had this vision every night since the war started, but it stopped when the alliance swung in our favor. After the fight with Hanzo the nightmare came back full force. Every night I have this nightmare . . . the thing is since I looked at your plans and schemes two days ago, since we began work I haven't had those dreams at all. This is going to work Shikamaru; we're going to pull it off."

Shikamaru nodded, "I hope so. For your sake, for my sake, especially for Sumiko's sake. Ninja are tools of war it's true, but every war needs to end sooner or later. The land can't sustain constant war forever, and if we're not careful we'll leave it so scarred that it won't be able to sustain us either."

"Don't talk like that," Naruto laughed, "The extinction of mankind is something even the Land of Earth wouldn't want."

"It doesn't always matter what people want," Shikamaru explained, "Sometimes things just happen, especially in war."

Naruto shrugged, "Rest easy Shikamaru, we're going to be fine, believe it."

_I don't know why, _Shikamaru thought, _but I just can't._

**To Be Continued . . .**

* * *

**Note: **Bonus chapter for 1400 reviews. I'm sorry this couldn't be out on the day that epic 1400th review landed, but here it is now, along with its sister (or indeed brother) chapter 140 for your enjoyment. This story owes its continued existence to your reviews, or, if you're reading this and have never reviewed, your hits.

Here's hoping you enjoyed this, and enjoy 140, and a great big Thank You to all reviewers.


	140. The Sixth?

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Forty**

"Hokage-sama!" Shizune cried, "Lady Tsunade two large forces are approaching Konoha!"

Tsunade's head slipped from her palm and slammed down onto her desk, waking her up form what was the first sleep she'd had in almost three days, "Wh-whazzat?" She mumbled.

"Two large armies are approaching Konohagakure!" Shizune said, "Everyone's on alert, we can't tell who they are yet."

"How can that be?" Tsunade demanded, "How can we _not _know who these armies are if we know they're coming?"

Shizune frowned, "A large ninja force is on the approach, they're moving fast and we don't dare send scouts out, their numbers are too great."

"The second army?" Tsunade demanded.

"A large force of soldiers is coming in on us, we can see the dust clouds they're kicking up, and we've sent scouts out to identify _them_."

Tsunade clenched her fists.

There was no ninja force on its way from anywhere, those ninja were no doubt enemies but the soldiers could very well be allies. "Rally half our ninja together, give Naruto command and send Sakura and Kiba with him as lieutenants, order Shikamaru to begin defensive procedures."

Tsunade shook her head and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. The best guesses said that if an attack occurred it'd be while the armies were clashing on the plains of Earth Country, attacking so soon meant something had probably already happened to the army, otherwise Konoha could just call in reinforcements.

"This is it," The Hokage whispered, "it's really happening. Kabuto . . . Orochimaru . . . whoever you really are, what do you have in mind? Why attack so soon? Are you hoping to catch us off our guard?"

She smiled grimly, "Too bad for you, Shikamaru prepared."

* * *

Naruto and Kiba nodded to each other as the latter pulled his flak jacket down over his head.

Naruto glanced at his small army, "Hara, Hitomi," he said, "I'm not supposed to play favorites, but you _are _my kids, so watch each other's backs, there might come a point where I can't."

"Yes sir." Hitomi said, saluting.

Naruto addressed the army, just over a hundred strong, "Nobody strikes until I give the order, keep that in mind. Be ready, we can't let this many ninja reach Konoha. This is our home, these are our families, and no one gets past us, no matter what. Don't throw your lives away, but if you do fall do it in a way befitting a Konoha ninja, now move out!"

There was no applauds, this wasn't that kind of army.

They were silent, stealthy killers and they were about to clash with over a hundred of their brethren.

Naruto could have given an incredible speech but in the end no one was looking forward to this fight, it was going to be quick but it was also going to be bloody beyond all belief.

The ninja moved through the trees with speed that would put a horseman on a road to shame, they propelled themselves from tree to tree with agility that would make a monkey jealous.

When Samurai armies approached birds went silent and animals fled, but because the ninja moved so fast and were so stealthy the animals went on about business as usual.

Naruto made a shadow clone and sent him on ahead; he'd have the clone ascertain the identity of the enemy force.

There was always the chance they were Cloud Shinobi, or allies from Water.

Naruto would keep his fingers crossed.

* * *

Hitomi's hand moved unconsciously to the letter Endo had sent her.

She hadn't read it; it occurred to her that if she died today without having read it she'd spend whatever afterlife might exist wondering what it said.

She wondered if Endo had somehow planned it like that.

She clenched her fists, _No holding back, if even one of them gets past you the damage could be untold, worse the people you love could pay for it. _She thought. _For Tomoko and Nao, for Matsuri and for Miyuki, I refuse to hold back._

Her hand moved to her pocket where she kept the letter.

She was notoriously bad at reading letters she kept for more than a day; she idly wondered what the final letter from her mother had said.

She smirked. _If it's important, I'll live to read it. Unlike my mother, I don't _hate _Endo . . . yet._

* * *

Kouji held his hand out and Matsuri and Hibari stopped, they were perched in threes near the army as it approached, "Banners coming into view . . ." Kouji whispered.

Suddenly he felt a kunai against his throat, a woman's voice said "Stand down buddy, or I'll be forced to kill you."

Kouji raised his hand again, ordering Matsuri and Hibari to break and attack but the woman laughed, "Don't be a twit; your girlfriends are already captured. We really want to surprise the Hokage, don't ruin the fun."

Kouji was allowed to turn around and see his captor; he swallowed hard and shook his head in disbelief.

He turned and saw the banners approaching, "Oh my gosh!" He gasped.

* * *

Naruto's clone leapt through the trees and glimpsed one of the incoming ninja, he saw another clearly as the ninja stopped and stood in the tree.

"Clone?" Gaara asked.

Naruto's clone nodded.

"We're in a hurry. Sorry we couldn't properly announce ourselves."

Naruto blinked a few times as he absorbed the knowledge his clone had just imparted to him after dismissing itself.

He smiled and spoke into his headset, "Uzumaki Naruto to all ninja, go like ramen, these guys are castles."

His silly code to indicate that the army should soften up--or go like ramen--because these were sand ninja, or sand castles.

A simple code, but so childish and stupid no other ninja commander would have used it.

Because no other ninja commander was like Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

Tsunade stood on the walls of the city with Shikamaru and the thirty volunteer bowmen they'd found to man the walls. She turned to the remaining ninja in the city, "Any moment now." She said.

Her scouts hadn't returned, and she'd lost contact with Naruto's force.

She had to assume the worst.

The two forces would arrive at the same time.

The loud crushing sound of thousands of armored men marching became more and more easily audible, and the overwhelming tingling sensation of a large amount of chakra coming towards her city made Tsunade feel faint.

And then the soldiers came into view, Shikamaru shouted, "Hold fire!"

Their banners read "Blazing Vanguard" and "Spear of Flame" at their head came the scout squad and over two dozen field teams, amongst them Tenten, Lee and Shino.

The ninja broke through the forest into the clearing Yamato had made. Naruto was at the head but just behind him came the Kazekage himself.

Tsunade shook her head, "What the blazes--"

Shikamaru laughed, cheers let out from the ninja and militia on the walls as two legions of Fire soldiers and the entirety of the Sand Ninja Corps arrived at Konohagakure to the hero's welcome they deserved.

Tsunade looked at Shikamaru, who, along with her was the only person not happy to see these two forces.

"Did you?" Tsunade asked.

Shikamaru shook his head, "I never sent for them. Their presence here just means we were right, the attack is coming."

Tsunade nodded and looked at Konohagakure, her city.

"I think it's time then," she said, "Send Naruto to my office as soon as he gets back. Shikamaru, I want you there too but I understand if you need a moment with your wife."

"Business before pleasure, I'll be there, Lady Tsunade." Shikamaru said, jumping down from the wall as the gates were opened up for the samurai and the ninja.

* * *

Temari threw herself at Shikamaru as she passed through the gate, there were a few cat calls--most of them from Naruto himself--but she didn't care if she made a scene.

"I was so worried we'd arrive to find a ruin," She told him, "I'm so glad I was wrong. I was so worried about you and Sumiko-chan."

Shikamaru kissed her, "Konoha falls over my dead body, but even then Sumiko would have been safe."

Temari hugged him tightly, "Don't worry about that, now that I'm here I won't let your . . . _our _city fall. I won't let Sumiko grow up without a father." She smiled slyly, "I'll just have to protect you."

Shikamaru shook his head and laughed softly, "I guess you will." He turned to Naruto, who'd now actually resorted to cloning himself to dispense multiple cat calls simultaneously, though Sakura was systematically going down the line, knocking each clone out of existence Naruto was giddy, playful, everyone was.

It saddened Temari because this was probably the last time for a long time that this city would be so . . . happy.

Once she told the Hokage what she needed to tell her.

"Temari-sensei!" Kyoko screamed, throwing herself at Temari, "You're healthy! I was so worried!"

Temari laughed, "I see your mission was a success."

"Not as much as I wanted," Kyoko said, "A lot of Samurai wouldn't come and we had to be careful who we spoke to."

"You did great; this is more than enough to defend Konoha, yet little enough that it won't cripple the Fire army on the front lines." Shikamaru said.

Kyoko looked shaken; Temari said "I haven't told him yet."

"Told me what?" Shikamaru asked.

Temari frowned, "I've spoken to Kabuto, my love. By now this _is _the entire army of the Land of Fire."

* * *

Naruto felt nervous. So many people were here at this council, all of the Konoha Twelve, and Kakashi-sensei. Gaara and Temari were here, but Kankuro was oddly absent from the Suna forces.

Temari's student Kyoko was present, no doubt because she'd brought the armies of Taisho Miura and the volunteer regiment the Blazing Vanguard.

Miura was present, as were several Samurai; Tsunade closed her eyes and said "I have called you all here because there are two very important matters to attend. For one we need to deal with the defense of this city, and be briefed on the information our Nara Temari has obtained. Before that however . . ." Granny Tsunade's eyes locked with Naruto's, he felt nervous all of a sudden.

"I had wanted to last until the ending of the war . . . but now I'm not sure if I'll last that long. I'm old even if I don't look it. I can't lead Konoha forever; my reign has already been one of the longest." She nodded to Naruto, "I want no question of whom my successor would have been if I fall on the field of battle. Uzumaki Naruto, I ask you to accept the reigns of power and become the sixth Hokage of the village Hidden in Leaves."

Naruto's heart stopped.

Hinata, sitting next to him gasped, Shikamaru looked at him expectantly.

Naruto looked at all the faces around the table; those who knew him had encouraging looks on their faces, those who didn't looked curious.

He swallowed and felt his heart manage to start up again, a second that felt like a century passed and he absorbed what the Hokage was asking him to do.

"I'm not trying to throw the burden from my shoulders to yours, Naruto," Tsunade said, "I know it must seem that way . . . but I feel that it's time. I have full faith in the defense Shikamaru has laid out, you would have been the nominal commander in any case; I'm too old for this. Naruto, you've wanted to lead us your entire life, are you ready?"

Naruto looked at his hands, were they the hands of a Hokage?

Was he prepared? Did he know a thousand Jutsu? Just now it felt like he'd forgotten all of them.

He swallowed and nodded, "I'm ready, Lady Tsunade." He said.

Tsunade nodded, "Then it's settled. Uzumaki Naruto, you are the Sixth Hokage of Konohagakure."

The room was silent for a moment, and then slowly applauds began. Naruto didn't know who started them, it may have been Tsunade-sama, it may have been Kakashi-sensei.

Whatever the case everyone clapped as his lifelong dream came to fruition.

He was the Hokage . . .

He moved on autopilot when he and Tsunade traded seats, he briefly wished Sasuke were with him.

He closed his eyes for a moment, _Grant me the strength and serenity to be a good Hokage, help me to guide this city through the rough times ahead_ he said in his mind, and as his eyes opened the world was a different place.

He was sitting in the Hokage's chair. He was the head of the war council.

He swallowed his nervousness and said "Let's get down to business. I want to thank Lady Tsunade, and ask that she remain on as an advisor, and I want to thank Lord Kazekage and Taisho Miura for coming to our aid at this time. Now . . . Nara Temari," Naruto said, looking at Shikamaru's wife, "What threatens our village?"

Temari nodded slightly, "Hokage-sama," she said, officially the first person to call him that, "I spoke to Kabuto, and have since had his words proven true. The Daimyo of the Land of Wind has betrayed the alliance, his actions were confirmed when he ordered an elite legion under command of Hirate Akira to seize Sunagakure and assassinate the Kazekage. Luckily my brother Gaara was not there, unluckily my brother Kankuro was."

Naruto nodded, that explained why Kankuro wasn't here. He wanted to say something . . . anything to comfort Temari and Gaara.

But he let Temari continue, "A force of Iwagakure ninja and elite Wind soldiers is no doubt on their way here now, so we have about a day and a half before they arrive. With the knowledge that Lightning intends to betray us the entire world could well be here within the week."

Temari glanced at Kyoko, "Kyoko and I split up to inform both Konoha and the armies; unfortunately I neglected my duty to Konoha, choosing to make sure my students were safe. We lost a man in the field, we have to assume he's been slain, he bought us the time we needed to escape the enemy with their plans."

Naruto nodded slowly, "Sai . . ." he whispered. What happened to Sai? Could he really be dead?

Temari said "It was horrifying knowing that our Daimyo had betrayed the alliance, but I assure you, the Ninja of Sunagakure stand side by side with their long time allies of Konoha."

"I'd never doubt it. What's the rest of this plan?" Naruto asked.

Temari took a deep breath, "To burn Konoha to the ground and build up a new village, a new country. The Fire Daimyo may be in on the plot, but events up to now suggest he isn't. His armies will either defect to the Sound Organization's coalition or be slaughtered, Kyoko did everything she could but it's a fact that with both Waterfall and Wind, so-called allies turning on them it'd take a miracle for the Fire armies to fight their way though, even so we expect any survivors to rush to the capital, not to Konoha."

"Shikamaru," Naruto said, "How feasible is the idea of bringing the Daimyo here?" Naruto asked.

"I'd advise against it, if he's part of the Sound Organization we'd be giving them a man on the inside, and if he isn't then he can divide their forces by causing them to attack both us and him at the same time."

"Lee stayed behind with the armies," Tenten said, "he and his ninja caught up to us not long before we arrived, the attack went off without a hitch, Fire's army either defected or got smashed, the Daimyo is being held prisoner, only the ninja we left behind escaped, and even then of the five teams we left only three made it back."

"Wait, you left five and three came back?" Naruto asked. That wasn't so bad.

"No, Hokage-sama, of the five four man teams we left only three ninja made it back to us." Tenten said mournfully. "All medics who'd escaped by playing possum and patching their own wounds as they ran."

_Damn. _Naruto thought, clenching his fists. "So Kabuto has the entire world turned against us again."

"Not entirely, Grass didn't defect," Tenten said, "According to the three survivors Grass and some Fire soldiers made a run for the Grass Country, with any luck some of the coalition forces will be sent after them, easing the weight of the hammer that drops on Konoha."

Naruto frowned; he didn't like the idea of benefiting from the suffering of the grass country. "Do we have any idea how soon Water could reinforce us, _if _they actually do?"

"No way to know. Their proposed plan is useless now." Shikamaru said, "We're going to have to ride out the storm here."

"We are," Naruto agreed, "The people aren't. I want an evacuation plan, as many civilians out and taken to safety as possible."

"There's nowhere for them to go," Tsunade said, "Shikamaru considered that before hand."

"The safest place is in the maze, we've been enhancing it to prevent earth ninja from tunneling into it, it's being reinforced by the Oedo clan right now, it'll be a safe enough bunker for the civilians once the fighting starts." Shikamaru said.

"So where does that leave us?" Naruto asked.

Gaara made a map out of sand, it showed the city of Konoha and the lowered trees, Shikamaru pointed out his plan to the Samurai who agreed that it would be a good one, he then turned to Naruto, "I can only guarantee our defense for seven days, against a ninja army that'll be miraculous in and of itself, anything after that and we'll be out of arrows and so our bowmen will b useless, that's taking into account the supplies Miura-san and his men brought in."

Naruto nodded. He looked at the map of Konoha, Gaara said "We're all with you, you have five thousand soldiers, two thousand of them are considered elite. With our combined forces you have just over three hundred and fifty ninja. All that and the mind of my brother-in-law are our assets against . . . the entire world."

Naruto forced a smile to come onto his face, "Kind of makes you feel sorry for the enemy." He said, and everyone, even the Samurai shared a grim laugh.

Naruto stood up, "Dispatch our best scouts, I want to know about these armies before they arrive . . . for now let the people enjoy the sense of security our reinforcements have brought. Tomorrow we'll announce the enemy's capture of the Daimyo and assure the people that he won't be prisoner for long. I want all fighting men on their toes, no one parties, no one drinks, the enemy could come upon us at any time and I want to be ready. Make sure Yamato has lots of rest, we'll need him and his squads to pull the trees down once the enemy armies arrive."

"Pull the trees down?" Temari blinked.

Shikamaru smirked at her, "You'll see."

* * *

Everyone was excited when Kyoko got out of the war council, Kotaro was the only person she'd talk to though.

"How was it?" He asked.

Kyoko shook her head, "I was terrified the whole time. It's . . . it's for real, you know? We're really going to have to fight for dear life; they're not going to spare any of us."

Kotaro nodded, "We're Chuunin, we're ready to lay down our lives."

"Ready," Kyoko said, "but not willing to do it uselessly. I don't want to die Taro-kun; I want to win this war." Kyoko told him.

Kotaro smiled, he was wearing his mask but she could tell by looking at his eyes, "Me too. Let's make sure that we do."

Kyoko smiled and hugged him, "I'm scared." She admitted.

"Everyone is. That's what it means to be a soldier in a war." Kotaro said, but a little slowly he did wrap his arms around her too.

She closed her eyes, and then he said "Out of curiosity, how the blazes did you convince two whole legions to abandon the war camp and come back to Konoha?"

Kyoko laughed softly, "Well . . ."

* * *

Yuu's eyes shot open and he sat up, he hit his head on something hard and fell back down.

"Stay down you nitwit." Kaori whispered.

Yuu rubbed his head, Kaori rubbed her elbow, he said "My Jutsu!"

"Yeah, I caught it. Smart putting a tracking glyph on Kasumi's sword, unfortunately we can't do anything about it."

"What do you mean?" Yuu asked, "She's got to be in the Sound base, we can storm it and--"

"Yuu, that sword is currently in Konohagakure. That means that either the Sound Organization is based in Konoha--which is damned unlikely--or they've already sent her on some mission. We can't know, and we can't act. We can't even warn Konoha."

Yuu took a deep breath, "We have to go there."

"I know." Kaori said.

Yuu sat up, "So let's go!" He said.

"Don't forget your duty. We'll be in Konoha shortly enough . . ."

"What?" Yuu asked.

"We won't be going to liberate it." Kaori said. "Are you ready to do what needs to be done?"

Yuu blinked, "I . . . what?"

"We're going to smash Water's army, and then we're going to charge into the fray as Konoha is trounced by the Sound Organization. We're going to rescue the survivors, but we're not going to do anything to stop the city from falling."

Yuu stared at Kaori, "You can't be serious."

"That's what Takumi said to Tetsuo, but the _old _Raikage assured him that he was indeed, very serious. Takumi is now under house arrest, he's been sent back to Kumo under armed guard." Kaori said coldly.

Yuu shuddered, "What about you?"

"Me?" Kaori smiled, "Now that I know you're okay . . . well never mind what happens to me."

"You're going to break Takumi our of house arrest aren't you?"

Kaori didn't answer, she just smiled lightly, "I served Tetsuo as Raikage, I accepted him as my leader because I thought he was a worthy one. He's nothing but a selfish tool. He'll let Konoha fall so Kumo can swallow up the remains. So his wife can be safe from the _possibility _of danger from her old clan he'll sacrifice an entire village . . . I'm tired of fighting for things I don't believe in."

Yuu stared at his sister, "You're defecting?" He asked.

"I'm resigning again." She admitted. "I'm going to Kumo, I'll stay under house arrest with Takumi, we'll wait out the end of the war . . . when the dust settles we'll figure out what to do with our lives."

"You're going to give up?" Yuu asked.

"It _seems _that way," Kaori said, and Yuu realized she had no intention of staying under house arrest. She'd break Takumi out, then who knew where they'd go, what they'd do.

"Stay with the army Yuu, stay loyal. Be there when they rescue the Konoha survivors, make sure that they rescue as many people as they can, not just the bloodline ninja."

Yuu nodded, then he looked towards the heavens.

_Tomoko . . . _he thought.

Yuu got out of bed and found his legs unsteady, he realized he was in an infirmary wagon and it was moving. Kaori leapt out and disappeared in the darkness.

Yuu, one of the last survivors of the Yurei clan had a simple task in a confusing world.

He'd make sure Tomoko survived whatever befell Konohagakure. Regardless of what Kaori said, if he got no one else out he'd get Tomoko to safety.

He leapt out of the wagon and fell into step with the troops, a few ninja passing by nodded to him, but he didn't know why.

He moved along with the army, with the ninja, he was part of this massive entity, he'd be a loyal part of it as long as it took.

_It's all well and good that _your _woman is safe, Tetsuo . . . but she's not the only person in the world who matters. _Yuu thought darkly.

After an hour he could see the ocean, could see the lights of the Water navy and the campfires of the thousands of Lightning soldiers already waiting at the rendezvous point.

The Water ships weren't afraid to show themselves, they probably thought Lightning would betray Konoha and help them march on it. Little did they know Lightning would betray Konoha in a different way, little did they know that the Lighting Samurai and the Cloud Ninja would see them all dead on these shores.

Yuu took a deep breath and nodded to the grim task.

Whatever had to be done . . . he'd do as his sister said, he'd be loyal, he'd stick with the Raikage and the Daimyo, he'd get to Konoha . . . he'd rescue the people.

He'd rescue Tomoko.

* * *

Sasuke stood aboard one of the troop carriers that were leading the Water soldiers to the shore in secret, while the rest of the navy made a show of slowly approaching the shore torches on.

Taisho Ito stood next to him, the man's spear ready to do damage.

Sasuke proudly wore his Uchiha clothes and his Leaf forehead protector this time, no borrowed Mist equipment.

He'd take his revenge as Uchiha Sasuke, he'd let the enemy know how utterly doomed they were once he set his sights on them.

The ship thudded into the ground and a gate dropped, a hundred soldiers prepared to charge, Sasuke leapt to the shore and shouted "Kill them all!"

Ito mimicked the cry, "Kill them all!"

Captains and lieutenants mirrored the call, it traveled down the lines, repeated by Samurai, conscript, and Shinobi alike.

Over more than a mile of coastline torches lit, ninja leapt from the water, soldiers poured from their ships, and the Water and Mist armies shared the enthusiastic scream of "Kill them all!" as the naval vessels began to bombard the Lightning army's position.

The armies of Water and the ninja of Mist charged their stunned army, Sasuke ran at the forefront, though Suigetsu was soon shoulder to shoulder with him.

The armies clashed, Suigetsu threw his sword, cleaving four men--one of them a samurai--in half at the waist before the blade returned to him covered in blood which he used to summon his demon.

Laughing he looked at Sasuke and, said "Kill 'em all, huh? You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say something like that."

Sasuke didn't answer as he blew a ball of fire that set an entire cadre of Lightning spearmen running for cover.

Suigetsu had no idea how long Sasuke had ached to say it.

All of these bastards would pay for what they did to Shiroi.

_Kill them all. Kill them all. Kill them all. _Sasuke thought to himself. Those three words became his entire world. One enemy soldier fell before him, one enemy ninja, two more soldiers at once, then a Samurai, it wasn't enough. No one could stand up to him and Suigetsu, and no one could run away either. Everyone that crossed paths with the two of them died.

And it still wasn't enough. A Genin younger than Shiroi had been, a Jounin, probably the kid's sensei, two more Samurai, it still wasn't enough.

_Kill them all. Kill them all. Kill them all._

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **How indeed did Kyoko convince Miura to come to Konoha's aid? What's in Hitomi's letter? Find out in the next chapter, for as the arc nears its ends questions will be answered, and lives will be lost, read on and see how things play out. Keep your fingers crossed for your favorite ninja, as not _only _original characters will fall.


	141. The Lies We Tell

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Forty One**

Some days ago Kyoko had sat down across from Miura, who didn't bother to face her, instead went on staring at the back of his command tent.

Kyoko could see a map of the projected battlefield, and blocks that represented different legions in different formations. Judging by the map's scale and the number of little blocks on it this was going to be a big battle.

At least it would be if not for the fact that Kabuto had so many of the other countries in his pocket.

The girl thought briefly that it might not be such a bad thing that tens of thousands of commoners forced from their homes and made to carry arms for their daimyo, wouldn't be fighting to the death in this valley. Those thoughts were dispelled when she remembered that they'd just have to fight to the death in Konoha, or somewhere else, no one's life was safe as long as this war raged on.

"I read your report." Miura said calmly, "It's a load of hogwash."

"If you think that why did you summon me here?" Kyoko demanded.

Mirua continued as if he hadn't heard her, "You take the enemy's word and an unconfirmed report, allegedly from the Kazekage that most of our allies will turn on us and so we should abandon the invasion of The Lands of Earth, don't you see that's just what the enemy wants? If we abort the invasion we're dooming our chances to end the war."

"You'll be walking into a trap, we need to take as many soldiers as we can, we can't just--"

"I've overlooked the battle plans, its true that Earth has a massive army, but they're mostly untrained conscripts, many armed only with clubs. You understand, do you not, that once our armies clash these numbers will plummet, the slaughter of their comrades will force many of the Earth conscripts to flee, and this will demoralize the regulars."

"If you won't listen to me why am I here?" Kyoko scoffed, standing up to leave.

"Because I'm hoping you'll listen to me, little girl. Your village headman has abandoned the front lines, our plans can't succeed without the aid of the Sand ninja."

Kyoko shook her head, "Village headman? He's the Kazekage, a title of honor, I don't call your daimyo a Provincial Tax Collector, don't call my Kage a village headman."

Miura scoffed, "Typical. You ninja are all the same. You have no respect for decorum, you have no respect for law, you even dare compare your leaders to the Daimyo themselves."

Kyoko scoffed, "Your view of ninja is too shallow. You don't accept anything except what you know, you don't know ninja so you don't accept them."

"Don't know ninja?" Miura laughed rudely, "My own son left home to follow your ilk, you worshipers of darkness, masters of secret acts. The world has looked upon you for protection long enough, your time has come and gone. We Samurai will take your place, where there once were missing ninja causing wanton destruction there will be Ronin, acting with honor even without a master to command them. Where there once were ninja who murdered hundreds for their own selfish reasons a Samurai will face his opponent and look them in the eyes as they kill them."

"Please," Kyoko scoffed, "Ninja are soldiers the same as Samurai, the difference is that we're not so bound to formality and archaic thinking."

"Clearly. You took my only son away from me, your ninja ways did anyway. You have no idea what it's like to be . . . alone." Miura growled, "To know that your most precious people have been taken away from you forever. You don't understand, how _could _you? You don't belong to a real clan, you're a ninja."

Kyoko closed her eyes, "You're right, I don't belong to a clan. But you contradict yourself as well, because I do know what it's like to be alone and it's _because _I'm not part of a clan. I don't have anyone."

"Nonsense, don't try to make me pity you, your ninja parents must be very proud." Miura scoffed.

Kyoko scoffed back, "I wouldn't want your pity if I had it, and my mother and father weren't ninja."

"Weren't?" Miura raised an eyebrow.

"That's right, they weren't, past tense. They're not anything now but memories that'll die with me. Even if I survive this war and have children they won't know the man who carried me on his shoulders, or the woman who stayed by my side night and day when I was sick. They'll be words to them, stories I tell, nothing more. I know what it's like to be alone, to have no one left to you."

"You cannot be Samurai," Miura insisted.

_I'll take that as a compliment_, Kyoko thought but said "My father was a shoemaker and my mother was a seamstress. So they weren't samurai, does that make my loss any less significant than your own?"

Miura had the audacity to nod, "Yes, of course it does. You see you've lost your past, but you know it. _You _remember the man who carried you on his shoulders, _you _remember the woman who stayed by your side day and night when you were sick. Your children will never meet them, but they will know them because of the stories you tell them, and feel their echo when you do those things for them yourself."

Miura shook his head, "But I have lost my future. My son is dead, my wife is dead, who will remember me? Who will carry my name? My line ends with me unless I betray the memory of my wife and marry again, how could I, a man of honor, do such a thing? How could I sleep with another woman, let alone conceive a son with her to carry on my line? Worse while you have memories of your parents to visit I have nothing of my son.

"Oh I can remember how excited I was when his nannies told me he'd taken his first step, I recall how pleased I was when his mother told me he'd spoken his first words. Saizo was my son, but what memories do I have of him himself? The only times we ever had together were brief and hardly worth committing to memory."

"And yet if you look," Kyoko said evenly, "I think you'll find quite a few of them. I found that I remember a lot of little things with me and my parents. You remember the first time you were told your son had spoken, but don't you also remember the first time you heard him speak with your own ears? The first time you _saw _him take his steps?" Kyoko shook her head, "You can't quantify grief, your pain and mine may be the same, one of us may feel more, but who can say for sure who it would be in that case? You lost your future, but so have I, the only difference is you're the one dooming mine. I can't have a future if I don't survive this war, and if Konoha falls I'll probably die fighting for it."

"You? Why? You're not a leaf ninja." Miura said.

"You may not believe it, but we ninja have honor too. We of Sunagakure will fight and die for our allies, and we know we can expect the same from Konohagakure. Samurai and ninja alike have died fighting this war, but we don't despise you. How can we win this war if we despise each other? If we won't trust each other just because we've been trained differently? At the end of the day ninja want to win this war just as much as Samurai do, and if it's a matter of glory and praise you can keep it all for yourselves, we ninja don't need it. We just want to end this."

Miura stared at her, "I brought you here because the Sand ninja have abandoned the front, I wanted to use you to convince the Kazekage that this invasion is the important aspect of the war, I didn't bring you here to discuss anything other than that."

"I came here to convince you to lead your army to Konoha and help keep it from falling. I have no other reason for being here. Understand that the people responsible for your son's death are going to wipe the village from the face of this world, worse they've already infiltrated this army so deeply they're like a cancer that cant be purged, so many Taisho have switched sides, the armies from the three minor nations are in Sound's pocket, they'll turn on you. You'll either die or join them, either way you're just hurting the Land of Fire, but if you follow us to Konoha you'll be able to stand with us against the people truly responsible for Saizo's fate, and in addition to gaining a measure of revenge you'll be helping to protect Fire's last best hope for victory. If the ninja village falls, there's nothing left for the Land of Fire, plain and simple.

"Like it or not ninja are necessary for winning the war, there's very few of us left but those that are left are the true veterans and survivors, we're powerful and a nation without any of us is doomed. The Land of Fire will lose all of its ninja if Konoha falls, Wind's ninja were on the front lines so they could take Sunagakure without having to worry about wiping out their ninja corps."

"Take Sunagakure?" Miura raised an eyebrow, "Oh yes, I recall. Your report suggested that Sunagakure had fallen under attack by stone ninja and Wind soldiers, but I find that highly suspect."

"Why else would our Kazekage have taken all his ninja from the front lines, abandoning the army?"

"To make a bid for power while the samurai are away, to turncoats, to desert. You tell me." Miura said.

Kyoko shook her head, "We're fighting for Konoha, and you should be too. At least give me some of your men to take with me, a legion or two won't make much difference when your allies turn on you."

"It'll make all the difference if that happened." Miura said.

Kyoko shook her head, "There's no point continuing this discussion, I have a job to do and you're wasting my time. You refuse to hear me, you have your own ideas and beliefs and you reject everything I say that doesn't support or at least fit in with them. I'll never convince you because you can't imagine why the world might be _more _than you perceive it to be, and you'll never convince me because I _know _that sometimes things aren't as simple as they appear."

"Wait a moment . . ." 'Miura said, "It may surprise you to know . . . that I had decided to move on Konoha."

Kyoko raised her eyebrows, "You what? Why?"

"I was ordered. I forwarded your report to the Daimyo, he feels it's a cause for concern. He wants my legion and one other stationed in Konoha, he trusts you for your word. I did not, and I was attempting to get you to confess to something, _anything_ so that I could have you killed." Miura said casually.

Kyoko took a paniced look onto her face, "You forwarded my message to the Daimyo? I told you he couldn't be trusted!"

"But he can be, he ordered legions to Konoha, did he not? In any event were it not for his own order I would not go. If my Daimyo wanted Konoha burned to the ground I would carry the torch personally, you do not understand what it is to be a Samurai, but you understand what it is to be a ninja. I understand now you are not loyal to the Daimyo directly, but are loyal to his people. The Daimyo _is _his people, they are his arms and legs, extensions of his being, and so in this way the ninja of Konoha are loyal to my Daimyo, that is enough for me to agree to help them."

Kyoko bowed her head slightly, "Th-thank you, I guess . . . and thanks to the Daimyo. I . . . I guess we'd better get moving."

"Indeed." Miura said, standing up and leaving the tent.

Kyoko followed and was intercepted by Tenten.

"Hey it's crazy," The Konoha Jounin said, "Lee just told me that the Blazing Vanguard is mobilizing and marching for Konoha, and these guys are already packing up camp too. "

"Miura-san sent our message to the Daimyo before he ever read it himself," Kyoko whispered, "Just like you said he would," she added, looking to Shino, even though she didn't have to say that part out loud, she and Shino already knew.

"Amazing! The Daimyo agreed to send legions? This is really incredible." Tenten whistled, "Lucky thing the Daimyo is on our side."

Yeah, one could say that it was lucky the Daimyo was on their side . . .

Someone else could say that Shino and Kyoko had watched Miura's tent carefully, intercepted his messenger, applied some Genjutsu and forged a decree to force the elite unit to Konoha whilst simultaneously sending a message to the Daimyo stating that the Spear of Flame, and the Blazing Vanguard--whom Rock Lee insisted would be willing to march in their favor--would be marching for the supply depots to gather up more grain before the big offensive.

By the time the Daimyo realized what they were really doing--if he ever did--it wouldn't matter. If Kabuto had told the truth, the trap would have sprung.

Kyoko felt cold and empty inside, she'd lied to Miura, acted surprised when he gave the order, but in truth he was acting on _her _orders. She could never tell anyone, only Shino would ever know what she'd done and it had had to be her because if Shino dared to forge the letter he would have been executed.

She wasn't a citizen of the Land of Fire, she owed the Daimyo no loyalty and so lying to him and his generals to achieve her own ends was totally acceptable to the young kunoichi.

She'd do it again too, in a heartbeat.

She couldn't tell Kotaro though, how could she? So when he asked she simply said "I told you, Taro-kun . . . I want to win this war. Protecting Konoha and liberating Suna even if it cost me my soul, that is my objective. That's why in the end, Taisho Miura never really had any choice in the matter."

_I just hope--no, I'm glad I _did_ make the right decision._ Kyoko thought.

* * *

Tosa Kimiko felt the wagon shudder and bounce along the uneven road, but she ignored it.

She stared blankly at the ceiling of the medical cart that now carried her and the prisoner samurai Konjo Takumi back to town.

She felt so useless, so empty.

_Ambushed by some monster . . . her Genin was kidnapped . . . she may never walk again._

Of all of words said to and towards her since what she feared had been her final battle those three sentence fragments had replayed in her head over and over again.

_She may never walk again._

_Her Genin was kidnapped._

_Ambushed by some monster._

The words replayed in her head over and over, and the realization that she'd failed her country, her village, and her students played through her head as well. She'd cried off and on at first, but now her eyes were dry, she had no tears left to shed and her throat hurt from sobbing.

_Ambushed by some monster._

_Her Genin was kidnapped._

_She may never walk again._

It didn't make sense . . . why wouldn't they _know _whether or not she'd walk again? Weren't the field medics knowledgeable as any doctor? Didn't they know whether or not her injury was permanent?

She closed her eyes for a moment.

Kasumi, how could she help Kasumi? She'd do anything, give anything. Her body was useless now, she couldn't walk, she couldn't run, she couldn't save Kasumi.

But her brain, oh her brain was still useful wasn't it? So why didn't they ask her advice? Why didn't they ask her how to go about tracking Kasumi down?

They did mean to track her down didn't they?

She heard some noises, she noticed Takumi, who sat on the other side of the carriage, arms tied behind his back suddenly raise his head and look towards the door of their wagon.

Tosa managed to prop herself up and look at the door as well.

It opened slowly, and a lone figure walked in.

"I did _not _just subdue six guards just to find you with another woman." Yurei Kaori said, leaning against the door, "How long has this been going on, Takumi?"

Konjo laughed, "You're unbelievable."

"What did you say?" Kimiko demanded, "You killed six samurai?"

"I said subdued and that's what I did." Kaori shrugged, "They don't have to die." She turned to Konjo and said "Come on Takumi, lets go. I don't know _where_, but Kumogakure isn't worth hanging around anymore."

Takumi stood up so Kaori could untie his hands and he said "I know where we're going. You can follow the Tracking Glyph Jutsu that Yuu put on Kasumi's sword, right? We're going after her."

"Problem is she's in Konoha, that place will be locked up tight." Kaori said. "We won't be able to infiltrate it, and if we go openly they'll imprison us and conduct their own search for the Sound operatives."

"We have to chance it." Takumi said, "There's just something about Konoha, I think they'll be willing to welcome us as friends."

"You can't mean us actually _living _in Konoha!" Kaori gawked, "I mean what makes you think it'll be any better than Kumogakure? They're just as dark and twisted, all ninja are, the best thing for us to do is find some quiet place to retire and never have to pick up a kunai again."

"Those with the power to fight _must_ fight or this war is just going to cause more suffering. Konoha is fighting, that's where I'm going. Every ninja village has its dark side, but they also have their righteous side too, Konoha has a lot of evil within itself, but it also has a lot of good. Their goodness outweighs their evil in my mind, so I think we can trust them."

Kaori nodded slightly, "Fine, whatever, I'll go with you but if the Raikage's plan works and the only survivors of Konoha are his "guests" then I don't think he'll be too happy to see us."

"Oh he'll be furious." Takumi said with a shrug, "Nothing we can do about it, we're not exactly his best friends, we _did _try to kill him you know."

"Yeah, I remember that . . . just vaguely." Kaori joked, "Think he'll hold a grudge?"

"I'm really surprised neither of us was executed." Takumi laughed, "Oh wait, that would have been _my _job. I guess he didn't train a replacement while he was in hiding. Let's go."

"Wait!" Tosa gasped, "Please take me with you."

"Um . . . there's no gentle way to say this but, we're about to break every law in the ninja village and I don't trust you not to go all patriotic and try to stop us at some point." Kaori said.

"Kasumi is _my _student!" Tosa Kimiko hissed, "Do you _really _think she means more to you than she does to me? What will you do when you find her? What could you possibly do other than kill her? I can reason with her, I spent years training that girl, treating her like a sister, I know I can get through to her if you just take me along with you."

Takumi shook his head, "We won't kill Kasumi, you have my word."

"I need to go!" Kimiko insisted.

"You can't . . ." Kaori trailed off, as if searching for the right word.

"Walk?" Kimiko offered.

"Yeah . . ." Kaori said, unable to meet Kimiko's gaze.

"I can still feel my legs, I don't think I'm paralyzed . . . if nothing else the leaf village has the three most renowned medic ninja in the world, if I've got any chance of getting better it's there."

"How will you keep up with us?" Kaori asked, "If we carry you we won't be able to fight."

Tosa fell back on the cot, but Takumi said "Kaori, can you carry her outside?"

"Why don't you? You're the man around here, you do the heavy lifting."

"Heavy?" Tosa squawked, "I'm _not _heavy!"

"I can carry her out but I'd just have to hand her over to you once we're out of the wagon so why not skip a step?"

Kaori shook her head, "You lazy punk." She laughed uneasily and picked up Kimiko.

The younger woman tried in vain to move her legs just to show that she didn't need Kaori's help but it came to nothing.

The three walked out into the night and Takumi recovered his two chakra swords from an unconscious Samurai, cutting his hand on one of them he held it out and let his blood drip onto a tattoo on his wrist that Tosa hadn't noticed before, one that looked as if it might only have been aplied a few hours ago.

It disappeared in a puff of smoke, suddenly the smoke grew and took shape. When the cloud of gray smoke disappeared in its place was a large wolf, twice the size of a horse. As was usual for summoned creatures, it was clohted. It wore an exotic sort of armor, and a pair of swords on its back, Kimiko guessed that like most summoned creatures the wolf would be able to use these swords even though it had no opposable thumbs with which to grip them. It was a dusky brown color, its eyes which seemed to glow royal blue in the darkness regarded Kimiko and Kaori then leveled on Takumi.

"Been a while. What's with the getup?" The wolf asked.

"I was a Samurai briefly," Takumi explained to the wolf, "Now I guess I'm a Ronin or whatever the Samurai equivalent of a mising nin would be."

"Grand." The creature laughed. "The battle's over," it added, indicating the six unconscious samurai, "what'cha want me for?"

"We need a ride. A fast ride. A, get us to Konoha before your time here is up ride." Takumi said.

"Where're we?" The wolf scoffed.

"Smell your way there, we don't have time to stop and ask directions." Takumi said. "Oh!" He laughed, as he and Kaori helped Kimiko onto the wolf's back, "I almost forgot, ladies this is Zilian, the fastest wolf in this world."

"Fastest _anything_ in this world!" Zilian scoffed.

"Prove it." Takumi said as the three of them settled on the wolf's back.

With a throaty laugh the wolf sprang forward, Kimiko was knocked back from the sheer force of the sudden leap.

She focused as much chakra as she could to her hands and tried to lay as flat as she could against the giant wolf's back, but even then she felt like she might never be able to hold on.

But she had to find the wherewithal to cling to this creature's back, she needed to reach Konoha, get healed if it were possible and even if it weren't she needed to help these two find Kasumi and the Sound organization's Konoha base.

_I'll bring her back, _Kimiko thought to herself, _I wont lose her too._

* * *

Hitomi felt a little awkward as she stood over Miyuki's bed.

"What's happened to you . . ." She sighed, asking the question not for the first time. Her hand wandered idly to her pocket.

Hara was fast asleep in a chair nearby, Naomasa however had come and Hitomi felt a little odd having him there. He didn't really know Miyuki, how could he realize just how she and Hara felt about this? Like most everyone else she expected he'd just call it a coma and be on his merry way.

But actually the boy did seem pretty concerned for Miyuki and he'd kept asking questions until Hitomi told him that she absolutely did not know _anything _about medicine. It was weird, she'd brought him along in the hopes that he'd get bored enough to wander off and leave her alone for a while but now she sort of liked having him there with her.

She slowly felt the letter still in her pocket, she took it out and looked at it.

She scoffed and fell into a seat near the window and opened the envelope.

She scanned the words quickly and laughed, Naomasa glanced at her, "What?" He asked.

"Oh it's nothing." She said, "just a really rude joke."

"Let me see it." Nao said.

"No." Hitomi scoffed, crumpling the paper up. "There's some erotic details in there you don't need to know about," she lied and began wondering how best to get rid of it without Naomasa ever reading it.

As she considered this though Naomasa managed to snatch the letter and read it aloud.

"Lets see, it says . . . _Hijiri_--how formal of him--_let's_ _not beat around the bush. You don't like me, and that's fine, I don't really care about you either_--you really dated this guy?"

"Yes well aren't you as sensitive as a tack. That's uh, that's just how we are together, you've seen your sensei and his wife, it's back and forth with them, you'd almost never guess they were in love."

Nao nodded and continued reading as Hitomi made a lunge for the letter, "_I know I owe you big time, I realized that the moment we set out from Konoha. I don't like owing favors to people I don't intend to meet ever again._" He glanced at Hitomi, his joking expression gone, "This sounds . . . not so good." He said.

"So stop reading it out loud!" Hitomi hissed.

"Sorry, I thought you were just kidding, I didn't realize he was breaking up with you!" Nao said, trying to hand her back the letter but somehow Hara sprang out and snatched it.

"Oh I've _got _to see this," Hara laughed, "Where'd you leave off? Aha, let's see it says: _So here's my payment for your favor along with my thanks_--whoa, what _favor _is he talking about Hitomi? What've you been up to?" Hara laughed and finished the letter, "_In truth I sensed the evil in that room the moment I set foot in it, I'm amazed you didn't realize it. Maybe you're too used to darkness to really know when its strong. In any case this should solve your friend's problem._"

Hara laughed for a moment then shook his head, "Who was this from?"

"That doctor," Naomasa shook his head, "So he broke up with you in a letter. What a jerk."

Hitomi was about to admit that she'd never actually dated Endo but Hara's eyes were wide open now, "Wait, wait, wait, that guy who said he might be able to help Miyuki? Hitomi, what did he send you? Was it medicine? What?"

"He's just being a jerk, look inside the envelope. Wicked sense of humor, huh?"

"What is this? An explosive tag? Very funny." Hara scowled.

"That's not an explosive tag." Naomasa piped up.

"What?" Hara blinked, "Look at it."

"Well for starters if it were an explosive tag," Naomasa said, reaching into the envelope and taking the item in question out, "we've had plenty of opportunities to have activated it by now. No, no, this is a purity seal, my mom used to use these if me and my sisters got really, _really _sick. Dad says they're a load of crap though. You put it over here, like this," Naomasa said, placing the seal over Miyuki's heaboard, "It's supposed to chase out the evil spirits causing the illness."

Hara laughed grimly, but Hitomi sprang forward, shoving Naomasa away, "Get back!" She shouted.

"What the--" Hara yelped as she shoved Naomasa into him, "Hitomi what's your problem?"

Hitomi backed away from Miyuki, who began to cough, "Oh my gosh!" She whispered as the ghostly form rose from Miyuki's body.

It was like a long, massive serpent. It seemed to whisp in and out of existence, and Hitomi could never see it's entire body all at once, it was sort of like looking at something that could only make two thirds of itself invisible at any given time, but couldn't decide which thirds to make invisible, bits of it kept reappearing and disappearing but its eyes were one constant thing.

She saw it, it saw her, did it _know _she could see it too?

"What's going on?" Hara demanded, "Hitomi why are you freaking out?"

"You don't see it?" She whispered, then leapt onto the bed, she thrust her hand forward, fire chakra burning around her even though she wasn't using any Jutsu she lashed out at the astral being but the serpent leaned back and struck out at her, she felt it bite into her chest and wrap itself around her, she lost control of her arms and legs, fell to the ground unable to move.

She heard voices that sounded like they were coming from far away, one of them was Miyuki.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **I am _fairly_ sure I missed updating last week. I'm sorry for that, but this double update this week should make up for it, enjoy!


	142. A Child's Potential

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Forty Two**

Naomasa stared dumbstruck as Hitomi lay on the ground motionless, barely breathing.

Hara put his hand on her neck, "She's alive, but she's out. She's unconscious, what's going on?"

Miyuki's coughing continued and then to Naomasa's amazement she sat up and groaned.

She waved her hand towards the seal; Naomasa knew instantly what she meant.

He took the seal and put it on Hitomi.

There was a sound like an explosion, the seal burned up and Hitomi sat up, looking around wildly she got to her feet, then stumbled forward and threw up on the floor.

"Oh come on," Miyuki said softly, "I dealt with it for a lot longer, at least I can keep my lunch."

"Screw you." Hitomi rasped, and then she threw herself at Miyuki.

The two wrapped their arms around each other and Miyuki laughed.

Hara shook his head in amazement, "Miyuki . . . you're . . ."

"Fine, fine . . . can I have a drink?" She asked.

"But you just, you just woke up! What was that? What's going on?" Hara asked.

"The enemy has a very frighteningly powerful Jutsu. Drink please." Miyuki said, sitting up, she stretched and said "He enveloped me in a sort of darkness, even when I was awake it was like being asleep. It was trying to take control of me the whole time, but I wouldn't let it. I think after a while it stopped trying to control me and tried to kill me instead, holding me in place helpless until I starved to death but Shizune-sempai made sure that didn't happen and that _thing _just got frustrated."

"Thing . . . what thing?" Hara asked.

"It was like a snake," Hitomi said, "Some weird snake."

"I couldn't see it," Miyuki said, "I just felt it, it wasn't exactly intelligent, it had orders and it was trying to carry them out. It just _couldn't_. I guess that guy who stabbed me and left that Jutsu on me had no idea how hard _I _personally would fight against anything controlling my body."

Naomasa looked at Hitomi and said "You saw it?"

Hitomi seemed nervous, "Well, maybe I was hallucinating."

"Come off it, admit you saw it." Hara said firmly, "How is it that you saw it and no one else did?"

Naomasa knew right away, even before Hitomi's hands nervously moved to her goggles.

"We need to tell the Hokage." Miyuki said.

"So wait, _why _could I see it? Why couldn't I see it before?" Hitomi demanded.

"The seal." Naomasa reasoned, "I'll bet that monks have some sort of chakra in their seals that repels the sort of chakra that the would-be assassin used for his Jutsu. When the purity seal drove the thing--let's assume it was a summon of some sort--out of Yamamoto, Hitomi was able to see it."

"Makes sense. So she could see this odd chakra beast . . . no, sorry it doesn't make sense." Hara shook his head, "None of this makes sense. I must still be asleep."

Miyuki shook her head, "No, I think he's right. Far be it for me to claim that whatever monk or priest made that seal actually communes with some sort of all powerful being. I don't know, and I don't care, it's neither here nor there, the fact of the matter is that the energy of that seal, let's call it yang, repelled the being that was controlling me, we'll call that yin. Since it's impossible that any living thing could be taking up the exact same space and time as I myself, I think it may well have been a being made out of chakra, and _that _is truly frightening. If the enemy can summon creatures made entirely out of chakra what defense could we possibly have?"

Naomasa shuddered, "If they could themselves become pure chakra . . ." He felt really worried all of a sudden, as if from out of nowhere a ghostly enemy ninja would appear and take over his body.

"Let's not jump to any conclusions, chakra snakes are far fetched enough," Hara said.

"Explain what just happened!" Hitomi demanded, but Hara held up a hand.

"I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just saying it's out there, we should see the Sixth."

"Sixth?" Miyuki raised an eyebrow, "Did something happen to Lady Tsunade?"

"No, she just retired." Hara laughed softly, "You'll never guess who her successor was."

* * *

Shikamaru leaned over a counter near a window in his kitchen staring out at the clouds.

He didn't have time to just hang out and watch the sky anymore; everyone was bustling, getting ready for Konoha's defense.

He'd planned everything, and yet he still felt worried.

He felt Temari's arms wrap around his waist, and her head lean against his back, "Stop worrying." She said.

"I'm not worried." He lied.

"It's written all over your face," Temari said, "don't let this get you down . . . we're going to be okay, Shika-kun."

Shikamaru put his hand on hers and sighed, "Do you remember our wedding day?"

"Jeez, it wasn't _that _long ago, of course I do." Temari said.

"It was . . . probably the scariest day of my life." Shikamaru said softly, "I mean . . . I was getting _married_, and not just to anyone, I was marrying _you_."

"What's that meant to mean?" Temari demanded.

"What if I screwed something up?" Shikamaru asked, "what if I made a mistake, went too far with a joke, teased you too roughly, what if I ruined everything? I was scared out of my wits wondering if I could possibly be a good father to Sumiko and our other child."

"Other child?" Temari laughed, "How many do you think we've got?"

"It's not how many we've got, it's the one we're _going _to have. How would I do as a father? As a husband? Would you someday get so sick of me that you'd regret leaving your family and your home to be with me? All these things played through my head you know . . ." Shikamaru whispered.

"You're a decent father," Temari said, "I wouldn't want anyone else. I think Sumiko might like the ice cream vendor a little bit more, but that'll pass."

Shikamaru smiled and whispered, "Temari, do you remember what you said at the wedding?"

"I said a lot of stuff." Temari yawned.

"Your words put me at ease, and I suddenly felt ready for everything. It was when Kiba and Konohamaru talked Naruto into streaking in his sexy Jutsu."

"Yeah, you know I've always wondered why he'd develop a Jutsu that turns _himself_ into a naked centerfold. I mean if I didn't know he'd come up with it _before _he mastered shadow clones . . ." Temari trailed off.

Shikamaru smirked, "Gross, really gross."

Temari smirked, "I remember what I said then. I squeezed your arm just like this," She said, releasing his waist and standing besides him, hanging onto his arm, "I whispered in your ear . . . from now on you and I will do everything together, we will live, sleep, eat and someday be laid to rest side by side . . . so when you get Naruto on his own, give me the signal and I'll hold him while you punch, you know, in the spirit of togetherness." She squeezed his arm slightly and said "We never did punish him for streaking at our wedding . . . now he' Hokage, he's got body guards, we've probably missed our shot."

Shikamaru smiled at her, "You and I have vowed to spend our lives together, Temari, to share every challenge . . ." He looked off into the distance, "I love you, and the mere thought of anything happening to you is torture. The thought of something happening to Sumiko hurts too, the idea that something might happen to the _both _of you is more than I can take. It's a real bother arranging the defense of this village, and I'm worried . . . but whenever I get too worried I just remember what you said."

Temari smiled, "Yeah, so when the invasion starts we'll find Kabuto, and I'll hold him while you punch, huh?"

Shikamaru smirked, "Something like that. I really think you know me better than anyone else . . . and Sumiko's survival rests on my plans . . . that's why I want you to find the flaw that I know is in there, something's pestering me, I want you to be my partner in this Temari, and help me figure out what it is and the solution."

Temari kissed him lightly, "No problem. But we get started this afternoon."

"Why not now?" Shikamaru asked.

"Right now we're spending time with Sumiko, let's not forget what it is we're fighting for." Temari said, nodding towards the kitchen table where Sumiko, strapped into a high chair had been left with a green crayon and some pieces of paper.

She glanced from her parents to her blank piece of paper back and forth again, sort of like she was waiting for them to draw the picture for her so she wouldn't have to.

Shikamaru smiled and leaned over his daughter, looking at her paper he said "Well? You going to do anything with that?"

Sumiko wrinkled her little nose and slapped the paper with her hand as if it were supposed to accomplish something, and got pretty irritated when it didn't.

Temari gently guided Sumiko's hand across the paper with the crayon, making a small, imperfect circle. "See? That hand makes pictures." Temari said.

Sumiko drew another circle, looking puzzled at first, then drew another, and another, leaving a total of three odd misshapen circles she then left the picture alone and looked expectantly at her mother and father.

"Very nice," Shikamaru said, "what's it supposed to be? No wait, let me guess . . . it's how many cups of ice cream you want."

"She's a baby, her picture doesn't have to be anything." Temari said.

"I'd imagine she's a toddler by now" Shikamaru said. "Toddler's pictures should mean something, you know, on a psychological level."

"I don't think you're a toddler until you start walking." Temari answered.

"Well maybe it's time we taught her." Shikamaru said when suddenly there was a knock on the door.

Shikamaru answered it, and smiled, "Ino, Chouji, what a surprise."

"Hey Shikamaru . . . got a minute? I had something I wanted to talk to you about," Chouji said, "it's pretty important."

"Sure." Shikamaru said, tilting his head and indicating that his old teammates should come in. He closed the door behind them and led them into the kitchen where Sumiko, probably feeling like her picture hadn't been good enough originally, quickly set to work on it again.

Ino smiled, "Look at that, she's drawing circles. Pretty neat, kiddo! I'll leave this to you Cho."

Shikamaru and Chouji remained by the door though Ino went into the kitchen to watch Sumiko draw.

"So what brings you two by?" Shikamaru asked.

Chouji lowered his head and said "I've been thinking a lot about the fight that's coming up. We're going to have a lot of work to do, not all of us are going to survive. Even Naruto nearly bought it."

Shikamaru nodded, "I won't tell you this won't be hard."

"The thing is . . . I mean I've got a lot of things to worry about Shikamaru and I kind of decided that . . . if it's not too much trouble . . ." Chouji sighed, "I don't want to pile anything else on your plate, but if anything happens to me . . ."

Shikamaru shook his head, "You're not allowed to let anything happen to yourself. If anything happens to _me_, and Temari we need you to take care of Sumiko."

"Me?" Chouji shook his head, "Why me?"

"Who else can I trust? Temari agrees Gaara isn't right for the job, we don't know where Kankuro is and we don't trust his girlfriend anyway. I mean sure, there's my parents, but suppose something happens to them too? You and Ino are the only people I'd trust with my daughter if Temari and I couldn't raise her ourselves."

Chouji lowered his head and said "I'm honored Shikamaru, but I hope it doesn't come to that. I actually came here . . . because I wanted to ask you the same thing."

"Huh?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"The thing is, well Ino is . . . I mean . . . if anything happens to me, Ino might need help and so if I don't make it Shikamaru, I was hoping you and Temari would look after Ino . . . and _my _child."

Shikamaru stared at Chouji for a moment, he couldn't stop a wide grin from spreading across his face, it was simply impossible not to smile at his best friend just then.

There were no words, he just smiled and shook his head, and he looked at Ino. No one would ever guess she was pregnant, she was as slim as ever.

"We just found out today, she's a month along," Chouji said, "I mean I asked her to marry me a month ago and we got a little . . . uh . . . well anyway we're pretty sure that's when it happened. But with all that's going to happen now, I feel weird. I mean . . . if I fall out there, I'll be leaving her _and _our child alone."

"We'll watch each other's backs, neither of our kids is growing up without a father, deal?" Shikamaru asked.

Chouji nodded, "That was always the plan. But . . . but _if _the worst should happen . . ."

"We'll make sure it doesn't," Shikamaru said, "but _if _it does, then yes, I'll look after your family, or you'll look after mine. That's the way things are I guess."

Chouji nodded, the two men walked into the Kitchen, Shikamaru shook his head and tried to look solemn.

"I take it you told him?" Ino raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah . . ." Chouji said.

"Told him what?" Temari demanded.

"That I'm uh . . . well I'm what you were, nine months before Sumiko was born." Ino told Temari.

"Really hungry?" Temari raised an eyebrow.

"Come off it, you know what she means." Shikamaru pointed out.

"I was a lot of things back then." Temari said, "Knocked up is just one of them." She folded her arms and smirked at Ino, "So you're pregnant. That's wonderful, if it's a girl she and Sumiko can be best friends, and if it's a boy we can threaten his life if he flirts with our daughter whilst secretly hoping they get married."

Chouji laughed but Ino shook her head, "It's not that I'm unhappy about it, but I was kind of wondering . . . just how big did _you _get while you were . . . you know . . . I can't even say the word," Ino shuddered, "But uh, when can I expect to get all bloated and gross?"

"Hey!" Temari scoffed, "Being _pregnant _doesn't make you bloated and gross . . . okay so I guess it kind of _does _bloat you up and you'll feel pretty icky, but come on you're not going to be gross. And I'll have you know I didn't even start to show it with Sumiko until the last couple of months, up to then I had everyone convinced that I was just really hungry and moody because of the war . . . you know, depression and such."

"How'd Gaara and Kankuro take the news?" Ino asked.

"What are you, nuts? I didn't tell them!" Temari scoffed, "I kept it a secret for as long as I could. Gaara would have been _pissed_."

"Real good, swear in front of our daughter." Shikamaru teased. "Don't listen to mommy, Sumiko-chan, she's what we grown ups call, a "potty mouth" can you say "potty mouth" Sumiko?"

"I only said 'pissed' that's barely a profanity." Temari scoffed, "And I'll be dam--er I'll be _upset_ if her next words are 'potty mouth' so cut it out. She's going to say "mama" or "dada" or something _normal _like that."

Everyone laughed, Shikamaru however noticed Sumiko's little picture.

"Check out this picture," Shikamaru said, pointing at Sumiko's drawing.

Three circles before, then when Chouji and Ino came in Sumiko added two more circles.

Coincidence?

Shikamaru shook his head as he returned to his initial position to the left of Sumiko's high chair, "I think she drew us. All of us, herself included."

"Don't be stupid," Temari scoffed, "Babies aren't _that _aware of their surroundings, and anyway why would she draw herself too? She just drew some circles, that's all."

Shikamaru looked at Temari and said "Let's see."

He used the shadow clone Jutsu, Sumiko giggled.

But she didn't draw.

He considered a moment, then turned to his clone, the clone, thinking along the same lines as him suddenly transformed into Naruto.

Sumiko drew another circle.

Shikamaru grinned at Temari, "What do you think of that?"

Temari shook her head, "She's just playing, toddlers just draw they don't draw portraits, and even if she were drawing all of us, why draw herself too?"

"Well then why just circles?" Shikamaru asked.

"She only knows how to draw circles." Temari said.

"Every kid knows how to zigzag and scribble," Shikamaru said, "it's all but instinctual."

"I don't know," Chouji said, "If this circle were Shikamaru then the newest circle, the one supposed to be the clone, was drawn at just the right place. See Temari, you're standing on Sumiko's right, Shikamaru is on her left, and he probably was before he answered the door too."

"Hey yeah," Ino said, "and here's me standing across from her, Chouji's far away because he and Shikamaru were talking over by the door when she drew him, but I was already walking towards her. Chouji's moved now too, but she can't repair the picture, that's why she waited to draw me, I was moving. She already had Shikamaru so she didn't redraw him by the door, he was already part of the picture. Now she's added Naruto because of the clone."

"Sorry but this seems a bit advanced for a one year old." Temari said, "It's coincidence."

"She's almost two," Shikamaru pointed out.

"Anyway she's got Shikamaru's genes, and your pretty sharp yourself Temari," Ino said. "You're really surprised your kid is a bit . . . advanced?"

"She doesn't even speak yet, how can we call her advanced? I mean she's a clever little kid, but to think that this picture is actually all of us . . . it's kind of weird." Temari said.

"Maybe she doesn't talk because she doesn't want to," Chouji said, "I mean . . . maybe Shikamaru's laziness is hereditary. For all we know, Sumiko-chan can write too, probably writes whole novels in crayon."

"And stashes it under her crib when you're not looking." Ino said with a smile.

Everyone laughed, but Shikamaru watched Sumiko and shook his head, "You just don't stop surprising me, do you? What else have you got up your little sleeves?" Shikamaru asked, but Sumiko didn't answer.

He wondered though I Chouji's joke had been accurate. Sumiko had called Syako a traitor, even though no one realized it, and from what Temari had told him it was entirely possible that Syako had been involved in Sunagakure's fall.

Could it be that Sumiko would speak if she were properly motivated? He watched his daughter, he knew she wouldn't speak sentences, but words like "mama" and "dada" were probably well within her capability by now, she just didn't feel like she needed to say them.

Shikamaru felt a sudden worried feeling, an echo of what Chouji was feeling.

What if he wasn't there to _hear _Sumiko when she decided it was time to start _really _speaking?

There was another knock on the door, Shikamaru opened the door and raised his eyebrow at Konohamaru, "What's up?" He asked.

"The Sixth wants you . . . said it's important." Konohamaru said.

Shikamaru nodded and turned to Temari, "I uh, I guess the new Hokage needs me. I'll be back, go over my plans okay?"

"Yeah." Temari said.

Shikamaru didn't hesitate, he followed Konohamaru to Naruto's office.

There wasn't time to dilly dally, Naruto took being Hokage very serious and he wouldn't have summoned Shikamaru for an unimportant reason.

* * *

Yuu felt his heart pounding in his chest as the sun rose in the sky.

The Lightning navy had closed with the Water navy in the dark, but it was hard to tell who was worse for ware, Water ships were still bombarding the coast though there wasn't really anything left to bombard, all the fixed instalations had been taken out either by the bombardments or by the ninja.

The land forces had pushed the Lightning army back, inflicting heavy losses, the ninja had only recently given up their attack, Yuu was shaking.

The fight had been rough, Yuu felt weary, tired, like his arms were going to fall off.

He took a deep breath and watched the enemy line.

This was going to complicate things.

Water was either attacking the Lightning army to aid Konoha, or they were attacking them because they knew that Lightning planned to aid Konoha.

There was no way to negotiate and no way to end the fighting quickly. Yuu stared at the enemy line and shook his head.

He had to reach Konoha, he had to help Tomoko or at the very least let her know what he thought of her book.

He cracked his knuckles, he pitied the Water soldiers and their ninja allies.

Because if they were trying to help Fire and the Leaf village, they were doing a really bad job of it. They were only making things worse by holding up the Lightning army.

But then again what would he expect? They weren't going to just roll over and die like the Raikage and Tetsuo had wanted.

"You," A voice behind him said and Yuu turned around, "You're Chuunin, right?"

Yuu nodded to the Hishu operative standing behind him with a mixed group of Jounin and Chuunin.

"Fall in, we're moving out." The operative said coldly, not even asking if Yuu felt fit for a mission after fighting all night.

Not that it mattered really. He had chakra, so he could and he would fight.

"What's the mission?" Yuu asked, but the Hishu didn't answer him.

One of the other ninja in the ranks, a Chuunin much older than himself said "It's a counter offensive, we want to push them back into their boats while the navy pounds their fleet. If it goes over just right they'll have a bunch of men stuck floating in landing vessels, we can slaughter them."

Yuu wasn't in favor of wanton slaughter, but then again if it had to be done it had to be done.

He followed the other ninja and saw that the entire camp was indeed mobilizing in a surprisingly quiet way.

It was going to be a surprise attack? Insane, impossible, no matter how quiet they were it was light out now, people _would _see them coming.

There had to be some sort of catch, but what was it?

He heard the sound o thunder and looked up. Rain was falling from the sky, black clouds were moving in.

"That can't be natural," Yuu whispered, "but who has the chakra to use the Thunder Cloud Jutsu on such a scale?"

"We don't call the old man 'Raikage' for nothing." The Hishu growled and as the darkness of the rain settled over them the Lightning soldiers and the Cloud ninja charged across the short distance between their camp and the ground the Water army had taken.

Yuu knew though, even before they reached the enemy what a mistake it was to give the Kirigakure ninja more water to work with.

The Raikage might be powerful, and Yuu knew better than to think he wasn't smart, but this move . . .

Mist ninja emerged from puddles all around them, Yuu phased through a Chuunin's kunai and ripped the blade from its owners hand, and phased it into the man's chest, leaving it there to do whatever damage it would, the man screamed in agony and fell to the ground, ripping at his chest. Yuu hadn't expected him to survive that, but then again he didn't have time to feel any sort of remorse for causing the man an unnecessarily slow, painful death.

The battle was joined, and as if they meant to contradict his earlier thoughts, it seemed both sides were determined it should end quickly.

* * *

Sasuke stood near the command tent when the fighting started. He didn't say a word as he moved towards the front lines, ignoring Suigetsu's requests that he keep out of it.

He smiled darkly, the lambs had come willingly to the slaugher. The fact that he'd run low on chakra the night before kept him from wiping out the entire Lightning army, but now he was rested and ready for second helpings. This time he wouldn't let up, there were a lot fewer of them this time, the fight would be over soon enough.

"Break them," he shouted, "and march straight for Konoha!"

* * *

Naruto nodded when Shikamaru entered, "Hey." He said.

"You called, Hokage-sama?" Shikamaru asked.

Naruto nodded, it was weird hearing Shikamaru speak to him so formally, "Miyuki woke up. Your student was involved . . . they have a theory I want you to hear."

"Great." Shikamaru grunted and glanced at Naomasa, "Run it by me."

**To Be Continued**


	143. Sasuke and Yuu

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Forty Three**

Shikamaru scratched his head and sighed, "This too much. You're kidding, right?"

"No, sensei." Naomasa whispered, "It's true."

"So you're saying good and evil are now chakra types?" Hara demanded, "I'm with Shikamaru, this is nuts."

"Not good and evil, they're perspective." Hitomi whispered, "Not dark or light either, Nara-san has dark chakra, but we can see it."

"Basically we've got nothing but guesses at this point," Naruto said, "I can understand if you find the concept difficult to understand, but Miyuki was held captive by an animal that was made up entirely of chakra, or something similar to it."

Shikamaru shook his head, "No I caught all that part."

"Really?" Hara demanded. "Good, explain it to me."

"You're saying that this chakra being inhabited Yamamoto, _but _we know it was no normal chakra because none of the Hyuga managed to see it. The Hyuga can see every kind of chakra as far as I know. Still, whatever chakra was in the seal that you used expelled it by proximity and destroyed it on contact. It's simple, neither the summoned animal nor the spell on the seal used chakra."

"So what was it?" Nao asked, "Isn't chakra in everything?"

"Yes and no. All living things have chakra." Shikamaru shrugged, "Inanimate objects don't really. We can put chakra into them, but they don't generate it on their own."

"So what're you getting at?" Naruto, the Hokage asked.

Shikamaru shrugged, "Well obviously there's some different kind of energy in these things. I can devote a bit of time to figuring this out if you want, but I think others would be better suited to the task. The fact is that these things weren't alive, the energy put into the tag might not have been from a living thing, it could have been from the ether, and the chakra snake, given its summoner, probably wasn't living in the sense that most summoned creatures are, it may have simply been something else, pure energy if not necessarily chakra."

Naruto frowned at him, "So how can we prevent it from affecting us?"

"For now? Issue those religious seals to everyone, beyond that there's no way to know." Shikamaru said. "However given that there are multiple religious beliefs we have no way to know how we can tell which one that seal belonged too, bare in mind that it's gone now and none of the witnesses really recognized it. It's going to be a real bother figuring this out, you know."

Naruto gave Shikamaru a rather odd look, "You're taking this pretty lightly." He said.

Shikamaru couldn't help but smile, "On the contrary Hokage-sama, this weighs heavily on my mind. Unfortunately I have so much to consider I can't afford to show the sort of emotion you'd probably prefer."

"Huh?" Naomasa raised an eyebrow.

"Basically if I freak out about one thing I'll probably freak out about everything." Shikamaru sighed.

"Ah." Naruto said. "All right, we'll have to keep that in mind." Naruto said.

Shikamaru shrugged, he didn't mind being a bit overworked if it meant that the village remained safe.

He glanced at Hitomi, "You saw it because it was being expelled by the seal, and it then went to you because it realized you saw it when you attacked it. That said it's likely that this summoned creature possessed intelligence, wasn't simply a programmed Jutsu, it had basic fight or flight instincts, or so it seems." Shikamaru knew better than to expect Hitomi to tell him what he needed to know but he asked all the same, "What Jutsu allowed you to see the serpent?"

"I . . . what?" Hitomi raised her eyebrows.

"I assume you have a Jutsu on those goggles that allowed you to see the serpent, correct?" Shikamaru lied. He didn't suspect that at all, he just sort of hoped it was the case. If it were goggles enhanced by that Jutsu could be handed out to all ninja in the village.

But the fact was Hijiri Hitomi did have a classified bloodline trait, and Sasuke had once mentioned in passing to Naruto whilst Shikamaru was in earshot, that he suspected it dealt with her eyes, though it hadn't been important at the time he heard it, Shikamaru hadn't forgotten it.

If Hitomi didn't want to divulge her bloodline he couldn't force her, but if it could protect the village in any way . . .

Hitomi shook her head slowly, "I . . . there's no Jutsu on these goggles, I just looked at it with my own eyes," she said evasively.

Shikamaru nodded patiently, "Having revealed itself would a Hyuga, or Uchiha be able to see the serpent?"

"I have no idea," Hitomi said, "It's possible, I mean I didn't spot it at all until after it left Miyuki's body. It's possible that _anyone's _eyes can see it, why would you only list the Hyuga and Uchiha?"

"Because of all the people in the room only you saw it. Would you be willing to submit to a medical examination of your eyes?" Shikamaru asked evenly.

"Excuse me?" Hitomi demanded, she sounded panicked; she looked at Naruto as if she was worried that the newly anointed Hokage would make Shikamaru's suggestion an order, but Shikamaru knew he wouldn't.

"Perhaps your vision is slightly more acute than the average ninja," Shikamaru suggested, and Hitomi scoffed but Hara put a hand firmly on her shoulder.

"Everyone who knows you knows there's something up with your eyes. Don't get mad at her, but Matsuri already told us that your eyes are sensitive to sunlight, whatever medical condition that is might mean that your eyes are better able to spot this dark or rather yin chakra."

"If it'll help keep the village safe . . ." Miyuki pressed.

Shikamaru knew from Hitomi's body language that her eyes weren't sensitive to sunlight at all, she'd lied. He wasn't interested in forcing her to reveal her secret though, he just needed to know whether or not her eyes had seen the chakra being because they were special, or if some other sense had helped her.

Hitomi spoke in a whisper, "What is it that examining my eyes will do? We don't know how I saw the thing so we don't know what to test for."

"Look, I'm not trying to frazzle you, if you saw it due to a bloodline trait then there's no way for us to replicate it unless you have relatives with the same trait, if you saw it because your eyes are sensitive to light and dark we can replicate that by finding commoners or soldiers with the same condition, but if you sensed it without your eyes, if there was anything involved that could help us detect them without having to call you in personally, we need to be told. I'll leave it at that, unless you have anything to tell us." Shikamaru said.

Hitomi shook her head, "I . . . don't believe I sensed it at all, I only saw it and even then I couldn't sense its chakra or its presence, my eyes were the only thing proving its existence. But no members of my family are alive--at least in this village--to help spot more chakra beasts."

Shikamaru nodded slightly, "All right then. We'll have to hope that they Hyuga and Uchiha can spot these things too, though given that the Hyuga can look through objects they're probably not capable at all, which leaves Uchiha."

"And Sasuke hasn't returned from his mission," Naruto said gravely.

"Well let's not assume the worst." Shikamaru said, "Let's just hope the enemy who used that Jutsu can't use it too often. Now if you don't mind Hokage-sama . . . I've got a lot of planning to go over."

* * *

Hikaru drummed his fingers together anxiously while the others lurked around in the darkness.

Kasumi and Shiroi were together, the two of them were almost always together, probably because everyone else was a stranger to them. The Sound agents sent to invade Konoha were mostly made up of ninja who had been with Sound and never anywhere else.

The Kamikage didn't trust anyone else. Or maybe every other Sound agent would be marching into Konoha with the armies.

In any event the force inside the city was pretty small. Only eight leaf village traitors, mostly Anbu who had once served Root.

To them, the fall of Konoha and restoration as the Village Hidden in Sound would be earning the freedom and the change they longed for.

Most of the rest were real Sound Shinobi, about a dozen in number, including Okatsu, Hikaru and the girls the Sound presence in Konoha was about a score strong. Not much but it'd be enough.

Enough to open the doors for the armies.

The Leaf traitors wouldn't be with them indefinitely, they would of course have to return to their families and their jobs most of the time, but just now everyone was waiting because the Kamikage had a message and he'd be delivering it in a moment through an astral projection.

Hikaru waited, he glanced at Kasumi and Shiroi, Okatsu was moving in on them but Hikaru shot her a glare and she smirked and walked away. She was just toying with him, having students again had really thrown her into her groove, she was confident now.

She gave him a look that suggested she wanted him to follow her and spend the wait doing something far more interesting than standing around.

The change in her was surprising. She knew who and what she was when she had a student, without one she was just sort of some boring woman who dreamed about being Kabuto's most beloved Shinobi in every possible way.

But give her a task, give her focus and she became a totally different person. Hikaru wasn't entirely sure whether or not he liked it. In fact . . . he had a strong feeling that he just didn't care anymore.

He'd been all about carnal pleasure when he'd been with Ami and Kaori, but now perhaps he was too spoiled. There were so many women in the Sound organization _eager _to give themselves up to him just because he had a curse mark.

But he was starting to get bored. Women still interested him . . . but seeing this new world interested him more.

It was sickening, but Hikaru realized even though for once Okatsu was the one trying to ignite the fires of intimacy, listening to the Divine Shadow's words meant more to him, nothing else mattered.

Okatsu couldn't keep him from hearing the master's words. Kaori couldn't have kept him from listening; even Ami couldn't have kept him from listening to the Kamikage.

It was the final act; the new world was about to begin . . . Hikaru wouldn't let carnal distractions keep him from experiencing all of it.

Soon . . . very soon the war would end.

* * *

Hitomi was standing on the roof of the Hokage's office with Naomasa and Nara Shikamaru.

Shikamaru was watching the sky; Naomasa was following his example but not really seeming to catch the point of the exercise.

Hitomi looked at the sky too, but didn't get much out of it either.

"What's it look like to you?" Shikamaru asked neither of them in particular.

"Clouds." Naomasa said with a shrug, "It's a really cloudy day. They're moving kind of slowly though, huh?"

"Yes . . ." Hitomi whispered. She saw what she supposed everyone else saw as clouds; to her they were . . . more like distant islands floating along in an endless sea.

She could never reach them, like her life's goals they were unattainable. She'd never make her eyes legendary because she'd never survive the final battle. She'd decided already, she'd fight and kill and fight until she ran out of chakra, she'd keep killing the enemy until her body gave out and she finally died.

It wasn't exactly that she wanted to die, more that she had no hope of survival. Anyway what did the world really matter anymore? Miyuki was safe, so that was good . . . but now the whole village was likely to be wiped out, the odds were too highly stacked against them and even if she lived it'd be as a prisoner, a slave, they'd pluck her eyes from her skull no doubt once they realized they could see their sick dark energy monstrosities.

And yet now, since she and only she could see the things didn't that mean that Konoha needed her? That she needed to keep herself alive during the battle?

What did it matter?

"Shikamaru," The Hokage said, and Shikamaru grunted in response.

Naruto-sensei came over and sat down next to Shikamaru, "Hey kids, could you give us a minute?" Naruto-sensei asked.

Hitomi was a little hurt that he didn't want her to hear what he had to discuss with the genius, but she didn't show it. She just nodded and turned around to leave. Naomasa followed her.

"Hey," Nao said, "Hitomi . . . um . . ." He turned away and said "When it starts . . . take care of yourself."

"Yeah, I will. You watch your back too," Hitomi said, even though she knew it didn't matter. They wouldn't survive.

Well . . . maybe Nao might. In fact it seemed right that he should survive, he was just a kid after all. He and his friends should live, should be spared.

But they wouldn't be. That wasn't how war worked.

Naomasa put his hands in his pockets and said "I kind of have an idea for the Jutsu. If we can find a way to use the yin chakra we could disable someone just like Miyuki was disabled."

Hitomi considered it, "We don't know how her attacker used yin chakra, assuming it was chakra and assuming we end up calling it that. It could be a bloodline trait, for example not anyone can control shadows."

Nao nodded, "But you said good and evil are perspective, if someone has to be evil to use a yin based Jutsu . . . I mean the ninja of Konoha could take what they consider to be evil about themselves and expel it from their bodies as an attack, so each time they attack someone they'd be purifying themselves."

"That's a dangerous path to walk, Naomasa." Hitomi said darkly, "You'd take us from being mercenaries and make us zealots? Since this Jutsu of purification wouldn't kill anyone people would be less reluctant to use it on innocents, especially if it meant being purified for someone who wanted to be pure. It's basically a 'do whatever you want then inflict harm on another to receive forgiveness' Jutsu, the sort of thing a lot of darker religions are founded around."

"I don't mean that the ninja will feel pure or be recognized as pure, but that as they expel more and more of the evil within themselves they'll invariably _become _pure without reaching for it." Naomasa explained.

Hitomi shrugged, "So then we have pure ninja who haven't got any evil in them, we get wiped out in the next war because none of our guys are willing to fight. Fighting an enemy is evil after a fashion; I mean by fighting you're taking away someone's life, that's evil to that person and their families. I think everyone needs a little evil inside them. I mean if I didn't have any evil inside myself how would I recognize it in others?"

Naomasa shrugged, "I guess I didn't think about that." He admitted, "I mean even I have my darker thoughts," Hitomi noticed he glanced at her chest when he said this, "but I always figured that people should try to get rid of them, try to be as close to perfect as they can be."

Hitomi nodded slightly, "Well if we survive this, if the village survives this war, then I guess there shouldn't be anything to stop you from trying to change the Jutsu, but keep in mind that I probably won't even be able to use it."

"Well you could learn." Naomasa said, "I mean if I can learn to use yin and yang energies you can too."

"Assuming we call them that at all, yin and yang might be an over simplification of their properties." Hitomi shrugged, "And like I said, it might not be that easy."

"If something's worth doing it's worth hard work." Naomasa said simply.

Hitomi smiled slightly "Well good luck with that. Just don't let it distract you from your job: defending this village."

"Yeah . . ." Naomasa said.

* * *

Bolts of lightning tore holes in the Water lines, Yuu saw a ship that had been bombarding the coast catch fire when not one or two but _three_ lightning bolts struck it simultaneously, he saw bolts of lightning crush through squads of soldiers.

But Mist was not going to be outdone, one of their ninja had taken to turning the puddles of water into gripping tentacles, strangling the life out of Lightning soldiers and unwary ninja, still more ninja were using the puddles as a way of evading crushing attacks.

It was a crazy battle, it was difficult to tell what was going on, or who was winning since both sides were suffering tremendous losses, or so it appeared to Yuu until he realized that the Lightning armies had reserves just waiting to engage.

But why were they being held back?

The fighting was insane, maybe they were waiting for one side of the other to whittle down in numbers of Shinobi so that they could have an easier time telling friend from foe? With the way everyone was moving a non-ninja could swing his sword at one ninja and end up hitting another simply because of how quick paced the battle was.

"Look out kid!" Someone shouted, and in the millisecond it took Yuu to realize they were talking to him he could have been killed if not for his clan's ability to phase.

A monstrous being, red as blood and shaped sort of like a mix between a man and a tiger thrust its huge claws right through Yuu.

He leapt through it and stabbed viciously at the base of its neck, but though his blade came away bloody the creature wasn't bothered at all.

threw himself backwards in time to avoid the huge sweep of a massive sword, a Kirigakure ninja with sharpened teeth--not an uncommon trait with their Jounin--lashed out at him, a kick that seemed to gather the water around him in the puddles.

Yuu heard someone shout "It's the Mizukage, get back or you're doomed!"

Yet another person screamed, "Konoha, there's a Konoha ninja!"

Yuu leapt back, barely avoiding the Mizukage's kick, he saw the Konoha ninja closing in on him.

But was he coming to attack him or the Mizukage?

Yuu staggered, "Friend or foe?" He screamed at the Konoha ninja, but as the Mizukage laughed uproariously, and as the man whom he recognized as Uchiha Sasuke, the legend, sprang forward, lightning blazing in his hands Yuu felt like he knew the answer.

_Tomoko . . ._ he thought sadly.

His eyes narrowed. Masaru wouldn't have given up.

Yuu sprang for Uchiha, a move that surprised the Raikage but didn't slow him down much, the Mizukage lashed out with his sword, Yuu didn't phase, he didn't trust the blade not to be enhanced by a chakra element anyway, and he felt it rip into his back, cutting through his flack jacket but only grazing his skin.

Uchiha thrust his lightning covered fist forward, Yuu used the Lightning Clone Jutsu and thrust his clone towards Uchiha, the two met and the two Jutsus should have canceled each other out.

But they didn't, because Yuu, in his ignorance had underestimated the legendary Uchiha Sasuke and the strength of his Jutsu, through the flash of the dissipated lightning clone Uchiha came, hatred and fury in his red eyes.

Kaori _could_ dampen lightning chakra when she phased because she was so greatly in tune with the lightning element, but Yuu was not, he could not. Uchiha's Jutsu would have hurt Kaori, it wouldn't have killed her if she phased, but as for Yuu, phased or solid the Chidori would kill him when it struck.

He swallowed a lump in his throat, in a flash it would be over, he was a Chuunin but he was nothing to the Mizukage and the legendary Uchiha.

* * *

Sasuke saw the Chuunin, he heard the girl yell something at him, it sounded like a question . . .

It also sounded like a boy's voice, he didn't care, he had Chidori burning in his hands, he'd cut through two soldiers with it already, this Chuunin would taste the last of it.

Her green eyes shone with desperation at first, and then acceptance, and Sasuke's Sharingan saw it all in the quarter of a second it took him to close in on her. He also saw Suigetsu behind the girl cut into her back, causing her to fall to her knees, she used a Jutsu, a clone appeared and threw itself at Sasuke, he thrust his Chidori into it, a lightning clone, the Cloud ninja liked using them.

It weakened but didn't stop Chidori though, who did this kid think she was dealing with?

He saw the two ninja, one of them a masked Hishu rushing to her aid, or perhaps simply to stop him. The girl was as good as dead, the Hishu were the greater threat, he diverted his course at the last minute and thrust his hand out at the two Hishu.

He passed the girl, his Sharingan saw her slightest movement, saw as she realized she'd been spared by him but no doubt sensed the incoming blade Suigetsu had leveled against her.

He was about to look away from her, the Hishu and the other Chuunin were upon him, he thrust his hand out and killed the new Chuunin, while his other hand reached for his sword.

The girl sprang up and reached _through _his waist, taking his sword she slashed out at Suigetsu's blade, her lightning chakra ripped through the blade but Suigetsu canceled it out with a blast of water--there was plenty of it lying around thanks to the storm--Sasuke had to kick up to stop the Hishu, but the skilled assassin ninja threw a pair of senbon which Sasuke diverted his neck out of the way of in time.

Only to realize they hadn't been meant for him, they cut into Suigetsu but that was of little use as Suigetsu easily let them slide right out of him, still the distraction kept the Hishu alive for an extra moment, Sasuke could applaud such an act, after all killing the Mizukage would be a bigger coup than a leaf Jounin to the armies of Water and Mist.

But that silent applauds wouldn't save the Hishu's life, Sasuke's hand struck out like a serpent, grasping the man by his masked face, he twisted viciously, he couldn't break the man's neck, he hadn't caught him at the right angle, but he did manage to throw him to the ground.

The enemy ninja rolled and came to his feet, Sasuke wouldn't waste another Chidori on him, he'd removed the mask that kept the man safe from his gaze, he unleashed that gaze now letting fear and dread sweep through his opponent, the ninja began a Jutsu but Sasuke mirrored it and the unleashed it long before the Hishu was half completed, a spear of lightning shot from Sasuke's outstretched hand and shocked the ninja, he fell to the ground.

It had been a non-lethal Jutsu, no doubt the Raikage had spotted him and sent this lap dog to collect him alive.

Sasuke however took a short sword from the man's hip and slammed it into his neck, he glanced back at Suigetsu who was still sword fighting with the Chuunin.

"Not done yet?" He growled.

"I could cut right through this one, but since he's got _your _sword I thought you might like it back in one piece." Suigetsu laughed.

Sasuke noted that the Chuunin was indeed a young man . . . vaguely familiar.

That silver hair, those green eyes . . . yes, he had to be related to that girl from before, and yes he remembered he'd been at the Chuunin exams, "That boy can move through solid objects Suigetsu, don't leave him an opening!" Sasuke shouted, and it explained how he'd stolen his sword.

Suigetsu laughed and his blood elemental surged forward, it parted around Suigetsu but washed itself up against the boy's legs and froze, he was helpless, held by the chakra that Suigetsu had put into the demonic summoned beast.

He was toying with the boy, the battle had pretty much ended, the lightning shinobi were withdrawing, no one was going to save this kid.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	144. Miyuki's Talk

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Forty Four**

Hitomi slouched into her chair at the end of the day, "How'd it go?" Miyuki's voice drifted towards her. She glanced behind her, there was Miyuki dressed in her usual white outfit as if she were already ready for duty again.

Hitomi smiled, "Hey, Miyuki." She said evenly.

"How was your training with Sarutobi, Ishida and Oedo?"

"Fine." Hitomi whispered.

"Getting ready for the day you take on a Genin team huh? I mean you're already practicing training three." Miyuki smiled.

"Well, the way things look it might be my only chance to pass my knowledge down you know." Hitomi said with a forced smile.

She watched her friend for a while . . . she thought for the longest time that if Miyuki were awake everything would be better, Miyuki would solve all her problems. But after everything Miyuki had gone through how could Hitomi be so selfish as to pile her problems onto her friend's plate?

Was she really so selfish that she'd just say "Gee, great that you woke up and everything, now here's what's bugging me, fix it."

But she had problems, and she wanted her friend's advice, even if she wasn't going to ask for it yet. But how would she know when Miyuki was ready or able to give her the advice she needed?

She folded her arms and leaned back in her chair, "I'm really tired . . . did you want something?"

Miyuki put her hands on her hips, "Naturally. I understand . . . you wanted to talk to me."

"It's not important," Hitomi said.

"Really?" Miyuki sat down in a chair across from Hitomi's, "Matsuri said you were agonizing over this, she wondered if I'd already solved it for you. Honestly, if there's something I can do to help you I want to try, don't leave me lying around like some useless porcelain doll just because I got hurt."

Hitomi watched Miyuki for a moment and said "You've been through so much lately, I didn't think . . . I mean I always pile my problems on you, and you don't need it."

"No, I don't." Miyuki agreed, but smiled slightly, "But I don't mind. I never solve your problems for you Hitomi, I never solve Hara's. All I have to do really, is listen to you, offer a little advice, you usually take care of things on your own. it's a lot less work than I make it seem like." She smiled.

Hitomi frowned, "You really want to do this?" She asked.

"Yes." Miyuki said, "Tell me what's bothering you."

Hitomi's frown didn't waver, she looked at Miyuki in silence for a very long time, and Miyuki just waited patiently.

Finally Hitomi said "Why don't you love Hara?"

Miyuki seemed genuinely surprised, "Wh-what?"

"Hara is in love with you, you know that." Hitomi said, "He's said it with his own mouth, but you act like he's just a friend. Why?"

"Lets talk about _your _problem." Miyuki said.

"This is part of my problem," Hitomi said, "I don't understand why either of us feels the way we do, why we sabotage ourselves like we do. You and Hara could be _happy _together."

"No we couldn't," Miyuki said softly, "We're ninja, odds are one of us will die in the line of duty. I can't give my heart to someone who could die the next day, I've lost people I care about and I don't like going through that. Hara is a great guy, he'll find someone else."

"No he won't because he's still after you." Hitomi said.

"Do you like him?" Miyuki asked, "Because if you do that's fine. I'd be happy for you two. No, that's not it, is it? What's really bothering you?" Miyuki tapped her chin, "It's romantic in nature, you want me to lead by example by hooking up with Hara, but that isn't going to happen. It's frustrating you, you don't have an example of a good relationship so you don't know how to lead one."

Hitomi shrugged, what could she say? She guessed really that was pretty accurate. She sort of saw Miyuki as a role model, she didn't think it was that obvious though.

"You weren't alive to see how your parents hooked up and you probably didn't pay attention to the details of their marriage, at least not consciously at that age. Naruto-sensei has pursued Sakura-sensei for years, Sakura-sensei has kept both him and Sasuke-sensei in a sick limbo for all that time, refusing to choose one, they're not great examples either. You know nothing about love, you've had to guess everything and you know your view is flawed, that bothers you. Someday, if the war ends, if Hara and I are both still alive, if things settle down enough . . . I don't know, maybe I'll give him a chance. Maybe he'll find out I'm not what he thinks I am, maybe I'll find out that he means more to me than I let myself think. But it won't be for a long time, I can't afford a relationship right now."

Hitomi shrugged, "Me too. I mean, I just can't see myself being happy or making anyone else happy right now. I'm not ready, mentally my head's just not there."

"But physically is a different story." Miyuki reasoned.

"Yeah but not how you might think. See it's not that my body is making any demands . . . it's more that I know it will sooner or later, and when it does . . . well . . ."

Miyuki frowned, "Do you plan to be a virgin forever? I mean assuming you're a virgin now, I don't need to know."

And Hitomi was happier not saying, "I don't like to think about "forever" since I don't see myself living forever." She said, "But as for the time I _will _live, well if I ever, _ever _got pregnant . . . you know what it was like for me when I was a kid. If I have a child they'll have to go through that too, they'll probably hate me just like I hated my mother, I couldn't endure that."

Miyuki frowned, "It won't be like that."

"No . . . it will. It shouldn't but it will." She clenched her fists, "but why? I mean why can't I have a family of my own? Other girls our age think about _who _they want, I don't even bother because nobody will ever want a girl like me, a girl who'd die before she ever put out. Guys don't go for that, they want loose, easy girls."

"And you say Hara wants me. Gee, thanks Hitomi." Miyuki said with a scoff.

"You know I don't mean Hara." Hitomi scoffed. "I mean the average seventeen year old guy, they just want the one thing I won't give them. They're always staring at me, undressing me with their eyes, imagining me doing sick, humiliating, _disgusting _things!"

"What's so disgusting about it?" Miyuki asked, "What's so humiliating? Besides why do you assume that they're imagining things you yourself wouldn't enjoy doing? Maybe they're just imagining moonlit walks through the park--"

"Yeah sure, just without clothes." Hitomi interjected.

"Maybe they look at you and think candlelit dinners,"

"Without the barrier of clothing," Hitomi cut in.

"Maybe they see a girl who has an air of mystery about her," Miyuki tried.

"A mystery they want to _unravel_, if you know what I mean." Hitomi scoffed. "Look I've seen their looks, I've heard their whispers. They made me hate being alive as a child, now they act like they've been my best friends forever all because they want me to . . ." Hitomi clenched a fist, "I'm not like that. I won't just forget a lifetime of cruelty because of a few flirty words, I'm just not like that!"

"I know you're not. Look, it's not that bad," Miyuki said, then quickly held up a hand, "Dating I mean."

Hitomi shrugged, "I've been on dates."

"I know. You say you didn't like them but . . . we go on dates to find someone we _do _like going out with, someone with whom that taboo act you so fear doesn't seem that scary."

Hitomi frowned at Miyuki, "So why don't you date now?"

Miyuki shrugged, "I already found the guy I like being with, whom I'd give my body to without worry. Unfortunately as we've previously discussed, Hara is a ninja and I can't tell him that, nor allow you to tell him I said that until this war is over."

Hitomi nodded and smiled weakly, "But the problem is I don't want to find someone I like being with because I don't want to procreate at any point."

"I'm the doctor, I'll be the one to use all the uptight terms thank you. Don't be so stiff about it, just say you don't want to get knocked up." Miyuki yawned.

"What's it matter to you how I say it?" Hitomi raised an eyebrow.

"Because you sound like you're reading from a script, I don't think this is what you truly believe, Hitomi, they're not your own words. I don't think you're as selfless as you pretend to be. You act like your big reason for not sleeping with anyone is that you're afraid of having a baby and having it grow up as roughly as you had to. Maybe you've used this excuse so much you believe it, but the fact is it's not the truth and we both know it."

Hitomi narrowed her eyes, it was Miyuki's blunt honesty she respected, Miyuki's insights and the fact that somehow she really did solve pretty much all of Hitomi's problems so as she said those words Hitomi couldn't just write them off, still it didn't seem true.

She _didn't _want to have children, that was all, really.

"Hitomi you have some serious issues. Maybe you are afraid of putting another through the life you've had to live, but honestly that's not your only reason for throwing up so many barriers." Miyuki said gently, "You're afraid of other people in general, and I've known that for as long as I've known you. You're afraid of having a relationship with a man or even a woman, you don't want to have sex not because of the dangers of procreation, but because of how open and vulnerable that would leave you, and you're petrified that you'll choose the wrong person, and that they'll leave you and hurt you like so many other people have. That's why you avoid relationships."

Miyuki reached out and held Hitomi's hand, even though the other girl hadn't offered it, still Hitomi didn't yank her arm away, she just stood frozen listening to her friend's every word, "You think other people exist just to hurt you, but that's not true. Lots of us human beings love you, lots of us want you to be happy. Your eyes are a gift, even if you never tell me what they do or show me what they look like I know they're special."

Hitomi looked away, she didn't _want_ Miyuki to say anything else, she didn't _want_ to hear anything else.

She didn't want to hear that she'd spent her whole life a coward, she was a Jounin, she was a warrior, she was brave, she _had _to be brave, she wasn't a coward.

And yet it was true, she was afraid of being hurt by other people. She could take a blade to the chest without hesitation, she was used to physical pain. But to be stabbed proverbially through the heart, to be harmed emotionally frightened her.

But Miyuki continued, "Your relationship with your parents was less than perfect Hitomi. They loved you, and I think you loved them, but they left you. They didn't mean to, we don't control the amount of time we have in this life before we move on to the next one. Because you lost them you think you'll lose anyone who gets close to you, but I'm still here and I at least thought we were close. I always thought of you as sort of a sister, and I always imagined that both your parents and mine were happy that we'd found friendship with each other, Hara, and Naruto-sensei."

Hitomi shook her head, "I don't believe in heaven and hell like you do." Hitomi said.

"I know." Miyuki shrugged, "Still that's just how I feel. But see . . . you loved your mother, even though to this day you say you didn't--"

"Don't start talking about my mother, Miyuki!" Hitomi warned.

"Sorry, but I'm going to." Miyuki said evenly, "She loved you, you loved her, and you're angry at yourself because you think she died thinking you hated her. You never got to read the letter she left you, you'll never know what her final words to you were. But I'm willing to bet that letter would have told you how much she loved you, that she understood what you were going through, she went through it too."

"She could have said that to my face." Hitomi scowled.

Miyuki shook her head, "Hitomi your fear of having children comes from your incomplete relationship with your own parents, you're afraid again, you're not selflessly refusing to put another through what you've endured, you're still protecting yourself from other people, you're petrified that at the mere prospect that someone might hurt you and because of your relationship with your mother you think that a child could be the most devastating of all. Well like it or not you have thousands of potential children just waiting around inside your body--"

"Gross!" Hitomi interjected, trying to throw Miyuki off but she kept speaking.

"They want to be born, they want to be loved by you and whoever their father ends up being. Your fear of other people though actually extends to all of them as well, you're afraid of your children Hitomi, you're afraid that they'll hate you and hurt you like you think you hurt your own mother, but when you come to accept the truth you'll understand why that won't be possible."

"What truth?" Hitomi whispered.

"You never hated your mother, Hitomi, you loved her. Maybe someday your children will fight you, maybe they'll rebel, they'll _definitely _do things just to make you mad. But it won't matter, you'll love them through it all because beneath your insecurities you're a very loving person and you'll understand that deep down none of them will hate you. It takes an awful lot to make a child hate their parent, and even when we think we hate them on a certain level we still hold affection for them. You'll never make your children hate you Hitomi, you're not that kind of person."

Hitomi found her arms unconsciously wrapped around herself, she closed her eyes and Miyuki kept talking, "Hitomi you're going to be a wonderful wife and mother _someday. _Now's not the time though, you're young, too young for that kind of thing. Whether or not I'm right and there's a heaven and hell you still have a lifetime on this planet and nothing more. After that it's either the afterlife, or nothingness, maybe some third option we can't even being to imagine, but the fact is you've got this once chance to . . . well . . . live. Don't get careless with it, but don't waste it either."

Hitomi wanted to say something truly witty but it didn't happen.

When she opened her mouth she sobbed.

Miyuki was with her in a flash, her arms wrapped around her, "It's okay." Miyuki whispered, "I know this is just a momentary lapse. In an hour you'll be your regular ass kicking self, and I'll never tell anyone about this . . . but for now let it all out, and don't you dare disregard my words."

Hitomi buried her head in Miyuki's shoulder and sobbed, thoughts of her childhood welled up inside her, memories of her mother and father, she remembered a time long ago when her eyes first manifested their earliest levels of difference when she'd been so happy.

She'd run to her mother and excitedly told her 'I'm just like you!' and she remembered how surprised and pleased her mother seemed, how happy she herself had been . . . how long after that day was it that those same words became a curse? A hateful scream she'd hurl at her mother every day, 'I _hate _you, you made me just like you!' how could her mother have loved her?

How could her father for that matter? She'd been such a terrible child, a selfish little brat, she only cared about herself, she never considered her parents' feelings at all. Now they were both gone, she couldn't apologize, couldn't ask them the questions that needed answers, she couldn't beg her mother for forgiveness, and she couldn't hug her mother so she hugged Miyuki instead.

When she could speak she asked "Why am I different?"

She had been asking her mother, even though she knew her mother wasn't there, she was with Miyuki and Miyuki wouldn't know the answer to _that _question.

But Miyuki answered anyway, without hesitation. "You're special." She said softly.

"I want to be like you, like everyone else, I want to be normal, I don't want to be a freak!"

"Hitomi you're not a freak," Miyuki said firmly, "you're special, you're important. You're not a believer, but _I _am, and I believe that there is a purpose for you. You are here for a reason, my friend."

Hitomi looked at Miyuki, "What reason could there possibly be for my existence other than to suffer and be humiliated, hated, mocked?"

Miyuki frowned, "To protect this village as you've done since the day you became a ninja. Only now we know there's something you can do that no one else can to protect Konoha. You saw the snake, Hitomi. Right now . . . you're the only person who can. While the creature was inside me you couldn't see it, but I understand you kept coming back to me, Matsuri told me you kept saying that you felt like there was something you should be doing. I think . . . I think whatever that snake was made out of your eyes can see it, and I think after a fashion you could sense it too."

"But I didn't sense it, no one did." Hitomi whispered.

"I think you did, I think that's what drew you to my side so often." Miyuki smiled weakly, "Hitomi . . . you might never show me your eyes, but we both know they're special. Maybe you don't like them, but who knows what that snake could have done if you hadn't seen it, if it hadn't been destroyed. It could have taken over someone else, we wouldn't know it. But . . . if we can find a way to get you to sense that energy more clearly we can make sure . . ."

Hitomi smiled weakly, "Make sure there aren't any more, make sure nobody's been tainted. I can't _see _them while they're inside whomever, but _maybe_ I can _sense _them."

"That's what I'm hoping." Miyuki said.

Hitomi stood up, she paced, "We don't have time, enemy armies will arrive in a day or two, we can't--"

"Don't." Miyuki said evenly, "Don't talk about what we can't do. We may not have much time left but Nara-san's plans will keep this village safe, so don't worry about that, just do your part. You and I can practice focusing on the snake's chakra or whatever it is or was, and if we're attacked in the meantime we may well find ourselves with a great opportunity to sharpen our senses even further."

* * *

fThe boy took a deep breath as Suigetsu casually closed the distance between them. Mist ninja were gathering round to see the final kill, cheering, ecstatic.

The Sasuke spotted it, the flashes of movement, the unnatural shadows.

He and Suigetsu stood out in the open, at the front of the line, the ninja crowded around them excitedly cheering only made it all the more obvious that they were there and the entire attack . . .

_It was all a trick to lure us into the open! _Sasuke realized, "Suigetsu, get back!" Sasuke shouted as ninja emerged from the shadows, blades sliced in, Suigetsu lashed out, cutting one man in half at the waist and another at the chest as the sword rose with the sweep, there were still more Hattori assassins, and one Sasuke recognized as the head of the clan himself, Tetsuo.

"Sound won't control Konoha." Tetsuo said coldly, "For sake of my wife and our child I'll never allow it."

Sasuke considered the words but his friendship with Suigetsu pushed him into action, he ran forward, killed one Hattori with a Chidori and used the same blast to get another.

He realized these were all shadow clones of Tetsuo, that was why they went down so easily, it also meant that Tetsuo was gaining information from them, knew how many ninja were coming in on him to stop his assassination of Suigetsu, knew how soon they'd arrive.

He lashed out quickly, too quick for Sasuke to stop him, tendrils of shadow sprang from his hands and would have impaled Suigetsu . . .

Would have.

Sasuke wasn't close enough to stop them, but from the waters emerged someone who was.

A young woman with a blade made entirely of water, she screamed as the shadow tendrils tore into her chest. She whispered something as they receded, Sasuke read her lips, 'are you okay Mizukage-sama?' she'd asked so weakly that Suigetsu probably didn't even hear her.

She was standing but she was dead or at least dying, there was nothing that anyone would be able to do for her, five wounds in her chest each an inch and a half in diameter, each going all the way through to emerge from her back.

Nana Mizuki sacrificed her life buying her Mizukage time and Suigetsu didn't waste it. He swept his sword around, using her as a shield and the advantage of the sword's length he spun around her and cut at the Hattori shadow ninja.

Tetsuo threw himself to the side though, he clasped wrists with the silvery haired ninja, they fell into shadow and emerged on the other side of the ring of Mist ninja.

They weren't running either, Sasuke saw they didn't need to, the Raikage had planned for the possibility of his assassin failing, the entire Lightning army was charging down at them now, bolts of lightning tore up the ground nearby, Sasuke looked and saw that the Water fleet had either withdrawn or been destroyed by the storm, the soldiers on the shore were stranded with their backs to the sea, ninja, more than a score of them the trained hunters of Kumogakure, the Hishu, sprang ahead of the soldiers and Samurai.

Suigetsu swore not once or twice but let out a long stream of profanities, he knew he had few options.

Retreat was the only good one, but there was no place to retreat to, the ninja could save themselves by swimming out into the ocean but they would be leaving the Samurai and soldiers to their deaths and it seemed Suigetsu wasn't going to do that.

Surrender would be worse than death.

It was surprisingly Taisho Ito who took control of the situation, but then again maybe it was just his suicidal mind that made him see it first, "They're spread thin, narrow in the center! Charge them, anyone who gets through runs straight for Konohagakure, no one looks back!"

The Lightning and Cloud lines _were_ narrow in the center, but it was because their Shinobi were making up the center flanked by soldiers and samurai on both sides.

But it was worth a shot, Sasuke noted that Suigetsu didn't so much as look back at Mizuki, he sprinted off for the fight.

It was the right thing to do really, as Mizukage he needed to keep the interests of the many in mind over the interests of the doomed and dying, but Sasuke could tell as Mizuki finally lost her fight with life and fell to her knees that seeing her lord's face one last time would have let her die with at least a measure of peace.

Everything was in slow motion, he walked towards her and used the transformation Jutsu.

"M-Mizu . . . kage . . ." She whispered.

"You did very well, I owe you my life." Sasuke told her.

Nana Mizuki smiled as blood ran down from the sides of her mouth, she held her chest but it bled too, profusely. "I never . . . told you . . ." she whispered as Sasuke watched the life leave her, "I . . . shouldn't tell you now . . . it might make you . . . sad." She laughed softly, "No . . . not you, Mizukage-sama. You . . . would never cry . . . for me."

Probably true, Sasuke however could let her see tears if she needed to, they wouldn't be real, but then again he was a Jounin in perfect control of his transformation Jutsu.

"Tell me." Sasuke said, and he'd tell Suigetsu later what her last words to him had been.

"I always . . . loved you." Mizuki whispered as her eyes closed forever.

Sasuke couldn't say anything on Suigetsu's behalf, and it wouldn't matter, Mizuki's bloodied chest wasn't rising or falling anymore, she had no pulse, she'd said her peace and she'd passed on.

Sasuke got to his feet and let the illusion melt away, to his surprise he saw Suigetsu standing over him, "Come on Sasuke, don't waste time with the dead."

He said the words as if he weren't bothered at all that a woman who'd apparently admired him as more than her liege lord had just passed away, and Sasuke supposed he probably wasn't. He knew though that if Suigetsu, with his keen sense of hearing had tried to listen in he might have heard what Mizuki said.

If he did he didn't show any signs of it though, didn't seem to care at all as he and Sasuke ran to catch up with the charging Water and Mist army.

But it was hard to tell with Suigetsu, maybe it was the rain but Sasuke did notice what looked like a single tear . . .

And when the Water soldiers and Mist ninja reached the line of enemy troops Suigetsu went for the first Hattori he saw without any of his usual playfulness. She was a Jounin, she was about Mizuki's age, he deflected her first lightning Jutsu then slashed her across the chest with his mighty sword.

She screamed in pain, fell back and tried to hold her hands up in front of her face as if they might protect her, Suigetsu cut cleanly through both arms and cleaved her head in half.

It hadn't been Tetsuo, it'd been some cousin of Tetsuo's but someone who'd probably mean something to him none the less, one of his clansmen.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth . . . a friend for a friend?

Suigetsu didn't act with the same animosity towards any of the other foes they faced, he cut and killed or injured, he never wasted more than a second on anyone, he cleared a path along with Sasuke and the others.

They didn't meet the Raikage in battle, though they could hear the screams of his handiwork their objective wasn't to hunt him down, it was to get through the line of ninja and run for Konoha.

When Sasuke emerged from the scuffle he saw many ninja had made it with them, but barely any soldiers had.

And Taisho Ito was not among them.

Perhaps the man had gotten his wish and died gloriously in battle.

But Sasuke felt strange.

He felt calmer.

He wasn't the only one who'd lost someone important, Suigetsu might not have loved Mizuki the way she loved him but his rage made it clear he'd at least thought of her as someone important to him. The Water armies had suffered a damaging blow today, everyone had lost someone.

Lightning didn't pursue them, but they didn't stop running until it started to get dark.

When the heads were counted some two hundred foot soldiers had made it through, it was a miraculous number Sasuke knew, but it was also a fraction of the force that had charged the lines. Of those men most were Samurai, trained fighters allegedly near to ninja level in skill, less than half were conscripted soldiers, some were veterans who'd fought in enough battles to be on par with a Samurai in skill, most were men who'd gotten lucky.

And of the ninja . . . of the seven or eight score of ninja that stormed the beaches with the army only sixty three had made it through.

Suigetsu said that a lot of ninja and soldiers had probably fallen back, unable to break through the lines, told the men and the ninja that they _couldn't _be all that was left of the army and that Taisho Ito had probably stayed back to rally the men who didn't get through and try to hold out until the navy could push back to shore, after all the Raikage's lightning cloud Jutsu had expired around the time they broke through the Lightning lines so the ships could have come back . . .

But Sasuke knew Suigetsu didn't really believe that.

_He _didn't really believe it either, still it _was _probable that a large number of Water soldiers and Mist ninja had been unable to break through but rallied to continue offering resistance, it would explain why the Lightning army hadn't set off in immediate pursuit of those who _had_ broken through.

"We have a job to do," Sasuke told the assembly once everyone was counted, "If anyone else trails in they know the drill, and there may be a lot more who escaped and ran on to Konoha. That's where we need to be, let's move out."

"You heard him," Suigetsu said, "Don't worry, I'll bet our Lightning buddies will meet us there."

The tattered remnants of the army meant to protect Konoha limped towards the great village, many of its representatives no doubt hoping that Konoha would protect _them._

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **It is not that I haven't been writing New Blood, but rather for some time now I've been unable to update as the main computer went down all I have is my aging laptop, which I use to write everything but have always been reluctant to connect to the actual series of tubes that is the internet , espcially now that it's the last working computer in the house.

And yes, I know it isn't really a series of tubes.

So consider chapter 144 the bonus for one thousand five hundred reviews, and might I add **_awesome!! _**and 145 and 146 as updates you're all well owed. Hopefully chapter 147 will be posted over the weekend on time, until then remember the message boards and enjoy the story!


	145. New Arrivals

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Forty Five**

Naomasa leaned back on a bench in the park too tired to go home after the day's training.

He watched as the park, something of a hangout for himself and his friends, lay in the afternoon twilight, quiet and calm.

How much longer?

What was worse than knowing that a battle was coming was not knowing _when_. Nobody knew for sure when the armies would move on Konoha, spies were watching the surrounding countryside waiting for the attack but they'd only bring news back a day before the enemy arrived.

Enough time to evacuate most of the people if the situation were desperate enough, and Nao worried that it might be.

"You're still here?" A voice asked, Naomasa turned and saw Yomiko standing nearby.

"I could say the same about you." Nao shrugged.

Yomiko smiled slightly, "I actually went _home_ after Hitomi-sensei finished training us. I assumed you would too, or are you waiting for your girlfriend-sensei to come back?"

"Hitomi is _not _my girlfriend." Naomasa said firmly, though mentally he added _yet_.

Yomiko shrugged, "Come on, you can't just stay out here all night. I was going to go see Taro, you come too."

"Why?" Nao asked.

"Uh . . . because you're his friend too?" Yomiko offered.

"No, I mean why are you going to see him?" Nao clarified.

Yomiko shrugged, "I spent the whole day training with you and Hitomi-sensei and Tomoko-chan, I know Taro was busy training with his mom and dad, but still I don't want him to feel like we've forgotten him or something. We're not team ten anymore, but I feel like we're still teammates."

Naomasa nodded, "Okay, if I can force myself to stand."

Yomiko raised an eyebrow, "Training wasn't that strenuous."

"I kept practicing after everyone else left," Nao explained, "I'm in _incredible _pain actually."

"Oh . . ." Yomiko frowned. "Well don't do that." She shrugged.

Nao frowned right back at her, "Why not?"

"Because if we were attacked _right now_ you'd be useless, for starters. Mostly though it's dangerous to train alone, I don't want you getting hurt."

Naomasa was about to say 'like you care' but he thought better of it. If Yomiko did care, or was at least bothering to _pretend _to care he didn't want to rile her up.

So he just followed her towards Kotaro's place. "You know Kotaro's mother has been training him a lot lately." Nao said.

"She's probably just worried. I mean Shikamaru-sensei is too busy to train us now that he has to figure out the village's defense, she doesn't want Kotaro to get hurt so she's teaching him everything she can. His dad too."

"I guess." Naomasa said, "But I kind of think it's because they don't want him spending too much time with nothing to do, I mean now that his girlfriend is in town--"

"She's _not _his girlfriend." Yomiko said flatly.

Naomasa raised an eyebrow at her, "Oh yeah?"

Yomiko was quiet for a moment, then said "You're just going to think that I said that because I like Taro, but before you get all worked up keep in mind that if I had romantic feelings for Kotaro I wouldn't have asked you to come along and be a third wheal. But I meant what I said, Kotaro isn't Kyoko's boyfriend nor is she his girlfriend, they're just friends."

"Friends who've gone on a date." Nao pointed out.

"Are you and Hitomi-sensei boyfriend and girlfriend then? You've gone on dates."

"No we haven't." Nao scoffed. "We hang out together but that's it. I mean you and I are hanging out right now, that doesn't make us a couple."

"Technically it does," Yomiko said, "There are two of us, thus we are a couple."

"You said that just to be contrary." Naomasa laughed.

"This is true," Yomiko admitted with a smirk, "I get what you're saying but my whole point is that if Taro really liked Kyoko he'd ask her out or something, but he doesn't, she's the one who asks him out."

"How do you know?" Nao asked.

"Her teammate, Yukio. He told me."

"Doesn't seem like it's any of his business," Nao said, putting his hands into his pockets, "It doesn't concern him who asks who out."

"Well he was worried Kotaro might just be using Kyoko, but I told him he wouldn't do that. Anyway Kotaro probably does like her though." Yomiko frowned.

"What?" Nao asked.

"What?" Yomiko responded.

"What're you frowning about?" Nao asked.

Yomiko was quiet, then she said "Some guys like me . . . but I don't really like any guys." She said.

"So?" Naomasa asked, "That's not such a bad thing, you're just thirteen."

"Yeah but . . . what if I never like guys?" Yomiko asked.

Nao frowned "You mean what if you end up liking girls instead? You're actually worried about that? Jeez Yomiko, kids our age shouldn't have to think about that!"

Yomiko frowned, "It's just . . . I was thinking while I was training with you and Tomoko and everything . . . I kept thinking Tomoko is so good at this, I want to be Tomoko, she's awesome. But I didn't think that about you, all I thought about you was 'oh man, don't let me mess up with Nao watching me, he'd never let me forget it' you know?"

"And you're right," Nao lied, "I'd never let you forget it if you messed up in front of me. Anyway Yomiko that doesn't sound like you're in love with Tomoko, it just sounds like you wish you could trade places with her."

"Hmm." Yomiko shrugged, "But I don't usually think that."

"You don't usually find yourself training with another girl," Nao pointed out, "Tomoko is better than you at fire Jutsus, it's nothing against you she's just been at it longer. You wish you were more like her, more practiced, that's fine. But see with me and Kotaro you're on even footing, maybe a little higher so you're more of a role model, you don't want to mess up or you think we'll think its okay to mess up, there's nothing sexual about a competitive edge and there's nothing wrong with not being attracted to anyone at age thirteen." Nao shrugged.

"But I have to be attracted to someone, I have to get married and carry on the Sarutobi name." Yomiko shrugged.

"Well technically you've got your cousin Konohamaru to carry on the clan's name."

"He'll carry on his clan's name, but not my dad's blood. My dad's blood dies with me unless I have kids too."

Nao shrugged, "So it's your father's legacy and not his name that matters," he reasoned.

"No, his name matters too, it was part of his legacy," Yomiko said, "that's why I have to carry on both his bloodline and his name."

"If you got married, being a girl and all, you'd be helping to carry on some other clan's name." Nao told her.

"Not if my husband was someone who came from a less prestigious clan than me, then he'd be willing to take on the Sarutobi name." Yomiko chuckled.

Naomasa raised an eyebrow, Yomiko sure had given this a lot of thought it seemed. "Sure, but consider that your husband might not _be _someone from a less prestigious clan. I mean you can't just decide who you're going to fall in love with." He said, thinking of Hitomi.

They walked together in silence for a moment, then Yomiko seemed to guess who Nao was thinking of and said, "She's way too old for you, and she isn't interested in little boys."

"I know that." Nao scoffed, "But it doesn't matter. When we're together we connect, I'm happy and I know she is too. Besides it's not like we're doing anything wrong, we just hang out."

"No it _is _wrong, and it's _immoral_," Yomiko shrugged. "See you hang out with her when you should be hanging out with Taro and myself, she hangs out with you when she should be hanging out with . . . I don't know, some guy her own age. She's at that difficult age you know, the one where most girls lose all self control and start experimenting with this and that, I just hope she isn't experimenting with you."

"I'm not a drug." Naomasa grumbled.

"But I'll bet she finds you addictive." Yomiko sneered.

"We just train and stuff ,we don't do anything dirty." Naomasa said. Technically it was true, but he sometimes found himself _really _hoping . . .

"Just what sort of training does she give you that Shikamaru can't? I mean you and Tomoko together was one thing, you were both Genin and sure she was older than you but not by all that much, Hitomi on the other hand, is a Jounin, so she's higher rank than you, she'll never respect you, not really, unless you could reach a higher rank than her and even then she'll think it's because of the training she gave you. Besides that, she's what, six years older than you?"

"Five years, well four and like nine months." Naomasa grumbled.

"Uh-huh, so for a glorious three months of the year she'll only be four years older than you, big deal. Nao she isn't interested in you, and if she were it'd just be too gross. You need a girl closer to your own age, someone who you can grow up alongside rather than someone who'll already have grown up."

Naomasa laughed, "Someone like you, huh?" He raised an eyebrow.

Yomiko's face turned a little red, whether it was from embarrassment or anger he couldn't tell, and her calmly spoken answer didn't give any hints, "No," she said, "not me. If we got married you'd make me take your last name."

Naomasa frowned. Yomiko was his friend more or less, they had their disagreements, their differences, but . . . would she say all the things she'd said just to hurt him? It didn't seem that way, it'd been a long time since she'd said anything purely to be mean and even now her words hadn't had that mocking tone to them, she wasn't trying to be hurtful she was expressing what she truly thought.

And how much of it would Hitomi have agreed with?

How much of it did Naomasa agree with?

Hitomi didn't see him as an equal, that much was obvious. He could say it was his age but their ranks had something to do with it. He'd thought during the Chuunin exams that if he became a Chuunin Hitomi would respect him, maybe he could ask her out on a date or something.

But she'd been promoted.

He thought of what he said to her when he told her that he'd marry her someday, thought of the goals he'd set for himself in order to be worthy of her. Shouldn't he already be worthy? Shouldn't she see him as worthy? Why should _he _have to prove himself to _her_ when _she _would never have to prove herself to _him_?

He lowered his gaze to the street as he walked alongside a silent Yomiko, he said "Hitomi will change her mind when I'm older."

"Maybe." Yomiko said. "Maybe she'll start wanting you on a physical level then, but will she respect you? Will she love you?"

"I think she already does." Naomasa said, "In her own way. I think . . . if we were the same age I think we'd be an official couple. There are times she seems to get caught up in the moment, she forgets that she's supposed to be aloof and . . . well . . ." Naomasa smiled, "she lets her personality shine through that tough exterior."

"That just means she's comfortable around you, doesn't mean she's in love with you." Yomiko shrugged.

"Why do you care so much?" Nao asked.

Yomiko was quiet for a moment, then said "You're my teammate, and my friend, and honestly I don't want to see you get hurt. I trained right alongside you and Hitomi all day today and there was no . . . magnetism between you two. Period."

Nao was about to argue when suddenly there was a shout from the top of the gate, "What the heck is that?" A soldier yelled.

"We've got something incoming--fast!" A Chuunin shouted down from the wall.

Nao and Yomiko both rushed for the walls but before they reached the stairs there was a startled shout and suddenly Nao could see it, a huge wolf soaring through the sky.

It'd leapt over the gate and landed roughly on the ground just two meters from him and Yomiko.

It barked, "Gotch'a here!" then disappeared in a poof of smoke, leaving its three riders suspended in midair for a milisecond, then all three hit the ground hard.

"Some warning would have been nice!" A woman who looked sort of familiar grumbled as she climbed to her feet and threw her equipment pouches and weapons to the ground and raised her hands into the air.

She put her hands up because about fifteen ninja of varying ranks had already closed in on her and the others, weapons drawn, and Nao and Yomiko were two of them.

The man dropped his two swords and said "I'm Konjo Takumi formerly of Kumogakure, I've come to seek refuge in Konohagakure."

"What? Why? What happened to Kumo?" Naomasa asked.

But the Hokage intercepted him--rather the former Hokage, Lady Tsunade.

She emerged from the crowd and eyed Takumi levelly, then his two female companions. "Take those two to the sixth, take the third to the hospital."

"With all due respect ma'am," A Chuunin said, "Isn't it a bad idea to take these two in front of the sixth? What if they're assassins?"

"They're not, and I know he'll want to know what they've come so far to say." Tsunade said evenly. She turned to Nao and Yomiko, "You two, escort them."

Two Chuunin? To escort a samurai and a Jounin?

Yomiko fell immediately into step, and Nao followed, summoning up a pair of shadow clones to carry the two prisoners' gear.

He hoped Lord Naruto would let him hear what message these two had brought . . .

* * *

Endo Hayato leaned back as the samurai's katana sailed overhead, slicing the air just a hairsbreadth from his throat.

The Taisho swung his spear out, knocking the katana away and a soldier stabbed the enemy samurai in the stomach.

Hayato was nothing more than a burden in this battle, it was desperation not bravery that forced him to pick up the spear every time it was knocked from his hands.

The young man had not claimed a single life, he had barely stayed alive so far.

"Regroup!" Ito shouted, "Regroup and hold together, they're tightening up like a noose around our necks!"

Hayato stayed close to the general, Ito knew how to handle himself in a fight.

"Where's the Mizukage?" Someone, a ninja shouted.

"He got through!" A samurai roared over the din, "We can push on!"

"I said fall back!" Ito shouted, grabbing the other man and shoving him away from the enemy lines, "A glorious death and no other sort, keep fighting and you'll just be wasting your life!"

The doctor followed the soldiers as they withdrew down to the beach, Ito drew his bow and began firing. Endo couldn't deny the beauty of the Taisho's accuracy, not a single shot missed, the Samurai even managed to land an arrow through the neck of a cloud ninja.

Probably just a Genin, but impressive nonetheless.

Return fire rained down like deadly hail, arrows, and shuriken, Endo felt someone shove him down into a crater made by some ninja's earth Jutsu, he fell and landed hard in muddy water.

He heard screams from above, and climbed out of the hole in the ground to see that the Lightning soldiers hadn't finished with them and weren't about to let them regroup.

The attack was on again, and now Hayato had no weapon, he'd dropped his spear when he fell.

A conscript came charging for him, but a ninja cut him down, slashing at the man's legs.

The doctor in Endo actually wanted to tend the man's wounds, it amazed him that here less than a second ago that man wanted to kill him and now he himself actually wanted to help his enemy.

But the frightened eighteen year old trapped on a hellish field in him overruled the suicidal decision, instead he stole the other man's spear and kicked him roughly in the face. It wouldn't kill him, but killing a disabled foe hardly seemed necessary.

Hayato lunged forward, striking with his spear and impaling a soldier who screamed as he fell to the ground dead, the spear still buried in his side.

The doctor tried to recover it only to be beset upon by a Samurai. Katana in hand the nobleman rushed for the peasant doctor, again unarmed.

An arrow suddenly erupted from the back of the samurai's neck, the armored soldier fell dead, Taisho Ito ran up to Endo and shoved him back into the hole, "When this is over we'll need a doctor, now keep your head _down _you stupid boy!"

Endo complied, shaking from fear and cold at the bottom of the pit, hearing the screams and the sounds of battle around him.

Hiding in that pit, waiting for the fight to end was even more terrifying than actually participating.

* * *

Kabuto massaged his forehead as the doors to his luxurious apartment opened and Lady Sachiko strolled in.

"Welcome m'lady."

"You promised!" Syako screamed at him.

"Calm yourself." Kabuto warned her.

"You lied to me!" She continued, not at all lowering her tone, "You promised and you broke that promise, what's to keep me from breaking all of _my _promises?"

Kabuto's eyes narrowed, his forehead had been sore enough before this spoiled noblewoman came into his throne room screaming like a banshee. "You dare to threaten me here to my face?" He demanded.

"Kill me and like, you'll lose Wind's support." Syako hissed.

"You assume the Daimyo would know you'd been killed, I could reanimate your corpse, or have one of my ninja transform into you to make reports, with none of your own ninja around to see through the Genjutsu your Daimyo has no way of knowing who you are." Kabuto said, and considered doing it anyway, just to teach her a lesson. He could imprison her and force her to watch him punish her country for her rude behavior.

But there was no need. He wouldn't rule the world driven by emotion.

"Kankuro, you told me Kankuro would be spared, told me he would become the new Kazekage."

"Yes, I said those things. In what way did I break my promise?"

"Kankuro is dead!" Syako roared, "Gaara is like who knows where but Kankuro is dead!"

"You've seen the body?" Kabuto asked.

"Well . . . no, but like I know he's dead, he must be dead."

"Why?" Kabuto demanded.

"Because if he were still alive I wouldn't be, he'd have come and killed me for betraying him." Syako reasoned.

Kabuto laughed, "Then you shall have to remain here until he is found and killed."

"No! No you can't kill him! You have to make him understand--"

"I don't have to do anything," Kabuto hissed, and at the sound of his angered tone eight Jounin appeared, weapons ready to end Syako once and for all, "You're a member of this organization, you know full well that _I _don't _have _to do anything I don't want to do, whining and making demands won't get you anywhere with me. Unless the dungeon is your goal I suggest you shut up."

Syako glared, "The final attack on Konoha is about to commence, you'll have what you wanted, you'll have Dominion."

"No." Kabuto growled, reminded now of why he was in such a foul mood to begin with, "The Raikage has thwarted my bid in Water, the Water army is held up fighting his forces on the beaches, their navy is in shambles. I understand a small force escaped but they'll arrive at Konoha after the fighting begins."

"And where do their allegiances lie?" Syako demanded.

"I can no longer be sure, if Suigetsu is still leading them then everything goes according to plan, but if he fell Uchiha may have assumed command and he most certainly will not follow my plan."

Syako sneered, "So like, everything could be messed up."

Kabuto glared at her, "Slowed down perhaps. If it takes me ten years I'll unite the land under my banner. As it stands I'll have Wind, Fire and Earth. Lightning may be the last bastion of resistance, perhaps Water as well but as long as they war against each other they limit the threat they can pose to me, the Raikage is making a grand mistake."

"What about Grass? What about Rain?" Syako asked.

"Grass will surrender once Konoha falls, they don't have the supplies to last out a seige so there's no need to send ninja, conscripts will do. The Grass country's only hope is that Konoha will aid them to rescue the Lord of the Lands of Fire, he's as much their hostage as he is their guest. Rain will not defect, they know better, they know what will happen to them if they do."

Syako folded her arms, "But you know there are elements within Rain who wish to oppose you."

"Once Fire is pacified I'll deal with them. As for you . . . well I think I know now how you can be the most use to me."

"Hmm?" Syako asked.

"I believe the Kazekage has gone to Konoha . . . I will need an assassin."

"You expect me--"

"You got close to his brother, you can get close to him." Kabuto said idly, in fact he didn't care if she did or didn't. Either she'd succeed and remove Gaara from the equation of Konoha's defense, or she'd fail, die, and his hands would be clean in the matter.

"How do you expect him to trust me?" Syako asked.

"Well," Kabuto smiled darkly, "For one . . . you won't be able to look so healthy. You need to look like you escaped from a prison."

"Excuse m--" Syako began but she was cut silent when the first Jounin struck her in face.

"That'll be a nice bruise," Kabuto said, "It's a good _start_, but I think the Kazekage would need some real convincing . . . oh I know, break a few of her ribs."

Syako, probably dizzy from being hit in the head stared at Kabuto with eyes wide with horror as his Jounin began to expertly beat her, inflicting pain and visible damage without actually killing her or leaving her unable to perform the task their Kamikage had appointed to her.

And Kabuto, for his part, relaxed and enjoyed the show. He let his own frustration go and simply enjoyed the sounds of Lady Sachiko's pathetic screams.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	146. Two Days to Doom

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Forty Six**

Kasumi eyed Shiroi's stomach suspiciously. "What?" Shiroi demanded.

"You don't look pregnant." Kasumi scoffed.

"Well I haven't been for very long," Shiroi grumbled. "Trust me though, I am."

Kasumi scoffed, "And your lover gets to be one of the Five."

"So?" Shiroi demanded.

"So . . . nothing." Kasumi shrugged. "I bet if Masa were alive he'd be one of the five too."

Shiroi didn't say anything, but she doubted it. Kurai had beaten Masaru, Kurai was powerful, the most powerful of the young Chuunin, he could take Daisuke or anyone else from their year, he could certainly take any of those first year Chuunin brats.

But Shiroi didn't say anything. Her only hope in turning Kurai would be appealing to his feelings for her, convincing him that he needed to follow her. Their child might help her to do that, but like Kasumi had said Shiroi really didn't _look _pregnant.

At least not yet.

There wasn't much time though, in just two days the attack would begin.

Shiroi looked at her own stomach, covered only by her fishnet body suit, though soon she'd be donning the lavender jumpsuit and white flack jacket that would mark her as one of the Sound Five.

She couldn't quite believe that there was a tiny little life inside her.

Or that someday he'd grow up to be the most powerful ninja the Sound village had ever seen. He or indeed she would be stronger than the Kamikage, might even become Kamikage someday, after all this Kabuto person wouldn't live forever.

_She _knew she'd made the right choice . . . her life was so much _better _now. Harder, but better, she was free, or would be after she gave birth. No longer a caged bird, she would be one of the five ringers that made up the iron fist of the Shogun, the Divine Shadow, she would not only be free to fly she would soar high over anything even Neji-sama had ever dreamed of.

It would be perfect when Kurai joined her. She'd just have to help him _see _how _right _she'd been.

He'd never suffered the humiliation and fear that went with being a slave to your own relatives, he'd never been given a seal that would, on a thought, end his life.

But if he loved her, he should hate those who'd done such a thing to her, shouldn't he? Yes, he would want to be with her even if it meant turning on Konoha, it wasn't as if the Aburame needed to be wiped out or anything, surviving ninja who swore themselves to the Kamikage would be spared.

But there would be those who escaped, Lord Kabuto had foreseen this, knew that resistance would rise up and that ninja would lead it, that was what the Sound Five were for, once the war ended--and in two days the final battle would begin--there would be peace, and it would be up to Shiroi to preserve that peace for the good of mankind.

Kurai would see.

He _had_ to see, because without him none of that really mattered to her.

* * *

Kotaro leaned over the wall looking down at the forest with Kyoko to his right and his father to his left.

"It's a beautiful place," Kyoko said, "I mean in Suna the only trees are for decoration. But this place is a lot more humid than Sunagakure was."

"You'll get used to it." Kotaro said.

Kyoko smiled a mournful smile, "It'd be nice if I didn't have to . . . I wish I could go home."

"You will." His dad said simply. "When we win this war."

Kyoko smiled a more genuine smile, "Yeah. We just have to cut through a massive army and put down a bunch of stone ninja." She punched a fist into her palm, "Stranger things have happened."

Kotaro shrugged, "Or we might all just die you know. I mean maybe when the fighting starts--"

His father put a hand on his shoulder, "Your mother's morbid form of humor doesn't apply here." He said firmly, and Kotaro realized Kyoko might not have realized that he'd been joking. He glanced at her but she was still smiling.

"If we lose," she said, "if the way of the ninja ends . . . it's going to be the sort of end that none of these samurai ever forget. They'll tell their children stories about us, we'll live forever in legend."

Kakashi relaxed and said "Well . . . legends can be difficult to destroy."

"So can a ninja." Kotaro said. "Let them come, we'll send 'em packing."

Still what Kyoko said was true . . . the Samurai would tell legends of the Ninja, the Shinobi would become the monster hiding under the bed of a naughty child, the frightening bedtime tale of men and women who became like terrible demons, honing the powers of their chakra to create terrible spells which they unleashed on the noble army, and their legends would stand as a testament that man should never seek to rise above his station, never seek to be more than just a man.

But yet . . . there would be some who told legends of the men and women who were not demons, but had fought as fiercely as any. The Samurai, soldiers, and ninja alike who had stood to the last against the evils of the world, had fought and shamed the corrupt army of an evil coalition.

And still yet Kotaro thought that the best legend of all wouldn't talk about their defeat. The greatest legend to be told would speak of their victory, the genius of Shikamaru-sensei, the bravery of the sixth Hokage, and the struggle of ninja like Kotaro, Miko and Nao, the triumph of Konohagakure.

Kotaro gazed at Kyoko. It was a strange feeling he got just then, looking at her.

There wasn't really any describing the feeling he felt, he doubted it was love, the sort that made a person's legs go weak, and feel butterflies in the stomachs.

But it was something. Something indescribable.

Sort of like . . . he'd never be able to hurt her, even if Konoha and Suna went to war he'd never be able to raise a blade against her.

More than that . . . _I would die for you._ He told her silently as he realized it himself.

It was a sobering thought and he didn't share it, Kotaro didn't want his dad thinking he'd gone nuts and he didn't want Kyoko misunderstanding the statement, which would be terribly easy considering that Kotaro himself didn't understand it.

He shook his head and whispered, "The waiting is as bad as the fighting . . . but even if we all die here there will be ninja left."

"For now." His father told him. "What the Lord of Wind did to his own hidden village is a prime indication that ninja will exist at the behest of the Daimyo and by extension the Shogun. Ninja will be powerless to oppose their Daimyo so they'll exist in small numbers, just enough to get the job done, not enough to rebel. Don't doubt Kyoko, she's very much right. If we fall, it could mean the end of the ninja way, or at least the decent ninja way."

* * *

Tomoko leaned back against the wall of her father's new smithy, "Not a bad place. I'd have a much harder time burning this one down."

"And I've have a much harder time forgiving you if you succeeded." Her father laughed, though his laugh was forced. He hefted a large chest onto an anvil and leaned against it, and examined a hammer.

Pretty much everything he did around her was strained . . . like he was forcing himself to do the opposite of what he wanted to do.

Daisuke said he just wasn't used to having her around, that she was imagining things because she was so worried about disappointing him again, but Tomoko didn't know sometimes. Did her father _really _want her back?

Yuu had told her to be careful . . . how could she value his opinion on certain matters and ignore his advice in others?

She frowned at her father, she'd have to go meet Hitomi-sensei for training soon but before that she wanted to know . . . had to be sure. "Dad," she said, "I uh . . . I was wondering . . . is my being home again causing any problems?"

Her father looked surprised, "What? Not really. I mean no, not at all it's just . . ." He rubbed his shaved scalp and said "Well . . . with the war closing in I could lose you again in a flash. I guess I'm apprehensive is all."

Tomoko didn't feel like that was it, something wasn't right . . . the way he'd said it . . .

He folded his arms, "I mean it's not like I can ask you not to be a ninja, I'm proud of you and your brother, I am . . ." He looked at her, "But . . ."

Tomoko frowned, trying to figure her father out, trying to understand what he was trying to say, where he was coming from. "But what?" She asked.

"If you died in battle it'd be a real waste." Her father said finally.

"Isn't death always a waste?" Tomoko asked.

Her father shrugged, "It's just I had plans for you, girl. That's all."

"Plans?" Tomoko raised an eyebrow.

"Of course!" Her father said, he sounded like himself, he sounded calm and relaxed, he wasn't forcing himself to laugh when he said "Every parent has plans for their children, didn't you know that?"

Tomoko made the mistake of relaxing herself, mistakenly she believed she and her father were connecting, being honest with each other, so she shrugged and said "I guess. What plans did you and mom have for me then?"

"To wed you off as soon as possible so you can burn down someone else's workplace." Her father laughed, then he said, "In truth Tomoko, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have an ulterior motive in bringing you home."

Tomoko's heart froze, "W-what?" She asked.

Her father gave her a very careful look, "I'd wanted to wait until the war was over, didn't want to trouble you with this until after I knew you'd be safe, or at least as safe as any soldier . . . Tomoko . . ." Her father closed his eyes, "I didn't build this place for me."

Tomoko frowned, "What do you mean?"

"This smithy . . . is yours."

Tomoko's eyes widened, "What the he--"

Her father raised a hand and said "I've prepared scrolls upon scrolls ,recorded everything I know, even the trivial stuff because you never know when it'll come in handy . . . Tomoko you can do things with metal that nobody else can, when you fight the chains come to life for you, do you think they'd do that for Daisuke or myself?"

Tomoko stared at her father, "_Me_, a blacksmith?"

"Not the most feminine profession," Her father admitted.

That wasn't what bothered her, "You took me back because I had talent with metal? Because you wanted me to make money so you wouldn't have to?" She demanded.

Her father glared at her, "I want you to make money so I won't have to pay for you."

She folded her arms, "Funny, that's what I was doing before you took me back."

"And you were barely managing it." Her father said coldly, "You were living from paycheck to paycheck, barely making ends meet. I never wanted that for you."

"But I was managing." Tomoko scoffed.

"You shouldn't have had to." Her father said evenly, "When I'm gone I don't want you to struggle again, Tomo-chan. You're my little girl, I don't like thinking of you getting hurt but I can accept your life as a ninja far faster than I like to imagine what'll happen to you once I'm gone."

"I'm going to be a Jounin someday, that'll pay the bills." Tomoko said.

Her father frowned and said "Tomoko, the ninja way of life is dying. Even if ninja win this war there's no guarantee that just being a ninja will be enough anymore. I want you and your brother to have other skills to fall back on."

"What about Daisuke?" Tomoko asked, "Is he learning blacksmithing too?"

Her father laughed, "Daisuke? He's been learning for years and he's going to be a fantastic doctor. That's his path."

"So what's my path?" Tomoko frowned.

Her father handed her a scroll, "You're going to write books that people from across the world will want to read, you think I haven't seen you scribbling things down left and right? But when you're not writing you're going to honor the family traditions just as Daisuke is going to do when he's not seeing to patients. The difference between the two of you is that Daisuke will never be truly good at this. But you, Tomoko, you'll do in minutes what takes your brother hours, maybe even days. Provided you survive."

"Provided I survive." Tomoko scoffed.

Her father took two slabs of black metal out of the chest he'd been carrying and said "That's right. Today we're going to give you something to help ensure that."

Tomoko frowned, "What?"

Her pointed to the two slabs of odd metal, "These two blocks are going to become the weapons you've always dreamed of wielding, girl. The metal will bend and fold according to your will, your chakra will flow through it easily because that's what its meant to do."

Tomoko stared at the slabs and swallowed hard, she glanced at the scroll her father had given her, she read the beginning and swallowed hard again.

"I . . . I have to train with Hitomi-sensei in a few hours," She said.

"Hmm. The interesting thing about smith work, girl, is that it's always waiting when you get back . . . assuming you don't finish it early."

"You're sure you want me to actually make my own weapon?" Tomoko raised an eyebrow.

"Under my supervision, yes." Her father said, "These weapons won't only keep you alive in the coming battle, they're also your first step down mastering this forge."

Tomoko frowned.

She looked at the metal.

Her father understood she wanted to write, and he was still proud of her for being a ninja . . . as long as he was willing to let her go on doing those two things . . . how could she refuse to learn the family trade?

Besides, as her fingers delicately moved over the surface of the first metal slab she felt her heart begin to accelerate, excitement rippled through her at the simple action, as if a tiny stone had disturbed the surface of the entire ocean.

She licked her lips in anticipation, she thought she might have trouble at first, not being as physically strong as her father she thought the metal might refuse her will.

In the end her only trouble was deciding what the weapons should look like, what did she really want? What did she need?

* * *

Kaori smiled warmly at Takumi as he pulled his arms through the Konoha Flak jacket. Dressed in black and the dark greens and blues of Konoha with a brand new forehead protector marking him as a ninja of said village, he looked very intimidating.

More than that he looked comfortable. More comfortable than he'd seemed in years, the suit simply . . . _belonged _on him.

He was a ninja, he'd never truly be a Samurai or anything else, he would always, always be a ninja.

He'd always be the man she loved.

She was half tempted to say 'now that you've finished putting the uniform on, take it off' but she knew better.

The urge to renew the physical portion of her relationship with Takumi grew stronger with each passing day since their renewal of the rest of the relationship, however it wasn't yet strong enough to make her forget her duty or the tracking Jutsu her brother had placed on Kasumi's sword.

She, Takumi, Hyuga Neji and several other Konoha Jounin would move out immediately and locate the Sound operatives.

And if possible, they would bring Kasumi back alive, and Hikaru would come back in the opposite state.

She traced a finger over the leaf village symbol on her forehead protector which she'd wrapped around her right arm just above the elbow.

She didn't know whether or not it truly was in Konoha that she belonged, the one thing she knew was that she belonged with Takumi, and _he _at least definitely belonged in Konohagakure.

So she'd stand with him, she'd fight with him, they'd see Konoha preserved or they'd die trying.

"We're ready," The Konoha Jounin and legend Hyuga Neji said from the doorway, "Lead the way."

Kaori nodded and the task force set out.

They'd find the Sound operatives in Konoha before the attack began and put an end to whatever it was that they were up to.

It would help Konoha last at least a little bit longer against the flood of enemies pouring towards them.

* * *

Kimiko opened her eyes slowly, a woman with long black hair smiled at her, "Awake are you? You're resilient, Sakura didn't expect you to wake up for another hour."

Kimiko tried to sit up but the woman held her down, "No, not yet." She said.

"Let her go, Shizune, she's waited long enough." A pink haired young woman said.

Kimiko took a deep breath and rose out of the hospital bed, careful of all the tubes and cords attached to her.

She slid her legs out of the hospital bed and stood up.

She stood up.

"You'll want a few days to recover." Sakura told her, "The operation went off without a hitch though . . . you have full use of your legs again."

Tosa nodded, "Thank you . . . thank your Hokage as well."

The older woman, Shizune smiled, "Lady Tsunade has retired, she is no longer the reigning Hokage, but we'll let her know. Still, she isn't the one who performed the surgery, she just brought you here. It was Sakura-chan who did the actual work."

"My thanks," Kimiko whispered, awestruck. Sakura was the student of the now former Hokage, and a member of the Konoha Twelve, to have been given such priority as to be treated by _the _Sakura . . . it was more than the young Jounin could have hoped for, more than she deserved.

But Sakura smiled, "It was no trouble, the information you and your friends brought I feel like we owe _you _three."

"The others, what have they told you? Where are they?" Kimiko asked urgently.

"They're with the security force, they're preparing to seek out the infiltrators."

"I need to be there with them." Kimiko said.

"You're not ready for combat." Sakura admitted, "You don't need to worry, we understand your student is with the enemy, she's going to be captured alive, no one will harm her."

"No, that won't work for her, I need to _convince _her to come back, if she's captured it'll just make things worse." Kimiko said.

"I understand . . . Shizune, would you go inform Neji? See if he feels like it would be safe to take a noncombatant with him."

Shizune nodded and "poofed" away. Sakura smiled and said "I'd leave you alone to get some rest but there's the problem that you might not wait for Shizune to get back with Neji's reply, so why don't we chat for a while?"

"You saved my life, it's the least I could allow, though I really must find my student." Kimiko said uneasily.

"I didn't save your life," Sakura said slightly, "Your injuries weren't life threatening, you'd lost the use of your legs but you would have survived."

"No, being a ninja, a sensei, that is my life. Without legs it wouldn't have been possible anymore . . . so you saved my life as I know it."

"Hmm." Sakura nodded.

"What do you want to know?" Kimiko asked.

"For starters," Sakura said calmly, "how exactly did your back get broken?"

**To Be Continued . . .**


	147. The Hunt for Kasumi

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Forty Seven**

"This woman," The Sound Jounin said calmly, "will be released on the second day of the Konoha siege, make it look as if you're trying to stop her, but let her reach Konoha's gates."

Akira nodded slowly, examining the injuries inflicted on Lady Sachiko. He folded his arms and said "You beat her?"

It wasn't so much a question or statement as it was a threat. If they had _dared _to strike a niece of the daimyo . . .

"Her injuries are all for show, it must look as if we've treated her badly, in truth she is in perfect health, is that not right, m'lady?" The Jounin sneered.

Lady Sachiko nodded slowly, but Akira could see that there was nothing illusionary about her injuries.

He glared at the Jounin, he'd killed Jounin before, and he'd kill them again once the assault on Konohagakure was under full swing.

But he wouldn't start a fight now. If Lady Sachiko had gone along with this strategy he had no right to override her . . . or did he? It was difficult to know what was and what wasn't, the old world was being swept away, the old ways were evolving.

When the war finally ended there would be a whole new status quo. Akira would just have to survive to figure out his place in the new world.

He led Lady Sachiko to her carriage, which she shared with his wife.

Emiko gasped in horror when she saw Syako, Akira turned to the Jounin, "Anything else?" He asked.

"Not at all, you're free to move on to the rendezvous point. Good hunting, samurai." The sound ninja said.

Akira nodded, "Tell your Shogun that he has nothing to fear. I will do as I have been ordered."

"Good. Now go, and remember, treat Lady Sachiko like a prisoner once you're within ten miles of Konoha and carry on until you let her escape."

Akira nodded. He'd have to do something pretty dramatic to make it a convincing escape.

_Don't let them think she's the one responsible because they'd never believe it, but don't let them _know _that you're responsible, _Akira reasoned.

He thought as he climbed onto his horse and led his army out.

Perhaps . . . if he could capture a Konoha ninja . . . if he could somehow drag one in alive then place the ninja with Syako and a light guard, probably not a guard of his own men since there would be no way to ensure that they wouldn't be killed but a guard of Earth soldiers would be perfect, their deaths would be no loss to Wind.

So . . . he had his plan, he just hoped it worked.

* * *

Nagahide smiled as his daughter's servants led him into a large room with barely any furniture.

He was surprised by the room until he recognized what it was; it was a dojo, a place for samurai or ninja to train.

Nagahide saw his grandson playing with a ball, tossing it into the air and catching it, while his mother went about cleaning a rack of weapons.

Ichiteru didn't look up from her work, but he knew his eldest daughter had noticed his presence and that of his wife.

"I'll just be a moment," Ichiteru said softly, "Yoshi isn't here, so someone has to make sure his weapons remain sharp and battle ready for when he returns."

Nagahide sighed, if Eri were with them she'd have no doubt made a joke about Ichiteru polishing her husband's spear, then he'd have to stifle his laughter while Atsuko scolded Eri.

But Eri wasn't with them, no one made the joke, and Ichiteru did turn her head as if she herself was a little surprised by the silence.

Sure enough she said "Where's Eri-chan? Your message said she would be with you."

"We changed our minds at the last minute," Atsuko said softly, Eri went back to Konoha to help your brother Naomasa open the new Konohagakure branch."

"A dangerous move," Ichiteru said softly, "Eri and Naomasa, the youngest left alone in Konoha, the most dangerous of places." Her tone changed to a less formal one, "I pity Konoha of course, once Eri is through with it they'll be paying you to take her back, father."

Nagahide laughed, "All part of my dastardly plan of course."

Ichiteru returned to cleaning her husband's weapons, "Come in, come in, no need for formalities."

"There's always a need for proper behavior." Atsuko said calmly, "especially with your son listening to your every word."

"I'll try to remember that." Ichiteru said solemnly, "Did you see Yoshi when you were with the fleet?"

"Briefly, he didn't really have time for us." Nagahide told his daughter.

Ichiteru beamed, "No, of course not. He's the grand general of the entire army and navy you know, so don't take it personal." Her smile diminished slightly, "It's unfortunate that it was the crippling losses the army sustained that gave him command, but they're really doing a lot better with him in charge you know."

"So we've heard." Nagahide nodded.

"So I take it you two have decided to stay here and ride out the storm?" Ichiteru asked, "The war should end soon."

"We may not have any choice." Nagahide said calmly. He wished all his children were with him, he regretted sending them all away, letting the majority of his daughters marry men outside the Fire Country.

He'd done it at the time because he wanted them to live in other lands, he made sure to pick suitors from countries his daughters showed the most interest in, let them describe the sort of man they wanted and then try to find one that fit the bill.

If his daughters felt uncomfortable with the match, or if their would be husband displayed any truly deviant characteristics that might endanger his would-be bride, Nagahide called off the wedding, so it wasn't as if he'd sent his daughters far away because he didn't care about them.

It was because he wanted them to see that country lines were nothing, human beings were the same wherever you went, all were part of the same species.

But now he wished he had all of them with him in this safe place, for as Ichiteru had said they would indeed wait out the storm here in Kirigakure.

Eri . . . Naomasa . . . had he been a fool to leave his two youngest behind?

And Emi . . . would her husband survive? He'd been apprehensive about letting Emi and Akira get married but had allowed it since the war seemed to be reaching a peaceful ending.

Now it seemed a great deal of blood would be spilt before mankind finally settled down.

Nagahide closed his eyes, "Perhaps I'm just old . . . but I don't see."

His wife frowned at him, "What dear? There's nothing wrong with your vision is there?" She asked, sounding concerned.

"My eyes don't trouble me; it's my perception that bothers me." Nagahide said calmly, "I don't understand . . . the world was nearly at peace again, why did the fighting reignite so fiercely?"

Ichiteru shook her head and hugged her son lightly before sending him off to play, "Father the fighting didn't die down. It lulled in Konoha but here it only intensified. People are always, _always _going to be fighting. It is mankind's nature I'm afraid. Men fight for territory, it's only natural. They fight for possessions; they even fight for women and the right to pass on their seed. Fighting never stops."

Nagahide supposed she was right. "Well then . . . maybe someone needs to force an end to it all. Maybe five Great Lands is four too many."

"What are you saying?" His wife asked, "Do you _want _Konoha to be destroyed, do you _want _your son to fall in battle?"

"No!" Nagahide cried, amazed that his wife could ever even think such a thing, "I'm saying maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing though . . . if someone stood up and united the land. The daimyo have direct power over their lands, maybe there should be just one daimyo, or maybe there should be someone who rules them the same way they rule the village heads."

"Who? What man could be trusted to rule over the entire world?" Ichiteru asked.

Nagahide shrugged, "None that I know of," he admitted, "maybe it's just a foolish hope . . . but if mankind won't willingly stay in line perhaps they _do_ need to be forced . . ."

"Force only brings more force," His wife told him, "Suppose a man comes who has more power than all the Daimyo, suppose he forced them to be at peace, they'll just resent him and they or someone else will gather up power, he'll punish them and trod them down perhaps but sooner or later it'll lead to another war. Wars have been part of this land for generations, there's no point expecting them to end overnight. The fighting in Konoha did slow down but as Ichiteru says it didn't stop elsewhere."

"Mankind will _always _be fighting against itself somewhere in the world, it's our nature. Sometimes the reasons for fighting are stupid, other times they're important but in the end all causes are thrown aside, at the core we fight because it's how we were programmed, it's how we were built." Ichiteru smiled, looking at her husband's weapons, "That's what Yoshi taught me."

"Besides suppose there is a lord of lords over all the land, suppose just one man exists and forces peace. What happens if he isn't a _good _man? What if he's an evil man?" Nagahide's wife asked earnestly, holding her husband's hand, "It's impossible to ensure that a good man will always be the one to rule."

Nagahide nodded slowly, "Maybe you're right . . . " He said . . . but still . . . if a man could stop the wars and bring a lasting peace would it really matter what sort of man he was? Good or evil, if the world was at peace then wouldn't the action itself be good?

Nagahide considered this and looked at his grandson.

He was the future, right now his father and two of his uncles--Naomasa and Akira--were fighting to make sure he and all the other little children would _have _futures to experience.

So many little children would never see their fathers because of the war. He worried then that Tai might never get to know his father because of that war.

The very thought wracked him with grief. "Powers willing," He said, "Our family, both direct members and extended, will come through this safely. We've been fortunate so far, haven't we?"

"Yes . . ." Ichiteru said softly, "Odd, don't you think?" She pointed out.

Nagahide shrugged, "What do you mean?"

Ichiteru shrugged back, "I mean everyone's lost someone pretty much, a family our size and no one's lost anyone. None of my sisters have lost their husbands, and Naomasa, the youngest of us, is a soldier, has fought and yet he too is alive and well according to reports."

Isn't that a good thing?" Atsuko asked.

"Oh my yes," Ichiteru said with a slight smile that faded all too quickly, "but it makes me think some times . . . on balance the longer a lucky streak lasts the more devastating it is when it fails."

* * *

The streets of Konoha were almost completely empty as Neji and his team moved swiftly over the rooftops.

It would be dawn soon, they'd been out all night without taking a rest.

They were closing in on the tracking Jutsu, or so they were told, but it seemed to be moving now, heading who knew where, and Neji wasn't close enough to get a definite trace on the chakra signature of any powerful ninja.

His team consisted of two Jounin teams, three Konoha Jounin per team and then one of the two Kumo Jounin defectors, as well as Shino's Anbu squad.

Hinata led one team which included Izumo and Chouji, Neji's team was made up of Anko and Kotetsu.

"We're getting closer!" The woman, Kaori suddenly shouted, "They've reversed direction they're . . . they're coming this way!"

"How close?" Neji demanded.

"I can't tell," Kaori said, "close . . . they're . . ." She closed her eyes, "they should be just in front of us, fifteen meters and closing fast!"

"I don't see them," Neji said grumpily.

"They're underground." Anko said flatly.

"I'd see them if they were underground," Neji protested until he realized, "The labyrinth? They're in the labyrinth?"

The labyrinth had several entrances all over the city, entrances that had been added when it became the shelter of all noncombatants, before it was just a children's test.

Now to keep it safe various protective Jutsus had been placed on it as well as heavy reinforcement to the structure, they'd never be able to simply "break in" through the street, they needed to get to one of the entrances.

Unfortunately the nearest one might not do them any good, because it was a labyrinth they might be just ten feet from their enemy and unable to reach them because of the walls.

"Kaori, can you phase us in?" The other Kumo ninja, Takumi asked.

Kaori looked wary, "I don't think I can phase with _everyone_."

Neji thought carefully, "You wouldn't be able to phase into the place anyway, it's protected, they must have been _let _in by someone, we have to go after them."

"Isn't there surveillance in there?" Izumo demanded, "Can't we use that to tell where they are?"

"What Jounin can't avoid a surveillance camera?" Anko scoffed.

" Never mind the Jounin, we're looking for a Genin, she might be more careless, especially if she thinks she has a way of hiding from sight." Shino pointed out, Neji knew exactly what he meant.

"Shadow walking, the girl might be shadow walking through the labyrinth."

"She wouldn't have the chakra to sustain it indefinitely," Kaori said, "but whenever she sees a camera she could jump into the shadows . . ."

The teams were leaping along keeping close to Kaori who was still tracking the Jutsu, "So we break off and see," Kotetsu suggested.

"No, we don't know how many there are. Hinata, take Shino's team and get to the security center, watch the cameras and radio us our best entrance for attack. See if you can figure out how many there are and if necessary call the Hokage for reinforcements."

Hinata nodded and peeled off from the group, Neji was a little reluctant to see five members of the task force leave, it was a little more than a third of their strength, however he knew that Shino's Anbu squad contained Chuunin, with Sai MIA and presumed KIA the Chuunin Kurai had become a permanent member of the squad, that left Shino the only Jounin in the group and unfortunately someone who could infiltrate the labyrinth was probably above Chuunin level.

They kept following the Jutsu for some five minutes before Hinata radioed in, "Neji!" She cried, "Neji, I have them!" but it struck Neji as odd.

She shouldn't have had time to reach the security center yet, let alone view the camera footage . . .

"Where are they Hinata?"

"They're coming out of the academy entrance, they're in the streets."

What were they doing in the labyrinth before then? Neji looked towards the academy, he could definitely see the beginnings of chakra flare, "They've seen you, Hinata?"

There was no answer, but he could tell that there was fighting going on now.

Why? Why would they lead them on a chase and then reveal themselves? Why fight?

Did they believe they had no other option? Were they somehow aware of the task force baring down on them? And why hadn't Kaori led them towards the academy?

"Why are we still going this way if they're in the opposite direction?" Neji demanded of Kaori a little irritably.

"I'm following the tracking Jutsu, that's all I'm doing, if that group is affiliated with Kasumi's abductors they must have split up."

Neji swore, he turned to Chouji, "They might be trying to split us up, they might want us to break off this pursuit and aid Hinata. Unfortunately they're going to get what they want, I can't allow her to be endangered," Neji said, "But take Anko, Konjo and Yurei, keep after them, radio if you have trouble." Neji tossed Chouji his radio and led the others after Hinata's team.

This was all so confusing . . . Shikamaru might have seen through the plan right away, might have countered it, unfortunately Neji was not Shikamaru.

But he wasn't an idiot either, he knew that if he could capture one of Hinata's assailants alive he could find out what they were doing in the labyrinth and that might be more vital information than knowing where the Hattori girl was, might even reveal where she was going.

* * *

"Everything's in place," Hikaru said, turning away from the explosives he and the others had planted, "They'll go off and open the gates, right?"

"Of course not!" Okatsu laughed, "These explosives won't even shake the earth outside, that's how powerful this labyrinth is."

Hikaru frowned, "Then why did we just--"

"The master wants what's beyond this wall. The Great Founder, Orochimaru, had a lab in Konohagakure once, this was its entrance before it was sealed off."

"What good is it going to do us?" Hikaru demanded.

"I'm sure I don't know," Okatsu scoffed, "but the master does. This is what he wants."

Hikaru scoffed and a members of the Sound organization approached them, "Sir, ma'am," he said to his superiors, "we're being tracked."

"How?" Okatsu demanded, grabbing the soldier by the neck.

"We're not sure, but as you know most of our Konoha contacts are Anbu formerly of Root, one of them has reported that an Anbu squad was dispatched along with two Jounin teams to hunt down "Sound agents" and they're headed for us."

"Fine," Okatsu said irritably, "Let them come, we'll murder them in these narrows."

"There's a complication," The spy said, "Aburame is with them, as is Mitarashi."

Okatsu stared in shock, Hikaru was far less affected.

"Who're they?" He demanded.

"You fool!" Okatsu scowled, "Aburame is a clan of Konoha but for this idiot to mention him it must be Aburame Kurai, one of our targets of acquisition, and Mitarashi Anko is one of the few alive who possess a cursed mark like yourself, she's a holy one ordained by Orochimaru himself, one of if not the _first _still alive that we know of!"

"So?" Hikaru demanded.

"So our enemies are sending us gifts!" Okatsu cried, she turned to Shiroi, "You're one of the Sound Five, are you ready to act like it?"

"What do you want me to do?" Shiroi asked calmly.

"Get Aburame just like we planned, bring him over to our side, kill all those with him _except _Mitarashi. Take the entire task force with you, Hikaru, myself and Kasumi will remain here."

"You're endangering her, what would the master--" Kasumi began but Okatsu cut her off with a cruel laugh, "She's far safer than any, as far as the people of Konoha know she's still one of them, as are these spies, and the pure Sound Agents with them are all Jounin level, she's in the best of care."

"But you _are _ignoring the master's orders, you're revealing us too early." Hikaru said flatly.

"We've been revealed obviously, they know we're here, we need to unlock the secrets of Orochimaru's workshop now, then somehow evade capture until the gates can be opened. If however we manage to capture Mitarashi and Aburame evasion might not matter, it might be best simply to escape and return to the master."

"Master Kabuto never _asked _for Mitarashi, how do you know he even cares about her?"

Okatsu just laughed, "He doesn't tell you _everything _then, does he?" She said with an amused smirk and set off the explosives.

Shiroi and the bulk of the infiltration team set off to capture Kurai and kill the rest, but Hikaru felt it was a foolish act. They would be safe in the labyrinth, it would take the Konoha ninjas hours to find them, by then they'd have gotten what they came for no doubt and could have evaded capture for just one more day and then opened the main gates as planned.

Evasion for an entire day would have been difficult, but it would have kept the Konoha ninjas busy, which would only have aided in the war effort.

Hikaru however wouldn't argue.

When this all exploded in Okatsu's face he'd be Kabuto's new favorite, he'd be let in on all the secrets that apparently Okatsu was hearing and he wasn't. He couldn't get her words out of his mind, 'he doesn't tell you _everything _then, does he?' and he considered what Kabuto himself had said to him once.

'You'll betray me someday, and I'll kill you for it, until then obey me' or something like that.

Hikaru smirked, this wasn't that time. He was irritated at being less valued than Okatsu, but he was still loyal, he wanted to see this new world, he wanted to experience ever step of its creation, he wanted to be there when Kabuto won the war, he was still loyal.

_I just show it differently than most._ He decided.

The dust from the explosion settled and Okatsu led them into the large and rather empty lab of Orochimaru, "Where's all the equipment and research and stuff?" Kasumi asked.

"Gone, taken by the Konoha authorities, most of it likely utilized by the pretenders," Okatsu said, "but that's not what we're here for."

They walked through the door the explosive tags had made, into the spacious area, and as soon as Hikaru walked in he felt it.

A wave of sickness, of dread, of hate, of . . . everything evil he could imagine, this place was a den of evil deep beneath Konoha, terrible things had happened here, and somehow he just _knew _terrible things would yet happen here.

"What is this, the doorway to hell?" Hikaru joked.

"Doorway?" Okatsu snickered, but she sounded a little nervous, she felt it to, the dark presence, the evil.

Kasumi alone seemed unaffected, Kasumi strode boldly into the room and put her hands on her hips, "What exactly did we come here for?"

Okatsu shuddered, "There's something here that the people of Konoha were unable to remove, something they didn't even expect to look for. In this room is something the master desperately wants, it is worth more to him than all our lives combined."

That seemed strange, Kabuto was so interested in the Sound Five, what could he value more than one of its members and two of his officers?

Okatsu looked around, "There's a reason the people of Konoha sealed this room off, though only their reigning Hokage may have been aware of it at the time . . . we have to find it."

"If it couldn't be moved how would we get out with it?" Hikaru asked.

"Because we're servants of Lord Kabuto, the heir of Lord Orochimaru," Okatsu said, "this thing will allow itself to come with us . . ."

"I cannot see anything." Hikaru said flatly.

"Maybe it cannot be seen . . ." Okatsu whispered.

Kasumi suddenly drew her sword, "We should run," she said nervously.

"What?" Hikaru demanded.

"Run!" Kasumi repeated, this time she shouted it.

"Do you see something?" Okatsu demanded of the girl, grabbing her roughly by the arm.

Kasumi struggled and when Hikaru took a step towards the two women with the intent of calming both down Okatsu must have thought he planned to attack her for being so rough with Kasumi because she quickly released the girl and took a step back.

Kasumi ran out of the room at top speed, Okatsu glared at Hikaru, "Go after her!"

"You come too." Hikaru said calmly.

"No, I have to use the Jutsu Master Kabuto told me to--"

"Then do it and catch up, I'm going after the girl." Hikaru spat and took off out of the room, grateful to be out of it.

As soon as he left a wave of nausea left him as well, still the dark memory remained of that room, the mere _feeling _being inside of it had given him.

He left Okatsu alone and chased after Kasumi down the tunnels of the labyrinth.

* * *

Okatsu began to shake, the urge to vomit was overtaking her, this room smelled like death and it sent shivers down her spine.

Yet she didn't question her loyalty to Kabuto, didn't for a second feel repulsed by his interest in this place, quite the contrary she felt like she understood.

She liked to consider her self the emotionless kind, and this room had her on the verge of tears, whatever was in here was powerful indeed and it was only right that her Master seize it and harness it, it was his right as the heir to Orochimaru to take whatever power Orochimaru had once had, Okatsu meant to make sure he got it.

Still she paused a moment and considered . . . this really was the workplace of a genius, Orochimaru had experimented on human beings sure, but there were human beings everywhere, what did it matter if a few of them were used for experimentation? How could one properly develop a Jutsu without testing it on a human being? Trees, stones, animals, all were poor substitutes, if you wanted to know how your new Jutsu would rip through flesh you needed human flesh, if you wanted to know how your Jutsu would stop a human heart you needed a human heart.

And humans were an easily renewable resource, it took just nine months to create a new one, and there were _so many _wandering around that no one would miss, after all how long had it been that Lord Orochimaru had gotten away with his experiments before he was noticed? Before he was stopped?

And how much of his research had the people of Konoha secretly begun to use for themselves?

She felt ashamed then, she'd thought that this room was full of evil just moments before, she'd felt as if she'd descended into the darkest depth of hell just setting foot inside the place where so many people had been butchered for the sake of science.

But this room . . . this ambiance . . . it wasn't evil.

It was _genius_.

Orochimaru-sama hadn't been an evil person at all, he'd been a genius and Okatsu could finally understand why Master Kabuto had followed him. Orochimaru understood the world, Okatsu knew it. Orochimaru had known and embraced simple facts that others feared and avoided, this room, the walls and the floor, the air itself still contained traces of his genius, his spirit lingered though his body was several years dead this place remembered its master's touch.

Okatsu found herself then enjoying every minute of being in the room now. She was still shaking, she was still holding back bile, but rather than feeling disgusted and afraid she felt exhilarated, she was excited to be a part of this, she half wished she'd been born in Konoha, maybe then she could have contributed to the great work that had been done here once upon a time, she could have received a cursed seal, or if she were deemed unworthy would have happily given her body over to the research provided, it wouldn't have mattered to her, the furthering of this knowledge . . . it was the reason Konoha had to fall.

They had tried to keep this secret, end it just because . . . why? Because it was immoral to experiment on unwilling humans? How was experimenting on unwilling animals any better? Humans were just animals, with the exception of individuals like Orochimaru and indeed Kabuto who had, in Okatsu's eyes at least, surpassed his former master, nothing made human beings truly special.

Animals were experimented on and slaughtered for food . . . why not human beings too? Orochimaru had understood that, and now Okatsu did too.

She felt like she also understood Master Kabuto better now too, and she thought to herself _As you followed and surpassed Orochimaru so will I follow and one day surpass you, I will be one of the special ones just as you are and your master was._

She knelt down and began the Jutsu the Divine Shadow, Kabuto, master of the Sound Organization, had instructed her to use.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	148. Exit Shiroi!

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Forty Eight**

Shiroi leapt out into the cold night along with the defectors, the Sound agents waited behind them.

They went some distance and one of the Root Anbu said he could sense the powerful Jounin closing in, Shiroi herself hadn't sensed anything yet but she'd take his word for it.

"All right, ambush positions, we take them, we kill them, don't hurt injure Aburame."

"We may not know him behind his mask," One of the Root Anbu said but Shiroi waved her hand.

"Unmask all the Anbu then, and spare Aburame. You're all Anbu, you know Mitarashi by her face, yes?"

"Yes ma'am." The sensor said. Shiroi liked being called ma'am by someone who, in the Konoha military still technically outranked her.

Then again they weren't in Konoha's military anymore, now they were part of Sound and she already had Jounin authority if not rank in _that _army.

They took their positions looking like well intentioned Konoha citizens to any Jounin, even a Hyuga wouldn't realize.

When the team of five ninja came near the pure Sound Agents emerged and the Konoha ninja, unable to resist the bait, attacked them.

Shiroi let their leader make a transmission then threw a kunai that knocked the small radio right out of the Hyuga woman's hand.

Shiroi felt a tremor of anticipation run through her when she recognized the woman.

"Hinata-sama!" She cried happily, Hinata looked at her in confusion.

"Shiroi-chan? Is Sasuke back? What's going on?"

"I'm murdering you!" Shiroi cried cheerfully, Hinata looked confused and Shiroi had to admit it was a rather flamboyant statement but it helped to confuse Hinata as the Root Anbu rushed her.

She deflected their initial attacks with the help of her four Anbu guards, but the majority of them were sluggish, they must be Chuunin, they'd barely managed to keep their leader safe.

Shiroi scolded herself for thinking them sluggish though, they were still physically her equals if not betters, it was simply that in comparison to the Sound Agents they were slow.

Kurai was one of them and a feeling--and that's all it was, a feeling--told her which one of them it was before he shouted at her, "Shiroi, what are you doing?"

"Preserving the future." Shiroi called to him, "You have nothing to fear my love, stand down and I won't kill your companions."

"Are you nuts? What sort of game are you playing?" Kurai demanded, taking a step towards her.

Shiroi's eyes narrowed on Hinata who was watching her with intense hatred.

Shiroi took the Sound forehead protector off of her head and showed her "superior" that the symbol was still carved into her forehead, "You want to, don't you? You want to punish me, make me _hurt _because I'm opposing you, threatening you, you want me to suffer, don't you, you main branch bitch?" Shiroi laughed.

A small part of her wasn't completely down for this battle, a small part of her screamed 'Hinata-sama has never been cruel to you, spare her, negotiate or Kurai might get hurt, talk this out, don't be cocky, she's a Jounin!' but Shiroi silenced that voice.

Hinata _had _been cruel to her, she'd let the main family brand her, brand everyone else in her family, she could have _stopped _it, she could have said 'don't do it' or something but she hadn't, and the barbaric ritual had continued.

Her inactivity was as evil as the activity of the clan's elders, "Watch closely," She said coldly, "I'm going to show you what happens when a caged bird breaks free."

"You won't have much time before our reinforcements arrive," Hinata warned her, "I don't want to hurt you, Shiroi, Neji won't want to hurt you, but if you force our hand we will."

"I'm not your pet," Shiroi hissed, "I am your cousin, you condemned me to slavery! The branch family would have protected you for the mere asking, but you made us slaves! I don't care how you say you feel about me, I _hate _you, and as I promised you're going to die."

"Stop it!" Kurai shouted but Shiroi sprang and as she did so did the defectors and the Sound Agents.

The battle would be brief, Shiroi wasn't Hinata's equal, she knew that, but she didn't need to be.

She just needed to close her chakra points, the others were her all too willing human shields, blocking almost all of Hinata's attack and leaving Shiroi openings. Hinata was angry with her but she wouldn't want to kill her outright, she believed she might still be with Sasuke-sensei or know where he was, and that would save Shiroi's life while she scored minor hits here and there to seal off the vital chakra network of Hyuga Hinata.

Once she'd sealed enough she'd destroy the heiress to the Hyuga clan. Her son would be the one to destroy the clan itself, but she wouldn't be denied this brief chance at revenge.

She struck, Hinata dodged, she struck again and Hinata struck her extended arm instead, Hinata was a legend for a reason.

But Shiroi would be a legend before this war ended. She was the next generation, Hinata was the past. She was still young by all standards _except _those of the ninja.

By ninja standards a twenty seven year old woman was all but ancient, few ninja lived to see thirty seven, only the greatest lived to see forty seven, ninja hit their peaks young and died young.

Shiroi struck once, twice, and landed a third blow, Hinata staggered back and one of the defectors tried to plunge a blade into her back, but Hinata very deftly reached back, tore the blade from the Anbu's hand and spun it in her own, stabbing backwards but only slashing a log, for the Root Anbu was clever enough to substitute the instant he lost his weapon.

Hinata kept the blade though and lashed out, she meant to cut into one of Shiroi's bodyguards but at just that moment Shiroi had tried to attack, she saw the blade coming in as if it were in slow motion, and she herself moved in slow motion and yet she could not divert her body in time.

She was thrown back and slit across the dirt road, her lavender Sound uniform protected her from the rocks and debris in the road, had she been wearing her usual fishnet suit, skirt and vest combo she'd have been scratched up right nicely.

She rolled for a bit then flipped, before she could spring back into the fight though a swarm of insects descended on her.

_Sorry Kurai-kun, but I can't let you stop me_ she thought, and she lashed out, striking at the small swarm as she ran for Hinata again.

The Konoha loyal Anbu were forming a circle around her now, Shiroi could see Hinata had somehow gotten the radio Shiroi had had to contact Okatsu-sensei once the enemy was neutralized, she would call the rest of the task force and the numeric advantage Shiroi enjoyed now would disappear.

Shiroi wouldn't allow it, "The chance for peaceful surrender is past," Shiroi screamed at the top of her lungs, "Apart from Aburame, kill _all _the Anbu!"

The Anbu were exceptional fighters even by the standards of the Chuunin and Jounin their mixed ranks represented, but they were outnumbered and protecting Hinata.

The first one went down, the Root Anbu who'd substituted before struck him hard at the base of the skull.

Even if the blow didn't kill the Anbu it would keep him unconscious for the rest of the fight, another Anbu sent a swarm of insects at one of the Sound agents but it wasn't Kurai.

But it was an Aburame, it must have been Shino.

The Agent's devotion was evident when he failed to exploit the opening Shino left him, he could have dove through the bugs and struck Shino down, he didn't, instead he tried to substitute and failed, the insect swarm bit into him, he screamed and went down.

Shiroi understood her error, she'd ordered "Aburame" to be spared, the men obviously weren't as sure as she was about _which _Aburame she meant.

And Hinata lashed out before she could specify, throwing the radio at Shiroi and making direct eye contact for an instant Hinata glared with pure rage and then her face became confused.

Shiroi knew what had happened, Hinata had tried to activate the seal and kill her or at least disable her.

It hadn't worked, and that knowledge coupled with the belief of what Hinata-sama had just attempted to do only spurred Shiroi on.

With a scream of rage she threw herself at the older woman, she struck, struck, struck, three more chakra points sealed.

"More Konoha Jounin incoming!" The sensor ninja warned, Shiroi ignored him, this fight would be over before they arrived, the second Anbu went down, a pair of Sound Agents having cut him across his stomach and neck simultaneously, he'd been unable to block both, had tried to use one arm to stop each blade and found his strength insufficient.

As his body fell Hinata came out of her stupor, she spun around and struck Shiroi sharply on the shoulder, then began to strike her viciously, no one was nearby enough to protect her now, she'd let her guard slip away to deal with the Anbu.

Hinata's attack was vicious, rage showed in her eyes, "You traitorous snake," the older woman hissed, "you're no Hyuga, you've no right to the name!"

"And I don't want it! My master has given me a new name," Shiroi said coldly, allowing Hinata to strike her but striking the other woman back, sealing off her chakra points even as her own were sealed, it was a race now, who could close enough chakra points fast enough, who could end the other before it was too late.

"And what is your new name?" Hinata growled with uncharacteristic hatred, Shiroi was thrilled, she'd made the main branch's heir angry, the mere thought that a Hyuga would betray the clan was bad enough, that Hinata couldn't punish her in the manner she'd been taught to made her even angrier, Shiroi took in the anger with zest.

Shiroi continued to seal Hinata's chakra points, she heard Shino scream but she couldn't see why, still for the emotionless Shino to scream like that it probably meant he'd just lost his fight, that left just Hinata and Kurai.

She began to form the hand seals for the final Jutsu, not enough of Hinata's chakra points were sealed but the Jutsu would hurt her badly, and Shiroi would be able to finish her later.

"My name is Freedom!" Shiroi screamed, lunging forward, power burning in her hands, both hands, she thrust them forward, she would destroy Hinata, a Jounin, she would win, she'd be free.

But before she could something flashed before her eyes, there was a literal flash as the Jutsu went off, someone screamed.

It wasn't Hinata.

Neji fell to the ground writhing in pain as the others attacked Shiroi's squad, other Konoha ninja were realizing now what was happening and a few other Hyuga were coming now to the defense of their precious Hinata.

Shiroi screamed in frustration and rage, Neji was hurt, she'd hurt him . . . no, no she hadn't it wasn't her fault, and it wasn't his, it was Hinata, all Hinata's fault.

"It's you," she hissed, "He _had _to save you. Oh you main family members knew what you were doing with these seals didn't you?" She roared, lunging forward and striking viciously at the stunned Hinata who'd been staring in horror at Neji's prone form.

Neji, despite his pain grabbed Shiroi's leg as she leapt over him, she stumbled forward, hitting the ground hard.

Hinata still had the knife she'd stolen, she raised it into the air, "You want freedom, you traitor? Then I'll give it to you in the form of an eternal rest!" Hinata roared, the rage in her eyes was back, her confusion over Neji's injury was gone, she was a Jounin, she was ready to do her duty and none of Shiroi's ninja was in any position to stop her.

Shiroi, prone on the ground rolled out of the way of the first strike, but she couldn't evade forever. Out of desperation she kicked Neji but he didn't release his grip.

Hinata came for her again, Shiroi threw dirt into her eyes but she was a Jounin, she closed her eyes at just the right moment the opened them again, it didn't phase her.

Others were upon them now, it would all be over quickly.

Shiroi glared with hatred at Hinata, "Kill me then, but you'll never escape your own guilt, I won't be the last to oppose you!" She cried as Hinata slammed the knife towards her.

It was deflected at the last moment, none of Shiroi's men had been in position to stop Hinata, but one of Hinata's had been.

Kurai grabbed Hinata's wrist and pulled it away, "Don't!" He shouted.

It wasn't a defection per-se, he wasn't switching sides, he was just asking his superior to show mercy.

Still it was enough for Shiroi to know she still had a chance, "Kurai," she shouted, "They'll kill us!"

"Us?" He demanded, confused, thinking she meant the two of them, rather than herself and their child, he after all, did not know about the baby, "Stand down Shiroi," he told her, "you'll be spared, I give you my word!"

"No," She insisted, "I'll be killed, _we _will be killed! They will kill our _baby_!"

Kurai looked shocked, Hinata's aggression also abated somewhat, she stared at Shiroi with a look of false understanding. She _thought _she understood what had driven Shiroi to betrayal, she believed Shiroi was only a mother looking out for her child's future, and that spawned a weakness in her, she felt _sympathy_ for that.

She didn't realize that Shiroi was so much more than that, she wasn't just some mother to be wanting a better life for her child, not anymore. She was going to remake the world and her new world wouldn't have Hinata or any of the main branch members in it.

Shiroi saw her men being overpowered, she quickly explained and tried to play off of the sympathy Hinata was expressing, "I'm carrying your child Kurai, when it's born it _will_ have the Byakugan, it _will_ be a member of the branch family just like me, they'll put that seal on its head, just like me! Like me our child will feel pain, suffering, will _die_ all on the whim of main branch members like her, I can't surrender, I can't serve Konoha, not if it means my child's life! Don't let them hurt our baby!"

Kurai didn't move, but Shiroi knew she'd won, she must have, that revelation must have moved him, he must understand now why he had to side with her.

"I won't let them," Kurai said firmly, "Stand down, I won't let the Hyuga take the child."

Shiroi's eyes narrowed, "You betray us." She said coldly, accusingly, "It'll be hard for me to forgive this if you go through with it, Kurai."

He tore his mask off and looked at her eye to eye, "Stand down, it'll be okay." He told her.

Her upper lip curled in anger, tears lined her eyes, why didn't he understand? "I'd rather die free than live as a slave." She said.

Kurai clenched his fist, "Then you leave us no choice, you're under arrest Shiroi, don't resist and you won't be hurt."

Then it happened, the last of her team, the Root Anbu who'd incapacitated the first Anbu and tried to stab Hinata sprang forward. His mask fell off as he kicked Neji harshly in the face and grabbed Shiroi, Hinata-sensei's eyes were wide.

"Sai?" She whispered in horror, "What are you, _how--" _but that was all Shiroi heard before Sai teleported her away from the battle.

They reappeared twenty feet away, he picked her up and carried her, running at top speed for the gates, once they got free they could reach the armies, the armies would be closing in now, they'd be safe.

But Shiroi watched the scene they were leaving behind, Kurai . . . Kurai hadn't understood.

_I'll give you just one more chance because I love you,_ she thought, _when Konoha falls around you I'll seem like a godsend, you'll come with me then. If you wont . . ._ she considered.

Could she kill Kurai?

Yes . . . yes she could.

But would she?

No. She wouldn't. She knew that.

Not just because she loved him, and not at all because he was meant to be one of the five.

She couldn't kill him because doing so meant killing a major portion of herself, and her entire quest had been about self preservation. Kurai was as much a part of her as he was a separate individual, to kill him would kill herself.

She shoved herself free of Sai and ran alongside him, ran towards freedom but as they climbed the stairs that led to the top of the wall she thought to herself _when I come back it'll be at the head of an army, you'll be sorry, but I'll forgive you. You'll see things my way, or I'll make _you _the prisoner until you realize what it's like to be caged._

* * *

Hinata got to her feet as Neji struggled to climb to his.

There was a lot to consider. Sai was alive and a traitor? How could that be? True he'd been a part of Root but he was one of Naruto-kun's closest friends, it just didn't seem possible.

She looked at the knife, at the time she thought she stole it but had Sai meant for her to have it? Was there some message in the knife?

No, no it was just a knife, and if he _had _been working against the enemy why rescue Shiroi from capture?

No, Sai was most definitely a member of the Sound organization, but if _he _had turned against Naruto they needed to find out _why_.

What was Kabuto offering that was so seductive?

"Hinata . . ." Neji whispered, he leaned against Izumo for support, he sounded hurt but she could tell from the strength in his voice that he'd pull through, after all none of his chakra points had been sealed when Shiroi's Jutsu went off.

When he spoke there was some strain, but not very much, maybe he was too proud to let her know he was hurt. "Protecting you . . ." he said, "I wasn't forced. It was my choice. Shiroi . . . doesn't understand . . . Don't be mad at her, I should have . . . taught her better."

Hinata shuddered, "She's got to be held accountable for her own actions . . . we all do." Hinata said, understanding what her own statement meant.

She'd made Shiroi. She had made the girl as surely as if she'd given birth to her. It was true that she hadn't fought very hard to remove the curse on the branch family, she'd just assumed it'd sort itself out. She realized now she never understood the full weight of what that seal meant to the person wearing it, she had such a comfortable relationship with Neji she'd often _forget _the seals even existed, as a child it hadn't seemed like a big deal.

She was old enough now though, she _knew _the seals needed to go, but she'd assumed Naruto would handle it and that she'd simply back him up when that time came, it never really occurred to her that she might have the clout within her clan to personally force the removal of the seals by herself.

But why not? How many others were like Shiroi, afraid and full of hate? Had Neji been any different in their youth?

It might be too late for Shiroi, it needn't be too late for the others, she'd talk to the elders, she'd find some way and she'd have the seals removed.

And then she'd face the demon she'd created, she'd find Shiroi and if the girl wouldn't return she'd have no choice . . .

Hanabi was a delicate and special case because her marriage to Hattori Tetsuo had bought peace and because her child would very likely fail to have the Byakugan, but Shiroi was with Kabuto, the enemy, Hinata couldn't allow the Byakugan to fall into Kabuto's hands.

When Sasuke had left Konoha Naruto had devoted his all to finding him and bringing him back peacefully. Shiroi wasn't Sasuke and Hinata wasn't Naruto-kun, if the girl wouldn't come back to Konoha Hinata would kill her outright, no hesitation.

But on the subject of Sasuke, Hinata could only wonder where _he'd _gone to.

If his student was with the Sound Organization . . . could Sasuke _possibly_ have . . . after all if _Sai _had turned . . . Hinata needed to see Naruto right away.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **This chapter was done at roughly the same time as the last chapter (no joke) but I sat on it for a while, I wasn't happy with it. Not much really happens in the chapter, and yet a bunch of stuff happens, it's funny that way.

Another problem was I had a rough decision to make. Do I continue after New Blood, and write the sequel or do I end things with New Blood leaving the possibility of a future sequel someday but little likelihood? With this story nearing the end of the line certain things in this and later chapters might or might not have to be changed depending on the answer to that question.

See my problem is I kind of haven't got any remaining interest in the Naruto manga. Apart from the possibility of coming back just to see Shikamaru and Temari hook up or Naruto really become Hokage nothing really makes me want to read it. I once cared whether or not Sasuke came back, now I don't. I once cared if we'd ever get to see the other villages, the other head ninja and frankly after the Raikage I'm thinking I'm happier leaving them up to my own imagination. Once upon a time I actually wanted to see the sand siblings return to the cast, now I'm pessimistic enough to think that they'd do so just to appear in the background or die lame deaths.

In the days when I was first starting New Blood, indeed long before New Blood I would wait anxiously for new chapters of the manga, buy the volumes off the shelves even though I'd already read the translations, I went to message boards (one anyway, but it was a great board at the time, dunno if it still is and I don't have their permission to mention them by name) it was all me and my friends talked about, I even made every attempt to watch the show on Cartoon Network.

However now . . . a new chapter just makes me shrug, I really don't care. I think I'd rather have the unused space on my hard drive. I actually stopped reading when Sasuke got new eyes, then picked it up again when I heard the Raikage had been revealed. Maybe the disappointment I felt at discovering he was, by all appearances, a goof who probably only got the job due to martial skill (though part of me appreciated the light heartedness of some of the Raikage's scenes, overall if felt out of place), or indeed the disappointment when Sasuke seemed briefly to be remembering the kindness of his friends only to turn right around and say "yeah, still gonna waste Konoha, because that's how I roll", maybe it was the Eight Tails maybe it was a lot of different things but somewhere along the line I just sort of said "screw this already" I feel no excitement at the prospect of new chapters, none at all.

Why should this slow updates of New Blood? Well New Blood is ending soon, I needed to decide how I'd end it. Do I end it the way I planned, leaving the door wide open for the sequel that's been the plan since chapter one?

Or do I end it firmly and finally? Do I cancel the sequel and simply end with New Blood?

After a great deal of thought I've made my decision.

I toyed with the idea of leaving you all hanging until the final chapter of New Blood but since this chapter is so incredibly late I'll tell you my decision by way of compensation.

The same day New Blood ends the first chapter of the sequel will be posted. Its title is subject to change according to availability so I won't tell you what it is now, but it most certainly will exist, everything we've been building up to, the new Sound Five, the Shogun, the growth of Team Ten and even Sumiko's intellect, these aren't things I want to just throw away by ending the series before its time.

So I'll even continue reading the manga for relevant articles such as Naruto's training, maybe I'll get interested again and all this worrying will have been for nothing, who knows.


	149. Kabuto's Ambition

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Forty Nine**

It happened in a rush, Kaori warned everyone to be ready and opened the door to enter the labyrinth, and just as she did Kasumi ran right through her.

She looked stupefied when she saw Kasumi, Takumi however guessed that Kasumi wasn't alone and instead of going to catch her he threw himself between Kaori and Hikaru.

The battle joined in a flash, Kasumi drew her blade and turned back to fight, Hikaru transformed to the first level of his cursed seal state to knock Takumi and and non-phasing Kaori backwards from the door then took his second level.

Takumi swallowed hard and drew his chakra swords, "Time to finish this I guess," he said grimly.

"Side by side." Kaori said.

"How sweet," the monstrous Hikaru growled, "your blood will taste all the sweeter . . . fine I'll kill you all, it doesn't matter, none of you mean anything to the master."

He sprang forward, but Kaori shook her head in amazement. Did he really think he stood any sort of chance against four Jounin?

One of them was the legend, Hatake Kakashi for crying out loud. No there had to be some sort of trap.

"Kill him quickly," Kaori warned, "No mercy."

Three of the four Jouin converged on Hikaru, the fourth, Mitarashi Anko went after Kasumi who struggled to ward her off, it was due only to the fact that Anko was not trying to hurt her that the girl wasn't killed right there.

Hikaru was huge, he couldn't properly fit in the alleyways of Konoha, he leapt up onto the rooftops and Takumi and Kakashi followed.

Kaori hesitated, then she jumped too.

She wasn't at all concerned for Hikaru, he had to die, he was a traitor and he was dangerous.

But being overconfident would only cost her and probably the others their lives, Hikaru was a dangerous enemy and deserved full consideration in that light.

Hatake Kakashi struck first, not with Chidori but instead with a Taijutsu attack, Hikaru swept one of his blades through the Konoha Jounin only to discover he'd sliced through a log.

The real Kakashi appeared right above him, Hikaru slashed again this time cutting into a stone statue--where had that come from?

The statue fell on top of Hikaru, knocking him flat on a roof top but he recovered quickly with a laugh, and then sprang not for Kakashi but for Kaori.

She phased, he came on anyway, he probably didn't know she was phasing, he probably didn't care.

"Come on," Kaori growled under her breath, "come and let me put you out of my misery."

Hikaru leapt into the air however, avoiding her all together and lashed out at Takumi instead.

He'd been coming to help her, now he was the focus of the monstrous Hikaru's attention.

Takumi's two blades flashed in the black of night as Hikaru's monstrous blades met them strike for strike, but while Takumi's sword arms were busy deflecting Hikaru's wing-like blades Hikaru's hands were free to form hand signs and seals.

Kakashi didn't let him finish, before Kaori had even begun to leap for Hikaru, meaning to rip some bone or vital organ from his body before he could counter attack, Kakashi unleashed the very same Jutsu Hikaru meant to use.

A lion made of lightning charged from Kakashi's outstretched hands and slammed into Hikaru, at first Kaori thought _how could Hikaru be so careless? Didn't he know who he was fighting? Didn't he know Hatake has the Sharingan?_

Then she saw that Hikaru's blades only channeled the lightning Jutsu and when he unleashed his own lion against Takumi it was all the more powerful thanks to the chakra Kakashi had unwittingly given to him.

Takumi was too close, even though Kaori was already charging towards Hikaru to launch her own attack she couldn't save Takumi, nor would she believe that she needed to.

He was a Jounin, he could take care of himself, he would find some way of countering Hikaru's attack.

She herself didn't stop in her own attack, she leapt at Hikaru, reached out for his shoulder, she'd rip the shoulder blade right out o the body.

One of his blades came in, she didn't phase through it, he would just charge it with chakra and get her anyway, instead she stretched out an arm and hurtled herself over it, not bothering to phase through it since she needed to push herself over the arm rather than through it.

She reached out for his shoulder, she saw from the corner of her eye Takumi get struck by the lightning Jutsu, he must not have had time to prepare a defense, or maybe with Kakashi's chakra added to Hikaru's own it had just been too much for him.

It wouldn't distract her from her task though, she had to--the tail!

Hikaru's tail slammed into her, she phased but too late, she flew through Hikaru and slammed hard into Takumi who turned out to be a lightning clone.

She was phasing, she was a master of lightning chakra, as such it's effect was softened against her while she phased.

Softened, but against such a powerful blast of electricity she couldn't completely nullify it or ignore the searing pain when she flew through both Takumi's clone and the remnants of Hikaru's lion.

It was only an instant before she flew through the roof and--having stopped phasing by then--slammed into a wall.

She lay in some poor family's living room for a moment, struggling to her feet.

That could have killed her, it hadn't . . . she had a funny feeling Hikaru hadn't _wanted _it to kill her.

If he still had feelings for her maybe she could play them against him.

She climbed to the top of the roof after speaking a quick apology to the horrified family.

Had she been thinking more clearly she might have warned them to evacuate the house, but it didn't occur to her until after she was back on the roof, back on the field of battle.

And it didn't turn out to be necessary, the battle had moved, they were fighting on another roof, Takumi's blades rippling with alternating elements as he lashed out at Hikaru again and again, Hatake Kakashi was charging up for a Chidori attack, Kaori rushed to their aid.

Something hit her hard in the side, she turned and saw a woman leap towards her.

She was that turncoat, what was her name again?

"Okatsu!" Kaori hissed.

"So . . ." Okatsu laughed, "You're the woman he was with before me. I'm not impressed."

Kaori rolled to her feet, "Your student murdered Masaru, you caused Kasumi's madness, do you think I can forgive you?"

"Do you think I want you to?" Okatsu laughed, "Oh my dear . . . I see everything so clearly now. Do you know that you and your brother live only because my master willed it? On a whim he let you escape Kiri, it was well within his power to end you."

Kaori shrugged, "Irrelevant, he's not here, you are, you're the one who'll die tonight, his death can come later."

"Oh? Stupid woman. Who do you think annihilated your clan those years ago? Who do you think knew your secret? Who do you think told your friend Ami how to injure you?" Okatsu drew forth a pair of knives, "Three guesses, get it right and your death is quick."

"You're nothing." Kaori scoffed and she lunged, Okatsu slashed at her with both blades, Kaori nimbly twisted to avoid them.

Even if it was a bluff she didn't want to risk it, being stabbed by Ami nearly killed her, she wasn't eager to endure the cold touch of a blade anytime soon.

"Fast," Okatsu laughed, "very fast."

Kaori swept Okatsu's legs but the other woman dodged, she rose but Okatsu threw caltrops at her.

Her first response was to phase, yet something inside her told her to raise her arm in front of her face anyway.

It was a lucky thing she did, she felt the metal rip through her flesh, she screamed in pain and staggered forward, Okatsu caught her, resting one arm on her shoulder, the knife blade held in that hand was dangerously close to Kaori's neck.

"Make a guess, go on, you'll never guess."

"I'll kill you!" Kaori roared, thrusting her uninjured arm forward towards Okatsu's chest, but the other woman just swept her arm out and slashed that shoulder.

"Not even a name, guess again, two left, then it's a slow death."

Kaori staggered backwards, "What do you gain by making me guess? What stupidity drives your game?"

"I want to hear you say the name, want to know that you know how helpless you are to take vengeance for your clan, how helpless your brother will be when we kill him too, I want you to realize your doom before I destroy you. See you had your chance to be one of us, you blew it. Your brother . . . maybe he'll be a different story, eh?"

"Not Yuu!" Kaori roared, lunging forward, Okatsu laughed.

"Right, not Yuu, guess number two down, stupid girl," She snarled and tried to cut at Kaori again but the newly appointed Leaf Jounin wasn't helpless without her phasing, she threw herself back and spun around kicking Okatsu roughly in the stomach.

Kaori phased through the roof they fought on at an angle that made it appear as if she meant to jump up behind Okatsu but instead spun and came out from the same place, slamming both feet into the back of Okatsu's head since the other woman had assumed she'd appear behind her she' turned to meet the attack.

Kaori would have gone further but the pain in her right arm and left shoulder overwhelmed her, she crumpled to the floor and failed to suppress a scream of pain.

Okatsu slammed face first into the roof but rolled and spun, springing for Kaori.

The Konoha Jounin kicked out to ward her enemy away but Okatsu dodged her first kick and then slashed her left leg right across the thigh, then spinning brought her second blade to Kaori's neck, she pressed it close against her throat, so close the metal, toxic to Kaori, seemed to burn her.

"As I was saying, guess two down. This is your last chance, die quickly by admitting what you know in your heart, tell me the name of the man who doomed your clan, tell me now."

Kaori's eyes were watering, the memories of the night that her clan was destroyed came flooding back to her, she remembered carrying Yuu from the burning ruin of their tower, saw her brothers and sisters sacrifice themselves to defend her escape, saw cousins die, saw hunter ninja sweep through the compound slaughtering everyone, young old, male, female, ninja, civilian . . .

Who was responsible? Who had learned their secret?

Who had destroyed her entire world?

She swallowed a lump in her throat and whispered "There's only one person who could have done it," she said, humoring Okatsu.

"Yes, yes . . . tell me," Okatsu laughed.

Kaori let rage and fear show in her eyes, "It could only have been--" she thrust both her hands into Okatsu's chest and gripped whatever she could.

"Stupid--" Okatsu began but Kaori laughed.

"You're the stupid one, to assume that you could get this close to me and not suffer! It's over for you, over you hear me? If I die my body becomes solid and you have two hands lodged in your chest, if I choose to you kill you, you die, if you try to move away from me, you die. It's over, you're finished, you underestimated me, you master underestimated my clan, he should never have let me live, even if I die from these wounds my brother will destroy him!"

Okatsu laughed, Kaori felt a cold hand on her cheek and a blade press against her throat, "You underestimate _me_. Go ahead, rip that shadow clone's insides right out, you've got about five seconds. Five," Okatsu whispered sweetly, "four,"

Kaori thrust her head back and hit the second Okatsu in the stomach.

In her weakened state and with two blades at her throat winning this battle seemed impossible.

She'd have to escape somehow, but how?

She phased through the roof and fell through the floor of the house they'd fought on, she lay beneath the ground, too weak to fight, and ashamed to admit that after all she'd been through death frightened her.

She didn't want to die, there were so many things she hadn't done yet . . .

She leapt back up to the ground level, emerging from beneath the earth in what appeared to be a kitchen.

She was about to phased and jump through the roof but the moment she put weight on her leg she fell over, unable to stand.

She heard a window break, Okatsu leapt in, "Really that was an incomplete answer so I'll let you finish it before you die."

"You're insane." Kaori hissed.

"No, I'm just comfortably in control of this battle, that's all." Okatsu smirked, "I can toy with you all I want, I can do whatever I want . . . in fact I think I want to see you on all fours begging for your life like the dog you are, but then again I'm sure a girl like you has already spent _plenty _of time on all fours . . . hmm?"

"You and Hikaru really deserve each other." Kaori scoffed, steeling herself for one last attack.

"I know, too bad he's just a time filler until the man I really want comes around. Ah well, enough love chat, time for you to die I guess."

"Do it then." Kaori glared.

Okatsu rushed forward, there was a scream, the sound of blood splattering to the floor . . .

None of it had come from Kaori.

She stared in confusion at the young woman who had intercepted and decapitated Okatsu with a single sweep of her chakra sword.

Kasumi stood over Okatsu's dead body, her sword coated in the woman's blood, she turned her head and looked at Kaori over her shoulder, her empty black eyes not at all betraying her intentions for the injured kunoichi.

Where was Anko? Why had Kasumi lashed out at Okatsu and why had it worked? What would she decide to do to Kaori? All these questions ran through the older woman's mind, she was more or less helpless now, her fate rested in Kasumi's hands.

* * *

Kabuto felt a tremor run through him, he smiled slightly, by now Okatsu had surely succeeded in her mission.

He rose from his throne and willed himself to the war camp, his body remained in his lair but his astral projection appeared before the gathered generals.

"Divine Shadow," One of the Taisho said, "You grace us with your--"

"Begin the final march," Kabuto said coldly, "lay Konohagakure to siege, I will arrive on the third day to see its fall. Do not fail me."

That said he disappeared, or at least caused his astral projection to do so.

His physical body moved for the door, his bodyguards flanked him, over his shoulder he said "Empty this lair, it has become useless. Our people will soon reside in their new home, when Konohagakure fulfills its destiny and becomes Otogakure."

Two of his guards disappeared to spread the order, Kabuto walked and by the time he exited the serpent's mouth that made up his lair some hundreds of followers were already gathered.

Few of them were ninja, most were just women and children who had come to him seeking refuge from the war that he himself had engineered.

He'd given them that refuge, they'd given him their lives, their loyalty, their very souls.

They were his people, Lord Orochimaru's people in a sense for Sound was his creation.

Soon Kabuto would be Shogun, he would rule the entire land . . .

And when Okatsu fulfilled her mission and brought him that which had lay hidden beneath Konoha for so many years he would be ready to assume the throne, to rule over mankind.

Mankind, the foolish rabble so prone to making the wrong choices, mankind who would always be content if their base desires were fulfilled, as long as they had food to eat, places to sleep, people to sleep with, and games and such to amuse themselves the people would be content, and he would be like a god to them.

Those who rebelled would not be punished . . . they would be rewarded.

They and their families would become the subjects of the tests that Kabuto would perform, he would use those who were not content with his rule to find out what made man so easy to control, he would then find a way to make man even _easier _to control.

He would find out what made man age, he would stop it within himself and slow it within those he found most loyal.

He would learn everything there was to know about the human body, for therein lay the key difference between him and his former master.

Lord Orochimaru experimented on people to perfect Jutsus and become a more powerful man.

But Lord Kabuto would experiment on people to perfect mankind and become a god.

Orochimaru had been brilliant, he had been ambitious, he was a being with few flaws.

But Kabuto was more brilliant, more ambitious and he would remove all of his flaws and become flawless.

His people . . . hundreds of women and children, some men, so many Shinobi, all of whom had come to him to seek security from the war that he had engineered . . . the war he had planned, prepared for, and set in motion years before it even began, the war he had scripted so perfectly that no unexpected act could or at least had yet affected the final outcome.

Nara Shikamaru of Konoha could think two hundred steps ahead, and two hundred alternate steps for every step he thought, or so the rumors said.

Lord Kabuto, the Kamikage, soon to be the Shogun, felt sorry for poor Nara. His ability to think ahead put even the rumored brain of Shikamaru to shame, for what other than genius could have propelled him so far?

Still Shikamaru would be an asset, and Temari was of the Kazekage's bloodline and though ninja leadership was not hereditary with Kankuro missing and possibly dead Kabuto could use Temari to control what was once Sunagakure.

They were worth interest.

Naruto . . . dear Naruto . . . he had made the whole war possible, so Kabuto would grant him a quick death, but not life. He was too dangerous, his nine tailed demon was far too dangerous.

Uchiha, if he played the game to Kabuto's liking, could be allowed to live. His eyes were an all but extinct treasure, he would be made to reproduce, to replicate those eyes, Kabuto would experiment on him, on his children, he would not steal Uchiha's body as Orochimaru had meant to, he would simply understand it.

The Hyuga cousins, ah what to do with them? He would not let Shiroi have her vengeance against the main house, doing so would remove the girl's bind to him. Better to let Hinata and a few others escape, he could keep tabs on them easily enough once the world was settled. Hunting them down could be a periodic reward for Shiroi, he could claim to have found new evidence, and then give her tidbits of information on one member of the main family and see where that information took her.

Neji of course would suffer the same fate as Uchiha; unless he was too difficult to control he could be experimented on until his eyes were no mystery to Kabuto. Shiroi needn't ever know what would befall him, it would be enough to satisfy her if she knew he was alive.

Haruno was a valuable medic, but unfortunately she was too close to both Uchiha and Uzumaki, her fate was therefore sealed, though Kabuto might force her to expel all her knowledge to him before he killed her.

The fools Akimichi Chouji, Yamanaka Ino, Rock Lee, Tenten and Inuzuka Kiba would die in the battle for Konoha of course, of else be executed afterwards, Kabuto had no need for them other than to display his power by eliminating members of the Twelve.

There was reason to leave Aburame Shino alive of course, but only for a time, only until things were fully settled, then he would be publicly executed, Kabuto would trump up some charge.

Thus would he deal with the Twelve, anyone and everyone else in Konoha would either join him or simply die.

The village would be his, it should be his, it belonged to him.

It had belonged to Orochimaru, even if the people of the village had never fully accepted that fact it was indeed fact.

Kabuto had inherited all that was once Orochimaru's.

He would inherit Konohagakure in just four days time.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **I finished this chapter whilst I had no internet due to the move, since it's overdue here it is now, enjoy!


	150. Kasumi's Revelation

**Chapter One Hundred Fifty**

Shino put his hand on Kurai's shoulder, "You handled that well."

"What?" Kurai raised an eyebrow.

"I was worried," the older Aburame said as he rubbed his own injured shoulder, he watched his cousin carefully. Kurai was loyal but he had to be confused now . . .

If Shiroi had been telling the truth, and somehow Shino felt that she was, then Kurai might feel conflicting emotions . . . and where was Sasuke? Was he with Sound? "We need to see the Hokage," Shino told Kurai.

"Yes sir . . . shouldn't you see a medic?"

"It's nothing." Shino said, squeezing his injured shoulder.

"Enough to make you scream, I thought you were finished!" Kurai said with concern.

Shino shook his head, "It's nothing."

"Not 'nothing'." Hinata said, examining his shoulder, "you got this from Sai, the wound is filled with ink, it's going to take a lot of cleaning."

"Neji and Shino injured?" A Chuunin asked, "Fighting still going on in the city? What's going on?"

Shino frowned, he didn't know. It was hard to know what was going on anymore.

* * *

Kaori stared in confusion, "Kasumi?" She whispered, barely daring to hope . . . had the girl come to her senses? Had something happened to remind her of who her real friends were?

Kasumi shouldered her sword and said "My sensei will be very angry with me."

"Tosa? No, never, she's come all this way to find you!" Kaori said.

Kasumi laughed, "That bookworm? No . . . I mean Lady Okatsu, she's my new teacher." Kasumi kicked the severed head away from the dead body, "She'll be upset with me, I could care less how Tosa Kimiko feels."

Kaori frowned, feeling hostility coming from Kasumi, the girl would attack her, she was sure of it, and with a chakra sword all she had to do was use an element Kaori hadn't mastered and she'd finish her.

Kaori didn't so much as blink, she'd meet death with open eyes if necessary, stare it in the face.

She also wanted to keep her eyes on Kasumi; the girl traced a line across the bloody blade, "What happened to Mitarashi Anko?"

"Anko? I wouldn't know. I couldn't hurt her; she's a holy one . . . or something like that." Kasumi said, "Lord Kabuto wants everyone alive today who still bares a cursed mark, Anko still bares a cursed mark."

"What's he want them for?" Kaori asked.

"I don't know." Kasumi said calmly. "I think you're smart enough to know that I wouldn't tell you even if I knew."

"Don't go back to him, Kasumi . . . join us, we will stop him. We'll avenge Masaru's death." Kaori said.

Kasumi glared at her, "Masaru? Masaru the brave young man who gave up his life for me? Hah. What's to avenge? It wasn't nobility that killed Masa, it was stupidity, he simply forgot he wasn't protected by his steel cloth Jutsu, that's what it was. It was all his fault, not mine."

"No one ever said it was your fault," Kaori said.

"He didn't really think he was protecting me, he just thought I'd feel indebted to him, that's what it was. He didn't expect Akuma to go through with it, no one did. Isn't that what the Konoha ninja all told me? No one knew it would happen? So how would Masaru have known? He didn't, so he wasn't protecting me."

"Even if he didn't know you would be killed he still tried to protect you just in case, that's what love is, don't spit on it." Kaori warned.

"Spare me." Kasumi said coldly, "I made a deal with your brother you know. That's why you're alive now, to tell him I changed my mind. At first I joined the Sound to infiltrate them, I wanted to get close to Kabuto and kill him even if it cost my life . . . because at first I thought that he was the one responsible for Masaru's death, I thought that I owed it to Masa to fight the Sound. Now I know better, I'm enlightened."

Kasumi smiled darkly, "Okatsu trained Akuma to fight the Leaf Village, Kabuto is at war with the Leaf Village. Now who was it that threw all us kids into an arena? The Konoha ninja. Who was it that stole Masaru's chakra and ruined his technique? A Konoha ninja. Who stood by when Akuma struck? The Konoha ninja. Who then sat me in front of their demon to hypnotize me, to feed me lies until I actually _believed _that Lord Kabuto was the real enemy? The Konoha ninja."

"Kasumi you need time to think--" Kaori began, while she rummaged through her equipment pouch for something, _anything_ she could use to defend herself.

Too late, Kasumi was on her in a flash, wind chakra rippling over her sword, the cutting wind was just a hair's breadth from Kaori's throat, the older woman froze, knowing there was no way she'd evade in time, not as badly injured and exhausted as she was.

"Tell Yuu that he's free of our deal, tell him that the next time we meet he'd better come at me with true intent to kill, not like last time where he talked the talk but didn't walk the walk. Tell Tosa that it was her own stupidity that let Masaru get killed and let her get injured, if she knows what's good for her she'll kill _herself_ before I do it. Tell them not to look for me, when the time comes I'll find them and if they want to survive when I do they'd better fight like their lives depend on it because they most definitely will."

"You're selling your soul to the very ones who manipulated your father and murdered Masaru before your very eyes!"

"Soul? What's a soul? A word someone made up and nothing more, it doesn't exist, you can't see it, you can't touch it, you can't hurt it, you can't sell it. Spare me such talk, you dareclaim _Lord_ _Kabuto_ is the manipulator when you lay there telling me lies? My father was not manipulated, he was simply enlightened as I am now, and I told you it was Masaru's own stupidity that got _him _killed!" Kasumi screamed.

"Okatsu trained the boy that killed Masaru, you can blame whomever you want to blame but the fact is you're following in Akuma's footsteps." Kaori said coldly.

"Yes. Yes I am. That spoiled little prince killed the best of the Lightning Country's Genin after a mere few months of training. In a few years when my circuit is complete I'll be the bane of entire nations, the old threat of the tailed beasts, the Akatsuki, the Uchiha, all of them . . . _nothing _compared to what I will become. Okatsu's one of the most powerful ninja not because of her own skills in combat but because she _knows_ how to make others legendary."

Kaori closed here eyes finally, she was out of strength, she whispered "You're falling down a path and there may never be any recovery for you Kasumi. I know what it's like to be lost, to believe in the wrong people, to do the wrong thing--"

"This is a bit different than the path you walked. You devoted yourself to one man, then changed your mind and went to another, he taught you how to be strong but then you switched back like the ungrateful, indecisive whore you are. But me? I know my master now, and I'm still pure as the day I was born." Kasumi sneered.

"Oh but you're wrong. You're even more twisted and vile than Ami on her worst day. Even at her worst Ami was capable of love, even if it was misdirected. She'd never hurt Hikaru, never truly turn against him but you've turned against everyone. You don't know who you're serving and who you're fighting, you're with Kabuto now because he furthers your interests, you're not loyal to him, and you're not loyal to yourself either. The purity of a woman's body doesn't come down to whether or not you've been with a man, it comes down to what it is you use your body to do. You're sullying yourself worse than any whore, and when it's over, when you've achieved this power you seek it won't be enough. You'll be empty inside; I know."

Kaori opened her eyes again, Kasumi looked amused, not impressed, but she'd expected as much, "You won't listen to me today, I know that. You won't stop, you won't change your ways, you'll fall. You'll fall farther than anyone I've ever known, perhaps farther than anyone ever has. Neither of us is pure in any sense of the word, Kasumi. I fell into darkness, gave in to physical pleasures and killed those who I felt deserved life, spared those who I felt deserved death and never considered that it wasn't my place to judge either of them. I murdered men and women and children, I burned villages to the ground, I watched and participated in the terrible atrocities.

"One day I opened my eyes and I saw myself, I saw the woman I'd become. I was deadly, I was beautiful, I was powerful, and I was empty inside. You're beautiful, Kasumi, you're deadly, you're powerful, and yes my dear, you're empty, as empty as I was."

Kasumi shook her head, "I _was _empty, full of nothing but anger and hate. I'm filled now, filled with ambition and zeal. I'm going to become the greatest Shinobi, I'm going to punish my enemies, and protect my people. Shinobi live short lives, Kaori . . . your generation has ended, mine is on the rise, it's time for my generation to take control . . . and we will."

Kasumi kicked Okatsu's severed head to Kasumi, "You're probably wondering why I helped you, I'll be punished for it later after all. The truth is like I aid I had an agreement with Yuu. We'd work together to get me into the Sound Organization, then I'd find out how the Sound figured out your clan's weakness, we'd reveal the location of the Sound base and Cloud forces could wipe it off the face of the earth. That was our plan; he didn't know I wanted to take on the Kamikage myself."

"Kamikage?" Kaori asked.

"Divine Shadow, Lord Kabuto's title. There is the Hokage, Raikage, Mizukage, and so on but the lord of them all is the Kamikage. At least that's how it'll be when the war ends and lord Kabuto reigns over the world. The Kamikage will lord over the shadow world, the ninja, the secret part of the earth. The Shogun will rule over the light world, the daimyo and samurai, the commoners, and Lord Kabuto will be _both _those people. He will rule everything; I will be one of the five fingers of his right hand. You, Kaori? If you want to live you'd better just submit."

Kaori closed her eyes. She wanted to live . . . but she couldn't submit.

"The first legions will be within sight of the city tomorrow night, the attack will come at noon, when the sun is bright in the sky. The world is coming to destroy the tailed demon and conquer Konoha, you have allies on their way but they won't arrive in time, Lord Kabuto has told us all these things. He wants to Konoha Twelve alive, other than the demon that is, but anyone else who resists is to be killed. Do yourself a favor, don't resist. Sparing you won't be my choice next time.

"So you're sparing me, Kasumi?" Kaori asked.

"Indeed I am. So you can tell Yuu that the deal is off. I won't reveal how Kabuto knows your weakness, suffice it to say that he knows, you're not safe, you need to just surrender. Tell Yuu that he should surrender, even though I know he won't. Only be surrendering and joining lord Kabuto will I forgive him for the part he's played in opposing the Sound Organization thus far. If he joins Sound I'll spare him, I'll you; I'll even spare the girl he likes. It's all that simple."

"You have that authority?" Kaori scoffed.

"Gods kill indiscriminately, lord Kabuto is a god waiting to ascend to the heavens. He does not hold grudges, he does not hate like you and I do. Lord Kabuto will spare any who come to him, he will kill any who oppose him. He will bring peace." Kasumi said serenely, the rage was gone now a sick sort of devotion was there.

"What did they do to you?" Kaori whispered in disbelief.

Kasumi just shrugged, "I can't stay. Oh, and I won't need this anymore either." She added, tossing her sword away and dissipating into a flash of light.

A lightning clone.

The real Kasumi was who knows where by now.

And the real Okatsu, since this severed head definitely wasn't hers, was who knew where.

But how had Okatsu fought like that? She'd fought like Ami, channeling herself into another body, changing its appearance.

No . . . this was different somehow . . . what had Kaori just witnessed?

She struggled to her feet and staggered out into the street; Takumi was by her side in an instant, "Are you okay?" He asked.

"No." Kaori said calmly.

"I guess now." Takumi frowned, looking her over.

"How'd it go?" Kaori asked.

"Bad." Takumi said, "Just as Kakashi-sempai seemed to get the upper hand Okatsu came into it, the two of them left."

"What about Anko?" Kaori asked.

Takumi frowned, "She's fine, she tried to subdue Kasumi, when Okatsu and Hikaru showed up she backed off. Smartest thing she could have done, really, they let her go. We've been looking for you for the past five minutes, I thought--"

Kaori forced a smile, "Well I did get some Intel from Kasumi."

"Let something slip did she?" Takumi asked softly.

"No. She told me. She wanted me to know. She sounded like she was boasting but something tells me she's still just a little bit her old self. I think she was warning me, I know when the Sound forces are going to launch their real attack, Takumi . . . we haven't got much time. But I know help is coming, they're on their way but Kabuto doesn't think they'll arrive in time."

"We'll have to hold out then." Takumi said. "Are you sure you can trust what she said?"

"Either she was boasting like an idiot, or she was leaking us information on purpose. Either way we can't take it as being one hundred percent accurate, but it's hopeful." Kaori said.

"Hopeful?" Takumi raised an eyebrow.

"Help is coming. Who would help us? It has to be the Raikage, or else the Mizukage, one or the other, maybe even both. Either way help is on the way."

"The Raikage won't want to save Konoha, just salvage it." Tetsuo said, "We can't guess what the Mizukage would want with us."

"Us? Already thinking of yourself as a Konoha ninja?" Kaori smiled.

"It's what I am now," Takumi admitted.

"Lets go. I need to tell the Hokage what I've learned, he can decide whether or not to trust it, but in any event I do think Kasumi was telling the truth about the enemy's location. A ninja squad moves a lot faster than a conscript army, but still from where we _think _the enemy army was being here tomorrow night isn't that unbelievable. Unless the ninja with their armies are totally inept we wouldn't even know until they get really close."

Takumi nodded, "Fine, but you're seeing a doctor, you're hurt bad."

Kaori chose not to admit to Takumi that the metal Okatsu had cut her with was burning her, poisoning her, slowly draining her energy away. What she needed to report could be done quickly while she had the strength to report it, after her duty was fulfilled she could see a medic. "If I've got the strength to talk I've got the strength to tell the sixth what he needs to know." Kaori said, Takumi reluctantly nodded.

* * *

Okatsu twirled around in excitement, "I did it! I did it! I completed the mission, I got what Lord Kabuto wanted and _oh _I did it! I _know _now, it's amazing!"

Hikaru shook his head, she was acting like a school girl.

Shiroi and Sai met up with them, the five survivors of the incursion force who had failed to open the gates of Konoha for the invading army.

But had apparently succeeded in . . . whatever Okatsu had been sent to do.

He glanced at Kasumi, she seemed absent minded, Okatsu was too thrilled with herself to notice that, but Kasumi was keeping her distance from the older woman.

"So what's the plan now?" Shiroi whispered.

"We move to the rendezvous point and wait for the armies," Okatsu said with a dreamy tone to her voice, "When Kabuto arrives we strike Konoha and complete the second stage of our plan."

"Second stage? What second stage?" Kasumi asked.

Hikaru however noticed something else. Sure he was concerned about this second stage that only Okatsu knew about, but he was also concerned with the fact that Okatsu had so casually referred to their master as simply "Kabuto" instead of "Lord Kabuto" or "Master" or "Kamikage" she'd just called him "Kabuto" as if he were just some guy she knew.

It was a passing thing though, she showed proper difference after that, maybe it'd just been a slip?

"Lord Kabuto gave me instructions, I know the next stage of our plan. He didn't trust any of you with it because he knew you could all be captured, or betray," she said the last word while making direct eye contact with Hikaru.

But Hikaru was no traitor, at least not to Kabuto. He wanted to see this new world, he wanted to see the war end, and he wanted the power that had been promised to him.

He wouldn't betray Lord Kabuto.

"Tell us what to do," He said, "I'll see that the mission is a success if it costs me my life."

"Good." Okatsu smiled sinisterly, "good boy."

* * *

Toshiie laughed when he saw the walls of Konohagakure through the binoculars as the sun rose in the sky.

They'd made it a full day ahead of the armies.

"So what do we do?" Kuto asked him.

"We can't attack on our own of course," Toshiie said calmly, "but when the armies arrive they'll find themselves with an extra ninja or two, I think."

"Or like ten or twenty times that." Kuto pointed out.

"Yes, he _knows_ how many of us there are, Rikuto," Kata said with a sigh.

"Konoha is going to know we're here if we get any closer," Toshiie talked over the arguing siblings, "We have to evade detection and capture until the armies arrive."

"Kind of makes you wonder what the point of getting here early was." Kata sighed.

"Better to get here early than not at all, we could have been hunting for the Kazekage in Suna for months before the higher ups acknowledged that he wasn't _in _Sunagakure anymore." Kuto scowled.

"And you were correct, the Kazekage is currently in Konohagakure," A young woman said calmly as she emerged from the trees right in front of Toshiie.

"Bring me the sentries." Toshiie said coldly.

"Oh don't be silly," Okatsu said in a soft voice, "if you had a single sentry capable of detecting us I'd slit _my _throat."

"Saw ya! I totally saw you coming." Kuto said, "Make with the slitting."

Toshiie folded his arms, "So we're not the first to arrive. Well how many others are with you?"

"There are six of us in total, our unit was decimated by the Konoha ninja." Okatsu said in a calm voice.

"Fine, fall in, you're under my command now." Toshiie said calmly, "Captain Gamo, Jounin Gamo, each of you take command of three of these newcomers."

"I don't see six." Kuto pointed out, Toshiie frowned, looking at the _five _Sound ninja.

"My mistake. There are five individuals here, but six of us total, anyway I'm afraid I'm _not _under your command, you're under mine."

"Sorry, but no." Toshiie said calmly.

"You're here against the orders of your superiors, your ranks mean _nothing_ and I outrank you anyway, you're under _my _command you will help me accomplish _my _mission and _after _that we'll worry about yours." Okatsu said coolly.

"Excuse me?" Kata sighed, "Your rank means nothing. In the field outnumbered this badly what _our _commander says goes. There are no witnesses ma'am, essentially you have no rights."

Okatsu smiled sweetly and said "Well your commander is about to abdicate to me, aren't you, Toshiie?"

Toshiie smirked, with a single order Okatsu and her followers would die, he'd have them executed, he'd lose a few people but it'd be worth it.

Then Okatsu looked into his eyes.

Something, some sort of feeling swept through him. Fear? He was suddenly afraid . . .

_You _will _surrender control to me or you _will _die, _a voice, not at all Okatsu's rang in his head, _aid me and I will aid you, deny me and I will destroy you, there is no reason to resist._

Okatsu said "Our missions coincide, our targets are in the city just as yours is, with the battle going on we'll be able to achieve both."

"You got your squads destroyed, why would I trust you with my army?" Toshiie asked calmly, not willing to allow the fear to overwhelm him, but terribly curious about what Okatsu had done to cause him to feel it in the first place.

Okatsu smiled, "Because I am the one willing to let you expand on your original target. I'm willing to give you not only the Kazekage, but the entire Nara clan."

"Would your Divine Shadow approve of that?" Toshiie smirked.

"Out in the field a commander's orders can become . . . garbled." Okatsu said calmly. "Under my command you're cleared of any wrongdoing."

"And don't you fear your master?" Kata asked.

Okatsu just laughed. "If my mission succeeds any sin you or I may commit will be forgiven."

**To Be Continued . . .**


	151. The Message, The Mission

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Fifty One**

Shizune frowned at Sakura and Miyuki, "the wound is deep, and it's filled with ink, Sai's ink."

"Exactly," Sakura said, "Sai left this injury, but let's think about it. If he were in league with Kabuto all the time why did Shino's and Temari's teams _actually _escape when he tried to hold Kabuto off? Why didn't he and Kabuto just go off after the others together? Sai is not a traitor."

Shizune shook her head, "I know you want to believe that--"

"Listen to me," Sakura said firmly, "Sai would never betray Naruto."

"Sai was a member of Root," Miyuki pointed out and Shizune nodded vigorously.

"Exactly," Shizune said in a careful tone, not wanting to upset Sakura but determined to make sure Sakura understood how dangerous her lost comrade was, "Sai was with Root and not a single traitor we captured _wasn't _a former member of Root."

"Danzou's old treachery runs deeper than we thought it seems." Lady Tsunade commented, though other than that she remained focused on treating Shino's wound.

"But not deep enough to reach Sai." Shino said, speaking up for the first time.

Shizune frowned at him, "You're the one he nearly impaled, how can you say that?"

"Because you need to say 'nearly'," Shino said simply, "Sai could have finished me off, he could have finished any of the others off; we were in a bad position. He didn't inflict any mortal wounds, the one fatality came from another Root Anbu, the rest of us were just injured."

"Some of those injured _would _have died if not for Sakura-chan." Shizune pointed out, "Yurei Kaori is in critical condition too, she still _might _die."

"Sai had nothing to do with that," Sakura said, "Sai would never betray Naruto, I know it."

"Then explain . . . this," Shizune demanded, losing her temper for a moment, reaching out and tracing her index finer gently over Shino's ink-induced injury. "No one else can use this kind of Jutsu, it was Sai. Hinata said so, do you doubt her?"

Sakura shook her head, and Shizune wiped her finger on her surgical apron, "Look, all I'm saying . . ." Sakura began then she paused.

She stared at Shizune and Shizune followed Sakura's gaze down to her apron, clean except for the ink she'd just wiped on it.

The ink which she'd carelessly streaked across it, the ink she had simply cleaned off . . . she hadn't _written _anything so . . . how did writing . . .

Sakura smirked triumphantly, "Sai's left us a message, I told you he wasn't a traitor."

Tsunade reached out and tore Shizune's apron off, nearly taking the younger woman's kimono along with it, she rubbed the ink out of Shino's wound roughly and then laid the stained apron on the floor flat so that the ink could spell out its message.

And it did, it animated and began to form a message, Shizune, Sakura and Tsunade all stared at it, Shino too jumped off of the examination table and peered down at the apron, only Miyuki had the sense of mind to force the Anbu to let her properly clean his wound.

"I hate to say 'I told you so' Shizune," Sakura said with a smile and though her words might sound mocking there was no malice there, just relief as the word 'Naruto-kun' became clearly legible.

But as the full message formed Sakura's smile became a scowl, and Shizune couldn't stand to look at the ink-stained surgical apron.

Tsunade read it aloud, "The Great Divine Shadow has assured me that the village will be spared when Naruto-kun is surrendered, give him up and no one has to die. It's time for peace."

The former Hokage looked at Sakura and Shizune, "Looks like Shizune's the one who gets to say 'I told you so', Sakura." Tsunade said calmly.

Shizune shook her head; she wasn't an 'I told you so' type of person. "I'll save it," she said, "Sakura-chan was right about Sai not really wanting to kill Shino . . . maybe there's still a chance that she'll be right about Sai himself."

But Sakura folded her arms, "Why would he side with Kabuto? I just can't believe it."

"Then don't." Shino said calmly, "But even if it isn't true, even if he's still loyal to Konoha Sai is Anbu, he knows what that job entails. If you face him on the battlefield don't hesitate, even if he's secretly working against the enemy he won't blame you for killing him in self defense."

Sakura inhaled and exhaled slowly, she shook her head and whispered "The hard question is do we tell Naruto?"

"He's the Hokage now; it'd be treason not to tell him." Shino said.

"Yes," Shizune said, "but the problem is the attack won't be aborted just because Naruto-sama gives himself up . . . still, knowing Naruto-sama . . ."

"Giving himself up is exactly what he'd do the instant he saw this message." Sakura-chan agreed.

"What message?" Tsunade asked calmly, reaching for the apron and ripping it to shreds.

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune cried.

"That's _treason_, Shino _just _said so!" Sakura cried.

"It may be treason," Tsunade acknowledged, turning to Shino, "but we both know this village needs Nartuo, it needs its Hokage. We can't let him sacrifice himself for nothing. You can arrest me _after _Kabuto's armies are turned back."

Shizune frowned, Lady Tsunade smiled and said "Don't worry, at my age a life sentence isn't that long."

Shizune didn't say anything, but everyone in the room knew the punishment for treason was not a life sentence in prison.

It was death.

But nobody, except maybe _possibly _Sakura understood what Tsunade had really meant with that statement.

Shizune understood. Shizune had spent the better portion of her life serving the last of the Sanin.

Lady Tsunade was old, but not old enough to be worried about age related death; Lady Tsunade had just calmly and firmly stated that she had no intention of surviving the final battle.

Shizune knew why.

Naruto couldn't be allowed to face Kabuto. If Kabuto offered Naruto peace in exchange for himself he'd almost certainly take it.

Tsunade would try to make sure that Naruto didn't have to face Kabuto. She'd find and attack Kabuto before it came to that.

Shizune would go with her of course, she had to, she just _had _to.

But Tsunade, maybe sensing that Shizune had guessed her intentions put a hand on her shoulder, "Whatever happens, Shizune, Sakura, the two of you need to make sure that Naruto never gives himself up. Make sure he doesn't give in. Promise me."

Sakura promised without hesitation, but Shizune held back.

Could she really promise to stand by the sixth Hokage when the fifth marched to her almost certain death? Even if Lady Tsunade managed to assassinate Kabuto, however she attempted it, she'd never get back alive.

But if Shizune went with her, maybe . . .

"Promise me, Shizune." Lady Tsunade said firmly. Shizune felt her lower lip tremble, she hesitated, hoping something might happen to save her from having to forsake one Hokage for the sake of another, but Tsunade said a third time, a pleading tone in her voice, "Promise me."

Shizune finally nodded, "I promise, Tsunade-sama. I won't let Naruto give himself up, even if I have to tie him to the Hokage's chair, he won't hand himself over to the enemy."

As soon as she said it Shizune expected to regret it, but she didn't. She server Lady Tsunade, this was just another request, in the end everything would be okay. It had to be.

Tsunade smiled at her and squeezed her shoulder slightly, "Don't worry so much," she said. She turned to Shino, "You'll forgo my arrest?"

"Your rough treatment of my arm aside," Shino said in as close as he ever came to a joking tone, "I'll let you go for now, we need every ninja we can get."

"But what about the rest of us?" Sakura asked, "We all saw the message."

"Miyuki didn't." Shizune said softly, looking at her favorite apprentice, "She dutifully continued to treat Shino's arm."

"So?" Miyuki scoffed, "I heard it."

"But you didn't _see _it." Shizune told her, "You didn't _see _the message."

"No." Miyuki nodded.

"You only heard it." Sakura pointed out.

"Yes . . ." Miyuki said uncertainly.

"And your hearing . . . isn't perfect." Shino said evenly. "Without the original copy of the message you can't be expected to be completely . . ."

"Precise." Shizune finished for him, meeting Miyuki's eyes the way Tsunade had met hers. Asking Miyuki as silently as Tsunade had asked her, to understand her intentions and abide by her request.

Miyuki's eyes became downcast, but she nodded. Tsunade-sama said "Yamamoto Miyuki, tell the Hokage that the enemy left a message . . . tell him what he _needs_ to know."

Miyuki nodded, not long after that Miyuki stood before the sixth Hokage, Sakura and Shizune on either side of her, Shino recovering from his injury and Lady Tsunade tending the critical Yurei Kaori.

Miyuki said to Naruto "The enemy delivered a message; they want a surrender, if they get it they _claim_ Konoha won't be destroyed."

Naruto laughed, "Optimistic, aren't they?"

Everyone laughed, no one told Naruto that the only surrender Kabuto had asked for was his own personal surrender; no one said that it was a possibly traitorous Sai who'd delivered it.

Miyuki had either "forgotten" or "failed to hear" those parts.

Since the original message was destroyed she couldn't be blamed, after all she was tending to a patient at the time of the recitation.

And since no one had actually _asked _her to lie no one was guilty of treason.

Destroying the message had been the only treasonous act and even though Shizune knew no one would ever tell, even though both she and Lady Tsunade knew that Shino would just "forget" to arrest her once the battle was over and that even if he did arrest her Naruto would just pardon her Shizune knew that Lady Tsunade had already selected her punishment for the act and still intended to carry it out, and no matter how much she tried to convince herself that everything would be okay she couldn't quite force herself to believe it.

And when no one was looking, she cried.

**

* * *

**

It was less than an hour before dawn; the former members of the former Team Ten had been summoned to the briefing room in the barracks. Kotaro yawned as Shikamaru-sensei entered the room, five minutes late for the briefing, though Kotaro suspected he'd arrived on time but told them to be there five minutes earlier than he intended to show up so he could be late and therefore not break tradition.

"Former Team Ten," he said calmly, "Last night Sound operatives infiltrated this village."

"Should you really be telling us that?" Kotaro raised an eyebrow, "Isn't it classified?"

He knew this because when his mother got home he knew just by looking at her that there'd been some trouble but when he asked her what it was she said that if she told him she'd have to kill him. He'd thought it was just her particular brand of humor, but if there had been an infiltration then she must have really meant it, the information must actually be classified.

Shikamaru shrugged though, "Listen you're still my squad so I want to make it clear that whatever I know you'll know. The Sound attack is not classified, but even if it were you'd be authorized to know about it because of your new mission."

Kotaro guessed he'd been too quick to assume his mother could really be _serious_ about threatening his life.

"Are we supposed to hunt them down?" Yomiko asked, sounding nervous. Kotaro shook his head though, his mother, a Jounin, must have fought the Sound agents. They were just Chuunin they wouldn't stand a chance against the agents that escaped Konoha's attempts to capture them.

Shikamaru shook his head too, "They infiltrated the labyrinth, we have to assume that it is no longer secure. The Hokage has ruled that during the battle the civilians and a few Shinobi will be in the labyrinth, but in the event of our defeat all Konoha ninja are to see to the safety of the civilians in the labyrinth."

Kotaro frowned under his mask, Naomasa jumped up, disbelief on his face, but it was Yomiko who voiced what all three of them thought.

"You're assigning us to protect the civilians while the real fighting goes on upstairs?" She cried, "You _can't _do that!"

"You're my squad; you'll be where I order you to be." Shikamaru said calmly.

"We're soldiers; we're ready to defend this village!" Yomiko cried.

"To the death?" Shikamaru asked, eyeing Naomasa.

Nao frowned and sat back down, but then his expression hardened, "I'll do what I have to, Sensei."

Kotaro knew Nao wasn't worried about his death, but the deaths he might have to cause to protect the people, and Kotaro wanted to say something lighthearted to take his friend's mind off of it, but he couldn't think of anything, his head felt kind of numb.

They were getting sidelined . . .

Worse than that, part of him was . . . _grateful._

Still a greater part of him was confused, "You don't have faith in us Sensei?"

"I have all the faith in the world in you troublesome kids," Shikamaru said evenly, "but I want you to have faith in me. It's true, I can't spare three Chuunin from the front lines, but I do need one of you for a very important task that I can't trust to anyone else. I don't like the idea of splitting you three up but you're Chuunin now, you can handle yourselves on your own and if things get bad enough you'll probably get separated anyway. One of you is going to be part of the Labyrinth guard, the other two will act as my couriers, any messages I need delivered to the Taisho or the Hokage will need to be taken swiftly and carried by people I trust. Either way none if you are likely to see the thickest of combat unless things get really bad and I don't intend to let them."

"So . . . what's this mission?" Naomasa asked.

"I have one of you in mind but I'd like a volunteer."

Kotaro frowned. He wanted to be Shikamaru-sensei's courier, to see the battle and see every step of Shikamaru-sensei's plan.

But he also knew that he, not wholly recovered from his injuries, might be a liability as courier.

He bowed his head slightly and said "I volunteer."

Shikamaru smiled slightly, "Then the mission is yours. Naomasa, Yomiko, go home and take some rest, in three hours report to the Hokage's office in full uniform, flack jackets and jumpsuits. Kotaro, you stay here and let me brief you."

Nao and Miko both nodded, Yomiko gave Kotaro a slight pat on the shoulder and they both left.

Shikamaru waited and said "Why did you volunteer?"

Kotaro was surprised, "Was I not the one you wanted? I volunteered because I'm not at a hundred percent, if I were attacked while carrying your message my limited physical capability might cause me to make a mistake that Yomiko or Naomasa might not make."

"Don't sell yourself short, I've seen your medical report, you're at a hundred percent Kotaro, any doubts you have are entirely mental. Let them go. You are the volunteer I wanted; I wouldn't have even called you here if I didn't think you could pull this off." Shikamaru-sensei said.

"Well then . . . why am I staying behind? I mean, why do I get the safe mission?" He asked. "If you think I can fight--"

Shikamaru shook his head, "It's troublesome to have to say this, but the client for this mission is myself, it is an A ranked mission, Kotaro. You're selected because of everyone you're the one I trust most with this. You want to be there when the battle is fought, want to see what I do when I do it; you think I'm going to amaze everyone with my strategies, right?"

"Well . . ." Kotaro trailed off.

"I will do my best, and it may be amazing." Shikamaru smirked, "But not to you."

"Because I won't be there." Kotaro sighed.

"No. If you _were_ there you _wouldn't_ be amazed. You might be surprised, but not amazed. You'd nod and say 'just what I would have done' because like me you're a strategic thinker, Kotaro. There's no doubt in my mind that you'll be considered Konoha's next genius. Nao and Yomiko will be with me seeing how things play out so that they can learn a bit, but you don't need it . . . at least not as badly. Each of you kids is advanced, but I consider you the most advanced in strategy . . . truth be told I think you're the most advanced overall.."

Shikamaru-sensei handed Kotaro a mission scroll, "Your mission, Kotaro. You're the only one I trust with this. Naomasa and Yomiko will be close to me in part so that I can protect them if I have to; I know you don't need protection. You _were _injured in the exam but that wasn't because of a lack of skill. You're an upper tier Chuunin, and with mastery of summoning and the Chidori you could be a Jounin before too long. Have no doubts about yourself, you can't afford them."

"What's my mission then?" Kotaro asked, blinking as he opened the scroll.

"I'll do my best to protect the village as a whole, and personally see to the safety of Naomasa and Yomiko as they fight for the village but there's someone who can't be anywhere near me or the fighting, someone that neither I nor Temari can be spared to protect. Hatake Kotaro you are going to be part of the labyrinth guard but more importantly I need you to protect my daughter Sumiko. In the event of a battle I know you can keep her safe, and if push comes to shove I know you'll think of a way out of any corner. It's a selfish thing I'm asking you to do, but I've thought it out and you're the only person other than myself that I feel completely safe leaving her with."

Kotaro frowned, "What about your parents?"

"Frankly they're old. Besides that my mother hasn't practiced the ninja arts since before I was born and my father, as a Jounin, will be involved in the fighting. There's a Jounin from Iwa that wants to get me, it's pretty personal, and he's already made one attempt at Sumiko. If he's part of the enemy invasion force and they break through the walls I want to know that my daughter is safe. Like I said, it's selfish, but it's been bothering me, I can't focus on the defense of this city if I'm too distracted worrying about my child."

Kotaro nodded, "All right Sensei. But I do have one request. When it's over, I want to see all your notes."

Shikamaru smiled slyly, "No good," he tapped the side of his head, "they're all in here."

"Then I guess you're just going to have to tell me all abut your plan." Kotaro said.

"Over a game of Shoji once the village is finished celebrating the victory." Shikamaru said, though something in his voice, something Kotaro _almost _missed still sounded unsure.

"You're worried about something, aren't you?" Kotaro asked.

Shikamaru smiled slightly, "You've taken the biggest load off my shoulders Kotaro, don't worry about the leftovers. As soon as the fighting starts report to the Labyrinth, my mother Yoshino will have Sumiko, and she knows to surrender the girl to you if you deem it necessary."

"Sensei, what happens if the village falls? What happens if . . . well if the worst happens?" Kotaro asked.

Shikamaru was quiet for a moment, then he said "If both Temari and I die, you mean? Just get Sumiko out of the village, and then plan your next move. I have faith in you, I trust you to see the right step and take it."

Kotaro nodded, Shikamaru nodded back to him, and the two ninja stood in silence for a moment, then Shikamaru-sensei said "I'd better be going, there's still a lot to do before they get here."

Kotaro nodded again and Shikamaru-sensei left.

Kotaro looked at his mission scroll; he read the scroll twice to make sure he had it memorized, and then destroyed it, setting it on fire with some lightning chakra.

That was standard procedure for a ninja in the field, and with spies and sound agents capable of infiltrating the village Kotaro felt it was best to treat Konoha itself like the battle field.

Because it was.

It was the last battlefield, the greatest and most important battlefield. The lines were drawn in the sand; the way of the ninja would live or die according to Konoha's fate.

They weren't just fighting for themselves or their lives, they weren't just fighting for their Daimyo and the Land of Fire, they were fighting for their beliefs, their way of life, the way of the ninja.

At least that was how Kotaro felt.

But he knew too that the Land of Fire was a separate entity from Konohagakure, knew that ninja themselves were separate from their hidden villages as well.

He put his hands in his pockets and left the briefing room in time to see the sun climb into the horizon, to see the dawn.

_A new day, maybe the last day Konoha sees relative peace. Or maybe yesterday was the last day and today we get attacked. Either way just now the city looks beautiful bathed in the final shadows of night and the golden light of the new dawn. It's not just a city, it's not just stone and wood, steel and glass, it's a living breathing thing almost with a mind of its own, and if it could talk it would tell a legend of men and women who've seen it through thick and thin, lived for it, fought for it, died for it. Generations of sacrifice but more than that, generations of love and devotion. That, _Hatake Kotaro thought to himself, _is worth fighting for._

**To Be Continued . . .**


	152. One Day to Doom

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Fifty Two**

Shikamaru took his seat at the council table. The Taisho was there, the Hokage, Kakashi, Iruka, Yamato, Kurenai and even the others members of the Twelve were there.

Minus Sasuke of course.

The village's elders were present as well, Shikamaru knew all eyes were on Naruto which was a great relief to himself, but Naruto's eyes were on him.

"Taisho Miura," Naruto said softly, tugging at his official robes, "Are your men prepared?"

"They are, Hokage-sama." Miura said, bowing low. The man had seemed to accept Naruto as his superior which was good; there'd been no quarreling between ninja and soldiers which had absolutely amazed Shikamaru.

Maybe everyone just knew how important it was that they work together.

"Our scouts are in position, enemy forces have been nearing the city steadily, and they'll reach us by tomorrow. It looks like they mean to surround us." Tenten said.

"Like Shikamaru predicted," Sakura said, "but they've got a lot of ninja, the ninja could reach us even sooner than the soldiers."

"They could, but they won't divide their force." Shikamaru said, "They want the non-ninja to be there, Samurai and Ashigaru alike they want everyone in the army to see this battle, to experience it." He closed his eyes, "they'll use the ninja to make sure nobody gets out while the soldiers finish forming their circle and start to move in. By dawn tomorrow the vanguard force will try to rush us."

"Oh we'll take them out," Kiba laughed, "We've got the Genius on our side, right?"

"Don't overrate me," Shikamaru said calmly, "Their leader, this Divine Shadow--"

"Kabuto." Sakura interjected, and Shikamaru nodded.

"Yes, Kabuto . . . he's engineered this from the start, we have reason to believe he manipulated the events that led to the initial war, I've never attempted anything on that scale and so far only the unexpected alliance of Cloud and Leaf so much as slowed him down. Tactical genius comes from being able to expect and counter what others would never expect, he must have expected things I wouldn't have to control events this far."

"Are you saying you can't beat him?" Naruto sounded like he thought Shikamaru was joking.

"Oh no," Shikamaru smirked, even though he felt worried and unsure, "I'll beat him. What I'm saying is don't think that I'm some sort victory ticket, I'll need to control this battle completely, when I send you an order it needs to be followed but if I don't send you an order you need to use your own judgment."

"We know our roles," Taisho Miura said, "My bowmen will line the walls; my spearmen will guard every entrance, along with your ninja."

"Our Genin will mingle with the soldiers," Iruka said, "Our academy students will handle the brunt of the Labyrinth defense along with some other Genin and a couple of Chuunin."

"Task Force A," Kiba said, "Led by myself and Rock Lee will consist mainly of Jounin and will seek and destroy enemy ninja."

"Task Force B," Shino grunted, "Led by Kakashi and myself, consisting of the remaining Anbu, will seek out and eliminate enemy regiments' individual headquarters."

"Task Force C," Sakura added, "Led by myself and Chouji will handle the defense of the village if the enemy gets through the walls."

"Task Force D," Neji said, "Led by Hinata-sama and myself will move to assist A or B at their need."

Shikamaru nodded slightly. Each task force consisted of nine four-man squads, A was mostly Jounin, B was mostly Anbu, C was a mixture of Jounin and Chuunin, and D was almost entirely Chuunin. Each task force was only thirty six men strong, back when Shikamaru had been a Genin if a threat arose to the village as a whole it would have been thirty six _squads_ at least per task force.

The rest of Konohagakure's ninja, which numbered about twenty squads would be on the walls, Genin and Chuunin, they were Defense Force C, the title of Defense Forces A and B having gone to Miura's two regiments of soldiers and Samurai, a move taken on Shikamaru's part to ensure that the men in those legions felt they were at least as important as the ninja.

Defense Force C was under Naruto's command, Defense Force D, the Genin force in the labyrinth was under Ino's, Shikamaru would be dispatching orders everywhere, his couriers included Nao and Yomiko but weren't limited to them, he needed one for each task force and an additional courier just in case someone was killed trying to deliver a message.

Shikamaru would be able to communicate with the radio as well, they'd speak in ciphers since the radios would almost certainly be tapped, but the radios had a minimum range that only extended about a mile and a half outside of Konoha and couriers would have to convey messages once the radios went out of range.

He took a deep breath, Temari would be with task force A; she had crowd control Jutsus that would help the task force keep enemy battalions at bay while they dealt with ninja, besides she had a lot of experience taking down other ninja.

Gaara would have direct control over his own Sand ninja, who numbered just over one hundred. He had split them up amongst Shikamaru's task forces, giving each task force another six four-man teams, the remainder, the few Genin who hadn't been in the village, would be on the walls or acting as couriers, Gaara himself would be with Shikamaru observing the battle with eyes of sand, giving Shikamaru vision where there was none.

It was the Nine Tails Defense, or at least that was what Shikamaru had begun calling it. There were nine tails, the four Task Forces, the four Defensive Forces, were eight of the tails. The ninth tail was Shikamaru himself, each "tail" played a role in the overall victory, the premature loss of one tail would put pressure on he others, if too many tails were severed the body it would surely die and Konoha was the body.

Shikamaru opened his eyes slowly and said "Everything's ready . . . but I think there's something we need to consider."

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"The cost in lives," Shikamaru said, "By my best estimations both sides are going to suffer horrible losses. I don't think we should surrender, but if the enemy doesn't back down . . . they can afford losses a lot more easily than we can. It'll reach a point where either they back off or surrender . . . or else we'll have only one option."

"We're not submitting." Naruto said flatly.

"I know. That's why I said we'd have just one option." Shikamaru nodded.

"What's that?" Miura asked.

Shikamaru looked at Naruto, "If things get too out of hand we may need to abandon Konohagakure and seek refuge somewhere else."

"Where?" Naruto gawked.

"Either Kirigakure, or Kumogakure," Sakura said, guessing correctly Shikamaru's thoughts, "We're fighting for our way of life, for our people, we can't let a single defeat mean the entire war."

"Exactly, if we have to we need to get to one of our allies. Live to fight another day." Shikamaru said.

"Who?" Naruto asked, "Who do we trust?"

"The Kiri messengers and Kumo defectors make it clear that we really can't trust Kumogakure, they want to absorb us, I don't blame them" Shikamaru said mildly, "if our village gets destroyed we might as well let them, we'd still be loyal to you, Hokage-sama and an internal coup could put you in power of us as well as the Kumo ninja if it's handled properly."

"I don't like talking about betraying our allies." Naruto said.

"They started it, hardly good allies." Kakashi said evenly.

"However," Shikamaru said, "another option is Kiri. We understand from Jounin Yurei that some force is coming to our aid, we _suspect _it to be Kumo but it could be Kiri. If it's Kiri then they are, as far as we can guess, our most genuine allies, and if we can't hold Konoha we can retreat with them, the Land of Water has thus far proven impregnable for soldiers and ships, only a ninja task force would be able to have any luck assaulting it and I believe natural selection has left us with some of the best ninja there are, the waters would give us a prime defense until our wounds were properly licked."

"Sounds good, I sense a 'but' though." Naruto said.

"Correct, Hokage-sama," Shikamaru said, "Kirigakure would ultimately be a selfish retreat, across the sea we'd be unable to properly assist our armies in Grass country or rescue the Daimyo, and he _must_ be rescued. In Kumogakure we could still move out and assist Grass, we'd be in the same situation we were in when Konoha was surrounded but at least we'd be carrying on."

"So that's it then, if all else fails we move in with our Cloud neighbors." Naruto reasoned.

Shikamaru shrugged, "it's up to you, Hokage-sama, if the Raikage wants our bloodlines for himself he may try to have you, and Kazekage-sama taken out of the picture, along with those of us loyal to you. If it comes to it we may have to get him before he gets us. If you're okay with that, if you're willing to make that move then Kumogakure is our best haven, but if Kirigakure comes to our aid our most tactically sound haven might be there."

"And what of the Daimyo?" Miura demanded. "You just said he couldn't be rescue from the Land of Water."

"It would be harder, but not impossible; in any event I don't recommend leaving him behind. If we retreat for Kirigakure we should make some sort of serious effort to free the Daimyo first."

Naruto nodded, "Shikamaru do you think we can hold out until our reinforcements arrive?"

"I think we can _win_, Hokage-sama." Shikamaru said calmly, "If we're reinforced that would only make it easier. I think that if we have to evacuate it'd happen before our reinforcements arrived, not after. But if our so-called reinforcements are really coming to help the enemy our chances of victory plummet."

Naruto looked at Shikamaru, "I have faith in everyone I this village, and we'll give it our best. We'll win or come so damned close the enemy won't realize we've lost . . . they call me a demon, pretend that's their justification for the whole war, well before I let this village burn I'll show them a real demon. If it does somehow come to us needing to withdraw the people take precedent over the Daimyo," he raised a hand to Miura, "We'll rescue the Daimyo, believe that, but a lord without people is no lord, the civilians need to reach a safe place, Kumogakure is closer and easier to reach. On the other hand we ninja might be better off in Kirigakure, but I don't want to split our soldiers from their families."

Shikamaru nodded to Naruto, "Probably best not to decide now, and like I said I think we can win. If it comes to evacuation we'll do whatever's most plausible at the time."

Naruto nodded back, "Well if you say we can win we'll win, Shikamaru. Our reinforcements will have no choice but to at least pretend to be friendly because when they show up we'll have already torn this army to shreds, rescued our Daimyo and started the celebration. Invite's will read 'true friends only, all traitors wait at the door.'"

Shikamaru just smirked, "Well then bothersome as it may be . . . let's do this."

* * *

Tomoko smirked, Daisuke leaned against the doorframe, "Finished, sis?" He asked.

Tomoko just kept smirking, "Fits like a glove."

Daisuke nodded slightly, "Good luck out there. I mean when the fighting starts."

Tomoko frowned, "Getting mushy on me, little brother?"

"Little brother? We're twins . . . and there's a fifty-fifty chance I was actually born first." Daisuke said with a confused, but humoring smile.

Tomoko walked up to him and, flattening her palm placed it on top of her head and swept it out, "But I'm taller."

"You've got an inch or two over me."

"The hierarchy has to be established somehow." Tomoko smiled.

Daisuke smiled too, "Look, Tomoko . . ." Daisuke shook his head, "I . . . look, if anything happens to me . . . Tomoko I've never been anything but proud of having you as my sister, even when you broke my arm."

Tomoko folded her arms, her long oversized sleeves hiding her new arsenal, "Daisuke, you're the Chuunin, you're the one who's got the most skills between the two of us."

"I'm a field medic, I'm going to be on the front lines," Daisuke said, "I'm not afraid you know? It's like . . . if I die . . . it's for the village, right?"

Tomoko frowned, "Daisuke, don't think like that. You're not going to die."

"Well, if I do, and you don't Tomoko will you do me a favor?" Daisuke asked.

"What's that?" Tomoko asked.

"I'm way too embarrassed to tell her myself, and . . . well I didn't want to write a letter because that felt it would have been back luck and all . . . but could you tell Ishida Eri that . . . I really, really liked her."

"Tell her you loved her you mean?" Tomoko raised an eyebrow.

Daisuke laughed "Tomoko . . . no way, I'm . . . I'm barely sixteen, I shouldn't be talking to girls about love, especially if I'm dead, it'd just upset her."

"I'll tell her the truth, Daisuke." Tomoko smirked, "Not that it matters, you won't die. If you do it'll be because the village is royally screwed, and I'll die too anyway, right?"

Daisuke shook his head, "No . . . I don't think so. You're a survivor, Tomo-chan, I mean you made it on your own, and you've fought wicked battles, been hurt worse than I ever thought you could walk away from and then walked away from it. Don't get me wrong, I don't think you're immortal, but I think it's like . . . like you'd take more killing than a normal girl."

Tomoko laughed, "You're my twin. You'd probably take a lot of killing too, Daisuke." Tomoko said.

"I think I've heard my children talk enough about dying," Their father said, stepping into the workshop. He slapped Daisuke on the shoulder, "Run along son, your sister and I have some things to discuss. And don't you worry, you'll survive this."

"Yes . . ." Daisuke bowed slightly and turned to leave, but didn't manage to get away before their father pulled him back and wrapped his arms around him, "Okay, okay, dad, I gotta go." Daisuke said, and then that was that, he was gone.

Her father turned to her and smiled, "I see your new weapons are ready, Tomoko."

"Mm-hmm." Tomoko smirked, "Perfect in every way."

Her father smiled at her, "Good. Tomoko-chan . . . listen to me . . . do not be afraid. You will survive this. Those weapons of yours were made to serve a purpose other than just killing conscripts and Samurai and you'll know it when the time comes."

There was something in the way he said it, there wasn't any doubt. But far from making Tomoko feel confident it made her feel nervous, she remembered all the warning all the many warnings she'd head . . . "Dad? What do you . . . what are you talking about?"

Her father just shook his head, "Don't be a hero, don't try to rescue anyone, just keep yourself focused on yourself, come back alive, you'll be okay."

She supposed that was a fairly parental thing to say, nothing out of the ordinary . . . and yet that conviction before, it was like he was stating a fact, not guessing or hoping, simply relaying a simple truth.

She felt strangely uncomfortable, but she grabbed her gear and reported to her station, ready to defend Konohagakure.

* * *

The Taisho and Field Captains were gathered around a large meeting table, built to surprising detail was a sculpture of Konohagakure made from the earth by one of the Iwa ninja.

Akira shook his head and told the man where five corrections needed to be made, "I don't care what your map says, I was _in _Konohagakure, that building was demolished to build a watch tower, one that can oversee the area for miles," he'd said at one point and felt just a little irritated when the man only adjusted the sculpture when Okatsu barked that she too had been inside and the building was gone, replaced by a tower.

Akira however was truly surprised when his lord, the Daimyo of the Land of Winds appeared, dressed in ceremonial armor, to oversee the war council.

"We will encircle them," the Daimyo said, "the trees that surround the village will make it impossible for them to fire on us, ah but _we _can fire on them, all we have to do is aim upwards, release, and the arrows will fall in Konohagakure like rain." The man said cheerfully, pointing with a horse whip at an area around the sculpture meant to be forest.

Akira noticed from the corner of his eye Emiko was standing just outside the ring of guards who were ensuring that nobody overheard the war plans, but the Daimyo had shouted so loudly that she must have heard, he saw her shaking her head as if she wanted to deny everything the great man had said.

Akira guessed she was upset, the Land of Fire was her home, and its people would be killed.

He decided to try to say on her behalf what he sensed she might be thinking, "Forgive me, great lord, but such an attack may be too indiscriminate, we would slaughter the civilians we mean to subjugate."

The Daimyo shook his head, "Our civilians died on their behalf as their allies, it's good that a bit of their blood be spilt let them remember what it is to suffer. Besides, they have had four years to surrender their demon and accept peace, these civilians are enemy combatants."

"No," Okatsu said sharply, "they will be subjects of my Master, any man or woman who harms a surrendered civilian will be put to death, those are my master's orders."

"Ah, well your master," The Daimyo said calmly, "said 'surrendered' civilians, any who die by our volley are clearly not yet surrendered."

"Fair enough." Okatsu said with a dark smile.

Akira shrugged, what else could he say to that?

"They are likely to take refuge inside their homes," The Iwa captain Juukei Toshiie said, "Even though we mean for the exact moment of attack to be a surprise the fact is the people of Konoha know that we've got them surrounded, they'll stay indoors or at some shelter, really you give them too little credit."

Akira nodded, of course, they had several shelters in Konohagakure, how foolish of him.

But Emiko was pacing, looking like she might try to make a run for it to reach the Daimyo . . . could she possibly mean to attack him?

Was her devotion of her birth land that strong?

And what would Akira do if she did? He'd be honor bound to stop her . . .

He swallowed hard, the Daimyo said "The trees will continue to provide cover within fifty feet of the walls, they've got us to their front and the mountain to their back, I want four legions to swarm out and set ladders to the walls, ninja will make sure the ladders stay in place."

"The wall itself," Toshiie said, "is made to repel chakra and most Jutsus, but if we hit it with enough force we can break a way through it, why bother with ladders?"

"Because we have no siege weaponry," The Daimyo said, "All of it was sent to Kusa, it was closer, and hauling it here would have taken us twice as long. You ninja _are _our siege weapons, but I expect you to be focused on handling _their _ninja. Besides I want this city captured intact, or at least as intact as possible."

Toshiie scowled, Akira tensed, the ninja all around were looking irritated, the Samurai didn't understand but Akira did.

The Stone ninja could use their Jutsu to open up a hole in the walls large enough for the soldiers to pour through, the Daimyo however wanted a perfect victory, an intact Konohagakure. He didn't care about the cost in lives because most of the soldiers were from the Land of Earth.

He was doing a poor job disguising his lack of concern as well.

This alliance could all fall apart . . .

"We have sixty thousand men here, and when the battle for Kusa is decided we'll have another thirty thousand. They have two thousand soldiers, perhaps more if they conscripted the men of Konohagakure. They have no chance against our sheer numbers, and ninja? Grass, Waterfall and Stone we have four hundred ninja here against their three hundred, the numbers there are closer but we have an additional two hundred on the way when Grass falls, not so? Only a fool could fail to take Konoha, even if we need to wait for reinforcement. But I do not intend to wait, tomorrow we will take them or bloody them so badly they offer surrender.

"I believe a regiment from each of the allied nations should be involved in the vanguard assault. Waterfall, Earth, Wind, and Rain." He looked at Akira, the man knew that his legion would be dispatched but just then the guards shouted, Emiko broke through and dashed.

One soldier raised a bow to shoot her, Akira noticed Okatsu, her face no longer amused, suddenly . . . was it concerned?

Whatever it was she hissed some command and a pair of Sound ninja suddenly appeared and held Emiko by her arms, Okatsu herself threw a shuriken that cut the Earth soldier's bowstring.

Emiko, unfazed by the fact that she was being held by two Sand soldiers cried out, "You can't! They'll be killed, every last one of them will be killed!"

The Daimyo just laughed, "Ah, Akira, your new wife follows you everywhere?"

Everyone else joined in the laughter, Okatsu snapped something quietly to one of her Sound ninja, a young man with a pale face, and he escorted Emiko carefully away from the meeting, though she screamed "You cannot attack that way, they'll all be killed!"

The Daimyo gave Akira a very disappointed look and said "I will personally lead the Wind vanguard, Akira you will take up the rear guard."

Akira nodded, furious.

Emiko had cost him the vanguard . . . but why? Was she just that paranoid? The invasion of Konoha would go off without a hitch and only by being on the front line would Akira be able to distinguish himself, besides that it was the only way he could be sure of finding and capturing her brother before someone else found him and _killed _him, did she _not _want her brother to survive?

When the meeting was over he stormed away, meaning to demand answers from Emiko, ready to rebuke her outburst in the harshest way he could think of as soon as he figured out what that was but when he finally reached her, his fury somehow disappeared, all he could do was say "Why did you do that?"

Emiko was silent for a moment, then she said "I don't predict the future . . . but . . . I . . . I . . ." She looked away, Akira wanted to press her for some sort of explanation but she turned back to him and gave it freely, "I've never guessed anything wrong. Never. When I heard the Daimyo laughing and boasting I thought to myself 'he'll learn the hard way' and then I guessed . . ." She closed her eyes, "Konohagakure stands because it is a fortress, the attacks on the walls will fail and the bowmen will fail, but worse than that I just _know _that everyone in the vanguard who attacks the wall tomorrow will die, the four regiments will be slaughtered. I knew you would be sent if I didn't do something. I guessed I couldn't stop the assault, but I knew if I embarrassed you enough, shamed you before the Daimyo your life and the lives of your men would be spared his ignorance." She looked away again, "And I guessed what you'd do to me, for intentionally humiliating you."

Akira shook with anger, "On a hunch you cost me my chance to lead the vanguard? Well you were right, your act did humiliate me, it did remove any chance of me or my men leading the assault, you guessed very well. And your guess of what I'd do to you, was it that I'd send you away, not wanting to see you again until the war was over?" Akira raged.

Emiko shook her head, wiping a tear from her eye, "No. You'll send me away now, tomorrow afternoon you'll call me back. When you see how right I was, when your Daimyo is _dragged _back to camp you'll call me back."

Akira shook his head, "Women have no place on the battlefield."

"I know." Emiko said, "but if I hadn't come, if I hadn't stopped you from leading the vanguard I would have been a widow by tomorrow. I'm never wrong, husband, I'm never wrong. Konoha will surprise the army in the morning, before the attack begins I _guess _you'll remember my warning, you'll feel anxious when the attack begins but your anger with me now will not have subsided, you'll tell yourself I'm insane. But I'm never wrong, every man who attacks those gates tomorrow will die, the bowmen will suffer as well, Konoha won't let you have that kind of an advantage, they'll remove it."

Akira shook his head, "You have too much faith in your old homeland. You overrate them."

Emiko didn't say anything more, she simply stood up, Akira nodded to one of his soldiers, she was escorted away, "Take her to Sunagakure . . ." He hesitated, then just to be sure that Emiko would be wrong at least once, "Even if I do call her back, don't bring her."

Emiko just smiled mournfully. He supposed she would have claimed to have guessed he'd say that. Still he knew that this might be the last time he saw her and even his anger now couldn't override the feeling that he didn't want what might be her last memory of him to be a bad one, he said "I . . . I will make sure your family is preserved, I give you my word."

He'd keep it too . . . _if _he got to them first.

When she was gone he turned to one of his captains, "Have the men ready, tomorrow we charge ahead the instant the order for the general attack is given, I want our men to storm the city before anyone else even gets within a hundred paces."

**To Be Continued . . .**


	153. A Taste of Things to Come

**Note:** Your well deserved bonus for one thousand six hundred reviews, thanks for all your support and patience with my delays. Now here it is, the beginning of the siege of Konoha, the start of the final major battle . . . of this book that is.

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Fifty Three**

Hitomi swallowed a lump in her throat, "Sun's rising soon," she told Hara.

Her fellow Jounin, stationed on the wall along with her stirred from his sleep and nodded, "They'll attack just before dawn. That's how these things are done you know."

Hitomi saw the samurai and ashigaru sleeping all along the wall ready to fight for Konohagakure, she leaned over and saw that Yamato had brought all the trees down, "Looks like the Legendary Laze agrees, they're coming soon."

The sun was just beginning to rise when Hitomi saw, just at the edge of the woods thousands of soldiers.

There was cavalry, spearmen, she could tell the difference from where she was, anyone else would just see a massive black ring in the distance.

She could see shapes, blurs really but more than most others could see, she turned to Hara who threw one of his Kunai into the air, the blade exploded in a flash and gongs rang in all four corners of Konohagakure.

The battle had begun.

* * *

Akira shifted uneasily as he stood at the edge of the trees, the Daimyo, astride a beautiful white steed raised his katana into the air and shouted "Forward, for honor, for Kaze!"

Two thousand men roared and charged across the open field.

Akira shook his head, this field . . . it hadn't been there at sunset, the spies said that the trees had just suddenly disappeared.

He'd wanted to warn the Daimyo, tell him that if the Konoha ninja could make the trees disappear they might be able to make them reappear too, but after Emiko's outburst the Daimyo was avoiding him.

He shook his head, the bowmen couldn't hit Konoha from the edge of the clearing, they would charge along with the vanguard regiments and then fire when they got into range, losing their cover. The rest of the army would march at normal pace behind them, a display of force.

Akira supposed the Daimyo had assumed that showing Konoha the full magnitude of the army they faced would make them afraid, but Akira doubted it.

He watched, his heart pounding as the armies rode. If the ninja could swallow a forest no number of soldiers would frighten them.

The sound of war drums rang loud throughout the army, premature screams of victory rang from the men's lips, they sensed the downfall of Konohagakure.

Akira just remembered his wife's warning. Already Konoha was showing them that they'd underestimated them, the people of Konoha had controlled the forest itself . . .

* * *

Shikamaru watched as the armies charged, he turned to Gaara, "Hold on to your robes, Kazekage-sama, things are about to get bloody."

"I no longer get as . . . 'excitable' around blood." Gaara said calmly.

"Hmm. Me neither," Shikamaru grunted, though he knew what Gaara meant and knew that his own lack of interest in blood wasn't the same thing.

The allied bowmen began to open fire, Shikamaru spoke into the radio, "Bowmen hold your fire, Shinobi deflect those arrows."

Dozens of Shinobi leapt up on the walls and began deflecting the incoming projectiles, Tenten and Temari were both among them, Temari's fan tore a massive hole in the incoming rain of arrows, the projectiles she deflected clattered into other arrows falling uselessly or raining down on the onrushing soldiers instead.

Shikamaru spoke again to the radio, "Hold back the archers . . . let them get closer."

He watched as thousands of soldiers rushed for Konohagakure's walls, he glanced at Gaara who shrugged, this was Konoha, surrounded by dirt, not sand, he couldn't tell him how many men were charging but Shikamaru guessed that it would be about a thousand from the west, north and south, from the east however the number was obviously much larger.

The ninja had made sure most of the first volley hadn't gotten through, but there had been perhaps ten thousand arrows and only a few dozen ninja deflectors, hundreds of arrows still made it . . . if the people hadn't been below ground in the labyrinth . . .

Shikamaru leaned forward from his position in the watch tower, "There, they're setting up ladders . . . there's ninja mixed in with them, just like I thought."

"Shikamaru," Naruto's voice crackled into his ear, "Now?"

"Not yet," Shikamaru said, "let their whole army march into the clearing, I want all their men to see this."

The allied army was probably close to a hundred thousand men, the rabble attacking the wall now was just a small portion of it, but Shikamaru would make them the example.

He waited, watching as the full force of the enemy army revealed itself, then he said "Yamato . . . fire one."

* * *

Akira frowned, Konoha didn't return fire . . . a few ninja tried in vain to stop the rain of arrows but it wasn't enough . . . "What are they doing?" He whispered to himself, "The fools," he smiled, "they are all but giving us victory."

Akira watched, close enough to Konoha to better see its wall defenders when suddenly more than a thousand men stood up, lining Konoha's walls.

Bowmen . . .

They released their volley, the arrows tore through the unprotected ring of archers, and the forest itself came to life.

The barren ground around the walls of Konoha exploded, suddenly with green leaves. Trees burst out of the ground, men flew into the air, others were caught up in the branches, and dozens of dark shapes leapt high from the walls of Konohagakure and fell into the tree line.

Ninja, they'd leapt high enough to be seen by the army, they wanted the other soldiers to know what was about to happen t the men in the trees.

Konoha's bowmen rained arrows on the allied bowmen, the soldiers behind them didn't have time to think about advancing, the screams of excitement and anticipated victory were gone, now there were screams of horror and pain from the trees that had reappeared around Konoha.

There were some blasts, Stone ninja who'd been with the initial force putting up some resistance to Konoha's attacking ninja, Akira saw the Daimyo, atop his white stallion burst through the tree line, three of his eight body guards still with him, one turned back and fell dead, some unseen ninja tool no doubt to blame, hundreds of other men came running from the woods, Akira leaned forward, willing them to make it to safety.

More trees sprouted up, more screams, Akira shook his head in realization, the entire army was exposed now, the bowmen were standing in the open stupidly trading fire with men half protected by a wall, the vanguard was being butchered in the trees and the forest was expanding out from Konohagakure which meant that the entire army was in fact standing on a battleground chosen and prepared by their enemies.

Akira didn't think about what to do next he just did it, "Forward!" He roared, "Save the Daimyo, charge!" He roared, his men, his one thousand rushed without hesitation. The signal to retreat was sounded and they ignored it, charging on for the trees.

But the rest of Wind's army . . . conscripted men had no honor . . .

They stood frozen in fear until their own Samurai Taisho ordered them onward, the remaining Stone ninja charged forward and some of them began calling up stones from the earth to cover the ground, no doubt hoping that a sheet of stone would keep the trees from rising.

More men emerged from the trees, much fewer this time, more trees erupted, Akira drew his blades and leapt over a fallen bowman as his men reached the range of Konoha's arrows, he kept his eyes on the woods.

The closer to the woods they came the closer they came to the trees the closer they came to rescuing their vanguard and their Daimyo.

* * *

Hitomi leapt from one tree to the next constantly moving, her heat was throbbing in her chest, she threw one Kunai, threw a shuriken, another kunai, every time she threw she killed.

Hara was worse than she was, he could take out groups with a single flick of his wrist, he was almost as adept with projectiles as Tenten.

_Almost_.

Skipping through tree branches, slitting throats here, throwing a projectile at someone there, Hitomi couldn't even keep track of how many she'd killed.

It was enough death to make even the most sadistic killer sick of killing, and yet Hitomi continued over the screams of the dying, she killed and killed.

_You chose to come here, to threaten this place and its people, this is your reward_.

But even as she thought that she felt a terrible feeling in her stomach.

Most of these men were conscripts, they hadn't _chosen_ to come, they'd been forced.

They'd been armed and told to leave their families, march on Konoha, now they were dying miles away from home, from their loved ones all because their Daimyos had wanted more power.

It was the Daimyos who truly deserved to die.

Hitomi saw a man on a white horse surrounded by six well armored men, she rushed after him, hitting the ground she threw a pair of shuriken, killing two more conscripted soldiers, she stole the spear from one of them and snapped it across a nearby tree, taking the edge with the metal spearhead she hurtled it after the retreating Samurai, hitting one squarely between the shoulders.

He roared in pain and toppled, Hitomi used the remainder of the spear as a staff, hitting a conscript soldier in the neck as he tried to rush at her with a pike.

She stepped on his knee then his shoulder and used him to leap back into the trees, throwing a kunai for the retreating Samurai she managed only to wound the man's horse as he broke through the tree line.

She couldn't follow, orders were clear, the ninja didn't advance past the trees.

_Come on, come on! _She thought, _Fire two, fire two!_

As if on her command the second layer of forest burst forth, Shikamaru-sempai had said that it would only take four of the seven rings of retracted trees to finish off the vanguard forces, Hitomi hoped it could be done in three.

She had no doubt that Yamato hoped so as well, it had taken him hours to retract the trees, he was now forcing them up again in mere minutes.

The Daimyo was down to two bodyguards now, Hitomi threw herself from the tree, landing on one of the bodyguards she slit his throat and took his katana, she swept out, slicing a large gash across the flank of the Daimyo's horse, Hara landed next to her and rushed forward, shoving a kunai into the second bodyguard's neck, the Daimyo was thrown from his horse and he ran on foot.

A mob of conscripts came after Hitomi and Hara before they could finish the Daimyo though, Hitomi saw others continue the chase, including Tenten.

Tenten would handle him, and likely she would wait until the perfect moment to do so, Hitomi turned on the conscripted soldiers and with the stolen katana in hand swept out at the first, leaving a gash across his unarmored chest, blood sprayed everywhere and she kicked him into one of his comrades, spun and slammed the katana into the chest of a Samurai who, despite being impaled still thrust for her with his spear.

But his movements were slow motion to her, she snatched his spear, brought it down hard on the head of one of the other conscripts, thrust forward stabbing another man in the chest, then sprang into the air, grabbing a nearby branch, Hara had already done so and the soldiers didn't try to pursue them, they just ran.

Hitomi shook her head, they could run all they liked, none of them was going to escape.

They were the example, the morale breaker. They'd spread fear through the rest of the army.

And with luck the battle could end all the sooner.

* * *

Akira reached the trees, he saw ninja everywhere, but now many of them were Stone ninja, Konoha's gutsier ninja were being forced to flee against the sheer numbers.

Akira looked left and right for a foe to face but he found none, he looked everywhere for a soldier that he might rescue but he found none.

He gave up, he knew there was no one left.

The Stone Ninja were pushing the Konoha ninja back, Akira turned to see his men had followed him into the trees without fear, "Find our lord," was all the scarred Samurai could think to say.

* * *

Shikamaru closed his eyes, "fire four" hadn't been necessary, as he's suspected the enemy vanguard was completely wiped out after the third wave of trees. Still, telling Task Force A to do it in four had certainly motivated them, the third round had almost been unnecessary.

He didn't want to overtax Yamato, instead he ordered the remaining four of the seven waves of forest be let alone. The bowmen were still exchanging shots, Miura's bowmen had started to take some losses as was to be expected, but the allied forces had suffered far worse.

Task Force A was in the woods cleaning out the enemy, Lee, Kiba, TenTen and Temari , the largest group of 'living legends' in a task force.

"D assist A," Shikamaru ordered, noticing the Land of Earth military had surged forward.

"Shikamaru," Naruto said over the radio, "They're responding with a lot of force!"

"No, they're responding with just as much force as I expected," Shikamaru said, noticing that while Iwa's ninja and Earth's armies surged forward Rain had and Wind had been the first to retreat, Waterfall was quickly following suit.

With three of the four armies withdrawing both force A and D threw themselves at the Earth soldiers, the bowmen continued firing and the allied bowmen began to run, retreat drums rang across the battlefield, but as a blast of flame engulfed an entire platoon of conscripts it became clear that they weren't needed, the untrained ashigaru broke, thousands of men turned and ran.

Their Tasiho would be severely disciplined for that, Shikamaru smirked.

Gaara looked at him, "You prepared a defense of several days, but if they put their full force against us what keeps us alive past the present moment?"

Shikamaru shook his head, "I knew they'd want a chance to regroup, they aren't finished for the day, they'll try to swarm us near nightfall, Task Force B will use the cover of night to slip out and start head hunting." Shikamaru said, "Tomorrow morning half or more of the enemy commanders should be dead, it'll be a blow to the men, hopefully some of them will desert."

"And if they don't?" Gaara asked, "We don't have an unlimited supply of arrows."

Shikamaru shook his head, "We won't need arrows much longer."

* * *

Akira and one of his men carried their fallen Lord back to the camp little more than an hour after the attack had begun.

It was still early morning and already losses were high, and a Daimyo had been killed.

"Akira . . ." The Daimyo said darkly, Akira jumped from shock as the Lord of the Land of Winds emerged from his planning tent, "Just the man I wanted to see . . . why are you carrying that double?" He asked with an all but sinister expression on his face.

"My lord!" Akira gasped, "What are you--I had thought--"

"Yes, yes, you thought the man who engineered the destruction of Sunagakure would be killed by a ninja's parlor trick." The Daimyo waved Akira's words away, "Never mind that, we've bigger problems."

"My Lord," Akira protested, "you stand here in merely a robe, I beg you to don your armor and lead the army, don't let morale falter!"

"Don't presume to tell me what to do. I know better." The Daimyo shook his head, "No . . . they were ready for us, I knew they would be the minute I saw the lack of trees, that's why I tried to hold most of the army in reserve." He fixed Akira with a hard glare, "Why didn't you withdraw when I sounded the signal?"

Akira blinked, all he'd thought was that he had to find his lord dead or alive, but now that he turned and looked the Wind army was retreating, as were the Rain and Waterfall forces, only Earth and Stone continued the assault, and they were paying dearly for it.

Akira bowed low, "I did hear the signal, I thought saving your . . . double, was more important."

The Daimyo laughed, "Ah yes, too dutiful. Well Hirate Akira where is this witch of yours?"

"What?" Akira gawked, "Witch? What are you--"

"That sorceress you married," The Daimyo said impatiently, "I want her presented before me _now._"

"She is no sorceress," Akira protested, "She was only guessing, her words were just those of a frightened woman she--"

"Is either a sorceress who correctly foretold our utter defeat today or she's a spy." The Daimyo said evenly, "so which is it, Taisho Hirate, is your woman a witch or a spy? Call her before me."

"I sent her to the capital . . ." Akira admitted.

"So bring her back." The Daimyo said, glaring at Akira now.

Akira closed his eyes, he couldn't call Emiko back, he'd have to ride out after her carriage.

He smiled grimly when he realized he'd probably reach her around noon . . . just as she'd guessed.

He swallowed a lump in his throat.

If he'd just listened to her, believed his wife a lot of lives could have been saved.

He turned and looked back at the Leaf village as he leapt onto his horse.

Their tacticians planned and plotted, Emiko just guessed, or so she'd said . . . Emiko wasn't an oracle or a sooth sayer, Akira didn't believe that. She'd said she just guessed and he'd take her word for it.

What happened if she guessed wrong? The Daimyo already thought she was either a witch or a spy . . . the instant he realized she wasn't a witch . . .

* * *

Shikamaru sat in the command center watching the walls. He glanced at the watch tower, the Iwa ninja had made several attempts at it, just as he expected it was a prime target.

And it was empty. Shikamaru had directed the battle from a post near the walls.

Forty five minutes. The battle had raged for forty five minutes and yet there were so many dead. Just over a hundred of Miura's bowmen had died, several more had injuries.

The death toll for the enemy was uncounted, but it was several thousand at least because of the thousands of soldiers in the vanguard not one had escaped alive.

Earth's conscript army had come at them in full force but retreated quickly, they hadn't suffered as many lost lives as Shikamaru had hoped but with any luck their morale was in tatters.

He surveyed the battlefield, "They'll attack again near sundown, try to use the darkness as cover for their bowmen."

"What then?" Gaara asked. "Trees?"

"They'll pave the ground with Earth Jutsus," Shikamaru said, "It's not a big deal, as long as nothing happens to Yamato we can resurface the trees anyway but it'll be more taxing on him to have to break through the rocks. But I want to let them think it grants them a measure of security, have them waste their ninja paving the invasion road, every Jutsu spent paving over our fields is chakra not spent attacking us."

Shikamaru pointed to the line of trees, "They'll try to rush us, thinking our bowmen can't handle so many men at once, thinking our ninja cant handle so many at once, we'll send out all the attack forces, giving Kakashi and Shino a chance to go head hunting. As long as we hold the gates and keep them out it should be okay, they'll use ladders, and I expect some of the more creative Stone ninja will make stone ladders or ramps to help them storm us."

"So what do we do?" Gaara asked, sounding frustrated.

"Assuming it plays out that way? Kiba's force will go with Shino's, they'll break off and start wiping out the bowmen while Shino goes after the headquarters, all the other ninja need to try to make sure the enemy's numbers don't count for much, anyone with some real crowd control Jutsus will need to stay behind, if the enemy raises up a ramp I want the earth they use for it to be thrown back at them to burry them, I want our fires to light up the night like the day and I want the enemy to see it all and be afraid."

"We have just over three hundred ninja," Gaara said, "the enemy has more, if our reports are accurate Iwagakure has over a thousand ninja."

"Our reports are inaccurate, if they had that many they wouldn't have conscripted peasants. They've got a few hundred and they probably do outnumber us, but they'll divert forces to go after Shino and Kiba's forces . . . especially if a high profile target goes with them."

Gaara smiled, "Like me."

"Don't you want a chance to see your Daimyo face to face? Word has it he's leading this attack, he's probably prowling their headquarters." Shikamaru said, eyeing his brother-in-law.

"Some of Task Force A's Jounin reported killing him, didn't they?" Gaara asked.

"They reported it but Wind hasn't shown any sign of it, they're not bluffing we just got a double, no daimyo makes conscripts his personal honor guard, and the horse was not the Daimyo's personal steed according to Temari. The man's alive and if he's here we'll have to do away with him. I just think if that happens it ought to be you."

Gaara looked into the distance, "I should be here, not off pursuing personal vendettas."

"I don't need your protection tonight, your power would be better suited helping make sure our counter attack works, and making sure it works fast, if we can break their bowmen and thrash their headquarters we can push them back, in the morning their morale will be in ruins." Shikamaru said.

He hoped.

"You're trying to win quickly," Gaara said, "you know that a prolonged battle would be impossible to win, they have the numbers to survive fierce attrition . . . you're banking on them not having the stomach for it . . . it's a straightforward plan but don't you have counter plans?" Gaara asked.

"I have several, but for now they're playing into my hands." Shikamaru said, "If the enemy realizes what we're doing and tries to turn their main army on our task forces we'll simply rain our own arrows down on them, they'll suffer heavy losses."

"But our task forces will be cut off." Gaara reasoned.

Shikamaru shrugged. Temari was part of Kiba's task force, he knew the kind of danger he'd be putting her in with this plan, but the fact was even if the main army turned around and attacked the task forces they wouldn't be in any more danger than the original plan projected.

The rest of Konoha's ninja would move out to their aid and between the two forces of ninja the thousands of conscripts would be like blades of grass easily trodden down.

Shikamaru looked out across the battlefield.

He needed to win . . . he needed to win quickly.

He had told Naruto he believed they could win.

He'd lied.

He knew they had a chance of victory but it relied on the enemy doing what he expected them to do, that was what tactics was; guessing what the enemy would do and punishing them for being predictable. Kabuto had guessed _everything _up to now, he had put spies in Konoha, had convinced Wind itself to turn on its allies.

_I'll beat you._ Shikamaru silently promised, _You and I can't exist in the same world, you're a threat to everything I believe in. Even if you are smarter than me in the end I'll still defeat you._

_You're fighting for yourself, your own selfish world, Kabuto, _Shikamaru thought, _I'm fighting for myself, my friends, my country, for my wife and child, for their future. Your failure is that your world revolves around you, but I know mine will carry on without me._

_Even if it kills me, I'll see you dead first Kabuto, even if we're driven out of Konoha I won't let you win this war._ Shikamaru thought.

* * *

Kuto shoved the elderly woman to the ground in front of Toshiie, "This old bag of bones tried to escape Konohagakure in the night, she got past our initial guards but we found her a little while after the retreat, she was headed for the Wave country."

"Why do you think I care?" Toshiie demanded.

Kuto fought back a scowl, "She could be a Konoha messenger taking a request for reinforcements to their allies, our orders are to stop any who try to leave the city."

"So why's she still alive?" Toshiie asked.

"She surrendered to us, and you know the order on surrender civilians," Kuto said.

Toshiie backhanded her and she flew face first into the stone wall of the command hut.

"That order holds no substance over you, you should have killed her in the field!" Toshiie roared.

Kuto felt blood coming from her nose but she reveled in it, _So kill her, _she thought, _kill her, defy the Kamikage's order, do it_! She willed him.

_Show me you're the hero they say you are, that you're a hero of Iwagakure, not some coward, kill this old woman! _Kuto silently pleaded as she turned to face her commander, wiping the blood from her face.

Toshiie drew his sword and paced back and forth in front of the old woman, "You're lucky my comrade here is so brain dead, it saved your life."

"You can still kill her!" Kuto cried in outrage, Toshiie rushed at her, striking her in the face with the hilt of his katana, she could have dodged but to do so would have been an act of insubordination . . . and besides _she _wasn't a coward.

"You brought her into the camp, you told me she was a surrendered civilian, so she is. Take her away," He ordered a Chuunin, "and you," he turned on Kuto, "the next time you see a runner kill them _before _they have a chance to surrender, this old woman could have been a Konoha ninja in disguise."

"She isn't, we checked there's no Genjutsu about her, she really is just an elderly woman." Kuto said coldly, "but she could still be a spy, you should kill her."

"Don't question my decisions, she lives for now because that's the Kamikage's will, I can't oppose it, not over something this trivial." Toshiie barked, "Even if she were a spy how much could she possibly see in our prison? Now go clean yourself off and be ready, I've just received the order, we attack again at sunset."

Kuto nodded, and as the old woman was dragged away she thought bitterly that a real hero did what they wanted whether or not it meant opposing a powerful enemy for a trivial reason.

Again and again Toshiie proved himself inadequate for the title of hero.

She knew it would be her duty therefore, to see to it that he didn't come back from the attack tonight.

She would kill him, it would seem like Konoha's fault, no one would know, he'd die like a hero: in battle with the enemy, it would stir up the others, make them eager to fight the Konoha ninja that had killed their captain.

And since Toshiie had a grudge against Nara Shikamaru Kuto would find a way to frame him for the murder.

It could all go so perfectly.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	154. Boomuh!

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Fifty Four**

Shikamaru raised his gaze to the two women standing in the doorway, Kimiko felt a chill of excitement go through her as he said, "Sakura . . . Tosa, what is it?"

So he remembered her name.

"This is . . . well I guess you know her?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"We met during the Chuunin exam." Kimiko said brightly.

Shikamaru nodded slightly. "What is it?" He repeated.

"Tosa's injuries would prevent her from being an acceptable part of the defense, and because she's a Kumogakure Jounin she's too valuable to just leave lying in an infirmary, she wants to help." Sakura said.

_Too valuable and too dangerous. _Tosa thought.

She did not intend to betray Konoha unless Kumogakure had done so. Konoha probably knew that.

Still she was grateful; if not for the medics of Konoha, she might still be paralyzed.

If she had to choose, she would choose duty . . . but she would not be happy about it.

The Genius frowned, "I don't need another courier, and I don't need an assistant."

Tosa felt a little hurt, she had hoped this might be a chance for them to . . . bond. After all, with doomsday on Konoha's door step she might not get another chance, and if worse came to worse Nara Shikamaru would be a prime contribution to Kumogakure if she gave him proper incentive to follow her there.

"She's got to be made useful, consider her a body guard then." Sakura said, "Everyone has to do something, you know that."

Shikamaru laughed, "Know it? I am _living _the fact, everyone is doing something, and I'm keeping track of all of it. Now in minutes, not hours, but minutes, we're going to be attacked again; our counter attack has to go off _perfectly_."

"We'll be ready, Shikamaru," Sakura said, "but you're going to have to deal with this, Tosa is under your command now. Use her as an advisor or a courier, it doesn't matter. Naruto said to trust her."

Shikamaru didn't respond for a long time, he just looked out at the horizon, then at the city. He turned to the group of Chuunin who would be acting as his couriers, then looked back to Sakura and Kimiko.

She waited anxiously for his order. He said "Sakura, get to your task force and be ready to move."

Sakura frowned, "Okay but--"

"I kind of meant for you to do it _when _I said it." Shikamaru said as all of a sudden a flurry of burning arrows soared up from the woods near Konoha.

Kimiko rushed to the edge of the balcony, trying to survey the scene, but she couldn't see anything. "How did you know they were about to attack? I can't see them."

Shikamaru just shrugged, "I'm not omnipotent--yet--but I _can _tell when the forest is just too still." When Sakura finally left to join her squad Kimiko was surprised to hear Shikamaru tell the couriers, "I actually didn't know the attack would be right then, but it sure helped punctuate my order."

Two of the younger looking Chuunin laughed, the others seemed nervous.

Ah, those two laughing were Shikamaru's students; Kimiko remembered them from the Chuunin exams. She supposed they would understand their sensei's sense of humor better than the other Chuunin would.

The battle was rejoined, the bowmen firing from the tree line had no hope of hitting Konohagakure, but they clearly didn't intend to.

The trees were set to flame instead; smoke began to fill the sky.

"They're making a smoke screen!" One of Shikamaru's students, the girl named Sarutobi said.

"They _think _they are." Shikamaru said, he held up a radio, "Yamato, you know what to do."

Kimiko waited eagerly expecting the trees to be sucked up into the ground.

But they weren't.

She waited, counting off the seconds, expecting to see enemy ninja leaping through the smoke screen provided by the burning trees any minute now.

"Be ready, couriers," Shikamaru said, "it's when the forces get into that area of trees where the enemy archers are that I'll start to lose radio contact and you'll be needed."

The couriers all seemed to glow with pride, though their expressions were hard set with grim determination.

Kimiko swallowed hard, "What am I to do?"

"Whatever I tell you to." Shikamaru said, and Kimiko had to admit she _had _expected him to say that to her someday, but not under these circumstances. She'd rather expected it to be a much less terrifying moment.

The arrows rained and then finally the trees were sucked under the ground.

There were some screams, the smoke began to clear and Kimiko could see that the ninja Yamato had waited until the enemy had reached the trees. Now many enemy soldiers and even a few ninja had been crushed beneath the retreating branches, or dragged underground with the trees.

Enemy armies were marching on the walls, barriers of straw and wood rolled along in front of the armies to prevent arrows from slaughtering the soldiers.

Kimiko swallowed hard, ninja would be mixed in with the squads of soldiers, once they were close enough they'd leap over the walls, or crush the gate, the soldiers would swarm into the city and overwhelm the people through sheer numbers.

"Yomiko, tell Kotaro to move the civilians underground, it's about to get rough." Shikamaru ordered, and Sarutobi sprinted, leaping from the battle room and disappearing midair in a puff of smoke.

So he too realized what Kimiko had; that the bowmen defense was doomed to failure.

"Taisho," Shikamaru spoke into his radio, "Bowmen at the ready."

"What?" Kimiko gawked, "Are you mad, those barriers--"

"Use the special rounds." Shikamaru spoke into the radio, ignoring Kimiko's objections.

"What are the--" Kimiko asked but Shikamaru held up a hand.

She saw thousands of soldiers lining the walls of Konoha rise up, bows in hand.

They aimed high and released, arrows sailing high into the air then descending, hitting the ground or enemy soldiers.

"That's it?" Kimiko demanded, "They fired a single round each? They should be firing more rapidly, you can't win a war by--" but she was cut off when the ripple of explosions tore through the battleground.

"Boo-muh." Shikamaru said with a smirk.

"What?" Kimiko asked, blinking away the disbelief.

Had explosive charges been set in the ground before? Why hadn't they been set off earlier? Or upset by the tree shifting. The arrows the soldiers fired hadn't seemed to be on fire, how had they set off anything?

"What did I just see?" She demanded.

Shimamaru smiled, "You just saw us change the face of modern warfare for the worst. Once they figure out what we just did nobody will do anything else." He held up his radio, "Taisho, release the second round."

The dust was just settling from the first string of small explosions. Thousands more enemy soldiers continued to rush the walls of Konoha and the bowmen fired again, thousands more died in terrible explosions.

Kimiko understood now.

The explosions were small, lethal to anyone near enough but not strong enough to have been from a mine or explosive charge.

There were explosive tags attached to the arrows.

The thousands of soldiers and samurai were armed with thousands of deadly explosive arrows, and the enemy's second attempted assault had just gone horribly wrong.

For them.

The barriers were thrashed or on fire, dead and dying soldiers littered the ground.

The blasts from the explosive tags had been small, but the sheer number of them had slaughtered several entire squads.

Many of the enemy soldiers drew bows and started firing up at the wall, some of the Fire soldiers were hit but the rest began to fire more rapidly.

Kimiko swallowed hard, "Where are their ninja?" She asked, "Other than the ones who got sucked under with the trees they should have mixed ninja in with the soldiers."

"They did." Shikamaru said simply, and pointed to a group of enemies who hadn't been affected by the second explosive round. Though their barriers were on fire or damaged from the first round, the second had somehow been deflected form them and hit the surrounding squads.

"Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket." Kimiko whispered.

"Talk about tipping your hand." Shikamaru said. Into the radio he said, "They're going for the gate, _go_!"

The Konoha ninja task forces moved.

Two task forces slammed into the force of ninja and soldiers that were running for the gate.

One Iwagakure Jounin leaped forward, desperately, thrusting his hands forward.

A large stalagmite rose out of the ground, sharp and deadly it came towards the gate.

And stopped when Rock Lee landed right on it, shattering the tip which he easily lifted and hurtled like a spear at the shocked Jounin.

The gates of Konoha wouldn't fall so easily it seemed.

Tosa smiled slightly. In spite of the slaughter and the carnage she was witnessing she couldn't deny that she was impressed.

But Shikamaru wasn't wrong. He hadn't changed the face of warfare for the worse; he'd changed it for the better. Explosive arrows . . .

Right now they were weak. They probably had ten feet of effect, but only five or so feet of lethal effect. Kimiko wasn't sure _how _they were timed or activated at just the right time, how the blasts were delayed so perfectly, but she'd find out.

They were probably the weak tags issued to Genin, the more powerful, rarer tags would have been impossible to mass-produce at such short notice.

In the future . . .

Kimiko smirked, "They're doomed."

"This is nothing; they have tens of thousands of men." Shikamaru said, "We're in trouble if we can't get them to break and run." Nara Shikamaru gripped the railing as he watched the battlefield, "If they had proper siege equipment we'd be in a much rougher spot. We just have to win this battle before they can build any, or call for some."

"Look at them," Kimiko cried, "How can we fail to win?"

She pointed to the battlefield; larger explosions were going off now as Jounin and Jounin met in vicious close quarters combat.

The enemy army had superior numbers, but the Konoha army had superior morale, and they were winning.

Shikamaru however did not look convinced.

* * *

Gaara's eyes blazed, he thrust his hand forward and sand swept up and ripped into a squad of soldiers, he took the sand and the blood and ripped it from the dead bodies, building a large golem with it.

The golem raised itself up and then fell on top of a pair of Chuunin, suddenly becoming a sand coffin.

Gaara wouldn't bother trying to maintain the golem, he couldn't waste the chakra, this was going to be a long battle.

He would reach the Daimyo . . . and he would make him answer for his crimes.

An Iwagakure Jounin rushed for him, Gaara narrowly dodged a pair of stalagmites that came out of the ground for it, another Jounin blew a fireball for him, Gaara tore the gourd from his back and slammed it down on one of the stalagmites, shattering it.

The sand contained within spilled out, Gaara called it up and surrounded himself with it, shielding himself from the fireball, then he sent it out again, slashing the Iwa Jounin who'd blown the fire ball, and decapitating the one who'd sent out the stalagmite.

Arrows rained from the walls down on the enemy soldiers, but none came near the battling ninja.

The soldiers seemed to have noticed this because now they were rushing towards the ninja battle, many of them being slaughtered by the Jutsus of their own ninja.

The battle was too indiscriminate, if you couldn't defend yourself you were bound to die.

Gaara swept his hands out, calling forth more of his sand. It covered his skin, part of his perfect defense, and it flowed around him like a whirlwind.

Gaara could be indiscriminate, but he could also discriminate friend from foe if he needed to.

He raised his hands into the air; his sand swept up and then, bringing his hands down, crushed several enemy ninja.

The Konoha and Suna ninja that had been in range were fine, but unwary enemies were cut and crushed, some used substitution, several hadn't.

They were staring to run, they would be pursued.

The sun was setting, it was under the cover of darkness that Konoha's ninja would sweep out and began head hunting enemy commanders.

And Gaara would personally take the Daimyo of the lands of Wind.

* * *

The campfires burned brightly when Akira reached the Daimyo, Emiko in tow.

He bowed low, the Daimyo smiled, "Ah, so it is the Taisho and his witch."

Akira bowed again; he hoped Emiko was doing the same.

She hadn't said a word to him since he recovered her and he, for his part, hadn't made direct eye contact with her, he was too ashamed of himself.

"Now, Witch," The Daimyo said, "Our first and second attacks have failed. I want to take Konoha before tomorrow's sunset, what must I do?"

Emiko was quiet for a long time, Akira glanced at her in fear, what would she say?

The Daimyo grew impatient too, "What must I do?" He demanded.

Emiko shook her head slowly, "I cannot predict the future, I cannot plan for you, all I can do is tell you whether or not _your _plan will work, I can only guess the outcome of events, I can't plan them or my guesses become frustrated."

The Daimyo growled, "You try to protect your homeland, don't be foolish. The only safety now is to allow the war to end, allow the winners to win. Help us end this battle quickly, I promise you that the common folk will not be harmed, the ninja are our only targets."

Emiko smiled slightly, "That's not true."

Akira raised an eyebrow, "You mean it isn't true you're protecting Konoha," Akira reasoned, trying to spare Emiko the Daimyo's wrath.

She shook her head, "You won't protect the populace, you'll get them, and attack them to lure any ninja out of hiding."

"Your witch doubts my honesty?" The Daimyo hissed, his hand came quickly to his sword, though he couldn't remove it from its sheathe.

Akira held his master's hands back, "Daimyo, she--"

"Every attack you launch will fail, you cannot stop their defense." Emiko said calmly, "You will not stop them."

The Daimyo glared at her, "You dare--"

"They will counter attack." Emiko said flatly as two guards grabbed Akira and held him back.

"They already have!" The Daimyo roared, "They drove us back into the woods and then they disappeared."

Akira's eyes widened, "They just disappeared? Daimyo they--"

"Of course they're still in the woods," The lord of the lands of Wind cut his general off, "The Iwagakure ninja have been searching for them all night, detectors with every squad."

"Most of those ninja are too far away now, chasing whispers and ghosts. These woods _belong _to the Konoha ninja, they're finding ways to lead your ninja away, the stone, rain and waterfall ninja are trying to stay together in groups just in case they find trouble, which means it takes even less to lead them away. They're trying to stay relatively close to what's important to them, but what's important to them is their own lords. You have no ninja of your own, you're the furthest from aid, and yet you're the nominal commander tonight you--"

"You're insane, I thought you said you didn't tell the future, I thought you could only guess the results of my decisions, you're a liar!"

"I can guess, I can predict the outcome of your decisions, yes." Emiko said flatly, "I can bet on anything and I'm never wrong."

"Bet on your chances of survival." The Daimyo said coldly, drawing his sword.

"If it were up to you? Zero. Since it isn't, they're fantastic." Emiko said, "You'll change your mind about me tomorrow, when I tell you how to get your revenge for tonight."

"Witch!" The Daimyo roared, raising his sword into the air, Akira struggled against the guards.

Okatsu appeared then, almost instantly, holding the Daimyo's sword hand back, "What are you doing? She's--"

There was an explosion, the two samurai holding Akira back released him and the three of them all drew their katanas.

A strong gust of wind tore through the camp, Okatsu grabbed Emiko and Akira rushed to stop her.

"Predict your best course of survival." Okatsu whispered softly.

"Going with you." Emiko said simply.

"Clever girl." Okatsu said with a smirk, her eyes fixed on Akira, "_You_, he doesn't care about. You're on your own."

"No-wait!" Emiko cried as she and Okatsu disappeared.

Akira held his sword up and swallowed hard. There was another explosion, the Daimyo stood behind Akira and his body guards, "P-protect me." The old man whispered as the sand around them began to stir.

Akira didn't answer.

He'd protect his Daimyo with his life, but would his life be enough?

"Stand before me now," A cold voice reached their ears, barely a whisper and yet perfectly audible, "you have cost me everything. My home, my people, my brother."

The Kazekage walked from the shadows, his sister standing besides him, several other Sunagakure ninja.

"What can I take from you, equal to what you've taken from me, from her, from them?" He asked, indicating his sister and then his men, "Lord of the Lands of Wind . . . your very life is not enough," Gaara said, stretching forth his hand.

The sand around them began to take form, like a dozen swordsmen, Akira glanced around at each of them. Between himself and the two bodyguards, the odds did not look good.

Gaara closed his eyes, "We were never disloyal to you, you cast us off and cost us everything. In our final act of loyalty will be to spare your life. Go now, take your armies, go now."

"Gaara?" Temari blinked, "What are you--"

"Go now." Gaara said coldly.

The Daimyo trembled, Akira heard his sword hit the soft ground, the old man turned and tried to run.

Tried.

"Too late." Gaara said coldly.

Hard spikes of sand erupted from the ground, the sand swordsmen rushed Akira and the others, exploding and covering them with sand.

Akira fought, clawing his way free of the sand, but it was overwhelming, crushing, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't . . .

* * *

Gaara stood over the bloody form of the dying Daimyo, he wanted to smile cruelly but couldn't manage it, his face was expressionless. "You tried to use my people, you failed. You tried to kill me, you failed. You have attacked the last bastion of goodness, and freedom and you _will fail_." Gaara swept his cloak around himself. "Your death will be slow, but it won't be stopped. Nothing can save you."

The Daimyo's eyes were weak, watering, Gaara could have kicked him, but it wouldn't have mattered.

The man would die, slowly, Gaara's sand and chakra was inside of his body, ripping it apart from the inside out.

It would be excruciating, it would be slow.

It would be vengeance.

Gaara wanted the man to feel every minute of the agony he'd suffer as shards of sand circulated through his blood, cutting, ripping, tearing.

"Are you sorry now?" Gaara asked coldly.

The man nodded but there was no sincerity.

It didn't matter; Gaara wouldn't save him even if he were.

"Gaara, we're finished here. Most of the enemy soldiers are dead, we left just enough to tell what happened here. Do you want to finish . . . our former master?" Temari asked.

Gaara shrugged. In the distance he saw an explosion; the Rain command camp was being hit.

Another explosion, the Waterfall camp.

"Let's go." He said. "He'll be dead in the morning."

Shikamaru's plan had worked perfectly.

When the enemy army reached the woods they'd all "poofed" back into Konoha, where their chakra could be masked by the other ninja.

But breaking off the pursuit upon reaching the trees had left the enemy ninja convinced that they had all found some way to evade and hide in the woods, which would have been possible but more trouble than it was worth.

A small multitude of summoned beasts had led a good chase, giving the enemy enough chakra to chase, leading all their detectors away.

And then in the dead of night the ninja had come, had bypassed the sleeping soldiers and hit every command base.

Except Iwagakure's.

The stone ninja would see the explosions, they'd have time to mobilize, they'd move to defend their own base.

And while they were waiting for an attack that would never come, the Konoha-Suna coalition ninja would return quietly to Konohagakure, count up the injured and the dead--for no one would be left behind--and then, while the enemy camp was in an uproar waiting for the next attack . . .

They would rest.

In the morning, the Daimyo of the lands of Wind would be dead or at least too far gone to give commands, if all went well however the other Taisho and Daimyo would all survive with injuries.

But the men of Iwagakure and the commanders of the lands of earth would be completely undamaged; their men would be safe, surrounding their own camp as any sensible person would have.

But to the enemy it would seem as if Stone and Earth had abandoned them to the night raids, and been left unharmed, suspicion would be planted.

Gaara smiled, with luck the enemy's coalition would fall apart and simply leave.

But he knew better than to count his eggs before they'd hatched. And he knew better than to trust that every plan would go smoothly, "Our work here is done," He told Temari, "withdraw but be careful, just because we doubt we'll be pursued doesn't mean we won't be."

**To Be Continued . . .**


	155. Day Two

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Fifty Five**

Matsuri leaned forward and massaged her forehead, "It's pretty bad," she admitted in a whisper.

Hara frowned and whispered back, "It'll be okay though once Miyuki takes a look at it. I got careless is all, but we hit them pretty hard tonight."

Matsuri was waiting her turn for treatment the same as Hara, there were no front of the line privileges for Jounin, it was a first come first served basis for the milder injuries, like Matsuri's slashed arm and Hara's broken wrist.

These injuries were considered mild only because when ninja fought much worse could be inflicted and still leave a subject alive, and much worse _had _been inflicted on several ninja and even some prisoners who had been taken.

Only soldiers, ninja were too dangerous to take prisoner.

Hara wanted to line jump Matsuri just because his wrist hurt, however Matsuri's gash was terrible, some Waterfall nin had summoned a bird of prey of some sort which had raked Matsuri with its talons, her flack jacket had protected her for the most part, but her left shoulder had still been cut in a long line going from the back of the shoulder to the front, the bird having hit her from behind.

Hara's injury was a little more embarrassing, he'd been throwing a projectile, overextended his hand and some Samurai's spear slammed down on it as that Samurai had tried to attack a Suna ninja who's back was turned.

The good news was Hara's wrist had upset the enemy's attack just enough that the Suna ninja had survived to kill the samurai, the bad news was, obviously, that his wrist was broken.

The medics were working overtime though, Sakura seemed to be in nominal command of the medics, but there were only so many of them.

Anyone with any healing ability was being used to keep the soldiers and ninja alive and ready to fight, Hara could see Yamanaka Ino, Hyuga Hinata, Miyuki and Shizune, and many others he'd never even known were capable of medical ninjutsu, though many of those were working simply as nurses, bringing the medics supplies they needed, passing messages along or calling for more talented medics.

And whenever one of the medics needed help it was Haruno Sakura they called, seeing her at work was sort of like seeing the fifth Hokage, as the Fifth had known how to command a village Sakura knew how to command a field hospital.

The actual hospital was already filled up with patients being administered to by non-ninja doctors, in the streets where conditions were less sterile Ninja Medics were used since they were used to working in those conditions.

Oddly enough though the Fifth must have been inside the hospital because Hara didn't see her anywhere, and with this kind of thing going on he expected she should have been around.

Come to think of it he really hadn't seen much of her at all since before the fighting began. Things must have been really busy for her.

* * *

Naomasa frowned at Yomiko and Kotaro, "It'll be dawn soon, do you think they'll attack us again?"

"They have to." Kotaro said calmly. "Just to show us they haven't given up. One Daimyo dead, three of the four command camps hit, they have to attack us just to prove they're not afraid, even though they are." Kotaro looked out at the walls where the soldiers slept with their weapons close at hand, "Kind of terrible really. If only they'd left warfare to us, if they'd just let ninja be the ones fighting small scale wars things wouldn't have come to this."

"To what?" Nao asked.

Kotaro shook his head, "You don't see the problem? No man should ever have to sleep clutching his sword to his chest, to struggle for a few moments peaceful sleep against the fear of what's going to come in the morning. Most of them don't even want to be here, they weren't volunteers, they were drafted."

"Well we can't just peacefully coexist." Yomiko said. "They want us all dead."

Kotaro closed his eyes and yawned, "Maybe. Maybe their men are just scared, drafted into a war they didn't want. That's what Sensei is hoping after all, that the enemy will just break and run."

Nao nodded slightly, "That's why we had to bring back our dead, not just because we can't leave them behind but because we want to leave the illusion that we didn't lose anybody, we want them to think we're immortal while showing quite clearly that they are not."

Kotaro nodded, "That's right, that's standard stuff really but Sensei is sending a different message, I think. The enemy will know that we lost people, but we'll show them that in all the time they were trying to figure out where we were, defending their camp we were picking up our wounded and our dead, they could have saved some of their injured but they were too busy cowering and looking out for themselves. The soldiers will realize if they get injured they'll be left to die, they'll be a lot less brave about their attacks."

Nao frowned, "You sure that's the message Sensei means to send?"

Kotaro nodded, "That's right. It's the message I would send."

Yomiko smiled without any sort of actual joy, "Watching everything unfold over Sensei's shoulder is pretty terrifying because he's so calm you know? How many people do you think have died? How many might still die? And even with all the damage we're doing they keep coming and Sensei is just totally calm."

"I know," Nao said, "it's like if the enemy generals could see his face every time they show us their next attack plan they'd probably give up in exasperation, he hasn't looked surprised once."

Kotaro laughed softly, "Because he isn't, he's had plenty of time to think of what would happen when this battle started. He knows what they'll try to do, he's probably even thought of some things they're too stupid to think of, unfortunately he can't predict what their breaking point will be. Because the lives of foreign soldiers mean nothing to them the soldiers from Rain don't care if five thousand soldiers from the Land of Wind die, only Wind cares. If every soldier from the Land of Earth were killed tomorrow and no one died from the other countries it wouldn't bother those generals, it'd just freak their soldiers out."

"But isn't Sensei trying to break the soldiers?" Yomiko asked.

"Yes, but he needs to break the generals too or they'll come back once they've rallied their soldiers. He needs to break the enemy's fighting spirit and hope they leave forever, but I think in truth he realizes what really needs to happen here."

"What's that?" Nao asked.

"Sooner or later they have to surrender and a peace treaty needs to be drawn up. We can't fight forever, even if we win here more enemies will come. We have to find peace, this needs to be the last battle, if we can't make them surrender _we'll_ have to. We can't count on them surrendering unless we can take out the person behind all this, we need to lure their leader out and kill him, then maybe the enemy will make peace. It that doesn't happen they'll just keep coming at us until we're all dead."

No one said anything, Kotaro figured they probably didn't believe him, at least not completely.

Yomiko was a devout patriot and Naomasa was a dedicate ninja, neither of them was willing to believe that Konoha was going to lose the war.

Kotaro on the other hand, he found that easy to believe, then again he hadn't been on the surface watching the fighting, he'd had to listen to the reports . . . maybe things didn't _look _that bad.

He doubted it.

* * *

Akira's eyes fluttered open, an elderly, almost _ancient _woman hovered over him, wrapping his arm in a sling.

His eyes focused and he recognized her as a prisoner taken early into the invasion, "What is--"

"Easy soldier boy," A teenage girl with raven hair and jet black eyes said calmly, "This prisoner is a doctor, she's been temporarily released to help treat the injured, but we're keeping an eye on her, no malpractice as of yet."

Akira's eyes narrowed, "The Daimyo--"

"Is on his death bed." The girl said simply, "I was sent to collect you."

"Why?" Akira demanded.

"Don't question, just do." The girl said distastefully.

The old prisoner nodded, she looked frightened for her life in the presence of the young girl, old as the woman was she clearly understood how dangerous a ninja could be.

Then again she'd been caught trying to escape Konohagakure, so of course she'd experienced first hand the power of ninja.

Still she seemed strange, significant in a way.

The woman had medical experience, that must mean that she was a doctor or a nurse, an educated person . . . yet she'd fled the city on the eve of enemy attack?

Akira was forced to shrug it off as a pair of soldiers helped him to his feet, he noticed they were from his personal command, two of his one thousand elites.

"How many losses did _we _take?" He asked one of them.

"None sir, we were out and about with the bulk of the ninja, as per your orders, we rallied around the Stone base camp after we learned this one had been hit, but the enemy never showed up."

Akira grunted, it was lucky for his unit . . . lucky for Iwagakure and the Land of Earth too . . .

Left arm in a sling and his left leg feeling strangely heavy Akira moved along with the support of his men, following the young Oto ninja.

She was a Hattori of the village hidden in clouds, he could tell from her eyes, but she wore the sound forehead protector . . . so Lightning was allied with Sound?

What could that mean to the big campaign? Why was Lightning at war with Water if both were allied with Sound?

Sooner than he expected he was presented before the Daimyo, it turned out the man hadn't been moved very far, Akira had thought he'd be taken all the way to the command camp of the Land of Earth's army.

But Akira was relieved, the journey had been difficult, even though he was being helped along.

And he was also relieved because Emiko was there, sitting besides the Daimyo's death bed.

"My liege . . . what is your order?" Akira asked.

The man looked at him, he opened his mouth but didn't speak, he looked away again and Emiko shook her head slowly.

Akira frowned, remembering what she'd said before.

The Daimyo would forgive her once she told him how to take revenge.

But now that he knew he wouldn't be telling anyone.

"You are the nominal commander of the armies of the Lands of Wind," Emiko told Akira, "The Daimyo has ordered you to take command. It was the last thing he said."

Akira wondered if that had been deliberate on Emiko's part. Had she _encouraged _him to say that?

Akira nodded, "What little this frail body can accomplish I will." He said.

The Daimyo nodded slowly, and then closed his eyes.

Okatsu appeared, or at least moved into Akira's visual range, he hadn't really noticed her before, all he saw was his dying Daimyo.

The man was still breathing but could there be any doubt that he was dying?

"It is the second day of the invasion, hold out for one more and my master will be here to take command." Okatsu explained, "If you recall you had instructions for the second day, and I believe the Konoha ninja have provided the perfect excuse."

Akira glared at her, it took him a moment to realize what she meant.

He nodded and turned to one of his soldiers, "Release Lady Sachiko . . . do not inform her of the Daimyo's fate, it's not information a prisoner should be privy to, informing her could cause her to fail her mission."

Akira wasn't exactly sure what Syako's mission was, but he knew that he, as commander of the entire army, needed to keep following the Sound lord's orders.

Still he could demand a bit of explanation, "You," he snapped at Okatsu, "last night you rescued my wife."

"You're welcome." Okatsu said snidely.

Akira shook his head, "Don't take me for a fool, you had a reason beyond kindness, what was it?"

Okatsu sneered, "All will be made clear to you in due time. Now is not the due time. Allow lady Sachiko only a moment inside Konoha before a full scale assault is launched, its best if she reaches the gates just as our forces are seen marching."

"And will this be another suicidal attempt?" Akira demanded.

Okatsu shrugged, "Ask your wife, she knows."

Emiko averted her gaze and said "If you try to take the walls you can succeed if you maintain the attack for the course of the day without withdrawing for any reason, but the cost in lives will be enormous, too great to survive the Konoha counter maneuver."

"What counter maneuver?" Akira demanded.

"You well know that Konoha has a demon within its gates, you know that that demon could smash through this army and most of its ninja and we'd be hard pressed to stop it. It along with the soldiers and ninja of Konoha would undo us."

Akira scoffed, "Then why haven't they simply attacked us with this demon?"

Okatsu smiled snidely, "They can't control it, they don't know what will happen when it breaks free, that's why Uzumaki Naruto hasn't been on the front line, the carnage might set him off."

"And what do we do about him?" Akira demanded.

"Put simply? Leave him to us." Okatsu said with a smirk.

Akira frowned, "Us meaning you and your ninja, or meaning you and your master?"

Okatsu didn't answer, she just rolled her eyes as if the answer should have been obvious, and then turned to leave.

Akira frowned, he looked at Emiko and asked "Will we win this war?"

Emiko frowned back at him, "You will both win and lose this battle, I can't guess the end of the war yet, its too far away."

"Win _and _lose?" Akira blinked.

Emiko smiled slightly, "More I cannot say, just trust me."

Akira nodded slightly. He looked at the other Wind generals gathered in the room and said "What is the status of the camp?"

"Everyone's restless." One general reported.

Akira heard various reports on how hard each camp had been hit, the Wind camp had been hit the hardest, but his one thousand had suffered light losses having been away from the camp when it was hit. With the exception of Akira and a few others however the entire camp had been slaughtered by their vengeful ninja.

Earth and Stone hadn't been hit at all, probably because of the sheer number of Shinobi they possessed, still many of the generals felt that it was due to some deal Konoha and Iwa had worked out.

"After all we have more ninja than Konoha does, the battle should already be over." One man said.

Akira listened until the complaints against Earth and Stone became too irritating, "They're our allies and they've had the heaviest losses of any faction here, I won't let a single man under my command question them. Now we're going to attack the walls one hour, bring me the head ninjas and the Taisho, we have minutes to organize for our assault."

The generals bowed and left, Akira was alone with his wife, his dying Daimyo and several doctors. He looked at the man who could no longer open his mouth to speak, who was fading into death, Akira said "You told him you would tell him how to take vengeance . . . what did you tell him?"

Emiko looked at her husband and said "I told him to give you full command, and to spend his last moments watching what you've done with it. In that act he'll know satisfaction and vengeance against Konoha."

Akira nodded slightly, "Okatsu says we'll wake the demon if we press too hard, is that true? Is that what you meant when you said Konoha had a counter maneuver?"

Emiko shook her head, "Partially. Okatsu explained the Nine Tailed Fox to me and asked me a few questions about it, as I told her my guess is you'll see the beginnings of it, but you will not see the full force today."

Akira nodded and asked "Can I win today?"

"You can find a measure of victory, if you press on however you'll find the monster takes too long to kill, still you can deal a lot of damage before your men break and retreat."

Akira raised an eyebrow, "And will they retreat?"

"Yes." Emiko said simply, "By nightfall their spirit will break and in the black of night they'll start to desert."

Akira turned away from her and said "Maybe you're right . . . maybe your predictions always come true . . . but I won't believe this one. You know me well enough to know that if I know my men will die without meaning I won't lead them into battle, you wouldn't have told me that if it were true . . . you mean to motivate me is all." Akira said, trying to convince himself as much as Emiko.

He chose not to look at her, in case her face betrayed any sort of answer.

Having a wife who could eerily predict outcomes was a blessing and a curse . . . but in addition to always being right Akira just hoped she wasn't always truthful.

* * *

A soldier threw Syako from her uncomfortable cell without ceremony or warning, he struck her hard in the stomach with the butt of his spear, "New word from the Daimyo, my lady," The samurai leading the gang of soldiers that attacked her growled, "to show the enemy our true intentions all prisoners must now be executed . . . starting with you."

Syako knew what this really was . . . she saw the other female prisoners pulled from the corral where they'd been kept, they were lined up, pleading, begging, crying.

So much expense for the sake of her escape . . .

Her so-called master had had her beaten, shamefully cast into prison and now she would be allowed to escape under the pretense of a mass prisoner execution.

All these people who had truly fled the evil of Konoha, some seeking refuge in the arms of the Allied army but most seeking simply to escape the firestorm of war, would die all so that her escape would seem legitimate.

They were marched roughly, rudely before the entire army, Syako didn't see any of the prisoners who'd been taken away when it was learned they possessed medical skills, she assumed those prisoners were already dead, or would be spared since they were of use to the army, the rest of the prisoners however were useless and would simply be fodder.

Banners were laid out at the edge of the forest, one for every legion standing ready for the next wave.

Syako looked at the common folk, they were not to blame for this madness, her master was . . .

Her master who had beaten her and lied to her . . .

Her eyes grew hard.

_We'll see who uses who, Kamikage . . . I'll show you I'm not one to be trifled with, if not for me you wouldn't even have Suna, without me you won't hold it. Once my uncle hears of how you treated me you'll be sorry._

To the Konoha civilians who would now die just for the sake of her own escape she could say nothing.

But she did feel remorse.

She raised her head slightly, and allowed her noble upbringing to show through her injuries, the soldiers lined them up single file, there were more than a dozen of them.

Stone stalagmites erupted from the ground behind them, Syako had to look away from a mother who tried desperately to hold on to her two daughters, but the three were torn away from each other by the earth soldiers, and they like everyone else were tied to the stalagmites with their hands behind their backs.

Soldiers wearing gray and lavender uniforms with the symbol of the village hidden in sound stood with spears at the ready, with a word from Okatsu they rushed forward and impaled most of the prisoners on those spears.

But the man who attempted to kill Syako must have been a ninja for his aim was perfect.

He missed her slender waist by a hair, and shattered the stalagmite behind her instead.

She didn't hesitate, the soldier made an overly exaggerated strike with his spear and Syako kicked him roughly in the groin, she fell over from the strike but crawled until she could pick herself up.

She ran towards the city, she glanced and saw that three other prisoners were with her.

Of course, if she were alone it'd look too convenient.

Syako noted that one of the girls from a moment before had escaped as well, Syako felt nothing but pity for the child to have first witnessed the execution of her mother and sister and now to survive to live with the memory.

Arrows followed them, the child, her legs far shorter than anyone else's, fell behind and screamed.

Maybe she wouldn't be living with that memory after all.

Syako closed her eyes. _Her _escape was guaranteed, but like the two remaining prisoners fleeing for their lives with her she had to run all the same.

It had to look good.

Despite her injuries her legs were perfectly healthy, she could run though she'd spent days in a prison cart and her legs felt heavy.

She was easily the slowest of the surviving prisoners, and neither of the two remaining commoners bothered to so much as look back at her, not that she blamed them.

And as they fled the army Syako could hear the laughter as if this had all been some grand entertainment for the troops.

And through the shame, anger, and sorrow she felt hatred stronger than ever before for her _former _master.

Kabuto had made an enemy of her, and though she had very little of what _he _would consider power, she would show him that loyalty was _never _a guarantee, and she'd make him pay for everything that happened today, from the prisoners so heartlessly executed, to every single soldier of the Lands of Wind--no, every single _life _of any land that was lost today.

He'd answer for it all.

* * *

"The weakness before has been the Daimyo's insistence on letting Samurai claim the majority of the honor and not realizing the strengths of the ninja," the new high general told everyone assembled, and Toshiie nodded his agreement.

"Rain ninja are skilled with senbon, you can make it rain needles and this is what we need to maul and distract their bowmen. They have ninja who'll prevent the showers from wiping their bowmen out completely, but some of your projectiles will get through and when our ninja engage theirs that barrier will be gone, you're not to engage the enemy ninja, just kill their bowmen." Akira ordered the two head ninja of the Rain village.

Both men nodded and Akira turned to the Waterfall heads, "Fight with the Ame nin, keep those leaf bugs from forcing them away from attacking the bowmen."

Akira turned to Toshiie and the seven other Iwagakure captains, "Many of you can tunnel underground, that will be your venue of attack."

"Their underground forest makes that difficult," Toshiie explained, "do you really think we haven't been trying? We can't move with any sort of speed and we can't detect where the trees are, whenever we find one a trap goes off, too many of us have been buried alive, too few of us have dug our ways out."

"Yes I know that," Akira said sharply, "But you needn't rush, tunnel slowly and carefully, by midday we should take the walls and the gates, that's when I want your ninja to reveal themselves. In addition to that you have the greatest numbers, use them. I want you to send a small unit here," Akira pointed to a spot on the map, "and here, these are your targets, while the main force goes for the gates and the walls you're to attack this point, and this point, we'll put so much pressure on Konoha that they won't be able to ignore the front gate, even if they see you coming they won't be able to stop you."

"I'll take that force," Toshiie said, indicating the first special force, "Captain Gammo will take the other, we'll need just three Jounin squads from our own task force, the rest will attack the walls."

"Done, and do not fail." Akira said lightly.

Toshiie gazed at the battlefield map, he smiled wickedly, "This strategy is strong, we'll breach the gate before midday."

The general from Wind nodded and pulled his helmet down onto his head. Now that medic ninja had been able to tend his wounds he was good enough to fight, and he'd be leading his men personally.

Akira nodded, "Don't stray too far ahead, make sure you have no less than ten men with you at all times, if you find yourself alone you must retreat," he looked at all the ninja commanders, "none of you are to fall into enemy hands, is that clear? If you see the specialist task forces in danger aid them, Konoha's Genius won't miss them so don't try to act like we think they're invisible."

There was a chorus of affirmative answers and then as the gong rang one hour the war drums began to beat out the order to advance, the generals and the Shinobi commanders set out to lead their armies.

Toshiie was a little surprised though when he emerged from the command tent just in time to see about a score of prisoners executed, many of the generals cried out in disgust, some began shouting orders for the sound soldiers to be apprehended.

But Kuto just cried out, "Sweet! Entertainment!"

"What's this?" Akira roared, Okatsu appeared, shaking her head at them.

"Tsk, tsk, you gave the order general, we're letting the lady go free today, as per my lord's plan."

"You're executing prisoners?" Akira demanded.

"No." Okatsu sneered, "We're slaughtering animals."

Toshiie couldn't have said it better himself. Those prisoners had no value to him or his master, they had no worth and therefore no right to live, Okatsu had simply reduced the excess population.

"That's not what I ordered!" Akira roared.

"It is an act without honor," another Samurai agreed.

Okatsu laughed, "These are the prisoners we've already interrogated who have no value to our army . . . apart from Lady Sachiko they're just common women who would probably have been handed out to the overachievers in the ranks as slaves at the end of the battle. We all know what slavery adds up to when you're a woman. We've saved them a terrible fate. Very humanitarian if I do say so myself."

"Slavery? There will be no slavery!" Akira roared, many of the other generals nodded in agreement, even the rain and waterfall ninja seemed disturbed by this, only Okatsu and the Earth ninja seemed not to care.

In fact Okatsu did something that surprised even Toshiie, it certainly seemed to surprise everyone else.

She giggled.

She giggled like a school girl who'd just heard one of her friends confess a crush.

Her eyes had a weird light to them and her pupils seemed almost like serpentine slits, she batted them and she said "You all don't understand the new world, or your places in it. Better learn before you become casualties of war. The show is yours, but the _script_ is not."

Toshiie and Kuto, and the other Iwa captains and Earth Taisho laughed, they didn't see what the big deal was, prisoners without value were just animals unfit for cooking, the people of Konoha were all completely worthless, they weren't people at all, they were wolves, dangerous and clever but in the end just a pest to be exterminated.

The second day of the Konoha invasion was on and it was off to a great start, the blood spilled would only encourage the army, Akira glared but the deed was done, there was nothing he or any of the other Samurai could do to stop it, regardless of how their personal codes whined.

The armies fell into formation, by the time the three fleeing women reached the gates of Konoha, the legions of the Alliance were already charging for that same gate.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	156. The Walls

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Fifty Six**

Shikamaru frowned at the sight before him.

The armies were charging in, three enemy prisoners had just been taken in though for obvious reasons they couldn't be simply trusted, he turned to Yomiko and Naomasa, "Nao, Shizune is looking after the liberated prisoners, she'll probably try to take them to the labyrinth, don't let her. Take her and those people to an aboveground shelter, not the labyrinth, stay there and guard them, I'll send another courier for you if I need you back here. Yomiko, grab Ino from the labyrinth, tell her I want her to pretend to check those people for injuries and in reality check them for any genjutsu or trickery, but not to risk confrontation of any kind."

The two Chuunin nodded and took off, Shikamaru looked out at the battlefield, he'd scarcely left his command post for the past couple of days.

"Looks like they're a bit too eager," he whispered to himself.

The charging armies fired arrows, pushed barriers, and, Shikamaru noticed, weren't making any attempt to hide their ninja this time.

He could see they were also trying to attack from three main points, though the bulk of the army was spread out around the walls the ninja were most concentrated in front of the city's main gates, and also to the left and right, Shikamaru surmised their purpose quickly enough.

They wanted him to devote all his ninja to stopping theirs, or at least the ones he could see, then no doubt a few were tunneling under the ground and would emerge inside the city to wreak havoc.

"Bowmen, fire at will, Taisho use the special rounds at your own discretion, task forces A and B stand ready to defend the walls, task force C, be ready when they attack the gate."

Shikamaru glared down at the enemy, "This is going to be a long day."

* * *

Temari stood on the wall looking down at the enemy army as it approached, "Their ninja are right on the forefront this time." She grumbled.

Taisho Miura was nearby, he laughed, "They want to die first. Give them an explosive volley."

The flags came up, Temari recognized the clothing and uniforms and turned to the Taisho's signalman, "No, don't!"

Too late, the black arrows flew and explosions rippled across the field, Temari drew her fan out, as the blasts concealed the ninja dozens of umbrellas flew into the air, some of them dissipated in puffs of smoke revealing ninja who threw still more umbrellas, and whatever umbrella proved a true umbrella and not a ninja in disguise exploded in a shower of senbon.

The needles rained down, Temari swept a good portion of them out of the sky, other ninja maneuvered to stop still more, but some got through, too many got through.

Several bowmen screamed in pain, the senbon, not actually aimed had a low chance of being lethal, but they were stunning to someone being hit by them, and in some cases men fell from the walls from the surprise and pain.

Temari saw several stone ninja break ahead of the pack, it seemed like there was a dozen or so of them charging towards the far left side of the walls instead of at the gate. Temari saw one of them slam her fists into the ground, a shockwave went up and a tidal wave of stone and broken trees from beneath the ground came up.

Of course Konoha's walls repelled the chakra of the attack so the Jutsu failed when it came into contact with the wall, instead of smashing it.

But though the wall repelled chakra it didn't nullify it, the tidal wave of earth hadn't smashed the wall down, but it _had _left a large ramp going up to the very top.

No way Shikamaru's plans involved that ramp being there, if he'd perceived it he would have said something, Temari didn't know what to do about it; they didn't have time to fix it.

As if he'd read her thoughts from his battlement perch she heard Shikamaru talking to Miura over the radio, "Ease men away from the main gate to fire down that ramp, let their soldiers climb it a bit then bring them down."

"What are you--" Miura demanded, but Temari didn't listen to any more, if Shikamaru had a plan she trusted it.

She spotted Tenten running for the ramp as well, she made a hand gesture telling the other woman to take the left side of the ramp, she'd take the right. The woman didn't nod or so much as blink to show that she'd seen Temari's gesture, but she did take position as Temari suggested, and that was enough. Tenten stood on either side of the ramp, it was maybe twenty paces wide, its creator seemed about to try to make another, Temari marked that woman's face . . . she'd kill her the moment she got a chance.

Ninja and samurai charged up the ramp, the shattered trees slowing them down slightly, but also providing cover so Temari swept them away with her fan, unfortunately she wasn't able to destroy the ramp with the blast, and she didn't quite deter the soldiers from charging up once the wind stopped, hundreds came running and still thousands of others continued their assault on the gates.

Many had barriers that only explosive rounds or some Jutsus could stop, but the majority, seeing such an obvious way into Konoha, abandoned their barricades to charge, spears thrust forward, their lack of training was all too evident.

Temari was about to attack them again when a second rain of needles descended, she swept many of them out of the sky, Tenten however threw about a score of weapons into the crowd of enemy soldiers coming for the ramp.

Temari smirked, she felt like she understood her husband's plan when the bowmen started opening fire on the enemy soldiers below. Shikamaru _wanted _the ramp; the enemy was too poorly trained to realize what a bad idea it was to charge uphill without cover towards waiting bowmen and ninja.

They crowded around the ramp, which was too steep for their barricades to be pushed up, they crowded around it shoving and fighting to be the first--or maybe to not be the first--to charge up it and were torn to shreds by the Fire bowmen, Temari could more easily defend this crowded corner of archers than an entire wall, and a glance told her that Gaara was doing something similar on the right side of the gate.

The ninja woman made a second ramp, Temari saw Kyoko nervously take up position and use her battle fan as Temari was using hers to fan the enemy needles and arrows away from the bowmen who crowded the area, and she saw Hara and a couple of other ninja take up the role Tenten was filling with Temari.

Temari smirked slightly, nobody bothered to assist Tenten, she was a firing squad unto herself, her shuriken replicated themselves with Shadow Clone Shuriken Jutsu, increasing her range of effect and the true projectiles automatically returned to the summoning scrolls strapped to her hips if they failed to sink into flesh.

The Rain and Waterfall ninja held back, trying to get past Temari's whirlwinds and Gaara's sands, there were roughly three to five minute intervals during which the soldiers charged the ramps, but before the hail of senbon reignited the Samurai always seemed to order most of their men to fall back, even though the senbon weren't hitting the enemy army at all anyway.

Something had to be done about those needle loving rain ninja, Temari turned to one soldier, holding out her hand, "Cut my hand!" She ordered.

The soldier looked stunned, so she said it again, "Don't gash it, just cut it, my hand, cut it now, before they attack again!"

The soldier took one of his arrows and slid the metal arrow head across Temari's outstretched palm, Temari quickly smeared blood on her fan and when the next wave of needles came she shouted "Summoning Jutsu!"

She was surprised when, over the din of battle she heard Kyoko do the same, she must have seen her doing it soon four weasels--two from Temari, two from Kyoko--were flying towards those rain and waterfall ninja.

Spinning like buzz saws a few water barriers were brought up, and sliced right through.

Kyoko and Temari summoned more on the next pause in needle rain, but Temari guessed and was proven right that that pause would end sooner than the others had.

The enemy had tried to lull her into a false sense of security by having long pauses until she stopped to summon, they knew who was on the wall deflecting their senbon, they knew she'd send summons at them.

Temari smirked, they knew those things but they didn't know how naturally suspicious she was.

The enemy soldiers were starting to make some progress up the ramp, the bowmen weren't machines and what could have been forty minutes of battle or less had felt like hours, between the two o them Temari and Kyoko had summoned every weasel they could without winding themselves for the rest of the day, and they were running through the enemy ranks causing havoc in a small area.

Temari saw the woman who'd summoned the ramps, and glared at her, she glared back.

Temari smirked, she mouthed "come get me" and the women shook slightly, but not with fear.

She made a gesture; moving her middle finger over her throat then pointing at Temari, the older woman just rolled her eyes and sneered.

_Call up another ramp you nitwit. Or did you realize the error in your shinobi-made bottlenecks?_

The battle raged for ages, Temari wasn't sure how long it lasted but soon enough she realized after summoning and constant use of her fan she was tiring, and not the sort of tiring that could be solved with a ten minute break, she felt like her bones were about to collapse right out of her muscular structure, as if her entire body was about to simply give up.

How long had this battle been raging? It couldn't have been very long, but the sun was hanging high in the sky, it wasn't quite noon but it was definitely hours since dawn.

She swallowed hard; she didn't think she'd last until nightfall.

That's when a very unexpected gong rang.

Shikamaru had given the order . . . to _open _the gate.

* * *

Shikamaru swallowed a lump in his throat, this was a dangerous gamble and it had to work.

He nodded to his courier, the Chuunin rushed off to deliver the news.

Open the gate, let samurai and ninja charge out.

It'd stop the enemy from sending out their needles, with the soldiers shooting down the twin bottlenecks on the other sides of the gates--to the left where Temari was a pair of earth and stone ramps had been risen up out of the ground, and to the right where Gaara's sand presented an impenetrable shield for the bowmen, it was a set of entirely stone stairs instead, there had been two ramps but Gaara had somehow caused them to collapse in on themselves, killing the men who'd been atop them.

Shikamaru had expected this stupidity much sooner, a tactical mind would tell the enemy that ramps like that wouldn't be a good idea, the ones to the left of the gate weren't proper stone so much as heaped up earth, the emergence of the trees would upset them--though admittedly not destroy them, but while they were up the enemy soldiers were determined to use them and that let Konoha's defenders focus fire on certain areas.

But it wouldn't be enough to hold out, it was midday, the enemy would be weary, they hadn't let up pressure at all since the attack at dawn hours ago.

Shikamaru wanted to break their spirit now, show them that Konoha was ready to send them packing.

He was sending Naruto's task force, and the Samurai and soldiers not skilled with bows, out to wage a brief but symbolic offensive. He had rounded up every horse in the city, and there sadly hadn't been many, though a few ninja had summoned some battle mounts, the Jounin from Kumogakure had called upon five giant wolves, Naruto had called up some horse sized toads, another shinobi had called out some sort of six legged horses, and this makeshift cavalry, mounted by samurai and ninja, would spearhead the charge followed by Naruto's task force and every soldier not firing a bow.

Temari and Gaara, as well as their helpers, had to be low on chakra by now, after all they'd been out that night fighting and had barely taken any rest. By now the bowmen would be running out or arrows, but it was impossible to tell if the enemy was running out of senbon, most of them probably had umbrellas that would cause senbon that didn't hit their targets to return for a second use, like Tenten's own weapons had been placed under a Jutsu that would have them returning to her scrolls after a certain amount of time, so like Tenten it was impossible to know when the Amegakure ninja would stop firing.

Shikamaru needed to stop their ranged attacks before his were depleted, Konoha did not have an unlimited supply of arrows.

He gave the signal and a gong was sounded, the gates slowly opened, he spoke into his radio, "Anyone not on the walls . . . _attack_. Bowmen, focus your fire on the ramps and the stairs, bloody them, turn them back, people!"

He turned to his couriers, "You, fetch Sarutobi Yomiko, take her place watching out for Shizune and Ino, and tell her to take mine observing the battlefield. Tell her to get me the instant something changes."

"Where will you be?" The courier, Aburame Kurai demanded.

"Where I can do the most good right now," Shikamaru said simply, "She'll see me when she gets here."

Kurai nodded, he seemed distracted, confused, Shino had told Shikamaru all about Kurai's predicament and that was why the boy had been made a courier instead of allowed to fight with the bulk of the ninja force.

Shikamaru threw himself off of the guard tower, too lazy and in far too much of a rush to use the stairs. He had a little surprise in store for the enemy, as long as everything went according to plan he'd be back before it was time to give the next order, and if something went wrong Yomiko should be able to tell.

* * *

The bow fire stopped for a moment and Kuto rushed up the ramp towards that tramp from Sunagakure.

There were a few soldiers in front of her, she fought the urge to shove them aside.

Then she heard them start to scream in surprise.

That surprised her, she hadn't expected that.

Pain, death, those were the screams she expected, but she'd distinctly heard surprise.

And now the men turned and tried to run.

What had that Suna woman done now?

Kuto's eyes widened when she saw it.

A huge boulder rolled down her ramp towards her and the soldiers.

Quickly, without thinking she turned and ran.

Several people got out of the way of the large mass, it crushed the slower soldiers then it shrank and became a human being.

Kuto stared in shock, more human boulders rolled down her ramps but unlike her they weren't frozen in shock, they began to attack.

"Taste the fury of the Akimichi clan!" The first boulder shouted gleefully.

Kuto spat on the blood soaked ground, "I'll show you fury!" She screamed, kicking a pair of stalagmites out of the ground towards the overweight ninja.

He dodged the first one with a nimbleness that defied his size and amazed Kuto.

The second stalagmite never even got near him, he turned into a smaller human boulder and rolled down the first stalagmite, slamming into a Chuunin from Rain and then becoming human again a long, strangely massive hand flew out and slammed into Kuto's chest.

She flew back, and hit her head on a discarded barrier.

Everything went dark.

* * *

Toshiie roared in pleasure as the Konoha counter-offensive began.

The city's gates opened, and the most ungodly cavalry he'd ever seen charged out, trampling ripping and tearing at the men who'd gotten nearest to the gate, some toads leapt high into the air, their riders throwing down explosives that cleared the way somewhat for the other horsemen . . . "horsemen" being a pretty loose term of course.

Behind those ninja and Samurai Konoha's soldiers poured out, still more ninja threw themselves over the walls.

It was bravado, it was pure guts, it was almost enough to make Toshiie see them as human beings.

They were still outnumbered. They'd inflicted severe casualties but they'd suffered plenty of their own from the senbon showers, now they came charging out and it reeked to Toshiie of a last stand.

He gripped his sword and charged up the stone stairs one of his men had made.

He slashed out viciously at his first foe, a Konoha Chuunin who fell back in two pieces.

He cut a gutsy samurai, slicing right through the other man's sword, it was just a metal blade his blade was enhanced by chakra that could cut through anything.

Toshiie struggled up the ramp now that the bowmen weren't firing, at one point one soldier did try to shoot him, Toshiie grabbed a young samurai foot soldier by the flag attached to the back of his armor--he didn't pay attention to which country the kid belonged too--and held him up as a human shield.

The boy--for he was only a boy--screamed in agony when the arrow meant for Toshiie slammed into his chest, and Toshiie kept holding onto him, holding the youth by the back with one hand and sweeping his sword in the other Toshiie had just one thing on his mind: victory.

He didn't mean to look like some sort of battlefield behemoth, he hadn't realized that by holding onto the flag bearer and using him as a shield he was waving the Iwagakure standard in the air as he charged up the ramp.

He didn't care that it inspired the troops or that they were surging after him, he just wanted to hurt the enemy, and have his victory.

Before he even realized it he had reached the top of the ramp, he set foot on the walls of Konohagakure.

* * *

Takumi gripped Zilian's fur tightly, then slid off, the wolf leapt into the air and landed hard on an Amegakure Chuunin, ripping the unprepared ninja's throat out and kicking out at a waterfall Jounin who used substitution and tried to reappear behind the giant wolf, meaning to attack him though the next wolf barreled into him, knocking him back though he used substitution again and this time didn't come back.

That wolf, Zilian's twin brother Zidan let Mitarashi Anko off, the woman cackled insanely as she tore through a samurai, ripped the katana from his own hands and then slashed deeply into the arm of a soldier.

The other wolves got into the fight, their riders dismounting to deal more damage on foot, Uzumaki Naruto summoned a few shadow clones, making it harder for the enemy to figure out just where he was, and Takumi noted that most enemies shrank back when they saw the Demon of Konoha charging for them in the red and white robes of the Hokage.

Takumi spun both his swords in an act of intimidation as he looked for a foe to face, he let his chakra elements manifest themselves in the blades and he ran forward, charging towards a patch of rain country soldiers, Anko and the other three wolf riders, Rock Lee a specialist Jounin named Konohamaru, and Moegi stayed close to him, following his lead even though Lee was the technical superior.

Takumi slammed into a samurai, letting his left sword lead and decapitating the man with his right, the lightning chakra searing the flesh as he cut.

Some bowmen tried to fire but Konohamaru leapt onto Takumi's shoulders and blew out a ball of flame that engulfed the men before they could release their arrows.

The ninja came then, soldiers were easy prey but the ninja would require more focus, Konohamaru leapt from Takumi's shoulders and landed on a Chuunin's, he slashed that man's throat and then, locking his feet around the dying man's neck threw himself forward, spun as he came towards the ground, and kicked the dying Chuunin into a pair of Earth country spearmen, ensuring the man's demise and knocking the spears off course.

Anko had discarded her katana at some point and was fighting with three kunai in each hand, fighting with one up, one underhanded and one between her middle and index fingers she cut, slashed, punched and swept her arms about, when she lost one kunai she simply drew another, it sort of reminded Takumi of a shark biting and losing teeth.

He wouldn't be surprised if that taijutsu was nicknamed "Shark Fist" or something like that.

But Anko's Taijutsu, and his own were nothing compared to the sheer speed and power of Rock Lee, who tossed enemy soldiers and ninja alike around as if they were rag dolls and moved so fast that Takumi couldn't really focus on him, not that he, fighting foes of his own, had time to do that.

Moegi was far less impressive, she seemed too determined to stay by Konohamaru's side and was probably just hindering him.

She didn't really do much offensive work herself, she defended herself whenever necessary but she didn't attack.

Takumi guessed she must be a medic, it hadn't occurred to him to ask what she did.

He slashed at one Jounin, the same waterfall Jounin who'd been so skilled with substitution before.

The man dodged him and threw one hand out, a spear of wind chakra shot towards Takumi's chest, the Konoha Jounin wouldn't have time to move so he used substitution instead, appearing behind the Jounin who substituted and appeared behind him, Takumi substituted again but this time his foe didn't move, Moegi, guessing what the enemy Jounin would do had lunged forward and slammed a kunai into the base of his skull the instant he appeared behind Takumi.

Takumi smirked at her, he guessed he'd been too quick to write her off as a near noncombatant.

They were moving as fast as they could, killing as fast as they could, but it wasn't enough.

Hundreds of enemies were dying right now, thousands of enemies remained, waiting for their turn to fight.

And despite the damage being done he knew why this tactic hadn't been used right off the bat: it was exhausting.

Soon either the enemy would break or they'd have to begin a withdraw back into the city, the noon sun hung high in the sky, and carried on, they'd made it half the day, if they could just hold out until nightfall the enemy would surely withdraw.

He worried about Kaori, stuck in a hospital bed too injured to participate, if anything happened, if the enemy got into the city Kaori would be defenseless.

Those thoughts pushed him further and he fought all the harder.

He'd die before he let anything happen to her.

* * *

Kasumi was shaking a little, standing on a tree watching the carnage unfold.

"It's almost over," Okatsu whispered with a cruel expression on her face, they'll break by nightfall."

Kasumi wondered whom Okatsu meant, their allies or their enemies. She supposed it didn't matter, anything that stopped this carnage would be a blessing.

Part of her was excited by it, but part of her was horrified. Human lives were ending, boys and men were dying, and in hundreds of homes, no _thousands _of homes women and girls like her would cry out in pain and loss for their husbands, their sons, their bothers, their fathers.

This was why it was so important that the Sound Organization end the war, end all wars.

This was why she needed to help lord Kabuto realize his ambition, destroy Konoha and enforce peace.

If people had freedom and rights they'd choose to fight and kill, they needed to have their rights stripped away, their freedom removed. People needed to be forced to live their lives peacefully, given strict supervision and easy to understand guidelines, when they went beyond their depth they just got angry and anger led to loss.

Kasumi understood that she would have to fight too, she'd be one of the Sound Five, one of the secret iron fist of the new nation, once peace was achieved she'd have to protect it with every fiber of her being.

That's what Masaru would have wanted.

"All right, our quarry is loose," Hikaru whispered, "Come on girls, we've got a head to hunt."

"Sai," Okatsu said, "Go with them, make sure they hunt the right head."

The Konoha traitor nodded, Hikaru transformed and sprinted towards the village, Shiroi looked at Kasumi and shrugged, she followed.

Kasumi was the last to go, Okatsu it seemed would stay behind.

Kasumi swallowed a lump in her throat. "Mankind is full of anger and stupidity, they're like animals, they can't be let free, they have to be controlled if they're going to live peaceful, happy lives." She looked at Okatsu, "That _is _what we're doing this for, right?"

"Never doubted it myself." Okatsu said, though she didn't make eye contact with Kasumi. In a dismissive tone she scoffed, "Why are you still here, worm?"

Kasumi nodded and leapt from the tree, the small contingent of Sound soldiers--about fifty strong--charged after her, determined to protect her and Shiroi, the first two of their Sound Five.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	157. Exit Stage Left?

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Fifty Seven**

Naruto popped out Shadow Clone after Shadow Clone, the weakened versions of himself sliding off the back of his summoned toad and wreaking havoc.

Those that died returned to Naruto, but few of them died very quickly, even though each one he sent out was roughly at a Genin skill level that was _usually _still equal to about three enemy soldiers or a single samurai, and in addition to that he was currently using two perfect clones, a greater number than he'd ever used before, he didn't like the idea of spreading his consciousness to three places at once, but he had chakra to spare after a whole day of waiting to fight and being told he couldn't.

Now Shikamaru had let him loose on the enemy and he, bedecked in his robes, was dressed to impress, and to attract attention.

Sakura and Kakashi-sensei were by his side almost like bodyguards, but they weren't under orders they were just there to be with him.

He saw Chouji's clan rolling down from the walls and crushing several ninja on the left front, no doubt Shikamaru had asked his friend to aid his wife, Naruto understood that, and since the left was no doubt handled he steered his leaping toad companion towards the right.

The toad took one final major leap and let Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura of its back.

The three landed and Naruto held out his hands, sending a cyclone of wind chakra ripping into a gang of Iwagakure conscripts.

They cyclone wasn't meant to send them flying, but it did knock them off their feet while Sakura leapt high up into the air and came down, fist first in the middle of the group, shattering the ground around them swallowing them up and burying them.

Kakashi-sensei let his Chidori rip through a Jounin, who tried to get at Naruto from behind, but he'd been aware of it, one of his perfect clones had spotted the man and two shadow clones had been charging to assist.

No longer needed those two shadow clones had gone off to engage other foes, one was rapidly killed by a hail of needles but Naruto barely noticed.

He took his hat off, and, though he was well aware of how sacred it was, he threw it with all his might, letting his wind chakra propel it along just a bit--since it wasn't a chakra conductor he couldn't give it a bladed edge but he could give it speed.

It slammed into a giant summoned lion which had tried to pounce on his toad, Kakashi-sensei finished the beast off with a pair of shuriken aimed perfectly for its eyes, the monster fell on a group of unfortunate Iwa conscripts and a samurai from the land of Waterfalls, there had been several Waterfall ninja and Konoha ninja there too but they'd leapt away.

Naruto spun about looking for a new foe to face.

He knew everyone had been worried that the nine tailed fox might force its away out of him with all the carnage and bloodshed, but his friends gave him strength, fighting alongside Sakura and Kakashi-sensei Naruto wasn't at all afraid of betrayal from the demon fox, with whom he'd long ago come to an agreement.

If only Sasuke were there . . . it would be just like old times.

Well, several degrees more violent than old times since an entire war was raging on around them, but still there was a slight nostalgic feeling rippling through Naruto and though he was far from happy--no leader could be with his village being laid to siege--he was at least . . . optimistic.

* * *

Shikamaru could have left a shadow clone at the top of the tower to oversee the battle but he wanted all the chakra he had.

He'd ordered Yomiko to take his place because if anything bad happened he needed to know quickly and Yomiko was far more likely to underestimate him and call for his help than Naomasa, who might well overestimate his planning.

He stood near the gates, soldiers and ninja fought to keep any enemy from getting through the now open gate, one ninja, a medic left behind to tend any injured spotted him and hailed him, "Shikamaru!" Hinata cried, "What are you doing here?"

Hinata was far from a weak fighter, but that was exactly the reason she was left at the gate, they needed Hinata and a few of the villages other Hyuga security elements to spot any incoming threat and deal with it, while simultaneously rendering medical assistance to anyone who was too injured to keep fighting outside and could make it back.

Shikamaru looked up at the sun, it was almost noon, "By now the enemy figured out there were never any trees along the road to the gate, they'll have Stone ninja tunneling under the walls, and they'll figure out that this is the only place to come up at us."

Hinata rushed over to him, "What do you want me to--"

"Watch my back, your clansmen will watch yours . . . and get of the ground."

Minutes after noonday twelve Shinobi popped out of the ground and attacked the soldiers at the gate, several using the Headhunter Jutsu only to discover that their true enemies, the ninja, were standing on the walls of nearby buildings.

The Iwa ninja moved to attack the Hyuga, or tried to anyway, before holding all twelve in his shadow possession Jutsu.

"Finish them off, Hinata!" Shikamaru shouted but Hinata threw a Shuriken at him instead.

He knew better of course, leaning forward the shuriken hit the Chuunin behind him instead, the Hyuuga dispersed, "Some of them tried to pop out in the buildings," Hinata explained, "We'll deal with them," she and two of her clansmen began killing of the twelve enemies Shikamaru held, they worked at random, coming from behind so that Shikamaru knew who they were killing and could retract his shadow but so that the victim didn't know what was happening.

It was cold but it was necessary, this was war.

There was shouting on the walls, Taisho Miura's voice came through over the radio, "They're breaching the wall!" He shouted.

Shikamaru looked up, Yomiko suddenly appeared at his side, "Sensei, it's _him_, the guy with the sword and the scars, he's on the wall, our men are falling back his men are charging in!"

Shikamaru turned to Hinata, who'd finished the last of the twelve captive Iwa ninja. "Hold your position, Hinata."

"You can't do this alone!" Hinata said. She looked at her clansmen; two of them flanked her, the rest returned to their places at the gates though two were now sweeping through the city looking for any more earth ninja.

"I've got Yomiko with me," Shikamaru said slyly.

Hinata shook her head, "Not good enough, adjust your strategy to include me, I won't let you throw your life--"

"Fine, done, come with me, we need to get up to the walls." Shikamaru said, "You three," he indicated Hinata and her body guards, "take on the enemy soldiers and force them to fall back, you," he indicated Yomiko, "rally the troops on the wall, get them to start shooting again . . . I'll kill the Stone Jounin."

"Sensei . . . " Yomiko whispered.

"Don't worry, you can do it." He told her, slapping her shoulder, "You're a Sarutobi."

Yomiko nodded, "I can do anything," she said, sounding nervous, "but you . . . can you beat him alone? He kicked major butt up that staircase."

Shikamaru smiled, "He's gotten away too many times . . . I'm ending our little feud today."

But there was still the matter of the overall battle, he turned to Yomiko, "You told them to get Naomasa when you came to get me, didn't you?"

Yomiko blinked, "Y-yes, I did . . . how did you--"

"Genius." Shikamaru answered, and leapt onto the wall.

* * *

Toshiie swept his sword through three Fire country soldiers killing the first two and maiming the third, he couldn't use his tunneling ability on the wall since it repelled his chakra, but he could still use his sword, and since that was all he needed he was doing just fine.

He struck out at one man, then another, cutting left and right, nothing blocked his blade, nothing stopped it.

Where was the Kazekage? He'd seen the sand barriers, where had the Kazekage gone? Had he rushed off with the other charging ninja?

Toshiie laughed maniacally as the soldiers of the Land of Fire began to run from him, he felt invincible.

A decorated Samurai stood before him, spear in hand, the man had the decorations of a Taisho, Toshiie easily surmised him to be the general in command of the armies of the Land of Fire.

"Taisho Miura!" Toshiie roared, "I am Juukei Toshiie, I challenge you!"

"A challenge requires a man of honor; you have none and are not my social equal. I will however, gladly teach you your place."

Toshiie lunged forward, Miura thrust his spear forward, Toshiie swept his sword up but Miura nimbly swept the blade away and hit Toshiie's shin, against a typical foe it might have toppled them but Toshiie wasn't bothered, he was an Iwagakure Jounin, he might as well have been made of solid stone.

Toshiie's left hand shot out for the spear shaft, his right hand swept his sword upward, Miura spun, releasing the spear with one hand so that Toshiie couldn't slice it of completely at the wrist, but gripping it with the other, Miura kicked out, hitting Toshiie in the stomach but Toshiie again wasn't bothered, he grabbed the general's ankle and pulled the older man forward, raising his sword for the killing blow.

Two soldiers thrust their spears forward to stop Toshiie, he fell back, releasing the Taisho and laughed, he was about to strike all three men down but then fate delivered its greatest gift to him.

The gift of his true enemy.

The man leapt from the ground to a rooftop to the top of the wall, landing right between Toshiie and the Taisho. He was dressed in black and a dull green flack jacket, his eyes met Toshiie's and the Stone Jounin smiled.

Fate was propelling him to greater and greater heights today. He'd been the first on the walls . . . in another moment he'd be the first to slay a member of the Konoha Twelve.

"Taisho, I hope you don't mind . . ." Nara Shikamaru said.

"If it were a duel of honor I would object, but it is not, so I will leave it to you." Miura said gruffly.

"See to your men, Taisho." Nara said calmly, "Keep the walls safe, we'll handle this stairway."

Toshiie tossed his sword from one hand to another, "Oh how I've waited for this . . ."

Nara looked at him, "Your death? You know I call a lot of things troublesome, or a bother or a bore, but you . . . your survival is a problem for me, you're a danger to my wife and child, killing you would be _removing _a troublesome boring bother. I can't wait."

Toshiie smiled, "Shall we begin?"

"We already have." Nara said.

* * *

Takumi felt his right blade knocked clean out of his hand by a massive, muscular Iwagakure Jounin.

The man had stone claws on his hands, he'd knocked Takumi's blade away in surprise but the Jounin fell back, recovered the weapon and let both his blades cackle with wind chakra, he lunged forward and struck.

The Jounin made no attempt to dodge, he expected to simply stop Takumi's blades with his claws, but at the very last second Takumi changed his wind chakra to lightning, the electricity blazed through the two chakra swords and ripped the stone clawed gauntlets the Iwa Jounin wore to shreds.

But he was a Jounin, that wasn't enough to stop him, he fell back before his arms could be destroyed and rolled on the ground to evade Takumi.

He succeeded but only because Rock Lee gripped the man by the ankle, cranked him over his head, snapping the muscle-bound ninja's back and by the look of it his neck as well, then hurtling him up into the air so high that if he _was _still alive he wouldn't be surviving the fall.

Takumi nodded thanks but Lee, fast as he was, had already moved on.

Takumi scanned the crowd for another target and felt an overwhelming wave of power coming towards him.

He knew what that was, somehow he just knew.

He braced himself as the monster parted the sea of enemy soldiers; none of them wanting to be anywhere near him.

His scorpion tail flew out towards Takumi, the Konoha Jounin dodged but just barely.

Rather than retracting the tail however Hikaru retracted _himself_, using the tail, anchored into the ground to catapult himself rapidly towards Takumi, his bladed arms at the ready with a still humanoid arm he held out a ninjutsu card, "Bang Flash Jutsu!" He roared in a guttural voice, and Takumi was blinded by a sudden light and deafened by a sudden blast.

Something hit him hard, knocking him away.

It wasn't Hikaru, or he'd be dead.

His ears rang, his eyes were a blur but his vision was returning, the Jutsu must have had a temporary effect, likely meant to stun an enemy long enough for a killing blow, which had failed.

Someone had shoved him out of the way, maybe knowing the Jutsu the instant Hikaru called it out. They must have shut their eyes, they'd been spared the flash but were probably deafened like he was.

At least this was what Takumi suspected because that person was fighting with Hikaru, moving at shocking speed, dodging and weaving Hikaru's blades, they could clearly see.

As Takumi's vision returned he realized it was Anko.

Her ears were bleeding, as were his own, he realized when he touched them, but she was moving, fighting, scoring small and non-damaging hits on Hikaru as kunai after kunai of hers broke off.

She took blood from her bleeding ears and summoned a pair of large snakes, Takumi didn't hear her shout the words but he recognized her lip movement and hand gestures.

And he recognized that he could see well enough to get back into the fight.

His hearing was still bad, but he _could _hear, as if from far away, the din of the battle around them.

He threw himself at Hikaru just as a pair of snakes rose up and wrapped themselves around him.

A black lion slammed into Takumi though, knocking him back, he hadn't heard it coming.

He saw Kasumi and another girl appear then, they were behind Anko, he shouted a warning but of course she couldn't hear him.

Where were the others?

He struggled against the lion, which seemed more interested in smothering him than biting or clawing him, and though her realized it was made of ink it was strangely solid to the touch.

He felt heat and flame, Konohamaru was with him, blasting the lion away and Moegi had knocked Anko out of the path of the two girls.

Lee and a fourth Sound shinobi were struggling against each other, though Takumi noted that Lee's incredible speed was gone, he was moving at a more normal pace and seemed to be trying to talk to this ninja who fought back without any sort of expression.

Takumi's hearing came back just enough that he could hear Konohamaru shouting for him to get up, he struggled to his feet and looked for his swords, he couldn't find them, and he didn't have time to look.

He called on a Lightning Clone, intending for the clone to throw itself at Hikaru but Hikaru had other plans.

His tail swept out, knocking Konohamaru and Takumi back, but his blades arced in for Moegi and Anko.

Takumi hit the ground hard and rolled, when he got to his feet it was over.

Moegi had been cleaved, Hikaru's bladed arm slashed her right down the middle from the top of her head down, and though she wasn't split in two the slice was deep enough that there was no questioning . . . she was dead.

Anko however had been pulled back by the girls, her arms held behind her back she kicked and struggled and her snakes tried to come to her rescue but doing so only freed Hikaru's legs and he sprang forward, cutting both of them to pieces and ripping Anko away from the two girls.

"Kasumi, no!" Takumi roared, though he didn't know why he was bothering to try to reason with Kasumi.

She did look at him for a moment, confusion maybe pity in her eyes, but she shook her head and turned.

She and the other girl ran, Lee tried to pursue them but with his back turned the pale expressionless ninja sent a pair of ink ravens after him, once they hit him they knocked him to the ground where that unknown Jounin landed roughly on his back, a kunai raised up for a killing blow.

Takumi found one of Anko's kunai and hurtled it with all his might, it slammed into that Shinobi's arm just below the wrist, and he simply sprinted away, running after his four comrades.

A group of soldiers dressed in lavender and gray rushed at them then, and several ninja, seeing three prone targets came on as well.

Takumi had no time to recover his swords, he fought with bare hands just to keep the suddenly overzealous enemies at bay, Konohamaru he noticed stole a pair of spears, broke them in half and used them as a pair of clubs with razor sharp edges, Lee had gotten to his feet again and was fighting his way after the retreating Sound ninja.

Takumi's hearing had almost completely recovered, the gong to retreat rang out, its sound amplified by a Jutsu, it ordered the Konoha ninja to begin falling back towards the gates, Takumi looked frantically for his swords one more time, not because he wanted them with him when he retreated, but because he wanted them with him when he ignored that order and ran after Lee and the Sound group.

He didn't know what Hikaru wanted with Anko, but she had saved his life, she was a fellow Konoha Jounin, and Hikaru had to die.

Any one of those three facts would have been enough, Takumi, fighting for his life, found only one sword, and it too would have to be enough.

As he ran a wolf with blood red fur and glowing fiery eyes named Gongjin appeared at his side, knocking his way through enemy soldiers and, putting his nose under Takumi's running legs knocked the ninja onto his back. "Head's up, slow runner, hurry up!" The wolf growled.

"Not to the gate, after those four!" Takumi ordered, but he didn't have to tell the wolf, Gongjin had seen him running in one direction and wasn't about to second guess him.

He saw Zilian and Zidan catch up with them, he leapt onto Zilian, the faster runner and turned to Gongjin, "Before I get too far away from you, help Konohamaru get back . . . take Moegi back too, the rest of you come with me!"

Gongjin's blazing eyes glanced at the rest of the pack, there was the slightest hesitation of a warrior who didn't want to see his brethren go off to war without him before he broke off, smashing into someone's summoned ox and ripping the back of its neck off as he went, the other three wolves, fell in with Takumi and Zilian, though Zilian ran far ahead of the others, even passing by Rock Lee whom Zidan scooped up the same way Gongjin had scooped up Takumi.

The twin wolves broke off, smashing into several enemy soldiers as they did.

Takumi began to see now though, why enemy spears and swords were presenting so little problem to his wolves.

In addition to being much hardier than any normal animal had any right to be, the enemy soldiers weren't _pointing _anything at them, the enemy army was trying to retreat.

The enemy army was falling back one way, Takumi and the pack followed the Sound operatives though, three ninja, one monster and five or so soldiers, the rest having stayed behind to cover their superior's retreat.

Takumi gripped his still remaining sword tightly in one hand, holding onto Zilian with the other it came to life with lightning chakra as they followed the enemy and began to close the distance.

Above him the sky was getting dusky, but not from passage of time.

Someone was calling a storm cloud . . .

* * *

Hikaru ran as fast as his legs could carry him, the second level of his cursed form was rapidly depleting his chakra but he figured he had a good two or three minutes left.

Okatsu appeared suddenly, "You, carry her!" She shouted at Sai, "You two, watch his back, Hikaru hold them off, and I need you to buy me at least three minutes."

"What?" He demanded, was she serious? Hold off Takumi and one of the Konoha Twelve by himself for three minutes with his cursed form rapidly running out of time? "Three minutes? What are you going to do?" Hikaru growled, handing Anko over to Sai.

"My master's bidding." Okatsu said darkly, "Don't kill them, we want them to find her once we're done with her, but don't let them pass you either, remember, three minutes then retreat."

Hikaru scowled. Three minutes then retreat? Three minutes of trying not to kill his mortal enemy and a living legend?

Okatsu acted like it was so easy. Hikaru didn't remember _this _part of Lord Kabuto's plans.

He reached into his deck and produced a Thunder Cloud Jutsu card, spent the minor amount of chakra to summon it and waited. He saw Takumi and Lee approaching riding on the backs of very large wolves, which really only made holding the group in place for three minutes that much harder.

_Let them live indeed. _Hikaru thought to himself. _That hadn't been Lord Kabuto's order, and he never officially placed Okatsu in command. I guess it's really up to my own discretion, and the best way to keep someone from going someplace is universally well know._

He'd kill them.

* * *

Akira raised his blood stained spear into the air, his men rallied around him.

The Konoha ninja were withdrawing, their offensive had broken his force and they'd started to fall back, some of the poorly trained Land of Earth conscripts wouldn't be coming back, but Akira needed the rest of the men to turn back and fight.

He rallied the remnants of his one thousand elites, he didn't know their number but it looked as if most of them were still with him, he knew they'd taken light losses the night before but he had no idea how many had been lost over the day's fighting.

Those men rallied to him, he saw some other banners as well, the ninja were still on the offensive and Akira used that.

He shouted to the men within earshot, "The ninja aren't giving up, how dare we?"

He swept his spear forward and charged.

The armies charged with him, arrows rained towards them, they had no cover since their barriers had been left behind and the ninja that might have been able to protect them were still fighting on the walls.

Akira didn't mind, if an arrow ended him at least the battle needed to rage on.

The war needed to end.

They'd know victory and defeat, Emiko had said. Well they'd suffered a near defeat just now . . . now on to victory.

Konoha soldiers and ninja who hadn't fallen back quickly enough when their retreat gongs rang fell prey to the onrushing army, Akira skewered one young Konoha ninja so viciously that he couldn't pull the spear free, instead he snapped the wooden shaft and slammed it into the young man's face, he fell back, Akira took a kunai from the dead ninja's hand and hurtled it at a nearby Land of Fire soldier, and appropriated his spear as his dead body fell.

When he reached them he leapt onto one of the ramps leading up to the walls, he saw a woman dressed in black with blue trim, she wore a Konoha Jounin vest and wielded a massive fan.

He knew her well enough, she was a Sungakure legend.

He spun his spear in his hands and waved a pair of Iwagakure ninja away from her, "Stand down, surrender the walls, prove yourself a loyal daughter of Sunagakure."

Temari of Sunagakure was seriously disheveled, her battle kimono was ripped and cut in several places, and one of her four pigtails had come loose so that hair hung down over her left shoulder instead of being properly restrained behind her head out of the way.

Akira could tell she was weary, if he had to he could take her out of this fight permanently.

But that wasn't what he wanted. If there was any hope of bringing the Suna ninja back he couldn't kill the Kazekage's sister.

Temari closed her fan, holding it like a club, she nodded to the bowmen on the walls, and Akira realized they were out of arrows or they'd have killed him by now, when the bowmen picked up their spears he knew his suspicion was confirmed.

He turned back to his men and waved them up the ramp, they charged.

The first few fell victim to a Konoha Jounin with two buns in her hair, she threw a flurry of shuriken, Akira's first few men fell from the ramp in pain, Akira threw his spear.

He hadn't wanted to kill Temari, not true of this woman.

But this Konoha woman deftly caught his spear, spun it in her palm and threw it right back at him.

Akira barely threw himself out of the way in time, he hit the ground hard, he was about to fall off the ramp when he saw the Land of Fire defenders who'd pick up spears thrust outwards into the first rank of his men.

It wasn't enough; there were just too many allied soldiers. Akira struggled to pull himself up onto the ramp, two men helped him up, when he raised his gaze the Fire soldiers on the wall were fighting tooth and nail, Temari swept her fan out, knocking two Samurai away from her Konoha comrade, and as her fan swung outward towards the men on the ramp it opened up and Akira felt the strong winds throw him back.

He landed hard on his back and struggled to get to his feet, he heard Temari scream something and somehow, instinct drew his vision to the other ramp where another group of bowmen and ninja opened fire on his men while still repelling the men on their ramp, Akira struggled to his feet, "Soldiers, fall back from the ramp, ninja, stop those bowmen!"

Akira and the soldiers withdrew cautiously but the ninja within earshot threw themselves at the walls.

Temari waved her hand and the bowmen on the walls began to fall back, but Temari and the other Suna and Konoha ninja threw themselves at the coalition attackers.

Akira smiled slightly, he wasn't blinded by the Daimyo's propaganda, and he could respect their bravery. He'd take as many prisoners as he could, after all one of them might well be Emiko's brother.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	158. A Grand Finish

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Fifty Eight**

Akira shuddered as the soldiers who'd made it to the wall started to fall, either they were thrown off or they leapt off.

A pair of gigantic dogs sailed through the air, and a man who seemed almost canine himself followed, landing on the back of one dog he shouted something Akira didn't catch and suddenly the dog was much larger and had two monstrous heads.

The beast tore into the ranks behind Akira, more projectiles sailed down and a Konoha ninja in the form of a human boulder rolled over Konoha's wall, no doubt finishing off the soldiers who'd made it up.

Now men were still charging but the enemy had set up a spear wall, and with a two-headed demon behind them, pushing them forward and a wall of spears and projectiles pushing them back Akira and his men were trapped between a rock and a hard place.

More ninja and soldiers were pressing in, the Konoha's demon dog and its fellow canine would have to fall back before too long, but Akira knew he'd suffer heavy casualties in the meanwhile.

He looked at the setting sun, "If we can just take the wall before it gets too dark we can force their surrender!" He shouted.

"Surrender?" One of his men blinked, and Akira realized what he'd just said.

In minutes they'd gone from expecting a complete conquest to being willing to settle for surrender, it was madness. Still Akira shook his head, "We cannot conquer this city _today,_" He said honestly, "But if we can show them that we can take their wall and have no barrier tomorrow they'll surrender unconditionally."

Akira didn't lie to his men, but he did feel like he was speaking more fantasy than reality. It was his hope, it wasn't his belief, that that could happen.

But the soldier nodded and bravely turned to face the two-headed dog, which had merged with its companion to become a monstrous three headed being, Akira drew his katana and began to back away, he grabbed one of his lieutenants, "Rally our men, all of our men, I want them in formation within the hour, for when we rush that wall."

The lieutenant nodded and ran off to begin spreading the word through the ranks; Akira turned back and glared at the Konoha walls.

"You _won't_ be the death of me." He told the city.

* * *

Shikamaru smirked, Hinata and the other Hyuga were properly repelling the enemy soldiers, many of the Fire samurai and soldiers had also turned back to the fight now that both Yomiko and Miura were telling them to.

The retreat gong rang, Shikamaru didn't know why; Naomasa must have given the order. He'd have to trust the boy's decision; he needed to focus on Toshiie.

"You murdered my brother." Toshiie said coldly. "I've dreamed of this moment for so long . . ."

"Your brother died in combat, but if you want to call it murder then you murdered three innocent girls and an entire town, your brother deserved his fate just as you deserve yours." Shikamaru said.

"Those girls weren't innocent; they were ninja, born to kill." Toshiie said, swinging his sword at Shikamaru "I was just better at it than they were!"

"Says the man who misses his strike," Shikamaru leapt back from Toshiie's swipe, and swept one of his knives out, the Iwa Jounin pulled his wrist out of the way before Shikamaru could slash it, but the blade still grazed him, "and first blood."

"First blood? First blood was drawn almost a year ago. Time now for the last."

"And I'll have that too." Shikamaru said with utter confidence.

Here was one thing he had no fear about.

Shikamaru's two knives were moving as fast as he could force them, but he wasn't about speed or power like Sasuke or Naruto. He knew better than to try to block any of Toshiie's strikes, the Iwagakure Jounin was just too strong for him.

He was also very careful to focus not only on Toshiie but to keep track of where everyone else was. Was Yomiko in a position to get caught up, were any of the coalition's soldiers close enough to aid Toshiie, were any of the allied forces close enough to pay for one of Shikamaru's evasions?

Shikamaru didn't want to take the battle to the ground with the possibility of more Iwagakure Jounin popping up, and he couldn't use his chakra knives to pin Toshiie since the blades wouldn't sink into the wall and with the chakra repulsion Shikamaru had never had occasion to see if a Shadow Pinning Jutsu would work.

He heard a scream that seemed to cut through the battlefield, it was Yomiko.

A Waterfall Jounin had speared her left hand with a senbon; she fell back, clutching her injured hand, Shikamaru rushed to her side.

He guessed Toshiie would read his move and try to intercept him but what choice did he have?

Yomiko was no match for a Jounin.

He dove under Toshiie's thrust and kicked up at the Jounin who was attacking Yomiko, Hinata came in and struck that Waterfall ninja about five times in the blink of an eye and then Toshiie's sword arced in not for Shikamaru but for Hinata, meaning to cut through the Waterfall ninja to hit the heiress of the Hyuga clan.

Shikamaru wasn't completely certain Hinata would see the blade coming in, it stood to reason that she, with her Byakugan wouldn't be tricked by the same sort of ploy that would doom a normal ninja, Shikamaru also considered that given the way he'd just gone in to save Yomiko Toshiie might be trying to force him to try to intercept the attack meant for Hinata.

He couldn't just stand by and do nothing.

But Yomiko surprised him, ripping the senbon from her hand she threw it with perfect precision at the Jounin who'd injured her, too busy being pummeled by Hinata's gentle fist it struck him in the stomach, he doubled over and Hinata would, with certainty see Toshiie.

Shikamaru liked to think Yomiko had done so that it ended up that way on purpose but it had all happened too fast, Yomiko had just been trying to exact revenge and using her near perfect projectile aim to accomplish it.

Shikamaru rolled to his feet behind Toshiie who abandoned his attack on Hinata instantly and swung towards Shikamaru instead, slicing backwards.

The Waterfall ninja who'd doubled over threw a sort of red ball between Toshiie and Shikamaru, and then nearly got impaled from behind by a soldier only to be replaced by a substitution log.

Shikamaru glanced at the red ball, and kicked it towards Toshiie, whatever was in it he didn't want it near him.

The ball blasted open and a circle of senbon shot out, Shikamaru felt four of them strike him in the stomach, Toshiie, to whom the ball had been kicked, was hit in the shins but it didn't really seem to bother him, unfortunately for Shikamaru the same wasn't true, he doubled over, a single flaw in his orchestrated plan for revenge on Toshiie and potentially a fatal one.

He looked up, he had no choice, he'd have to use his Shadow Possession Jutsu, even though with a melee raging around them he couldn't predict what he'd do with Toshiie or how much chakra he'd have to expend just to keep himself evading the odd ninja and soldier and Toshiie evading as well.

But when he looked up all he saw was a mat of light tan, he realized immediately what had happened and leapt backwards away from the barrier of sand, he saw Gaara standing behind him, one hand manipulating a swell of sand that was ripping through the soldiers, pushing them back, or ripping them to shreds depending on how close they were to Gaara.

"Where were you?" Shikamaru demanded.

Gaara just smirked, "When the order to charge sounded off I couldn't resist, I had to watch someone's back."

Shikamaru wanted to ask "who" because Temari hadn't joined the charge and Kankuro . . .

There was no time to actually ask Gaara, questions could come later if they survived, and Toshiie wasn't going to make it easy, he sprang away from Gaara and Shikamaru and headed straight for Yomiko.

The girl spun both her knives in her hands and they began to speed up due to the wind chakra channeling through them.

Yomiko's eyes narrowed, Shikamaru used his Shadow Puppetry Jutsu, grabbing Toshiie's hands and legs with his shadow strings the strong man tugged against his pull and Shikamaru actually lurched forward.

Shikamaru sprang after Toshiie, he pulled an explosive tag from his pouch and wrapped it around the hilt of a kunai, he gripped that Kunai tightly in one hand and held one of his knives in the other, he reached forward with his right hand, the one that held the knife, the explosive tag was activated, in four seconds it would go off right in Shikamaru's hand.

If he was still holding it of course, he meant to make sure that in those four seconds the tag was rightfully gone from his grasp.

Yomiko's knives spun faster and faster until the girl fell back a step and swept both her hands out, both of Asuma-sensei's black chakra knives spun so fast they seemed like disks, the wind chakra adding to their edge and speeding them along at insane speeds.

Toshiie, who'd probably thought Yomiko would try to use the blades for defense, didn't have enough time to raise his sword in his own defense, at such short range moving as fast as they were the knives slammed into his thigh and shoulder and sliced deeply into him.

Shikamaru was impressed, he'd barely seen the blades, they streaked out towards Toshiie who brought his sword up to deflect one of them, his wind chakra canceling out the blade's wind chakra and allowing the deflection.

The other one missed him very narrowly, had he not moved both his hands to support his sword in his deflection Yomiko's second dagger would have slammed into Toshiie's left arm.

Her attack having failed Yomiko took two steps back before Toshiie reached her, by then Shikamaru was there too, he slashed out, Toshiie spun like a master and blocked the blow, but then Gaara shouted "Shikamaru, dro--"

Shikamaru guessed what was coming and it was a good thing he did because before Gaara finished saying "drop down" Yomiko's blade came on a return vector, Shikamaru ducked his head and the chakra knife slammed into Toshiie's chest, Yomiko had fallen to her knees behind him and Toshiie fell over her, landing hard on his back.

Shikamaru sprang forward, raised his kunai, and brought it down hard into Toshiie's chest, Yomiko's knife was too deeply imbedded to be recovered in time.

He grabbed Yomiko and threw himself on top of her, from the corner of his eye he saw Toshiie reach for the two knives stuck in his torso.

Then the explosive tag went off.

The blast was big, bigger, perhaps, than necessary, but Gaara contained it with a sand coffin placed around Toshiie.

Gaara turned to Shikamaru and helped him up; Yomiko looked up at the ball of sand floating above their heads.

"I'm sure he's already dead," Gaara said, "or he'd try to use his tunneling to get through the sand. However a Kazekage doesn't take foolish chances, and he doesn't forgive those who threaten even one member of his family, let alone his sister, niece _and_ brother-in-law."

With eyes devoid of emotion Gaara clenched his fist, the sand coffin compressed around Toshiie tighter than any Shikamaru had seen Gaara perform before.

Gaara closed his eyes, and then swept his hand out, the sand flew towards the enemy line as they began to rally and rush back.

From the cloud of blood stained sand the mutilated corpse of Juukei Toshiie hurtled towards his own lines, more than a few of the Stone ninja and Earth soldiers who saw him screamed in fear when they recognized their immortal hero.

Not so immortal after all.

Gaara's sand returned and three items fell to the ground in front of them, Shikamaru could see that for the moment the walls were secure, the enemy was rallying for another attach but the allies were rallying to repel it, the difference was between the two armies Konoha's defenders had good morale.

And the difference in numbers was rapidly disappearing, the enemy armies were either being routed or slaughtered, those rallying to the Wind country Samurai trying to get them to come back were far less than the entirety of the army, by the looks of the swarm of men fleeing fully a third of the soldiers were trying to get away.

Shikamaru smiled when he saw what Gaara's sand had brought them.

Yomiko's knife and Shikamaru's kunai.

"No point handing supplies over to the enemy." Gaara explained, reaching out and taking the third item dropped.

The overlong chakra channeling katana of Juukei Toshiie. The Kazekage offered it to Shikamaru who shook his head, "Swords aren't really my thing," he said, but accepted it. Temari would want to see it, and he had an idea for the blade. "Yomiko, the enemy is starting to charge again, get back to the watch and help Naomasa."

"What about you?" Yomiko asked.

I have to observe things from here; I'll radio Naomasa if I need anything."

"We're your couriers; we should be with you to deliver messages."

"That applies to the labyrinth and anyplace where our men go out of radio contact. Right now everyone's within radio contact and the battle's becoming more focused on the gate, I can better observe from the front. Don't worry, one I figure out the final step I'll be up there with you two."

Yomiko nodded and turned to leave, Gaara said "What did you mean final step? The fight isn't over yet."

"One more good push," Shikamaru said, "and it should be."

"What will you do?"

"See where they're strongest and break them, it'll be dark soon and then the conscripts won't stand a chance against ninja."

Gaara nodded, "They seem to have stopped the hail fire of needles, I would say that the charge accomplished its goal."

Shikamaru knew that that was Gaara's way of saying 'that must be why you called us off when we nearly had them beat' but he didn't answer, it had been Naomasa who ordered the armies not to pursue and Shikamaru could think of a number of reasons why that would have been the right thing to do.

He just didn't know which, if any of them, Naomasa had seen when he gave the order.

* * *

Okatsu sprinted towards her comrades who carried the holy Mitarashi Anko.

"You, carry her!" She ordered Sai, "You two, watch his back, Hikaru hold them off, and I need you to buy me at least three minutes."

"What? Three minutes? What are you going to do?" Hikaru demanded, handing Anko over to Sai.

"My master's bidding." Okatsu said darkly, "Don't kill them, we want them to find her once we're done with her, but don't let them pass you either, remember, three minutes then retreat."

Okatsu heard war drums, the Wind Taisho was trying to rally his forces and get them to turn back for another attack, he'd succeed of course, Konoha's blazing offensive had earned them a moment's ease, but only a moment.

Night would fall soon, by that time the war would take its final turn.

By that time her master would be at Konoha's gates in force.

They rushed off with Anko, unconscious, and kept moving for one minute, Okatsu counting down the seconds in her head.

When they reached the designated spot she held her hand out and drew a vial of ink from her pouch.

The ground had been properly sanctified beforehand, now Okatsu needed to mark the vassal.

"It's kind of funny, isn't it, my dear?" Okatsu said in a sly voice, sweeping Anko's bangs back from her beautiful face, and ripping her forehead protector away, "No matter how much I fight it, no matter how tempting others have been, in the end your poor, uninteresting, untalented self really is just the right fit for me."

She drew the character for "snake" on Anko's forehead, "Put her down Sai, it's time."

Sai hesitated, Okatsu glared and snapped "Don't choose _now _to fight me, put the woman on the ground in the center of the clearing, then get back and cover me!"

Sai frowned, "This . . . this will bring peace?" He asked, sounding unsure.

Okatsu was amazed that he could even ask a question like that.

It had nothing to do with his preprogrammed orders, maybe she'd been wrong to send Hikaru back.

"Put her down, Sai, I think it's time for your final reward."

"Yes . . ." The young ninja said, he placed Mitarashi Anko on the ground. Okatsu drew a kunai and cut Anko's index finger tip on each hand. The Konoha woman's own blood activated the summoning seals on the ground on either side of her, snakes came to life and held her down, under Okatsu's control even though it had been Mitarashi's blood that summoned them.

Okatsu had never signed any contract with the snakes, which was why it had to be Anko's own blood, otherwise she'd never have allowed the vessel to come to harm.

She turned to Sai, Kunai still in hand and said "You've been a useful tool; I commend you on all you've done to bring peace to mankind. Though you won't see it, I promise this peace will last forever." Okatsu said evenly, and then she took a rapid step towards Sai and slammed the kunai into his stomach.

It wouldn't kill him, she didn't want it to.

He fell to the ground in pain, Shiroi took a step towards him but Okatsu held her hand out, "Stop. He's a leaf ninja, an enemy, he's been coerced into aiding our master, our way has never been his way, still for the service he's rendered he won't be killed now, his friends will find him, by the time they do we'll be done here. You two keep guard, don't fail me, and don't question me."

The two teenagers nodded, they turned away from the Konoha Shinobi and watched the tree line for attack.

Okatsu hovered over Anko, "Now my love, it's time. Tell me, what is your greatest desire?"

Through eyes half open half closed Anko whispered "Don't . . . hurt . . . my son."

Okatsu could have laughed, what a wasted last request, "He'll be spared, you have my word," she said.

Anko's eyes closed then, Okatsu began her Jutsu.

She felt as if her skin was being flayed from her, she felt as if her bones were filled with boiling water and broken glass, her teeth felt like they were going to explode and her eyes blurred from the pain, still she continued the rapid hand signs she herself didn't fully understand and the snakes continued to hold her victim down, unable to escape.

When the agony felt like it was more than she could possibly bear, when she felt like she might just die then and there . . . it stopped.

She whispered "Did I do well, master?"

There was no answer, but the unconscious Mitarashi Anko smiled ever so slightly.

Okatsu staggered to her feet, "Let's move girls . . . we must greet . . . our lesser master . . . and when the time comes . . . you two must go forth, you'll . . . each bring back a . . . member of the five."

"Then we'd be four," Kasumi whispered softly, "Who'll get the fifth?"

Okatsu smirked and looked back at Anko . . .

No. At Lord Orochimaru reincarnated.

* * *

Temari's bangs were getting in the way of her eyes, she was sorely tempted to cut the things off, and the only thing that stopped her was the fact that she'd spent her last shuriken and kunai.

Her fan would have been more useful if there weren't so many allied soldiers around to get in the way if she tried to blast the enemy army, not that she had the chakra left to really do much.

So she took up a spear in stead, one that had had its tip snapped off, making it more of a staff.

But with all the strength her weary body possessed the woman struck again and again, using either end and in two minutes of heated conflict her staff already had a lovely red hue to both ends.

She was panting and starting to feel too sore to continue, he wind was shutting down she was operating almost on autopilot, her training had taken over, she was like a machine and there was just enough of her own mind left to recognize that fact and the danger it presented.

She swallowed and tasted blood, probably not her own. She scanned for a new foe, but her soldiers--or Miura's soldiers under her protection--were doing a good job keeping the enemy off the wall.

They'd broken through for a moment, but they'd been pushed back.

Even so that minor victory for the enemy was a telling sign; in time the full fury of Konoha's defenders wouldn't be enough to stop the enemy army.

It had to end now.

Temari was shaking like a leaf, she couldn't stand still, an enemy soldier broke through the line and got stabbed in the neck by Naruto's student Hara, but Temari slammed her staff into the enemy soldier's neck anyway, pounding the kunai that had been imbedded there deeper like a nail so that it actually protruded through to the other side of the man's neck.

With slight fury Temari thought that if she were at a hundred percent she'd have knocked that kunai through the man's neck so hard it would have imbedded itself in solid stone.

Or maybe not, maybe she was just starting to become irrational, maybe she was just too desperate for an end to the fighting.

Another man made it through, this time no one got in her way or bothered to raise a finger against the enemy soldier, they _knew _he was hers.

Temari sprang forward, the man swung a katana at her, she recognized the armor, "A samurai," she hissed, Land of earth styles and colors, she thrust her staff forward to strike the Samurai in the stomach, he deflected it but she spun around and with the other end hit the man in the head so hard that his helmet flew off.

She raised the staff into the air and brought it down hard on the man's unprotected head, there was a cracking sound, the spear shaft had broken, and so had the man's head.

Temari kept striking him though, it wasn't that she felt any special animosity and she realized he was dead, but it gave her body something to do while her mind struggled to get a grasp on things.

The spear was useless; she was covered in blood, her bangs--her damned bangs! She tore the katana from the dead man's grasp and ran for the line of soldiers, but strong arms held her back.

"Slow down, Tem, it's almost over, we just need-" Shikamaru was saying but Temari shoved him away.

She ran for the enemy, Tenten tried to stop her, Hara tried to stop her, even Kyoko threw herself at Temari.

But none of it truly registered, Temari needed to get control, needed to snap out of it, but every time an enemy soldier made it past her line she went into a rage.

Why wouldn't they stop?

Did they all want to die?

She decided to ask them personally, shoving her way past two soldiers she stood on the wall, drew out her fan, holding it in one hand, the sword in the other and she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Don't you bastards fear death? 'You got something worth living for then you better run!"

None of the enemy soldiers ran away, they just ran up the ramp towards her, one of them threw his spear at her, but it was poorly aimed so Temari didn't even bother to flinch.

"That answers that question," She hissed and swept her hand out, throwing as much chakra as she dared into the whirlwind, it swept down the ramp, blowing soldiers off, her arm swung too wide, she lost control of her fan and released it before her Jutsu could be directed towards her allies.

She ran down the ramp, she had no idea why, she just wanted to run down the ramp, that's where the enemy was, that's where the battle would find its final answer.

Temari raised her stolen sword high into the air, a rain conscript raised his spear to stop her and she slammed her sword down into his so hard it cut cleanly through the shaft and sliced deep into the man's torso, going between his right shoulder and neck.

It didn't cleave through bone or anything, and least Temari doubted it had, but it was stuck.

She took the bladed end of his spear and slammed it into a nearby soldier; she took that soldier's spear and swept it out, slicing through the neck of a samurai and hitting another soldier on the side of the head.

Temari lunged forward and struck an enemy with her bare hands, diving under the man's pike thrust she came up, jabbed him twice in the stomach and then brought her knee up into his face, another woman approached her, it was a surprise to see a female and for a moment Temari wrongly assumed she was a Konoha or Suna ninja.

No, she was a Waterfall ninja, Temari deflected this woman's incoming kunai, swept her legs out from under her, the ninja used substitution so Temari didn't bother with another attack, instead she reached for an enemy soldier and spun his neck, snapping it, she hurtled herself over the dead body, her feet coming down on another man's head, she sprang forward again but now something stronger held her back.

Chouji tore her backwards, she fell and saw the Fire soldiers who'd followed her without her even noticing it.

Temari realized she'd inadvertently initiated another charge, when she rushed down the ramp the soldiers had followed her, ninja had followed her and her mind, only vaguely aware of its connection to her body anymore, recognized how disastrous that could be.

Shikamaru was with them, when had he showed up? Kiba and his dog Akamaru were there, so were Tenten and Neji.

Four of the Konoha Twelve, five if she counted Chouji who was holding her down so strongly that her brain was finally managing to get control of her limbs again.

She looked at Chouji who let her up, "We have to--"

"Get behind the wall, Shikamaru's going to end this."

"He needs me!" Temari protested.

"You've done enough." Chouji said.

Temari thought the words were meant to be harsh but the look on Chouji's face told her otherwise. "You two are so in tune, Shikamaru didn't even finish what he was saying and you knew he wanted to counter attack, it's amazing, even he was surprised. But now you've done enough, Temari, this battle will be over in no time, Naruto and Gaara are moving from the other stairway, look, Shino and Sakura are over near that other ramp, we're about to win, Temari. Konoha is going to be safe."

Temari was fighting just to breathe now. Now that she was in control again the benefits of an almost berserker rage were leaving her and though there was still enough adrenaline in her system to have her try to gnaw through an elephant's neck without giving safety a second thought she was well enough in control to realize that Chouji was right, it was time to fall back.

* * *

Akira glared, he turned to his soldiers and the forces arrayed with him, the sun was setting, once it got dark the ninja would win the day "Men, loyal sons of the Land of Wind, _my _sons," He shouted to his men, "We must hold the enemy off."

He didn't slow of falter in his words even though they were the hardest he'd spoken in recent memory. Instead he spoke clearly and calmly, as if it were no large matter. He couldn't say 'we need to retreat' he couldn't say 'we lost' he could only say 'hold them off.'

Hold them off while the other soldiers retreated, Akira and his regiment were specially trained elites, well versed in anti-ninja tactics, and they'd be best suited to holding the enemy army back.

Akira didn't have to tell them they'd suffer heavy casualties because they knew.

But it was a warrior's duty to serve his country, even if it meant his death.

Akira smiled somewhat morosely when the thought passed through his mind that for a Samurai there was no greater victory than an honorable death in the service of one's liege and land.

So indeed this would be both a victory and a defeat. A glorious victory and a crushing thought of what Emiko said before, that if he died she'd die too . . . she couldn't possibly have meant that. Still he just couldn't bring himself to treat his life carelessly, this wouldn't be a suicide run, they'd hold the Konoha counter attack off until the army retreated, then they'd fall back too.

Akira held his katana in both hands; he closed his eyes briefly, thinking of his wife one more time. They hadn't been together nearly long enough . . . _Maybe it's for the best. _He thought, _Maybe she'll meet someone better._

"You _won't_ be the death of me." He told the city again. As all others fled Akira's regiment charged.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	159. Hikaru's Discovery

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Fifty Nine**

Takumi spun his sword in his hand, Hikaru stood waiting, eager.

Takumi wanted Kaori with him for the fight, he didn't know why but he still wished she were there.

Lee wasn't nearly as pretty, but still he was welcome company.

Lee leapt from the back his mount and Takumi similarly slid off of Zilian's back, the massive wolves all disappeared, no longer able to maintain themselves, their time was up, Takumi hadn't given them as much of his chakra as he'd given Zilian the night he made the run to Konoha.

Takumi charged, Lee moved so quick he almost couldn't see him, and Hikaru clashed into both of them, his blades deflecting and attacking Takumi, his arms attacking Lee, and a predictable darkness began to surround the three of them.

Hikaru meant to blind them, but it was a waste, such a tactic would only work against a weaker opponent, not one trained as Lee and Takumi were, in listening for their opponent, a Jounin was deadly with or without their sight.

Then again Takumi supposed it would make it difficult to coordinate with Lee, and the Konoha legend was moving so quickly that Takumi realized that hearing Lee coming might not be enough to keep them from colliding, maybe Hikaru knew what he was doing after all, maybe Takumi had been a fool to doubt so dangerous an enemy.

"Takumi . . ." Hikaru said nearby, Takumi spun and slashed, his sword ignited with electricity but it didn't do anything to avert the darkness, "Takumi . . . such a twit." Hikaru taunted.

Takumi scowled, "Lee, jump straight up, out of the cloud of darkness!"

"You know Takumi . . . I can't quite bring myself to kill you yet." Hikaru said, "No, no, we've far too much history together . . . far too much."

Takumi suspected Hikaru was only speaking through ventriloquism, trying to project his voice to a spot where he wanted Takumi to be, a trap, or maybe he was trying to force him to attack Lee, Takumi wasn't sure.

He leapt into the air, meaning to escape the darkness but something heavy slammed into him, "Not so fast, Tak-kun," Hikaru laughed, "You're my play thing now, and when I'm done tormenting you I'll kill you. Don't worry, Kaori will be meeting you in hell as soon as I find her."

"You're the one who's going to die, Hikaru, you traitorous snake!" Takumi growled.

"Big words, but just words."

Takumi smirked, he drew a kunai and thrust it towards his own throat, swiftly, too fast for Hikaru to stop, he hoped.

"No!" Hikaru roared, Takumi felt Hikaru's scorpion tail stab into his hand, forcing him to drop the kunai, "You idiot! What would you have done if I hadn't--"

Takumi gripped Hikaru's tail and, using it as a guide through the dark, threw himself forward, sword leading.

Hikaru roared in pain, the darkness faded, Takumi saw the wooden block he'd impaled with his lightning charged sword.

"Oh, ouch, the pain," Hikaru mocked.

Takumi searched around desperately for Lee, had he been killed? Had he followed Takumi's instructions and tried to leap out of the darkness?

"Looking for the leaf bug? Don't bother . . ." Hikaru laughed, he tilted his head to the side, towards a crater in the ground, "He jumped real high but he couldn't see well enough to land properly. Well if he's still alive I'd better bring him here--" Hikaru's tail struck out into the crater, but it hit nothing.

Lee wasn't there.

"Where the--" Hikaru growled, but the Konoha Jounin's hand appeared from beneath the ground and grasped Hikaru's tail, Lee tightened his grip until the scorpion exoskeleton of the tail cracked, then shattered, "No!" Hikaru screamed, Takumi rushed in with his sword.

He swept out but Hikaru got away, dropping his cursed form he freed himself of Lee and avoided Takumi's swipe, "You'll pay for that Konoha bug," He drew a Jutsu card, "Lightning Stile, Thunder Bolt Jutsu!"

The Thunder Bolt Jutsu was on Takumi was well familiar with, and it got its name from the fact that when the massive bolt of lightning hit the ground in front of Rock Lee the sound it made, the clash of thunder, was so loud that though the lightning missed Lee was thrown back into the ditch he'd dug, Takumi dropped his sword and put his hands over his ears, he screamed in pain.

He couldn't hear his own scream over the lasting clash of thunder, Hikaru came then, kunai in one hand he stabbed Takumi in the stomach and picked his sword up off the ground, "Time to die you worthless son of a--"

Hikaru's eyes went wide, Takumi, lying on the ground in excruciating pain couldn't fight back, but his sword had stopped just inches from his face.

It wasn't his doing.

Hikaru's eyes were wild, "No!" He screamed, "No!"

Takumi struggled to get up, he noted that as he did Hikaru's arm wavered from him, he didn't understand why, Hikaru seemed to be trying to strike him but the closer he got to the sharp blade the further Hikaru pulled his arm away.

"What does he want with you?" Hikaru roared, "It's not possible! You're worthless! You're not one of the five, you're just an innkeeper!"

Takumi didn't know what Hikaru was talking about, Lee was slowly, groggily emerging from the crater where he'd fallen, "What are you blathering about, Hikaru?" Takumi growled, "Finish me off," he dared, hoping Lee would kill Hikaru before it could happen.

He didn't care who killed Hikaru, he just wanted it done.

Hikaru laughed, "I'd _love _to, but I can't . . . the master has plans for you . . . I can't _kill _anyone he has plans for, it's hard wired into me."

"No, you just stab me in the stomach."

"Obviously you're going to survive that or I couldn't have done it." Hikaru spat, he threw the sword away and punched Takumi roughly in the face, "You'll survive that too! You'll survive this," he added, kicking him in the injured stomach, "Oh there's a lot you can survive . . . I guess killing you will come after you do whatever the master has planned for you to do . . ."

Takumi fought against the pain and grabbed Hikaru's ankle, "I don't care about your master!" He shouted, ripping the kunai from his stomach and thrusting upwards.

Hikaru tried to dodge, he only managed to keep the blade from slamming into his own stomach by millimeters, and to be honest Takumi was half tempted to slash again but the pain that rippled through his stomach made him drop the blade.

Hikaru growled and stepped on Takumi's wrist, "He must have a plan for you. It's interesting . . . I wonder what he--" he stopped suddenly when Rock Lee's strong arms slammed down onto his shoulders and raised him into the air, he threw him _through _two trees.

"Why didn't you just snap his neck?" Takumi demanded.

"To do that would be to throw away a valuable resource, we will take him back for questioning, but the first question I will ask him is this; where are your comrades taking our own friend?"

Takumi blinked and said "I . . . I don't think he can answer that."

Indeed without his cursed form Hikaru wasn't quite as durable as he would otherwise have been.

And being thrown through two trees . . .

Lee smiled a little sheepishly, "I see . . ."

Hikaru was alive unfortunately, Takumi cut his own sleeves away and wrapped them around his stomach, Lee said "We will tie him and return with Anko."

"No . . . need." A familiar voice said, Takumi turned to see Mitarashi Anko struggling towards them with one of her attackers slung over her shoulder, "Gimme a . . . hand, Lee?"

Rock Lee rushed off and grabbed the injured Sound ninja away from Anko, "Sai . . . what happened to him?"

"He had a change of heart," Anko said, "That bimbo was gonna interrogate me or something, I didn't really register everything but at some point Sai tried to stop her and she tried to kill him. Then she ran off, I guess she thought you guys were coming. Lets get out of here."

Lee nodded, then said "I shall collect our other prisoner, would you aid Jounin Konjo, he is injured."

Anko nodded and held a hand out to Takumi.

Both his hands were covered in his own blood, so he wiped them on his pants leg before he let Anko help him up, but something about her seemed different and her hand was cold and clammy.

She seemed very interested in his blood but said nothing about it, he walked carefully towards Hikaru, a kunai in his hand.

"What are you doing?" Lee asked, "We must question him."

"We can question that Sai person," Takumi said, "He'll probably be more willing too."

Lee shook his head, "You would kill a man in cold blood?"

Takumi glanced at Lee, who stood, his face an unreadable mask though Anko seemed eager, approving even . . . it seemed odd to Takumi but then given her reputation she was probably just excited at the prospect of further bloodshed.

But neither of them mattered, all that mattered was Kaori, and the danger Hikaru presented to her. Takumi raised his kunai, "I'm a ninja, it's what we do."

The Lee's hand was even faster than his, Lee pulled him back and said "I cannot allow that. The loss of blood has clouded your judgment, I know that under normal circumstances you would agree that the village's survival is paramount, this man may have information useful to us."

Takumi stared at Hikaru and nodded, "You're . . . right." He whispered grudgingly, he couldn't just kill the man in cold blood, no matter how much he wanted to.

Lee grabbed Hikaru and Anko used a kunai to re-open a wound she must have suffered earlier and summoned a snake whose head alone was the size of an elephant.

"Everyone aboard," she said lightly and climbed into the snake's mouth.

The serpent moved before they could and swept Lee, the prisoners and Takumi into its mouth, then moved for Konoha. Takumi could see the battered enemy army withdrawing, the sun was setting and nobody even tried to attack them, everyone saw the giant snake headed for the village and nobody cared.

"It must be over." Takumi whispered.

"Oh not yet . . . but almost," Anko said with a smirk.

**

* * *

**

Shikamaru was panting, he staggered back and leaned against the wall of Konoha. "Get these ramps torn down," He ordered.

"What about the enemy?" Kiba demanded.

"They're running, we don't need to pursue them." Shikamaru said.

"It'll be dark, the night belongs to us!" Kiba protested.

"We're half dead, Kiba." Shino said flatly, "They had ninja too and they still outnumber us. Better to back off and let them run."

Kiba glowered but nodded slightly, "I guess beating the tar out of their rear guard was enough." He said.

Shikamaru nodded, looking at the retreating soldiers.

They were Wind nation, there'd been nearly a thousand of them but now there were just a few hundred, they'd bought twenty minutes of time for the retreating coalition army before breaking away themselves, and those twenty minutes had cost them dearly.

They fought better than most grunts, they stayed together in squads and moved like one large well oiled machine, they obviously knew how to fight both soldiers and ninja, but in the end their spirits were low and much to Shikamaru's satisfaction they'd broken when the last of their allies had gotten far enough away, instead of trying to stay and fight to the last.

"If it weren't for the foolish betrayal of our Daimyo those men would have been fighting by our side." Gaara said calmly.

"If it weren't for the betrayal of your Daimyo and a few others this war wouldn't have come to Konoha's doorstep." Shikamaru said, "Instead it'd be on Iwagakure's . . . maybe it's better that we're meeting the enemy on prepared ground but honestly I'd rather have had this fight in those troublesome mountains." Shikamaru shook his head, "We can restore the forest when this is all over, but we can't restore the lives lost."

"What do you mean?" Gaara asked, "We're fighting so that the lives not lost can go on being lived."

"Maybe." Shikamaru said, "but what then?"

"What?" Kiba asked now.

Shikamaru looked at them, "Gaara, Kiba . . . we lost a lot of men today, and we nearly lost the battle . . . but the enemy took it even worse, from what I saw I'd say they've got less than a quarter of their original force left, and a lot of men are going to try to desert now . . . but even so what now? Do we invade them? Do we go out and subjugate them like they wanted to do to us? Other than reclaiming Sunagakure there's no reason for this war anymore."

"Even if I were inclined to agree with you what makes you think everyone else would?" Gaara asked.

Shikamaru glanced at Naruto, who was approaching them, "Him. All this death, and even at Konoha's moment of twilight . . . he kept the nine tails contained. It doesn't own him, he isn't a danger to anyone. He was in the thick of it, and he kept his cool."

"This war hasn't been about Naruto for years." Gaara said.

"I know." Shikamaru said, "Because of Kabuto. But when I kill Kabuto what then? The Daimyo will have to decide, can they justify their war? If we've won today, and I think we just may have, the answer most of them will get is going to be "no" and if they keep trying we'll make it a definitive answer, a resounding "hell no" and then . . ."

"What?" Gaara asked.

"Exactly." Shikamaru said. "Then . . . what?"

Naruto came over, Kakashi and Sakura were right besides him, "That was insane, Shikamaru!" Naruto said, "I can't believe we pulled that off."

"Don't celebrate just yet," Shikamaru said, "we have a lot of work to do . . ."

Naruto looked at the battlefield, "You know it's scary. I really thought if things kept escalating we'd see armies of hundreds of thousands. Here we had just tens of thousands and the carnage . . . the smell, the sight, it's like an attack on every sense. How could anyone want this to go on? How could anyone want more of this?" Naruto said with a shrug.

"The person who wants it most," Shikamaru said, "doesn't care, and the men he's manipulated into giving him this war, aren't here to see it. To them these soldiers who gave their lives are just numbers on pieces of paper." Shikamaru looked at Naruto and Gaara, "You two, you know better because you are soldiers, you've seen war . . . even so this is more than anyone's seen in maybe a hundred years."

Naruto nodded slightly and said "Well Shikamaru, it'll please you to know that I've made a decision."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, he wasn't aware that Naruto had been deciding on any mater of particular interest to him outside of the ordinary Hokage fare.

"What is it?" Shikamaru asked.

"When this is all over . . . you're retiring. You've done more for this village than anyone has any right to ask, right? So . . . you and Temari can spend the rest of your lives just being lazy, watching clouds and taking care of all your kids."

"We've got just the one." Shikamaru said, processing all that Naruto was telling him.

"Yeah well, I'm sure there'll be more." Naruto said. He glanced over his shoulder and said "We'd better head behind the gates, you know?"

Shikamaru nodded, but he said "You know Hokage-sama, as generous as your offer is . . . I can't accept it. I did just one thing: my job. It's what everyone here has done, so I haven't done anything more than the lowliest Genin. Besides my work isn't finished, once the war is over a warrior's work is just reaching a new phase, one that's just as hard as fighting the actual war. Once the war is finished you'll need me and every ninja you've got to keep peace and make sure there isn't _another_ war."

Sakura smiled, and Kakashi said "Naruto said you'd say something like that."

"Yeah," Naruto said, "But don't worry about your rep, I thought just one step ahead, you're still the guy who thinks a thousand."

Shikamaru smirked, "Not a thousand."

"That's not what we'll tell the gang of Daimyo when we're negotiating for peace." Naruto said with a wink.

Shikamaru smiled weakly, but he hated how cheerful everyone was.

No one was slapping each other on the back, or singing victory songs, it wasn't as if there was some sort of jubilee going on.

But still everyone had a slight spring to their weary step, or at least as much of a spring as one could have after such a horrifying battle, losing both comrade and trusted friend alike . . .

And Shikamaru hated it not because of the boost of morale to the men, he hated it because they all seemed to think the war was already over . . . and it wasn't.

There was still another battle to fight, even if the fight for Konoha was won Kabuto needed to be dealt with and the Daimyo of the Land of Fire needed to be rescued too.

Shikamaru shook his head, and then remembered Naomasa.

Why had he ordered an early retreat?

Shikamaru had a few theories but there was one prevalent theory he was entertaining that scared him most, but with the darkness creeping in it was impossible to scan the horizon for confirmation, it would be better just to ask Naomasa.

But first . . . maybe it was his own selfishness, he didn't care.

He spotted Chouji who stood in the doorway of a gatehouse where Temari sat, leaning against her fan watching the world through weary, half close eyes.

He went to Temari and wrapped his arms around her. Matters of the defense were probably more pressing but that wasn't important to him.

His wife was exhausted, she could have died and if that had happened any victory for Shikamaru would be as hollow as they came.

Temari held onto him and whispered "Did you really want to order a charge?"

Shikamaru laughed, "How long were you waiting to ask that?"

Temari looked at him, her beautiful face somehow shone through the dirt and sweat and the gore of battle, Shikamaru leaned in and kissed her, "I thought you just guessed I wanted to charge them." He lied.

"I just wanted to kill them," Temari whispered, "I didn't care, I just--" Shikamaru shook his head to silence her.

He knew, and she probably knew he knew. He just kissed her again and said "Sometimes what your instincts dictate and what your reasoning mind request are one and the same, sometimes going with the flow is just as effective as planning things out before hand . . . you led the charge that broke the enemy's resolve Temari, you're a hero."

"I feel like a fool." She said softly.

"You're that too." Shikamaru said evenly.

Temari blinked, "You're not supposed to tell me that!"

"Well . . . if the shoe fits." Shikamaru said with an exaggerated roll of his eyes.

Temari punched his shoulder but very weakly, due likely to weariness, "You had to ruin the moment."

"Troublesome woman, you're the one who had to leave me an opening." Shikamaru smiled.

Temari smiled back, "Most couples would just hold on to each other and cry and kiss and say 'I love you' over and over, but we trade insults . . . I guess we kind of have our own thing, don't we?"

"It's not so bad to be different, my love." He told her, and they stood in silence, holding one another, taking comfort in each other's presence and survival, far too weary in body and in spirit to continue trading barbs, or to share anything more physical than their current, lasting hug, the two just stood there, holding one another as if they were both afraid to let go, and Shikamaru had to admit that for his part he might have been just a little afraid to let Temari go.

But he couldn't forget the scene outside of their tiny sanctuary as they stood alone in that guardhouse, outside was a world of blood and violence, he couldn't ignore that or the fact that the surviving men needed him to be out there planning for the next day.

Still the outside world could wait just a little longer. He just stood there and held his wife in his arms. They were exhausted, her more so than him, they were filthy and they knew they'd both rather just fall to the ground and sleep for a week.

But holding on to one another they found just a bit more strength to last them through the rest of the night. He whispered" I've got to go."

She nodded, "I'll check on Sumiko-chan."

"Tell her I love her . . . and Temari, just in case you have any doubts . . . I love you." He told her.

She regarded him with curiosity, "_Never_ say it like it's the last thing you'll ever tell me, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru shrugged, "Don't be troublesome, just accept it."

She smiled weakly, "I love you Shikamaru . . . and we _will _get through this . . . right?"

"We'll do our best." He said.

"Promise." She said a little sharply, "Promise me we'll get through this, Shikamaru."

He kissed her, "I promise." He said.

And he turned to leave.

He glanced at Chouji as he left the guard hut, "Temari's going to see Sumiko . . . go with her okay? Take it as a chance to see Ino, she should be back in the labyrinth by now."

Chouji smiled, "Sure Shikamaru . . . and one thing . . ."

"What?"

"I wuv you!" He said in a poor imitation of Temari's voice.

Shikamaru punched him in the shoulder, Temari sprang from the guardhouse and punched him in the other shoulder, but again with only a fraction of her usual energy.

Shikamaru smirked at his best friend and just said "I've got some things to do . . . after you and Temari get to the labyrinth take some rest, I'll have one of my couriers come get you when I need you again. It's not over yet."

Chouji nodded and he and Temari set off for the labyrinth, Shikamaru mustered his strength and went up to the watch tower.

* * *

Naomasa looked at the field, "It's horrifying." He admitted.

"It's worse being there." Yomiko whispered. "I thought being a Sarutobi I was destined to be some kind of warrior, I mean I handled our other battles pretty well . . . I mean . . . well mostly, right?"

"Sure." Nao shrugged.

Yomiko stood next to him, "Being in the thick of it was so scary, all I could do was try to take comfort in the fact that Sensei was there. You know what though? I wanted you and Taro there too . . . it felt incomplete. It felt like we all needed to be there, you know? And at the same time I felt bad . . . because it was a selfish wish. I wanted you two there for my safety and security, my peace of mind. Nobody should ever wish war on their friends."

Naomasa shook his head, "I disagree," he said, "I mean it's not just you're piece of mind, it's ours too. Knowing you and sensei were down there . . . I was really worried."

"And Hitomi?" Yomiko asked with a slight roll of her eyes.

Naomasa didn't see any point in denying it, "Yeah, I was worried about her too."

He still was . . . he hadn't seen her from the tower, and there was a lot of confusion right now down below, she could be mixed up with a crowd or . . . she could be on the field . . . dead.

He closed his eyes, Yomiko asked "Did you order the retreat because you were worried about Hitomi?"

Naomasa's eyes shot open, "What?" He demanded, "No, of course not!"

"Then why?" Yomiko asked.

Shikamaru-sensei appeared then and answered for him, "Because of the clouds."

"What?" Yomiko blinked.

"It's hard to tell at dusk, but see the horizon, those clouds . . . an those ones?" Shikamaru asked, "Two sizeable armies are approaching . . . from the direction of Lightning, and Water."

"So both our allies are coming." Yomiko reasoned.

"Wrong." Shikamaru grumbled.

"I knew it." Yomiko scowled, "Figures, okay so what's going on Sensei?"

Shikamaru shook his head, "Like a true tactician Nao's already figured it out. Well, Naomasa?"

Nao frowned and hoped he'd been right, he'd hate to be wrong in front of Shikamaru-sensei, especially after he'd just said such a complementary thing about him, "Lightning and Water were fighting, so whichever of them won and is on their way would be coming from the direction of the Land of Water . . . so that means that that second dust cloud . . . the one sort of coming from the Land of Lightning . . . isn't Lightning or Water."

"Exactly." Shikamaru grumbled.

"So what?" Yomiko asked, "Who is it?"

"My guess? It's the Sound Organization coming to finish us off." Shikamaru said, "Naomasa was right to sound the retreat, if we'd pursued the enemy into the woods the Sound army could have ambushed us or attacked a defenseless Konoha."

Yomiko shuddered, "What do we do?"

"Hope the cloud coming from the direction of the lands of water is made by our allies . . . and hope they get here first." Shikamaru-sensei said.

Naomasa couldn't tell in the near dark which dust cloud was nearer, he looked at Shikamaru-sensei, "Will it be okay?"

Shikamaru was expressionless for a moment, and finally he said "If nothing else we do have a demon in our midst. Don't worry, Sound's attack was anticipated, I _need _Kabuto to show himself . . . when he does I'll kill him."

"We'll help." Yomiko said, "Taro too."

"I know you would," Shikamaru said, "but I have a more important job for you three. Don't worry about it now . . . I want you two to get some sleep, regenerate your chakra and be ready, its going to be rough when they get here."

The two Chuunin nodded and descended the stairs of the tower.

Naomasa thought of Hitomi . . . where was she? He had to know.

"We'll have to sleep in the labyrinth, it's the only safe place right now," Yomiko said, "We can say hello to Taro, tell him everything."

"Yeah . . ." Naomasa whispered, looking around at every group of ninja or soldiers he saw, "Look, you go ahead, I'll catch up."

Yomiko's eyes grew hard, "Naomasa . . . no. You're coming with me."

Nao frowned, "I'll just be a minute."

Yomiko shook her head, "Sensei gave us orders."

"He gave us instructions, there's a difference." Naomasa said. "The ninja who leaves their comrade behind is worse than trash, if she's out there she could be hurt, or dying and I'd have to--"

"Wait, you're going to just go out onto the battlefield? Aren't you going to look around _inside _the city first?" Yomiko demanded.

"Of _course _I'm going to look _inside _first!" Naomasa laughed, "What do you think I am, some kind of--"

"I'm going with you." Yomiko grumbled.

Nao frowned, "You? Why?"

"Why not? We're still a squad, Ishida Naomasa." Yomiko said, "Sleep will just have to wait."

Naomasa smiled, he actually did feel better having Yomiko with him, "Thanks." He said.

"Four eyes are better than two." Yomiko said, "Let's get this over with quick."

**To Be Continued . . .**


	160. The Final Step

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Sixty**

Sasuke's chest hurt when he reached the edge of Konoha's territory.

They were going to have to take some time to rest, but if they kept going they might arrive as soon as dawn. They needed to rest and be ready to fight, but if every second counted would arriving after dawn be soon enough?

Suigetsu frowned, "Sasuke . . . listen, there's something you need to know."

"Do we have time?"

"Well until you hear it we're not moving so . . . yeah. Besides it's dark, the men need a chance to rest." His old comrade said.

Sasuke considered that word. Suigetsu was a comrade, but could he be called a friend?

"What is it?" He asked.

Suigetsu stopped frowning, but he didn't smile, his face just became more neutral, "That's more like it. Anyway I just want you to understand . . . we can't go to Konoha and expect to rescue it, we're too few, too weary."

"I know, but we might be the grain of sand that tips the scale." Sasuke said.

Suigetsu shook his head, "Not good enough, you know I have to keep my lands safe too, I'm the Mizukage, not a Konoha ninja."

"So what are you saying?" Sasuke demanded, "You came all this way to turn back now?"

"Don't be stupid!" Suigetsu laughed loudly, "We're going to raise some real hell in Konoha, trust in, that."

"Then what is it?" Sasuke demanded.

Suigetsu folded his arms, "Sasuke, this war has been fought because of your friend the nine tails. You can control the demon though, can't you?"

Sasuke shifted uncomfortably, "What are you asking me to do, Suigetsu? You're usually so to the point."

"Politics, man." The Mizukage smirked, "Listen it's real simple . . . my warriors are at your disposal, they're at the disposal of your Hokage . . . but the Nine Tailed fox doesn't recognize friend from foe and until so recently we were your foes."

"Is that all you're worried about?"

"All I'm worried about? Like it's nothing." Suigetsu scoffed, "Sasuke, this army with us, this rabble really, that's all I've got for sure, maybe Ito has a few hundred men back at the beach, we can't know. What I _do _know is that I've got to act in the best interest of my people . . . so I'll help you _if _I can."

"_If_ you can?" Sasuke demanded.

"If we get there and Konoha's already destroyed . . . I won't stand against Sound. I'll have to do what's best for my people, I'll have to act as if I'd been working for the Kamikage the whole time."

"Kamikage? Divine Shadow? Is that what he calls himself?" Sasuke demanded.

"Kabuto? Yeah." Suigetsu shrugged, "He pretends to be Orochimaru half the time but c'mon right? I know it's him."

Sasuke looked at Suigetsu, "So you're telling me you'll turn me in to him?"

Suigetsu folded his arms, "I'm saying . . . if Konoha's destroyed, what will you do?"

Sasuke scowled, "I'll see who I can help!"

Suigetsu seemed surprised, "Really? Why?"

"Why? Why not?" Sasuke demanded.

Suigetsu shrugged, "What can you do? You a medic?"

"You know I'm not." Sasuke scowled.

Suigetsu nodded, "Right. You're a warrior Sasuke . . . I need warriors. I intend to fight a lot of wars, a lot of really bloody wars . . . I don't want it to end, the fighting I mean . . . I never want it to end. Kabuto though . . . he wants to end it all and when he talks about how he's going to do it you believe him. His world won't have much need for ninja, those of us who survive the war will be kept low in numbers, we'll have greater quality but so what?"

Suigetsu drew his massive sword and said "So I want to help Konoha, I want to stop Kabuto, but if Konoha has already lost I need to do what's best for my country, I need to side with Sound. Kabuto thinks I'm coming to reinforce him, and . . . I might have to. But even if that's the case I want you to side with me, Sasuke. Mist will rebuild and rise up and someday maybe you can get revenge for Konoha--if we're too late I mean."

Sasuke folded his arms.

What would hold him back?

"If Konoha has fallen, or is falling . . . I want permission to save a few people."

"Who?" Suigetsu asked.

"That's my business."

"Can't be the demon, even though you can control him he's what started this." Suigetsu warned.

Sasuke clenched a fist, "Any other restrictions."

"Most of the rest of the Twelve, Kabuto's got plans for them."

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked before he could stop himself.

Suigetsu smiled, "I don't know what four eyes has planned for her. I guess ignorance is as good a defense as any . . . if Konoha falls, if she's alive, if it doesn't incriminate us, you can go after Sakura . . . but nobody else."

"Nobody?" Sasuke demanded, his mind immediately falling to Kurai, and even to Naruto's student, Hitomi.

What if she had the Sharingan? That made her an Uchiha, it made her part of--

"Nobody else from the twelve. I figure you probably want to save like a house cat or something, maybe. You have any kids I don't know about?" Suigetsu asked.

Sasuke lowered his gaze, "Two kids. They're not mine, but if I can find them I want them."

Suigetsu gave Sasuke a long look and then said "In exchange . . . I own you. You're mine, you understand? You don't serve Mist, or Water, you serve _me_, my interests, clear?"

Sasuke hated the very idea, but it was a plan in the event that Konoha was destroyed, and he told himself it wouldn't be.

He nodded slightly, "If you let me save these people, give them a place to live without fear of Kabuto . . . then yes. In the event that Konoha has been destroyed, I'll join you."

Suigetsu smirked, "Excellent. Don't get me wrong Sasuke, I'd much rather Konoha be standing when we get there, I like things the way they are, five big nations, fifty little ones to pick on, the idea of one realm kind of pisses me off. Who would we fight?"

"Ourselves I guess." Sasuke said, but he wondered . . . was there something else out there?

"I know, right? So what's the point of even uniting if we'll just fight ourselves again?" Suigetsu shrugged, "Kabuto though, he's got a pretty sick plan. I want to see it fail if I can, but if I cant I'm willing to fall back and live to fight another day. Oh, and Kosuke."

"What?" Sasuke demanded.

"If it comes down to it, your name is Momochi Kosuke, you know, just in case we get questioned." Suigetsu said.

"You gave this some thought." Sasuke said.

"I've always dreamed of reuniting the old team under new leadership." Suigetsu smirked.

Sasuke frowned, "You fond the others?" He asked.

Suigetsu didn't answer, he just smirked and pointed his sword towards the pillars of smoke where Konoha stood, "Men, ninja, soldiers, samurai . . . one way or another, our allies are waiting for us beyond these trees. There's a hero's welcome and a bunch of girls who'll be so distraught having lost their boyfriends to the battle . . . but you gotta earn it, you ready to earn it?"

There was a roar of approval from the ninja though the soldiers sounded a little less gung-ho.

Ninja of the Mist Village always were slightly homicidal, it didn't surprise Sasuke that they were spoiling for a fight.

The group charged, they'd arrive at Konoha by dawn.

Then Sasuke would see what was left to save.

And if Sakura wasn't there . . . he guessed he'd never really let himself think about it until just then, but having lost Saizo and Shiroi the mere thought of losing Sakura too stung him more than the thought of losing anyone else.

He and Shikamaru weren't even close to being close, he and Shino got along well enough but they weren't blood brothers or anything, the same went for Kiba and Lee, Neji had been a fine enough rival but Sasuke considered himself superior, and Hinata wasn't even worth that sort of consideration.

Tenten? The weakest of the twelve unless that turned out to be Ino or Chouji instead, besides Sakura only Naruto _really _mattered.

No . . . Sasuke was just telling himself lies, trying to soften the blow . . . everyone in Konoha, a member of the Twelve or not, was important, they were a part of his life. Everyone in the Twelve was a comrade, a friend in their own way . . .

_They'll be okay, _he told himself, _my stupidity killed Shiroi, betrayal killed Saizo, the Twelve are invincible, they're _all _going to be okay._

He really, really hoped anyway.

* * *

Akira limped into camp with the remainder of his elite force, he regarded the remaining soldiers with a certain measure of respect for although they had run they had not run far.

The old woman from before, the prisoner who knew medicine came and immediately began checking him for wounds, he pushed her away gently, out of a habitual respect for her age rather than courtesy and he said to the nearest soldier, "I want a head count, I need to know how many men we have left."

"It shouldn't take long

Akira went to the command tent and found it empty apart from Emiko.

"I was hoping to find you . . ." He said. "You told me you predicted a victory and a defeat for me today. How did you predict those things? What level or probability was there, how did you just guess?"

Emiko frowned at him and said "Victory and defeat, but not in that order. You've suffered a terrible defeat today and it isn't over yet."

"Konoha will counter attack?" Akira asked.

"No." Emiko said, "At least I don't think so."

Akira laughed mirthlessly, "Then what more could happen to make me lose?"

Emiko frowned, she looked around and she said "You're going to be reinforced . . . the night isn't over yet, before the night ends . . . Konoha is going to fall."

"And that will be my victory?" Akira asked.

Emiko looked away, "It may be."

Akira folded his arms, "No 'may' I have to know. Men's lives are being lost, if you can predict--"

"Men's lives will be lost one way or another," Emiko said sharply, "that's what war is. If you gave up and left your honor would be harmed but at least the fighting would stop. That's not an option, not anymore."

"What do you mean?" Akira asked patiently, "What other option do I have at this point?"

"It isn't your decision . . . not now. If you try to run now you'll lose your chance at victory and many more lives will be lost."

Akira watched Emiko carefully, "You're just guessing, or so you say. But you sound utterly certain."

Emiko closed her eyes, "Let me go with you."

Akira blinked, "Excuse me? Let you come with me where, into battle? Are you mad?"

"What better way to make sure my guesses are delivered right away?" Emiko looked around, "Disguise me and take me with you."

Akira frowned, "Disguise you . . . from whom?" He asked, noticing the way Emiko kept looking around and remembering the interest Okatsu had had in her.

Emiko frowned back at him, "Don't leave me in this camp."

Akira thought on it . . . he didn't want harm coming to Emiko, the best way to see to that was to guard her personally but the worst way to see to it was to take her into battle.

"Will you be safe?" He asked her, "I mean if I take you with me."

"Yes." Emiko said firmly.

Akira was quiet for a long while, considering it all. Finally his thoughts were brought to a half when the tent flap opened and a soldier bowed before him.

He as one of Akira's men, "Taisho," he said, "the head count . . . we have three thousand seven hundred twenty one men, four hundred fifty three of those are our own regiment."

"How many thousands of men must have escaped . . ." Akira muttered. He looked at Emiko, "Get this woman into a uniform and armor, get her a mask."

The soldier bowed, had he been from any other legion Akira wouldn't have asked because of the confusion or upset the mere idea of arming a woman would have caused, but he had complete trust in his men to have complete trust in him.

Akira looked at Emiko and said "I can't attack again, not with so few soldiers. Is that what you meant when you said it wasn't my decision anymore?"

"No." Emiko said softly, "You're going to attack again . . . very soon."

"In the dark? The ninja's domain?"

"You have ninja. Prepare now for an attack at night." Emiko said, "Don't move though . . . you'll know when to launch the attack."

Akira closed his eyes and nodded, "Fine . . . get dressed, you won't leave my side, you won't see real combat and when you have a "guess" that could save lives you tell me straight away . . . is that how my victory is supposed to come about?"

Emiko tilted her head to the side slightly, almost mischievously, "I _guess _so."

Akira should have been cross with her, but he just smiled.

If nothing else could be said of the woman at least he knew he truly loved her.

* * *

Kuto's eyes opened and she looked around.

The battle was over . . .

So many dead . . . one look at the wall told her they'd lost again.

She felt sore all over, which she liked because it was good confirmation that she wasn't dead.

She massaged her forehead, it hurt a lot and she felt a great deal of dried blood.

_Scalp wound, scalp wounds bleed a lot, nothing major._ She told herself.

As for the rest of the army, they seemed to be at the forest edge, she could just make them out from her position.

She crawled as carefully as she could and as quickly as she dared.

The battle wasn't over yet, not by a long shot.

Or even if the battle was over the war wasn't.

Kuto crawled and then . . . then she found it.

She stared in surprise at it, or him, whatever, she supposed corpses retained their gender.

She shook her head, he'd been crushed.

She smiled, he was covered in sand.

"Didn't even get killed by the right guy, did you?" Kuto whispered.

She smirked, she half expected Toshiie's eyes to snap open, half thought he'd strangle her for being so insubordinate.

He didn't.

He lay there, no breath, no movement. He just lay there.

She smiled happily to herself, "I guess in the end at least you died a hero on the battlefield. But you're no immortal are you? I on the other hand--"

"Are very loud." A cold voice whispered.

Kuto's eyes widened slightly as she saw Mitarashi Anko standing over her.

The woman wasn't part of the Konoha Twelve but she ranked high enough in the bingo book that Kuto recognized her, in fact Kuto had memorized every woman in the bingo book . . . some of the more . . . "artistic" mass murderers gave her ideas.

Anko grasped her hair by the base of the scalp and pulled her head back so that Kuto was forced to look into her eyes, Anko held a kunai but she didn't have it in any position to attack Kuto, not that the younger woman was in any position to attack Anko.

Looking into Anko's eyes however Kuto felt something icy cold ripple through her, "Your commander . . . I'll be needing him again. You . . . you I might not need."

Kuto wanted to blink, her eyes were drying out but she couldn't close them, couldn't take her gaze away from the eyes of Mitarashi Anko. She felt an unfamiliar feeling creep through her, a feeling she'd felt before, but so rarely she'd forgotten it.

It was fear, and that realization drove her to terror which she'd never felt before, she tried to squirm but Anko held her fast, she felt tears roll down her cheeks but she didn't know if that was from fear or not being able to close her eyes.

Anko laughed softly, Kuto struggled, the kunai moved gently across her face, "Such a pretty face once . . . ruined now, such a nasty scar you have."

Scar? What scar? Kuto didn't have any . . .

In the back of her mind she thought of the dried blood, the blood she'd assumed came from her scalp.

But she was too worried for her life to really care about disfiguring scars, she wanted to swing her arms and legs but they were like jelly, her heart was pounding and she really wanted to curl up in a ball and cry, but Anko wouldn't let her.

_Genjutsu, it might be Genjutsu, even being threatened with death doesn't make me this worried, it must be Genjutsu!_ She thought.

Anko sneered, "I can make use of you though . . . go to the camp, tell them the gates will be open when they arrive, come quickly and the city will belong to Sound."

Kuto was shaking . . . but even scared as she was what she heard scared her more.

It had to be a trap.

But she nodded slightly, for Anko had released her scalp.

"Well?" The Konoha woman snarled, "why are you still here? Go!"

Kuto needed no second bidding, crawling like the defeated creature she was she slithered away from Mitarashi Anko.

_It's because of my injuries, I'm not scared I'm just wary. _She told herself, but as soon as she was far enough away from the sentries on the walls she sprang up and ran as fast as her legs would carry her.

* * *

He was tired, he'd never found his second sword, and he was sore all over, even though Shizune had looked over his wounds, patched him up and deemed him clear for combat duty.

Despite all his pain and weariness Takumi smiled when he saw Kaori lying in bed, bandaged and hooked to a couple machines but not under the constant watch she'd been under just that morning.

He collapsed into a chair near Kaori's bed. Because of the cramped conditions her room was now being shared with three others but he could still sit next to her without bothering anyone else.

He watched her as she lay in bed, he thought she was asleep but s he sat she opened her eyes and said "You've looked better."

"The same to you." Takumi said softly.

Kaori smiled, Takumi said "We captured Hikaru today . . . and I heard men at the gates saying the battle's over, the enemy's too badly thrashed to come back."

"You're not so sure." Kaori reasoned.

Takumi shook his head, "No way. Still, with Hikaru behind bars things will be a bit easier . . . they're keeping him sedated, the head of the Yamanaka clan is performing an interrogation right now. It's not over yet, but the end is on the horizon. I'm . . . I'm glad we came here." Takumi said.

Kaori nodded slightly, "So am I."

Takumi lowered his gaze, "I still have to get Kasumi back of course."

Kaori was quiet for a moment, then she whispered "You know I wish Kasumi no ill will . . . not even after our last meeting. But Takumi, don't try to talk to her or reason with her . . . she's beyond that."

Takumi frowned, "What are you saying?"

"Subdue her, make sure she's unconscious, don't trust her and don't turn your back on her." Kaori said softly.

Takumi smiled weakly, "Anything else?"

Kaori smiled, "Yeah . . . find a doctor to see if I can be cleared for duty."

"You're nowhere near healthy enough." Takumi said.

"I'm healthy enough to get out of this bed at least, maybe I could guard the maze . . . but at least free this bed up for someone who needs it."

Takumi closed his eyes, "At the start of the day you weren't even conscious, it was all the medics could do to keep you alive."

"No," Kaori said, "I'm fine, I think Kasumi meant for me to be fine . . . let me help out, even if its not frontline duty."

Takumi frowned.

He loved Kaori, and he valued her opinion of herself . . . but could he risk losing her because of pride?

No, this wasn't pride, but it was something . . . fear? Was she afraid of being in bed while the war raged?

He smiled at her, "I'll find a doctor, but if they say you're not fit to fight you'll just keep quiet and behave, right?"

Kaori smiled, "Kunoichi's honor."

Takumi nodded slightly, and though he was fairly weary and his own injuries had only just been treated, he went off to find a doctor to see about Kaori's release.

* * *

Kotaro smiled when he saw his mother come to see him, she was bandaged in a few places but otherwise looked no worse for the ware.

She sat down across from him, he'd been sitting in the "command center" of the labyrinth, the place where all the camera feeds went to, where everything could be monitored, Yukio, Kyusaku and Tomoko were with him, his ad hoc squad, he knew them the best out of all the Genin in the labyrinth, everyone else had been kept to their squads, or combined into larger squads.

His mother nodded to Kyusaku and Tomoko, "You two, please go make sure everyone's prepared in case they need to evacuate,"

"But I thought things were going well ma'am," Tomoko said but Anko just waved her away.

"Never count your chickens before they hatch. Go see to the people, order the other teams to be ready . . . you, guard the door, but don't close it. I want to hear anything that might go on outside but I don't want to be disturbed." Anko said, directing the last part to Yukio and dismissing the others.

They left and Kotaro raised an eyebrow, "What brings you down here?" He asked.

"I just wanted to discuss . . . current events with you." Anko said calmly, sitting down. "Did you know I used to be a student of Orochimaru, before he betrayed Konoha and founded the Sound village?"

"Of course." Kotaro shrugged.

Anko smiled and said "Did I ever tell you . . . what I was like before that?"

Kotaro shrugged, he didn't really know what that was supposed to mean. His mother talked about her childhood sometimes, but not very often, and he doubted most of her stories because she often said things like "When I was your age I always ate all my vegetables . . . that's' why I don't have to eat them now."

"I was a talented ninja you know," Anko said softly, "very talented . . . just like you, Kotaro . . . but I would never have been better than a Chuunin without the proper training . . . part of me is ashamed to admit it but it was Orochimaru-sensei who gave me that training."

"What are you saying?" Kotaro asked, keeping his face neutral, just as his mother kept hers neutral but he knew something had just changed.

Something wasn't quite right. He waited quietly, listened to what she had to say.

"A lot of things change, but some things never do . . . one of the things that will never change is that when a student surpasses their teacher they need a new, more powerful sensei . . . there's not really anything more that Shikamaru can teach you, you grasp strategy as well as he does, you can't learn his shadow techniques."

Kotaro frowned, "Well I'm Chuunin, Shikamaru-sensei isn't really my teacher anymore, I've come far enough to advance on my own, haven't I?"

"Wrong, my son. You see as long as there's something to be taught you'll always need a teacher, as long as there's something you can learn you can always benefit . . . I've already taught you some of the things my master taught me . . . if there were someone out there who could teach you everything, even the things I never mastered, imagine how powerful you'd be. You have the potential to be even greater than me and your father combine, you know. You can be something amazing with the right teacher, really any student can be amazing . . . but you can't learn the really tough stuff unless you find someone willing to treat you rough."

Kotaro watched his mother appraisingly, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying . . . if the worst should happen, my son . . . don't look at it as an ending . . . consider it a new beginning. After all . . . Orochimaru never believed in holding his students back."

Kotaro frowned behind his mask, was this some kind of test? What was his mother saying? This was outright treasonous talk.

And Yukio at the door had heard it all.

Kotaro folded his arms, his mother smiled brightly, "Even death can't stop the truly great, my son. When the fires die out, when you're presented with two paths . . . take the beneficial path, live beyond today and be great."

Kotaro blinked, "Are you telling me to betray Konoha?"

"Hell no!" Anko cried, slapping him across the face, "You're going to go out in a blaze of glory like the rest of us if it comes to it, you'll die only standing at the top of a mountain of dead foes!" She slapped him again . . . this seemed more like her.

"However if you don't die . . . if the village falls and you don't die . . . don't spend your life in prison or on the executioner's block . . . let yourself become greater than you are now, let yourself become truly powerful."

Kotaro gave her no sign of refusal or acceptance, he just shrugged, "The point is moot, after all we won't be losing this battle, right?"

"That's true . . . we won't be." Anko said, and walked off.

Kotaro noticed his mother smirk as she walked past Yukio, he turned back to his monitors, mulling over what his mother had said.

He'd never betray Konoha, even if Konoha were destroyed he'd never serve its destroyer.

But Yukio . . .

He seemed lost in thought.

Kotaro would have to keep an eye on him.

Why had his mother said those things? Didn't she know him at all?

**To Be Continued . . .**


	161. The Final Charge

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Sixty One**

Akira held his spear in his hands and looked at his men, gathered at the edge of the forest.

"Taisho," One of his fellow generals said, "what are we waiting or? If you wish to charge into death's embrace let us do so now."

Akira shook his head. "We await reinforcements." He said, for Emiko had told him that there would be reinforcements.

"The Daimyo and the other armies couldn't possibly arrive already, even if they have won at the village hidden in grass they can't reach us so soon. Are we to wait in full battle readiness all that time, or do you hope the other men will return?"

Akira shook his head, "Remain calm, when night falls we will be reinforced."

"They haven't noticed us yet." The other general said, Akira waved the man's words away, "We cannot launch a sneak attack if that is what you are thinking." Akira told the man, "It would be suicidal."

The other generals were all uncomfortable but Akira waited patiently, his faith in Emiko.

And then as the sun disappeared behind the horizon . . . they heard the foot falls.

Akira and the army turned and they saw them, illuminated by the campfires, soldiers dressed in black suits and masks with lavender tabards, armed to the teeth.

They carried spears, they carried pikes, they carried bows and they had to number more than a thousand, perhaps more than ten thousand.

Where had they come from?

A group of ninja only two score strong leapt from the trees and landed before the assembly of generals and in a flash the remaining allied ninja surrounded them but they made no hostile moves.

One of them, a hooded man smiled and said "You've done well in my absence, general. Your army reduced to a fraction of its strength, the number of your ninja cut by more than half, ah yes you've done admirably."

Akira bristled but the Kamikage waved a hand, "Where is Okatsu?"

The woman appeared at that very moment, flanked by two young girls.

Okatsu saluted and the Kamikage said "This is a historic occasion . . . my ascension into living godhood . . . Okatsu, my servant . . . have you the essence?"

Okatsu showed no shame or malice, she simply smiled at her master and said in a soft voice that only Akira and others nearby could hear, "No."

The Kamikage's eyes narrowed, "Where?"

"With a chosen one."

The Kamikage's eyes went wild, "That fool Hikaru?" He laughed to mask his anger.

But to Akira it was plainly evident.

Okatsu smirked and said "No. The master has much grander plans."

The Kamikage laughed, this time it seemed genuine.

He slapped Okatsu on the shoulder which seemed to surprise her, but it wasn't an attack.

He turned to Akira and said "You are relieved of command, I will take it from here."

"Demand the van." Emiko whispered.

"Liege I request--"

"_Demand_," Emiko hissed.

"I _demand _that me and these men lead the vanguard. We've earned that much."

The Kamikage laughed, "Demand eh? Well we'd better give you what you want then, hmm? Go on, lead the charge . . . but wait until we've softened them up a bit."

"How do you mean?" Another Taisho demanded.

That's when the five balls of flame streaked overhead and slammed into the walls of Konoha.

"I come prepared." The Kamikage said simply.

* * *

"Captain Gammo," A man said, "Captain Gammo . . . there's something strange happening."

Katashi raised his gaze from the scroll he'd "confiscated" from the library of Sunagakure's ninja academy and said "What?"

"We're . . . we're under attack." The Jounin told him.

Katashi's chair flew aside as he got up and leapt over the table, dashing for the door.

Once he emerged from the office he saw that they were indeed under attack and why he hadn't heard it.

The battle hadn't started yet, but it was about to.

A line of arrows lit by flame was in the distance, and through their combined illumination Katashi could see perhaps several hundred soldiers.

He had very few ninja with him but they should have no trouble killing all those soldiers.

Then the ninja appeared, three dressed in tan and gray camouflage with gray or lavender flack jackets they all wore the headband of the village hidden in Sound.

"Greetings, my master bids you surrender." The first of them said.

Kata shook his head, "Surrender? We are allies."

"Not quite." The ninja said, "Tonight as Konoha falls so every nation falls . . . you've all done such a good job weakening yourselves with this silly war that you stand no chance of resisting us now. Stand down, surrender and find your place in my master's brave new nation."

Kata closed his eyes for a moment, then nodded slowly, "Of course . . . but the civilians, you will not be harming them, correct?" He asked.

"No, not yet any--" The enemy ninja didn't finish her sentence before Kata impaled her, forcing the stone of Sunagakure's wall to erupt in a stalagmite, killing the Sound kunoichi.

He turned to his second in command, "Show them what happens to those who betray Iwagakure."

The small team of ninja leapt out into the night as the fire arrows were released.

As hundreds of Sound soldiers charged Sunagakrue, the city Katashi had been charged with protecting, Katashi and his few ninja garrison charged them in turn, and despite the enemy's overwhelming number Katashi felt that only the enemy ninja would present any difficulty.

When two of his men suddenly intercepted him however, he realized he was wrong.

"Not everyone's as by the book or loyal as you are," One of them said.

"Not everyone is afraid of the future," the other said. He held him down as the second Sound ninja appeared before him, raised a kunai and . . .

Katashi's second in command appeared, snapping the neck of one of the Chuunin and kicking the other roughly in the ground he also intercepted the kunai, locking it with his thickly muscled forearm.

Katashi nodded his thanks and shouted a new order, "Sunagakure means nothing, abandon it now, return to Iwagakure . . . this same thing must be happening there, and on a larger scale."

He didn't bother to fight the enemy ninja or the surviving traitor, he just ran.

This war was no longer a game, if some of the randomly selected ninja in his defense detail were enemy moles who knew how many surrounded the Tsuchikage.

* * *

Hitomi was sitting with her back to the great city wall, her eyes closed as she listened to the world around her.

Listening was so much easier, it was . . . quiet.

If she looked she might see the pain, loss, and chaos the war had inflicted.

She could see through _most _solid objects if she chose to, but she could choose not to as well and she chose not to see through her eyelids, sufficiently shutting out the world.

But experience had taught her that solitude was a passing thing, and soon enough the world found her.

"Here she is, safe and sound," Yomiko grunted, Hitomi opened one eye.

Naomasa came around a corner and saw her, he breathed a sigh of relief, Hitomi wasn't sure why.

But she did notice and appreciate the disdainful sigh Yomiko let out, she liked to think it was a sign of jealousy, a sign that Yomiko liked Nao.

Nao smiled at Hitomi, "I was worried about you," he said.

Hitomi just shrugged.

Naomasa said "Are you okay? What are you doing here?"

Hitomi looked at him with both eyes and whispered "I'm waiting for more enemies to kill, Naomasa. I'm waiting for the fighting to start up again."

Nao frowned at her, "It's almost over."

"No, it isn't." Hitomi whispered. "I understand that now . . . it'll never be over."

Nao shook his head, "Yes it will, Shikamaru-sensei said so."

"He's wrong, or else he's just lying." Hitomi whispered, she glared at Naomasa not out of anger but out of frustration, "Don't you see? No, of course not, I didn't even see until now . . . it's never going to end, Nao. Not as long as we're alive and even after our deaths it'll keep going . . . the fighting won't ever stop. Even if we kill the Sound's momentum and stop their invasion, even if we destroy the whole organization the fighting won't stop, we'll face another opponent later, even during peace we'll still be fighting, killing missing nin, bandits, crime lords. It won't stop, Naomasa."

Nao looked at her with very serious eyes, even Yomiko had come over to hear her words, as if they were somehow important but Hitomi knew it didn't matter, nothing she said was important because it wouldn't change anything.

"Retire." Naomasa said, "Resign. Stop being a ninja."

"The fighting won't stop, someone else will fight, someone else will kill . . . besides . . ." She looked away and closed her eyes, not wanting to see the two youths when she whispered "I . . . I like it."

"No you don't." Nao said.

"Yes I do . . . I love it." She admitted quietly, "When I'm out there I keep thinking it's inevitable, people are going to fight, I'm just doing what I was born to do, what I was programmed to do, I'm killing lesser beings who weren't _good _enough to survive, if they deserved to live they'd kill me, right? I fight, and I kill, and I kill, and I enjoy it so much, I'm going out of my mind." She whispered.

She shook her head, "It's . . . a rush, you know? Taking a life, feeling that superiority, and you can't stop because there's so many more to take, and they're so willing to let you, and you feel that power coursing through you . . . it's so amazing, and . . . and . . . and I'm so _scared_." She whispered.

She held her legs to her chest and shut her eyes, she spoke in a quiet, calm voice, "I can't do it. I can't . . . I can't stop, I can't think of anything but killing, blood, violence, I'm reveling in it and I can't stop feeling glad for this, because it's what we're born to do, it's what mankind has _always _done. I'm not losing it, I've lost it, I'm scared to death of myself, of my thoughts, of what I can do, what I _want _to do, even to the two of you if you got in my way, you think I couldn't kill you both right now? I can, and knowing that makes me feel so amazing and so filthy at the same time . . ." She opened her eyes, "so I'm waiting. Alone. Quietly. Waiting for someone else to kill."

Naomasa didn't tell her she was insane, or that she needed to cope, like she expected, instead to her surprise he said "I know what you mean."

"No you don't," she sneered, "You've only killed once."

Nao looked at her, "Doesn't mean I didn't feel what you feel. The thrill of it, the rush as you put it. Doesn't mean I didn't rationalize it the way you are. Saying he'd deserved to die and I deserved to live . . . doesn't mean I wasn't scared like you." Naomasa frowned, he sat down next to her, Yomiko sat down next to him but said nothing.

Nao continued, "I know I'm just a kid, but . . . . I think kids and adults can react the same to taking lives, I don't think it's something restricted to age. You killed before but always as a Chuunin, always with some restraint, now you're a Jounin, your strings are cut, you're climbing the power ladder and you're seeing how high you can get, and you're scared because you haven't reached the top and you see all the damage you're doing and you're scared of what you'll find at the top, right? You're scared of the person you'll be if you reach the top . . . Hitomi you're not a good person."

She looked at him, "Um . . . duh?" She raised an eyebrow.

Naomasa shrugged, "You're not a good person Hitomi, but you're not a bad one. You're a _person_, you're good and bad from day to day, mood to mood, action to action . . . today you're having a bad day because you're doing bad things, and thinking bad thoughts, you're trying to find ways to rationalize what you're doing . . . but I think I've figured you out, Hitomi-chan."

"Oh yeah?" Hitomi raised an eyebrow.

"You're not lying, you are scared," Nao whispered, "but I don't think you really know what it is you're scared of. You're . . . you're like a shooting star, you're brilliant, you're rare and I think you know it, and I think that's what scares you. You know you're something special, you're a genius ninja, I know that phrase gets tossed around a lot but you actually qualify. You know it, and it scares you because . . . in the end you don't want to be. You want to live a quiet life, you want to be a normal girl, just like I wanted to be a normal boy living off of my own merits, but I think in the end we both need to find a medium."

Naomasa looked at her and whispered "You're a Jounin at age seventeen, you could have been one even sooner but you held yourself back. You're scared because you've come so far in such a short time, you want to fade into the background but that's not your destiny."

Hitomi shook her head, "Nao . . . I hate you so much." She whispered just to hurt him.

Nao just laughed, "You lash out at me a lot, because I scare you too, don't I?" Nao asked, he didn't sound smug about it, but he sounded certain, "I love you, and that scares the spit out of you, because I want to spend my life with you and you're too afraid of other people to let that happen. You're a scared child Hitomi, you're about to become an adult and you're scared of that, you're a soldier fighting a war and god knows you're right to be scared of that too. Be afraid Hitomi, fear can be healthy, but don't let your fear own you."

Nao looked at her and said "You've killed before, you'll kill again, but it's not personal for you. Don't let them take that from you, keep fighting but don't let it become personal . . . I don't know everything, I can't answer every question but I think as long as you remember that you're doing what you're doing to protect the people of Konoha, and as long as you know in your heart that that's true, what you're doing today won't qualify you as a bad person, Hitomi."

Hitomi closed her eyes though Nao wouldn't see it. She shook her head and wanted to say something when she suddenly sensed--

There was a huge explosion, the walls shook as flaming boulders slammed into them, one bounced high overhead and slammed into a house behind the trio, Hitomi shook her head in amazement, then laughed a strained, tired laugh.

She glared at Nao and Yomiko, "You think you know me?" She demanded harshly, more harshly than may have been necessary but she wanted the point to get across once and for all.

She grabbed Naomasa by the collar, "Follow me, see for yourself . . . and when you've actually _fought _this fight, when you've seen and done the things I've done, then you'll have earned the right to speak to me on the matter."

_And I'll be able to keep an eye on you, if they've got siege weapons they'll focus fire on Shikamaru's control tower and he won't be dumb enough to go back there, _She thought.

Nao didn't follow her right away, she heard Yomiko grumble "Told you, she doesn't see you as an equal, she never will."

"She will now." Nao said, "I won't let her down."

_It's not about letting me down or not, _Hitomi thought, but she couldn't complete the thought.

What _was _it all about? What did any of it matter to her?

She had to have the answers now, she wasn't going to ask anymore.

She shut her eyes tight, she thought, she thought for as long as she dared, now it was time for action.

* * *

Hanabi yawned and opened her eyes slowly.

She looked around in surprise, she wasn't alone in her room.

Her company wasn't Tetsuo though.

There were two women in the room with her, Hattori servants, ninja washouts around the upper Genin level. They weren't much but they were the best the Hattori clan could provide by way of body guards for the pregnant Hanabi.

"What's going on? Why are you two in here?" Hanabi demanded.

"Stay calm, mistress." One of them said.

"There's some trouble in the streets." The other explained.

Hanabi got up out of bed and went to a window, both her body guards flanking her. She drew back a curtain and looked out.

She didn't see anything, it was too dark.

"The street lamps," she realized, "why aren't they lit?"

"They were." One of her guards--she didn't know which one--said.

"Byakugan!" Hanabi whispered and the streets outside the Hattori compound came to life with chakra.

The unrefined chakra of soldiers with just a few ninja running about.

The ninja garrison and the militia.

She could hear the faint rumbling of the shouting outside the compound, there was a battle going on. Hanabi could see soldier after soldier fall, ninja knocking out entire groups or themselves falling prey.

One side was definitely overwhelming the other.

"Who's who?" Hanabi asked.

"The side coming front the center of the city is the militia . . . the ones fighting towards the center . . ."

"Kirigakure?" Hanabi wondered.

No one answered, neither of them knew.

Hanabi folded her arms, "I'll have to go get one for questioning then."

"Mistress you're in no condition," one of her guards said, Hanabi ignored her and stomped off towards her closet, she dressed herself, threw her Kumogakure flack jacket on, and then opened the window.

She leapt from the window, her body guards followed her.

She hit the ground harder than she'd expected, she'd been out of practice too long.

"Kill invading soldiers until they give us reason not to, capture a ninja if you can, or at least scream out his village."

There was an explosion towards the enemy's rear, Hanabi froze, "What's that?" She demanded.

Neither of her guards knew, a massive beast rose up and tore into the enemy ranks.

"A summon?" Hanabi wondered but still neither woman knew.

Several other Hattori servants had joined them now, a masked Hishu appeared, "Remain calm m'lady, return to your home."

"We're ninja, we can help." Hanabi said, "What's going on?"

"Just a minor problem, don't worry."

"What's that?" One of Hanabi's bodyguards demanded, pointing to the monstrosity ripping through the enemy ranks.

The Hishu laughed softly, "Our newest ally."

* * *

Kankuro rode on the back of Dragon, a puppet he'd stolen from the stores of Sunagakure with the help of the Raikage's Hishu squad.

He'd always been apprehensive about controlling such a large puppet, worried he wouldn't be ready for it . . .

Now that didn't matter, there were no reservations because nothing mattered.

According to the Hishu his brother and sister were probably already dead, and Syako, his beloved was the cause.

He glared down at the army of soldiers, their uniforms lavender and gray, the colors of the Sound organization.

"You're all going to die," He said coldly.

Not one of them, it seemed, could put up enough of a fight to prove him wrong, Dragon threw back its head and breathed a terrible gout of flame onto the soldiers of Sound.

Kankuro could have laughed, in the old days maybe he would have, but nothing was funny anymore, nothing was exhilarating, nothing was frightening, everything was just a motion he had to go through until he could get to Syako, until he could have his revenge.

She'd betrayed him.

Sure she'd betrayed everyone . . . but the real mistake was when she'd betrayed _him_.

Dragon's tail swept through a group of soldiers, there were very few ninja mixed in and the Hishu were largely taking care of them.

In the sunlight the serpentine dragon was sandstone red, with a golden mane and tuft on its tail, but in the dark it might as well have been cold black, when its flames lit up the night it was dark, bloody red and its hair was like flame as well.

It was just a massive puppet which Kankuro needed both hands to control, it didn't roar or fly, the former was unnecessary for a ninja tool, the latter was impractical but not impossible, Temari's fan could glide but it was with chakra that she made it fly and support her weight, Dragon could have been made to fly as well.

If Kankuro lived long enough maybe he'd reach a level where he could make Dragon fly, but even that minor ambition did nothing to change the emotionless expression on his face.

He wasn't without emotion though, he felt pain very clearly, the pain Syako--no Sachiko had left in his heart and he'd make her pay.

* * *

Syako felt the ground tremble and she fell into the arms of Yamanaka Ino.

"What was that?" She cried.

"Something big hit us." Ino said evenly, she shoved Syako away and towards the shelter that led to the labyrinth, Syako saw Temari and a fat man approaching, "What's going on?" Ino demanded, but when the second volley came they saw them and they knew.

"Catapults." Temari said, weariness and resignation plain in her voice.

"Lets take them," Ino said to Chouji but Syako shook her head.

"No, if they have siege weapons it must mean that the Kamikage has arrived . . . the likes of you can't contend with him, he's the greatest living ninja."

Temari laughed softly, "Not for long. Three on one . . ." Temari smirked at Syako but it was forced, Syako knew her beloved Kan-kun's big sister well enough to know Temari didn't relish the idea of fighting Kabuto, at least not in the way she was pretending. She was probably eager to kill him and end the war, but surely she realized she had no chance of winning.

Syako held Temari's arm, "Don't leave your daughter an orphan, Shikamaru would have planned for this, tell him that Kabuto is here, he must have a plan, trust in him. If you love him as I love Kan--"

"Don't you dare pretend to love my brother," Temari snapped, "You betrayed him and all of us, you sold out our village and our alliance."

Syako closed her eyes, "We . . . the Daimyo and I, we wanted to spare as many ninja as we could. Gaara was the only one who had to die, he wouldn't let us ally with Sound . . . we wanted to install Kan-kun as the new Kazekage . . . I did betray you and Gaara, I never betrayed Kankuro."

"By betraying us you betrayed him, we siblings aren't just summer camp friends you know," Temari scoffed, "To kill one of us is like removing a limb from the others, and you're responsible or taking Kankuro from Gaara and me, how dare you claim any part of him for yourself."

Syako glared, "Like I have time to argue with you about this? You can think what you want, but if you have half the brains you think you do you'll find out what Shikamaru's plan is before you go getting excited. He _must _have prepared for this, he had to know my master would come."

Temari nodded slightly, "It was always our intention to get Shikamaru, don't be stupid."

Syako nodded back, "Take me too. Let me tell him everything I know, I can help with the planning."

Temari folded her arms, "You think I trust you?"

Syako scoffed, "I don't care if you do or don't, let Shikamaru decide."

Ino said "I scanned her mind Sakura, she is honest in her defection."

"Then you know what she knows about the attack." Temari said coldly.

"No." Ino said, "I didn't look for that."

Temari turned to her, "Please do. I'll accept it from you, not that traitorous snake, she changes sides like a dice."

Ino nodded, Syako scowled, "You would just abuse a prisoner like--"

"Yes." Temari interrupted her, and then she felt Ino invade her mind.

She was compliant, she offered no resistance, gave them no reason to knock her unconscious.

Ino took the information she needed and the three Konoha ninja set off. Syako shook her head and went looking for Sumiko.

She could at least protect someone.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **Belated chapter, along with my apologies . . .


	162. Tsunade's Stand

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Sixty Two**

Hitomi glared at the onrushing enemy army before her view was obscured by a wall of sand. There was a blast nearby; the Kazekage's sand barrier was repelling the catapults, but just barely.

Many of the boulders exploded and caught fire, Hitomi looked to Nao and Yomiko, who were both with her, "I'm assuming control of your squad," she told them, "barring orders from the chief strategist or the Hokage himself you're mine now. We have to do something about--"

Hitomi was going to say that something had to be done about the catapults when suddenly she saw why the enemy army was charging.

A giant serpent came to life from out of thin air; it reared up to strike and then slammed its head into the gates of the city, the whole wall shook.

Hitomi struggled to keep her footing, she grabbing Yomiko who was about to fall over the edge, then the snake reared up to try again.

"Fire Summoning Jutsu!" Naomasa shouted, his fiery minion flew towards the snake's eyes.

But reared up the snake was as tall as a building probably long enough to wrap itself around an athletic track a time and a half, and Nao's phoenix was swept aside by its second strike.

Other ninja tried various techniques but the snake struck and the walls shuddered, the gates shattered, the serpent slithered through the gates halfway then slammed into the narrow portion of the wall above the gate.

It brought itself sharply upward, ninja leapt away, soldiers tried to run, some made it, most didn't, the snake tore that portion of the wall down and its tail slammed into a nearby building, crushing it against the wall.

Hitomi was about to try her own Incineration Jutsu but suddenly the sand barrier went from the walls to the snake, ripping it to shreds before her very eyes.

It was a giant sand coffin; Hitomi was seeing through it so she was the only one seeing the snake crushed to death by the sand . . . it wasn't an image she wanted to share anyway.

She saw the hail fire of arrows sailing towards them, but the Kazekage's sand was fast enough to both crush the snake and defend the walls before the arrows struck.

"We may be unnecessary," Yomiko said uneasily, "Looks like the Kazekage can handle this alone."

"He has his limits," Nao said, "and he's only doing it now out of desperation, if he could do this all the time he would have done it while they were attacking us before instead of defending just a portion of the wall."

"Kid's right, Kazekage can't keep this up," Inuzuka Kiba said, appearing suddenly, "He says he wants someone to take out those catapults, then we're going to have to counter attack that mob from behind their position . . . you up for it?"

Hitomi hesitated; she wanted to keep an eye on Nao and Yomiko . . .

But who was she to refuse such a vital mission? "I'm in." She said.

"So am I." Nao said without hesitation.

"Me too . . ." Yomiko said with some slight hesitation and a glare at Nao.

"Don't forget us, you'll need medics." Shizune said, indicating herself, Oedo Daisuke and Miyuki.

"They'll need medics on the wall, Miyuki, you stay here." Hara said.

"I should think not, if you're marching into certain death so am I." Miyuki said.

Hara looked at Hitomi as if asking for help but honestly Hitomi wasn't willing to give it to him, she wanted Miyuki there.

"Daisuke is the lowest ranking and least capable of attacking the enemy's rear, so he will stay behind, Miyuki and I will go with you." Shizune said, "Let's go."

"Wait, we should try to find at least a few others." Yomiko squeaked.

"Done, done and done," Nara Temari said, indicating the two other ninja with her, Kyoko and Chouji.

"Shikamaru prepared for this?" Shizune asked, sounding surprised.

"No, but Ino is telling him now that we're doing it. Ready then?" Temari asked in a singsong voice as if she didn't consider the situation nearly as dangerous as it really was.

Everyone nodded their affirmatives, and then Nara Temari who had exerted herself so terribly before swept her massive fan out and shouted, "Then let's thrash those catapults!"

Weary as they were none of the ninja on the wall dared show it, not if Temari wouldn't.

They all leapt from the walls, the sand opened up to let them out, then Hitomi felt it engulf her and throw her farther than she would have leapt.

She flew through the air, guided by a blanket of sand, she could see the others being similarly driven, the Kazekage meant to make sure they made it to their destination.

She could see below her the armies charging, she glanced at Nao and Yomiko, her charges, then at Hara and Miyuki, her teammates.

She looked at Kiba who was riding the sand near Shizune and something about Shizune seemed to demand Hitomi's attention but she couldn't place her finger on what it was.

They flew over the enemy army, over the trees and then suddenly the sand dispersed, the ninja fell into the trees, landing without making a noise.

They had seen whilst in the air where the catapults were, with nothing but silent hand signals Temari directed them to stay together and strike the first catapult.

The ninja platoon moved through the trees in silence and headed for their first target.

* * *

Kabuto closed his eyes in frustration.

Orochimaru's essence should be _his _now, Okatsu had messed up big time, his plans were in shambles, if he couldn't be Lord Orochimaru's new body, his _true _body how would he maintain his hold on the Empire?

If Orochimaru weren't a factor at all it would be no problem, but with his essence imparted to another ninja . . . it meant Kabuto had a rival.

He watched the armies charge for the gates, the Kazekage was protecting the entire village with a sand barrier but he couldn't hold it up forever, he would tire, or exert himself to death, either way before the dawn of the next day Konoha needed to fall.

And Orochimaru's essence needed to be transferred into Kabuto.

He'd sent his guards away; he didn't want anyone to be nearby when he killed Okatsu.

He'd train the Sound Five himself, Okatsu had failed him too terribly to allow her to live.

He stalked around her like a tiger circling his prey; she for her part remained still, kneeling, daring to act as if she served him when clearly she had served only herself in releasing Orochimaru's essence into another vassal.

"So," He finally said, "What body did our lord choose?"

"Mitarashi Anko."

"Why? Do you know?" Kabuto demanded.

"He told me freely, master. Lord Orochimaru wants her, she was always one of his favorites and she will do until he can obtain Uchiha. Besides, by claiming her body it allows him a venue to make her son the first of the five."

"Aburame is the first of the five," Kabuto insisted, "He is the most skilled."

"Aburame will be second, Hattori fifth, Hyuga fourth, it is the master's request."

Kabuto glared, "Then who has been replaced, my original fifth or my original fourth?"

"The fifth. No longer necessary. The fourth will still be recruited as the new fifth, I have already told the third and fourth whom to seek." Okatsu said calmly.

Kabuto closed his eyes.

He had _reasons _for choosing the five children he chose, their powers complimented his designs.

Was it stupid to be angry at Lord Orochimaru?

After all he was doing all of this _for _Lord Orochimaru, so that when he _became _Orochimaru the world would be to his lord's liking . . . if Orochimaru was making adjustments wasn't that a good thing?

No, no of course it wasn't, it meant that Kabuto had not anticipated his lord's desires as fully or as accurately as he should have, and the thought infuriated him.

He shook his head, he could take it out on Okatsu, then he'd be the one to train the Five, Orochimaru would have to allow it, he'd still be useful at least.

He stretched forth his hand to destroy her, but suddenly he was stopped.

Okatsu glared at him, her eyes like those of a serpent, "Lord Orochimaru warned me you might no be pleased, he wishes you to know that he needs me to fulfill his plans just as you once did."

Kabuto smirked and began to move again, fighting down the fear that petrified him, after all he _was _Orochimaru, he really was, Anko might have some bundle of memories and ambitions but _he _had the flesh of Orochimaru, he _was _Orochimaru.

His serpent arm wrapped itself around Okatsu, and he began to squeeze. Okatsu didn't even struggle, she just shook her head pityingly at first, and then because of the physical pressure began to strain and grunt, finally she did scream, and then she fell unconscious.

Kabuto meant to finally kill her, to crush her even harder, constrict his arm around her until she was totally dead but he relented.

Okatsu _was _important to his plans, no matter what Anko thought _he _was Orochimaru and _his _plans were what mattered, Okatsu was still a part of those plans until he found someone better.

She might require some . . . reeducation. But she was still one of his vassals; it wouldn't do to kill people just because he was in a bad mood.

Kabuto noticed a figure nearby, though he'd ordered even his body guards away to the charge of Konoha's walls, which he himself would soon be joining there was no questioning the shadowy frame standing less than thirty feet away from him.

It was a woman. She was elderly and dressed in Konoha clothes. Too old to be a ninja, she must have been a prisoner, or at least appeared to be a prisoner. Kabuto held up his human hand and used a Jutsu that would help him see through Genjutsu.

There was none, she was no ninja in disguise, just some old woman watching him nearly commit murder.

Kabuto recalled that medical personal captured from Konoha had been forced to serve the coalition army, as she approached Kabuto realized she meant to aid Okatsu.

"Why aren't you with the army?" He asked.

"I am too old to charge." She said calmly.

There was something familiar about her . . .

"No . . ." He whispered in disbelief, he checked again for Genjutsu then realized his stupidity.

She wasn't using a Genjutsu, the reason he didn't recognize the old bag was because for once she _wasn't _using Genjutsu, and for a woman incorrectly believed to have discovered some fountain of youth the fifth Hokage's best disguise ended up being a lack of any at all.

Tsunade, old and world weary must have realized the gig was up because she stopped her calm approach and leapt into the air and came down hard, her foot slamming into the ground where Kabuto and Okatsu had been, where, had he not recognized her and leapt away, they still would have been.

"So, you're finished wearing masks, Tsunade-chan?" Kabuto hissed.

"I think it's time we both stopped wearing masks, Orochimaru." She said coldly, "I won't let you destroy my village."

"You can't stop it . . . but I'll let you die trying." Kabuto said, but inwardly he was thrilled.

Even Tsunade recognized that _he _was Orochimaru.

In reward he would kill her slowly.

* * *

Tsunade had sort of thought that when she stepped down and made Naruto the Hokage that the war was about to end and she would simply be able to relax for the rest of her life, she didn't expect to finally be facing Orochimaru again.

Kabuto-Orochimaru laughed maniacally as she missed strike after strike, she was so slow compared to him.

It was what she wanted him to think, even at her age Tsunade was a ninja and deception was her favorite tool, she knew her opponent would toy with her at first and that would allow her to deceive him.

She would wait for the opportune moment . . . then strike, ending his evil once and for all.

* * *

Shikamaru glared out at the spectacle of the onrushing army, "There's too many, we haven't got a gate and most of our ninja haven't had time to fully regenerate their chakra."

"So what's our move?" The Hokage asked.

Shikamaru looked at Naruto, "Would you believe I don't know?"

Naruto looked at Shikamaru for a long moment then said, "I can't afford to believe that."

Shikamaru smiled weakly, "We need to take those catapults, we need to find out who summoned that snake, we need to hold off that onrushing army . . . all of this requires time we don't have and manpower we don't have."

"Temari-chan is taking care of the catapults!" Ino said, rushing up to Shikamaru and Naruto.

"Of course she is," Shikamaru sighed with weary affection, "But Gaara can't keep defending this city forever. He hasn't got the one tail's chakra to rely on or its power--"

"Gaara's stronger now than he ever was with the demon." Naruto said.

"Maybe so," Shikamaru said, "but he doesn't have your stamina, the man just got done defending the walls all day long, now he's continuing after what, an hour of rest? He's not invincible."

"So what's the plan, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru fell into his thinking stance out of habit.

He concentrated for a moment then his eyes opened, "Get to Taisho Miura, order him to split his force, have the majority of it defend the walls and the gate, but tell him to have three hundred trusted men go into the labyrinth, we need to begin the retreat, those men will guard the civilians as they run, we'll buy them the time they need."

"What if they're attacked?" Ino asked.

"They've got the only ninja in this village that have had full nights of sleep and have full chakra reserves," Shikamaru said, "along with three hundred soldiers that'll just have to be enough, besides we'll be delaying the enemy's main army."

Naruto frowned, "We're giving up?"

"No . . ." Shikamaru said, weighing what he was about to ask Naruto to do.

"What then? Why are we sending the civilians away?" Naruto asked.

"To protect them . . . in case we can't control you." Shikamaru let the statement hang in the air, let Naruto absorb the meaning, the implications.

Naruto lowered his gaze and a faint smile came over his lips, "Can we spare Gaara?"

"What do you mean?" Ino asked.

"If this doesn't work out the people will need a leader," Naruto said, "Gaara has already done enough for the walls, and once I do what Shikamaru wants me to do we won't need him there anymore."

Shikamaru nodded, "Gaara will go with the civilians, I'll leave it to his judgment to keep them safe from whoever's coming from the direction of the Land of Waves, if they're Lightning we're probably fine, if they're Water we're _probably _fine but if they're Waves, or something else"

Naruto nodded, "When do we do this?"

"Hold steady," Shikamaru said, "We need to give Temari time to take out those catapults so Gaara can leave the wall, I want the civilians ready to run by then, they can flee through the side gates since the enemy is so kindly charging our main gate, there's a lot of them so however much time we can buy them the better off they'll be and the more who'll escape . . ." Shikamaru hesitated, "I still hope to save you as a last resort, Hokage-sama, but if the enemy isn't relenting by the time the civilians are safely away . . . you'll know what to do."

Naruto nodded slowly, he turned to Ino, "Get Gaara, when the catapults are stopped have him bring Temari's group back."

"He can't see or reach that far or he'd destroy the catapults himself, he's going to throw them in the right direction with enough of his sand to cushion their landing."

Shikamaru flinched at that news. Temari might not even survive to take on the catapults.

"He'll get them when their mission is complete and they're on their way back," Naruto reasoned, "then you and he make a run for it with the civilians."

"Me?" Ino asked, "I'm capable of fight--"

"Not in your condition, if you die you won't be the only one." Shikamaru pointed out.

"You're surviving for two now." Naruto agreed.

Ino frowned and looked away, "Three. I'll keep an eye on Sumiko too, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru forced a smile and nodded. Ino suddenly snapped to attention, not something a ninja did, and she saluted, another something ninja usually didn't do.

Yet automatically Shikamaru and Naruto returned the gesture instantly, "Good luck, Naruto, Shikamaru." Ino said.

"Good luck, Ino." Naruto said, "And don't worry . . . we'll still be the Twelve after this, I won't let that number drop to eleven, ten or anything else."

Shikamaru took a deep breath then he drew his knives, "Well then . . . time to go discuss the rest of my plan with the Taisho."

Naruto followed him, the two men leapt from the tactical tower that nobody expected them to be in, and onto the walls even as Ino disappeared in search of the Kazekage.

"Naruto, for what it's worth . . . using you as a weapon . . . it isn't something I came to lightly." Shikamaru said when they landed on the wall.

Naruto smirked, "Dattebayo."

It was the only thing he said before he began shouting orders and encouragement to the men and women on the walls.

Their arrows spent they waited while the enemy army charged as they came near to Gaara's sand barrier, men stood where the gates had once stood, spears and pikes ready to force the enemy to stay out and already Shikamaru could see most of the Oedo clan was busy shaping metal to build a barricade where the gate had been.

Shikamaru shook his head . . . if only they could just surrender.

But they couldn't. It wasn't a matter of fighting and dying or surrendering and surviving, it was the opposite, if they surrendered they'd die, if they fought they _might _survive.

Otherwise Shikamaru would have drawn up the white flag just to lure Kabuto into the city so he could kill him.

He just prayed Temari wasn't crazy enough to try it herself."

* * *

Tomoko shook her head slowly, "It sounds really bad up there," she told Kyusaku.

Her friend nodded, "It's no problem though, don't be scared."

Tomoko said nothing for a while, then Kyusaku said "This is the part where you say you're not scared so I know it's okay for me not to be either."

Tomoko smiled weakly; "I'm not scared at all, Kyu-kun." she lied.

She watched the labyrinth entrance, her heart pounding in her chest, "I'm not scared at all," she whispered, lying through her teeth.

She was terrified.

Not so much for herself, she knew her duty and if she died in the defense of the civilians that was one thing, at least then her troubles would be over.

But her brother Daisuke . . . their father . . . Chouji-sensei, Hitomi-sensei, Nao . . . Yuu . . .

She nearly had a heart attack when the door swung open and two ninja came rushing in, "Halt, who--" Tomoko tried but she recognized one of them immediately, "Ryu?"

"The gate's out," Ryu whispered, "we need to begin evacuating the civilians, Taisho Miura is selecting three hundred soldiers to help. We need to guide everyone to the exit."

"Sounds good, you guys get on that." Tomoko said, rushing past Ryu to the door, now that it was open the sounds of battle were even louder.

"Where do you think you're--" Ryu began but Tomoko, knowing what he meant to say answered before he could finish.

"The gate's down my family will be the ones trying to fix it, they'll need me!" She shouted over her shoulder, running for the city gates.

She could protect at least _some _of the people she was worried about, she wouldn't be held up in that stuff old maze any longer.

* * *

Naomasa hit the ground hard, he saw the first catapult, and a group of soldiers was guarding it. They saw him immediately.

"Bad landing, Gaara!" Temari, who was near him shouted, sweeping her fan out and knocking the soldiers back, Hara quickly, finished them off with a flurry of shuriken and kunai while Hitomi sprang for the catapult, holding her hands up to her face she shouted "Fire Style, Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

Balls of flame engulfed the three catapults in the small clearing and the dead operators, Naomasa cringed at the sight. Even though the men were dead it was a disturbing way to handle the corpses.

"Subtle." Miyuki said.

"Subtlety is for when you don't want the enemy to know you're here," Kiba said, "if we're lucky we might get a few of them to come hunting for us in these woods and ease the pressure on the gate."

"Stick to your groups," Shizune said, "There are two other patches of catapults, let's take them out then hit the enemy's command camp before we make our run for the Land of Grass."

It wasn't the real plan, only an idiot shouted out the real plan in the dark in the forest where enemy ninja could be listening in.

Everyone knew she was lying, for starters there were _three _other catapult groups that Naomasa had seen from the wall and he was sure Hitomi had seen others if there were any. The real plan was to split up in the event that they were intercepted, that's what Shizune had meant with "stick to your groups" which didn't mean anything concrete because no groups had been assigned, it just meant that the Chuunin should stick to whatever Jounin they were closest to when the time to split up came, when it was over they most decidedly would not attack the command camp, they would head for the enemy's lines and hit them in the back just like the Kazekage had said.

And of course they had no intention of heading towards the Lands of Grass.

Nao swallowed a lump in his throat and watched Hitomi.

It was time to show her that he was her equal, not just some stupid kid, not just some inferior ninja.

He'd have to show her, he was willing to do whatever it took.

The small ninja army sprang into action, all heading for the next group of catapults which they located by watching the balls of flame streak through the sky and tracing them back to their origins.

Nao stuck close to Hitomi, whatever happened he would stick by her side like glue, he'd keep an eye out for her and at the same time he'd show her just what he could do.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**Note: **This is the first chapter in what I call the "Super Special Awesome Update of Death!"

These were chapters I had trouble with and delayed in part because they didn't feel totally right and also because they see the start of a very sudden toll on the cast . . . still, hopefully someone will enjoy these chapters and I sort of owe you all anyway so here they are, all at once.


	163. Kazekage's Determination

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Sixty Three**

Kabuto saw the pillar of flame and he guessed right away something had gone wrong with one of his catapult teams.

Maybe the flames they were using to set fire to the boulders had--

Another pillar of flame.

And here was his camp with the lightest of guards because the mere idea that Konoha would launch a counteroffensive was ludicrous.

He scowled, it was time to stop Tsunade dead in her tracks but the old woman was wily, she'd tried twice now to strike for what she perceived to be a blind spot in his defense and both times he'd only barely stopped her.

He noticed Okatsu starting to wake, he smirked wickedly, it was a good thing he'd left her alive after all.

Tsunade suddenly spun around, kicking him with more speed than he could imagine, and, seeing as she was Tsunade, more strength than such a frail old frame should have been able to manage.

The kick could have killed him but he realized it was coming just in time to move just enough of his body away so that instead of fatal the wound was just painful.

Extremely painful . . . but not fatal.

"You'll pay for that, Tsunade." Kabuto warned.

"Not before you pay for all of your crimes." Tsunade said curtly, and rushed in again, ducking low and seeping both her legs out, Kabuto leapt to avoid being tripped by her right leg and threw himself backwards to avoid being hit in the knees by her left.

But the old Hokage pushed off from the ground with her hand, her legs still spinning around Kabuto, airborne, couldn't dodge well enough and he went flying straight into a tree.

He quickly spun and tried to kick off from the tree but he couldn't get his body into position in time and succeeded only in kicking with his right leg, feeling the entire tree crack from the force with which he'd hit it, but slowing himself enough that he could shove away from the tree with his hands and land on his feet.

He turned to see Tsunade coming and lunged for her only to feel sharp pain run through his right leg.

He realized that the crack he'd heard hadn't been the tree, but he didn't have time to worry about a broken leg, if he let Tsunade catch him his whole body would be broken.

Kabuto leaped with his good leg high into the air; quickly he snapped his bone back into place and applied a quick healing Jutsu to help the bones mend quickly.

It would be temporary and the bone would be far weaker than normal, but he'd be able to walk on it and hopefully run.

Tsunade however wasn't giving him any reprieve; she leapt up after him, reaching up for him.

His own ascent ceased and he began to descend, he kicked out with his good leg as if he meant to kick Tsunade downwards and rise up again, she adjusted the aim of her hand to grab his leg instead and he wept it back further, out of her reach and drew a kunai.

He stabbed for her stomach as the two of them passed, Tsunade tried to knock the blade away but only succeeded in softening the blow, Kabuto noted with satisfaction that his blade came away bloody.

The Hokage landed on one side of the clearing, Kabuto on the other, Okatsu's unconscious body between them.

Kabuto smirked and looked at the blood on his kunai, "It would seem we are both rather beat up, Lady Hokage."

"Injuries mean nothing to me . . . as long as you die." Tsunade said.

Kabuto smiled, he pulled a summoning scroll from one of the pockets in his robe and wiped Tsunade's blood on it, "Summoning Jutsu!"

Tsunade did the same, taking blood from her bleeding stomach she too began a summoning Jutsu.

They both summoned their minions, Kabuto a gigantic serpent, Tsunade a massive slug.

Kabuto laughed, "I am Orochimaru; I am a god!"

"You're a dead man." Tsunade responded, "Your tyranny ends here and now!"

"You dream," Kabuto shouted, "I've come too far to give up now!"

"You've come _this _far, but I'll see to it you come no further, this place will be your final resting place, Orochimaru, the final resting place of both the surviving Sannin if necessary." Tsunade roared.

Kabuto waited no longer, his snake lashed out, striking for the slug, his own serpent arm struck as well as he prepared a Jutsu for Tsunade.

* * *

The catapults burned and Hitomi spotted the giant snake rise up above the trees.

"What in the--" She began but suddenly her eyes spotted something else, "Break!" She shouted.

A flurry of kunai and senbon rained down and shot out from the trees, Hitomi deflected as many as she could, they were attacked from both high and low, the only defense was to stand behind the burning wrecks of the catapults and Hitomi was too far from them.

Temari swept her fan out and blew the projectiles away from Temari and Shizune who were too far from the catapults to take cover.

"Break!" Shizune repeated Hitomi's cry, "Break now!"

"I'll get him!" Temari shouted.

Hitomi swallowed a lump in her throat.

There were two more catapult groups; she nodded to Hara, and indicated Nao and Yomiko who were closest to him, not her.

He nodded and the three of them bolted towards one group, Hitomi saw Kiba and Miyuki spring towards the other, she was closest to them, and she saw Chouji go off after Nao and Yomiko.

The groups would be roughly equal in strength; she went with Kiba and Miyuki.

Temari and Shizune remained behind to distract the ninja who'd ambushed them.

Hitomi felt her heart pounding in her chest; she kept her eyes peeled on the trees.

How had anyone snuck up on them?

How had she not seen them?

Had she been too distracted by the snake? How could the enemy have known that she wouldn't be on guard right then?

It didn't make sense at all, how had she been caught off guard? How had any of them?

She catapulted herself through the trees and saw a portion of the forest suddenly topple over, she suspected Temari had used some powerful wind Jutsu; she cringed and kept following Kiba, his two massive dogs running along with them on the ground nearby.

Temari saw the next group of catapults, she saw arrows streak through the trees, and the enemy knew they were coming.

She inhaled sharply and as she came out of the trees she used the Phoenix Flower Jutsu again, this time on live opponents.

The soldiers screamed, a couple of ninja leapt to avoid it and were each caught in the air by Kiba's dogs, one had his throat ripped away before he could do anything, the other substituted.

Hitomi scanned the forest for him and quickly spotted him in a tree behind Miyuki.

She wasn't close enough; she had no Jutsu that could stop him.

"Solitary Fang!" Kiba roared spinning and propelling himself straight for Miyuki, who ducked out of the way.

Kiba slammed into the enemy ninja and lashed out with all four limbs, mauling the Chuunin, who fell to the ground in a heap, Kiba glared at the catapults and Hitomi nodded.

She didn't have a lot of chakra left so she aimed her Fireball Jutsu to take both the large wooden Catapults in one blast.

Kiba and his dogs knocked them over and Hitomi said "Now what? What about the other team?"

"We go back," Kiba said, "They're bound to have taken care on their own; we don't have time to--"

Hitomi threw herself back towards the trees just in time to avoid a massive shuriken which hit the ground right between her and Kiba, she'd seen where it came from but not who threw it.

"I can smell him," Kiba growled with satisfaction, "You ladies run for it, I'll take this bozo."

Hitomi nodded, and she and Miyuki made a break for the trees, running right beneath the shuriken's point of origin, Kiba and both his dogs leapt for some seemingly random spot, then moved as if they were pursuing something that Hitomi just couldn't see.

It was oddly terrifying knowing there was something out there she couldn't see.

"We have to get the other team." Hitomi said.

"We can't do that for the same reasons we can't stay to help Inuzuka-sempai; we'd only get in the way, keep moving!" Miyuki shouted, grabbing Hitomi's wrist and pulling her along.

They emerged from the trees, Hitomi could see the walls were fully under siege, enemies were massing on the gates, there was wild movement in the mass of soldiers, and Hitomi guessed the ninja had abandoned the wall to fight in the mass of enemy soldiers.

She felt dread gripping her heart, this was a truly dire situation.

How did the enemy get reinforcements so fast?

She had no time to think about it, she just ran for the fierce melee outside the city's walls.

"Stay close to me, Miyuki." She said as they neared.

Some men fleeing from the carnage passed them by and Miyuki unceremoniously dispatched any that got too close to them, not waiting to see whether or not they had hostile intentions, "You just stay close to me. You look like you're ready to drop." Miyuki said calmly.

Hitomi nodded, even though she was behind Miyuki who couldn't see her.

She took a deep breath when they got near to the fighting masses and then suddenly the ground heaved up beneath them, sands enveloped them and carried them high above the battle.

Hitomi, whose goggles kept the sand from getting in her eyes as she looked at the scene below saw that the ninja fighting the enemy masses were all identical, all wearing black and orange.

"Naruto-sensei!" She cried with a mixture of awe and excitement, and she barely noticed the sand that got into her mouth as she spoke.

If any one man could hold back an army it was her sensei.

Him and his insane amounts of chakra.

* * *

Orochimaru stood on the top of the Hokage's office watching the drama unfold.

Naruto had personally taken to the fight, the Twelve were scatted and the civilians were about to try to escape.

Orochimaru laughed derisively, he leapt from the Hokage's roof top but never hit the ground, instead he teleported from there to the battlefield and appeared next to the nearest general.

"Taisho," He barked, and the scarred Wind Taisho turned in surprise, he raised his katana but one of his soldiers, a masked samurai held back his hand, and Orochimaru said "Put that away, I'm with the Sound."

The Taisho nodded, "What is it, then?"

Orochimaru scoffed, "In a short while Konoha is going to fall, but before that they're going to try to evacuate the civilians, take your legion and meet them, cut them off, kill them all or at least as many as you have to until they turn back."

The Taisho looked shocked, but Orochimaru handed him a piece of paper, a map of the city he--or rather _she _had drawn whilst on top of the Hokage's office.

"That's where they'll be, I don't know how long you have, be there, keep them from getting out and Nara Shikamaru's plans will backfire. If the civilians are safely out of the city the city itself becomes nothing but a deadly maze for our soldiers, at worst the Konoha ninja may destroy their own village to keep us from obtaining it, a few dozen dead civilians to force the rest back into the city is nothing compared to the thousands of dead soldiers if you fail. If we capture Konoha's civilians and hold them ransom the ninja will just charge us and try to rescue them, the only way to ensure victory is to force Nara to accept that he's lost, in that way many lives will be saved."

The Taisho hesitated, his masked companion said in a soft voice, "This is your victory, Hirate Akira . . . this is the moment I told you of."

Orochimaru-Anko fought back curiosity. That samurai spoke like a woman . . .

Never mind, not important, the lord of the Sound organization had much to do, it was time now.

Time to collect the First.

Anko hadn't wanted her son to die . . . but that was fine, he wouldn't.

Because he was Orochimaru's son now, he was the proper heir, born from Orochimaru's adored student, trained in the techniques Orochimaru had taught her, contracted to the snakes, a genius in his own right, Hatake Kotaro, though no blood relation to Orochimaru himself, would be the first of the new Five, he would be the head enforcer of the Sound Shogunate.

And he would do it all because his mother would tell him to, and because he'd want her to survive past her usefulness to Orochimaru.

Once he had Uchiha Anko's body wouldn't matter anymore, to free his mother Kotaro, genius son of two genius ninja would no doubt stop at nothing and that was why he had to be chosen, that in addition to all of his talents was why Orochimaru had wanted the boy, had wanted Anko.

It was all a means to an end, and that end was Sasuke.

_I haven't forgotten, Sasuke-kun, I haven't given up. Your eyes will be mine, I will master every Jutsu and no one will be able to oppose me._

He "poofed" back into the village, near the labyrinth entrance and entered.

He--or rather _she_ would find her son and bring him over even as Okatsu's girls brought in the second and third.

Acquiring the Five came first, then hunting Uchiha and conquering any patches or resistance left over.

Then the world would be his . . . the fighting would be over, peace would settle in and he would finally have everything he wanted, everything he needed.

* * *

The sound of war was deafening, the enemy army was almost completely destroyed as far as Gaara could see but these reinforcements were here in force.

How had they arrived without being detected? Shikamaru had seen two large forces approaching but neither was supposed to arrive so soon.

Gaara, using a sand eye to observe the woods saw Temari emerge from the trees.

He swept her up and brought her back. It was becoming strenuous to do so, he was dangerously low on chakra. He'd already used more than he ever suspected he would have to, more than was safe.

He kept watching with one eye for Kiba or Shizune but they weren't emerging, when Temari got back Ino appeared, "Kazekage, Hokage-sama has ordered a retreat of the civilians and requests that you go with them, he will be in charge of the rear guard."

Gaara shook his head, "Tell him I said "no" and carry on."

Temari dropped from the sand and landed on the wall, "Gaara, why didn't we counter attack them from the rear?"

"Could you have?" Gaara asked.

"Of course I could have, we would have caused incredible confusion and--" Temari was saying but Ino interrupted her.

"The civilians are fleeing, you and the Kazekage have done enough, please go with them Temari-san."

Temari took her fan from her back and glared, "You're nuts! The fighting is still going on--" as if to emphasize her point an arrow streaked by and would have struck a Fire soldier nearby but Gaara deflected it and Temari continued speaking, "I can help, we, Gaara and I, can help!"

Gaara looked over the edge of the wall.

The sight filled him with rage.

Thousands of enemy soldiers swarming the walls, trying to force their way into the gate. The only reason the gate hadn't been breached was because the Oedo clan had strung up a spider web of steel chains that slowed enemy entry so badly that it was simple work for Tenten--probably the only person who still had any projectiles--to take them down before they entered the actual city.

But that strategy wouldn't last indefinitely, already the Oedo had had to start chaining off the entrance itself, and Gaara worried that a strong enough earth or fire Jutsu would just make their efforts wasted.

He was furious as he looked at the enemy army not because he feared dying, he was ready to die, and he didn't even worry about losing this battle because in the end he felt as if he'd done his share for Konoha and the Lands of Fire . . .

What made him angry was that the enemy wouldn't lose, the enemy wouldn't die. The scum had come after both the invaders and defenders were thoroughly spent, then they swarmed the village in the dead of night and they were about to be rewarded for it, they were about to win the battle and not only would Konoha fall Suna would never be liberated.

Gaara was a little surprised when he heard himself roar in fury, he slammed his fist down into the wall and his gourd exploded, the sands on the ground compiled in front of the gate and began crushing anyone unfortunate enough to be buried and Gaara even crushed a few who tried to tunnel through.

The village was going to fall. The last of Naruto's clones had been dispatched by the enemy, the gates were a good Jutsu away from being breached . . .

"Tell the Hokage that I am disinclined to retreat while even one of these bastards lives!" Gaara hissed.

"Wisdom." The Jounin Hijiri Hitomi scoffed, standing besides Gaara.

"Sounds good to me." Temari smirked.

Gaara glanced at her and nodded.

Without warning the sands spilled from his gourd sprang to life and with another blood curdling roar the Kazekage leapt from the walls into the mass of enemy soldiers.

His sands spread out, the ground around them as well came to life at his command and for some twenty feet every normal man around him became impaled by shards of sand, he swept his hands out and the sand spikes separated from the ground and shattered into hundreds of thousands of razor sharp fragments.

Temari landed besides him and then swept her fan out around the both of them, her winds blowing his sand becoming a razor barrier, shredding any survivors from Gaara's initial attack and spreading out an additional ten feet of destruction.

They might as well have been a bomb set off in the midst of the enemy.

Gaara looked at Temari, "Don't let yourself follow me all the way."

"What? I'd follow you to hell." Temari scoffed.

"That's where I'm going, but not you." Gaara said coldly, "You've your daughter to consider, promise me now before we continue that when I fall you'll withdraw."

Temari scowled at him but said "My word, _if _you fall I'll withdraw."

Gaara nodded, "Then lets make them pay for Kankuro."

"Lets make them pay for _everyone_." Temari said.

The two Suna siblings charged the enemy lines, their combined Jutsu dissipating as they broke through it.

Gaara swept his hands left and right, he didn't care about conserving chakra at all, he had no intention of surviving.

Sand responded to his call, slashing anyone who got too close.

Temari opened her fan and threw it into the mass of enemy soldiers, it had much the same effect a razor blade would: slicing through several enemies as wind chakra tore through foe after foe.

Hitomi and some others had come along too, the enemy soldiers were starting to shrink from them and ninja were giving them a wide berth.

Gaara used sand to snare any ninja he could, those who didn't use substitution quickly enough soon became impaled.

There were far too few of them for Gaara's taste, most of the ninja easily escaped his snares, something that wouldn't happen if he were still at full strength or if he had the one tails' chakra.

He began using his snares to crush the feet of those they captured so that even if they substituted he would still damage them, he stopped trying to inflict fatal blows and instead settled for crippling wounds so that others could finish the enemy.

The retreat gongs rang over and over again, but they just made Gaara angrier.

The enemy was going to win and he couldn't let that happen. He was furious, how dare they win, how dare these bastards triumph, he couldn't let their evil prevail . . .

His breathing became hard, his vision was becoming blurry, he put his hand on Temari's shoulder both for support and so he would know where she was as his attacks became more indiscriminate, if anyone besides his beloved sister was stupid enough to get near him at this point they were most likely an enemy and they needed to die, they deserved to die.

He shouted one last time in fury, resignation and weariness . . .

Then he felt something hit him hard, his whole body was so numb that he didn't feel it so much as acknowledge it, all the same his hand slipped from Temari's shoulder and he fell forward.

His eyes closed . . . all he saw was red, not the typical black of closed eyes.

He heard the retreat gong sounding again and again almost frantically . . . but it didn't make him angry anymore . . . after a while he couldn't hear it anymore, but he could feel Temari's hands on him, holding him close.

He'd told her to run . . .

* * *

Tomoko threw chain after chain at the gate in a spider web pattern then in layers, her clansmen slammed nails into the wall so that when the enemy finally dug through the wall of sand the Kazekage had put in place they would find just a steel door.

It wouldn't be unbreakable, but it'd slow them down.

Daisuke shuddered, thinking about how in just a few minutes hundreds of enemy soldiers would pour through the wall of sand and try to force their way through Tomoko's chains and by then every ninja needed to be waiting to ambush and ambush and kill, and kill, even the medics like himself needed to be prepared.

The fighting would carry out in the city, there the Konoha ninja would know the terrain perfectly, would be in radio range of one another, could cut the enemy army to ribbons without worry for the civilians because even if the enemy soldiers made it into the labyrinth the civilians would be escaping, as the enemy soldiers swarmed for the gate the wall would be intentionally destroyed to let the caravan of fleeing civilians get out of the city.

The ninja and remaining soldiers would buy them as much time as they could, hopefully they'd reach friendly reinforcements and be rescued, taken back to the Lands of Lightning or Water.

Daisuke heard his father say "We're done here, everyone get to safety."

Daisuke turned to Tomoko, "Tomoko, you're still part of the labyrinth detail, you should--"

"She's staying with us," Their father said gruffly, "She's earned it."

"You're going too, aren't you?" Daisuke demanded, "You're a civilian!"

"It told you boy, I'm no traitor. Traitors and cowards run and I'm neither. This is my village, when the sun breaks tomorrow it'll still be my village."

The blacksmith shouldered his hammer, it wasn't a large war hammer, just a tool, still Daisuke could tell that if his father had to use it that hammer would work just as well as any military weapon.

He nodded to Tomoko, who seemed to be almost levitating with pride and said "Alright sis, he's right, you've earned the right to fight with the rest of us."

He'd had to stop himself from saying "die with the rest of us."

The signal was given, everyone scattered and ran for cover, and Daisuke followed his clansmen until he spotted something from the corner of his eye.

A girl running against the crowd, she waved her hand towards him frantically and he rushed towards her.

"Eri!" He shouted, "What are you--"

"Where's my brother?" She screamed over the roar of soldiers and ninja fleeing from the walls.

"I don't know, but you should--"

"I can't leave, not without Naoma--" the rest of her sentence was swallowed up by a loud blast, Daisuke turned and looked to see a pillar of flame rising up from the wall, enemy ninja were leaping over now, they would be dealt with first, before the soldiers found a way to bypass the chains.

Daisuke grabbed Eri, "You have to get to safety!" He shouted.

"Nao!" She repeated, "I've got to find Nao!"

"He's a ninja, he can take care of himself," Daisuke insisted, "you on the other hand," He said, pulling her along as he ran for the labyrinth entrance hearing the sounds of battle behind them, a battle he should be fighting but was turning his back on to make sure this girl got to safety.

A pair of Rain ninja leapt over them, senbon rained down towards them but Daisuke leapt, covering Eri with his own body and the two of them smashed through the window of a nearby shop, a blow which unfortunately he couldn't shield her from.

His whole body hurt, the Rain ninja came after them and were pulled back out by a pair of Suna ninja Daisuke didn't recognize.

He ripped a few senbon out of his back and looked at Eri who hadn't moved since they smashed through the window.

He reached out for her, was she still alive? Was she unconscious?

He placed a hand gently on her shoulder and leaned close to examine her.

She was alive.

She was lying on the ground staring into nothingness and crying.

"I'm sorry, but it was pain or death," Daisuke said just a little defensively, "come on, we don't have time for you to--"

"I can't let him stay here . . . it'd be my fault if he died." She sobbed. "I told dad to let him stay . . . it'll be my fault!"

Daisuke shook his head, "He's a ninja."

"So?" Eri demanded, sitting up and seeming to notice her cuts for the first time, "So are a lot of the dead people out there. Daisuke-kun . . . I can't let my baby brother die."

Daisuke didn't know what to say.

"Eri . . . if you stay here you're only going to get in his way. You need to get out of here, you need to get to safety."

Eri closed her eyes, "Not without Naomasa."

Daisuke heard shouting and blasts outside, he knew the enemy was coming and they'd arrive soon.

He squeezed Eri's hand and said "Lets get to the labyrinth then, to the control room, they have radios there, we can find out which squad Naomasa is with . . . and I'll forge an order for him to retreat with the civilians."

Eri looked into his eyes and said "You're not lying are you?"

Daisuke tried not to smile, "No way," he lied.

It didn't matter if Eri didn't trust him after this, what mattered was her safety, he didn't know how she'd gotten away from the rest of the civilians but she wouldn't be dying in the streets of Konoha, not if Daisuke had anything to say about it.

He held her hand, they rushed out into the street.

The two rain ninja who'd attacked them were dead, the Suna ninja had moved on, the streets were empty but he could hear fighting nearby, so he held a finger over his lips to indicate that Eri keep quiet.

And they ran back towards the civilians, towards safety.

Towards what he _hoped _was safety.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	164. When Good Guys Win

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Sixty Four**

Temari caught Gaara as he fell backwards; Ino threw herself into a nearby enemy samurai, shoving him away, Tenten was besides her, throwing her remaining shuriken and kunai every which way, many of them duplicating themselves to deal greater damage though only the originals would return to her.

Temari looked into Gaara's eyes, he was totally out of it, but he was alive.

She looked around frantically, she couldn't hope to carry him and she didn't have the strength to take him with her if she ported . . .

She fought back tears, she wouldn't cry, not over this.

Gaara wouldn't die, she wouldn't let him, "You may be Kazekage, but you're still my little brother," She told him, struggling to support him as she stood up with his arm over her shoulder.

Silently she thanked fate that his gourd was gone, she'd never have lifted him and that on her own, not as weak as she herself was at the moment.

She struggled just a couple of steps before Ino was right next to her on Gaara's other side, "Retreat I said!" She shouted, "Go with the civilians I said! I never said "charge" how did you get "charge" from that? Why did you charge?! Shikamaru had a plan!"

"To hell with Shika-kun's plan, this is my brother!" Temari snapped, "I've only got one left, I won't lose him!"

Ino said nothing further as the two of them ran towards the wall with Gaara.

"Any thoughts of what we're going to do to get him _over _the wall?" Ino asked.

Temari laughed weakly. "Not a damned one." She admitted.

Tenten was with them, throwing shuriken after suriken but seeing the Kazekage retreating the enemy was beginning to charge for them.

Temari struggled, she felt the moment that Gaara stopped breathing, she just _felt _it.

She felt Ino begin to massage the Kazekage's chest with one hand glowing with healing chakra; the two women kept running but Temari felt her blood boiling.

The retreat gongs stopped suddenly and from the top of the wall a dozen or so archers took aim with arrows.

Temari was surprised there were any arrows left; she guessed they must be arrows the enemy had fired over the walls.

The archers fired and two of the arrows exploded in fantastic blasts, the others dispersed and became ninja.

Eighteen Konoha ninja, two of them opened up with balls of flame which lit up the night and illuminated the two or so dozen Suna ninja that leapt from the walls to defend their fallen Kazekage.

Sakura had come with the ninja disguised as arrows; Ryu had come over the walls with the others.

It wasn't a charge; it was a rearguard trying to protect the idiots like Temari who'd gone over the wall. It was Konoha's greatest weakness: its love and protective inclination towards its ninja and its people.

And it was one of the reasons Temari didn't want to see it fall.

Sakura held Gaara in her arms, Temari was reluctant to let him go but Sakura, with her chakra enhanced strength could take better care of him as she leapt up and was caught by a swarm of insects sent by three members of the Aburame clan, using what was normally an attack to propel Sakura high into the air and over the wall.

Ryu handed Temari his fan, and she realized that hers was in tatters, "Over the wall sesnei, Hokage _orders _you and Yamanaka to go with Gaara and the retreating civilians."

Temari gave Ryu his fan back, "Gaara is . . ." she couldn't bring herself to say it.

"He's going to make it," Ino said, "He's not dead yet, and Sakura will make sure he gets the attention he needs. Temari you have to retreat, I'm sure that's what Shikamaru would want, this battle is lost but I know Shikamaru won't let them have a simple victory, he's going to make them pay the price for it."

"The price can't possibly be steep enough." Temari whispered.

She glanced at the group of ninja with her, Ino who had the most rest of any of them but was already winded, Ryu who shouldn't even be on this side of the wall, and Tenten who had a strange smirk on her face . . .

Temari was about to angrily demand to know what Tenten was smirking about when she noticed the large bleeding wound in the younger woman's thigh.

"Couldn't deflect it." Tenten said, noticing Temari's gaze on her thigh, "I'm good though . . . can fight stationary."

"Oh my gosh!" Ino gasped, rushing over to tend Tenten's injury. Temari saw the enemy starting to get nearer, the friendly ninja trying to keep them at bay were being pushed back.

Temari shook her head, "Ino, take Tenten and retreat with the civilians . . . please do everything you can to keep my brother alive."

"You have to come too, Temari!" Ino insisted.

"No . . . I mean yes but not now, first I have to see my husband. Whatever he's planning . . . now might be the time to just run. Our forces are too tired, our greatest ninja are on the verge of collapse, and we're fighting a fresh enemy."Temari didn't say any more, it would be stupid to say in the thick of battle that Shikamaru's whole plan was to force their foe to retreat or to admit that it wouldn't work now that the enemy had such reinforcements.

A pair of gigantic wolves leapt over the wall, a Konoha ninja and a Kumo ninja dismounted and the wolves swept the three women and Ryu up without any warning or asking for permission, Tenten and Ryu on one, Temari and Ino on the other.

Temari fell off the wolf when it got her to the wall, it and its companion kept running for the labyrinth, Temari could see that several ninja had gotten into the city whilst Gaara's sands, her winds and Tenten's projectiles were no longer repelling them.

She shook her head, they had inflicted heavy losses on the enemy infantry considering how few in number they were, but the enemy ninja had taken the opportunity to get inside the city and she could see the command tower was aflame, Shikamaru hadn't stopped ringing the gongs because he approved of their charge but rather because the ability to sound the retreat had been take away.

She grabbed a soldier by the collar of his jerkin and demanded "Where is the chief strategist, do you know?"

The soldier pointed towards the melee, Temari scoffed.

"My luck." She grumbled.

* * *

Kabuto laughed and unleashed his Jutsu, "Sound Destruction Jutsu!" He roared, and the sound of his voice became so loud that it foiled Tsunade's next attack, she stumbled and fell, screaming in pain and holding her hands to her ears, her slug kept moving, slamming into his snake but the snake would prevail and Kabuto leapt off, landing near Tsunade.

He laughed, "In the end the mightiest warrior can't stop the power of sound itself," he said, though he knew Tsunade couldn't hear him, she would be deaf now.

She writhed on the ground screaming in agony, he began another Jutsu, this one calling the sword of Lord Orochimaru--no, of Lord Kabuto, for Kabuto _was _Orochimaru.

He regurgitated the deadly blade and smirked as he approached Tsunade who was still holding her head in pain though she'd stopped screaming and was now sobbing.

He laughed, "Time to die old hag." He raised his sword and brought it down swiftly.

Tsunade's hand struck up like lightning, grasping his wrist and squeezing until he heard snap after snap and dropped his sword which she easily caught in her other hand.

He tried to strike her with his serpent arm but she swept the blade out, slicing the head off of his serpent.

With a quick, deft movement she pulled her hand back and slammed the blade deep into his stomach and then she twisted it, sending pain throbbing through his whole body.

He fell to the ground and Tsunade stomped viciously on his chest, forcing the air out of his lungs.

Then her foot slammed down on his neck, "It's over, Orochimaru."

"How?" He mouthed for he had no breath with which to speak.

Tsunade smirked and pulled something from her ear . . .

Clay? She'd blocked off her ears, she'd dampened his sonic attacks to the point that they wouldn't stop her.

Hurt her yes, but not stop her.

He tried to breathe, his lungs tried to suck oxygen that he couldn't take in with Tsunade standing on his chest and neck.

She raised Kabuto's own sword and said "Cut off the head, the snake dies."

She swept the blade out and she screamed.

She fell forward, Okatsu on top of her, the blade didn't sever Kabuto's head but as Tsunade flew forward it did leave a painful gash over his face and one of his eyes went suddenly dark.

He howled in pain and clutched his face as he rolled to his feet and looked at Okatsu, who'd stabbed Tsunade in the back with a kunai.

The old woman's arm snapped backwards like a bullwhip, slamming into Okatsu's arm and no doubt breaking it.

Okatsu rolled and slid across the ground, "Tsunade-sama!" Someone screamed, Kabuto saw Tsunade's little assistant come bursting through the trees.

She threw some kunai at him but Kabuto rolled to his feet, caught them and threw them towards Tsunade, where Shizune landed, they slammed into the young woman's chest, one hit her squarely in the neck and she fell back, Tsunade turning to her frantically.

Kabuto's giant snake bit into Tsunade's slug and snapped its own head backwards, raising the slug into the air and bringing it down with a force that shook the whole woods, the slug's slime was likely poisonous, but so was the venom in the giant viper's fangs, neither summoned beast would be much more use in the fight, but whichever was dispelled soon enough might still survive.

Tsunade struggled, the kunai still in her back, Kabuto could see it had gone dangerously close to one of her kidneys, but probably hadn't actually struck it.

Pity.

Kabuto wasn't going to waste time now, he ran for Tsunade, grabbing his sword and slashing for her, she raised her hand and blocked much of the blow but he left a terrible, deep gash in her arm and sliced her hand so badly that he almost managed to split it down the middle between her ring and middle fingers.

She struck out again, her fist slamming into his broken leg. He slashed again, bringing his sword down on the shoulder of her undamaged arm; the blade didn't sever the limb likely because of how hardy Tsunade was even without her chakra enhancing her physical form, but it went deep enough that they both fell in agony.

"Looks . . . like we're . . . both going . . . to die here." Kabuto smiled.

"Then . . . why do you . . . smile, Orochimaru?" Tsunade asked.

Kabuto grinned, "I am . . . the flesh. Orochimaru's . . . soul and spirit . . . is inside Mitarashi . . . Anko . . . your village . . . is doomed . . . my death doesn't . . . matter."

Tsunade glared, she moved her damaged hand to Shizune and began to heal the woman's neck as she gagged on blood and tried to breathe. Tsunade no doubt believed her little student had a better chance of surviving and wanted to save her life so she could go confront Anko.

Kabuto struggled to get to his feet and retrieve his sword to kill both Tsunade and Shizune before it was too late.

But someone else took up the blade.

Okatsu, one arm hanging uselessly at her side, used the other to pick up Kabuto's sword.

She walked over and casually slammed his sword into Tsunade's hand before it could reach Shizune with its healing chakra.

She stomped on the injured arm and kneed Tsunade in the face, the older woman fell to the side and Okatsu began to pummel her with her solitary useful arm, laughing maniacally.

"So this is all it takes to kill a Hokage," she said in a singsong voice, "my hands are all I need to see the light in your eyes flee, to see the order and peace of this new age come to fruition, to see my lord Orochimaru's plans succeed!" Okatsu laughed, "Stupid old cow, your whole village will burn, then it really will be the village of the land of fire!" Okatsu laughed uncontrollably and kicked Tsunade viciously in the teeth then rolled away and tore the blade from the dying woman's arm and raised it up, "Watch your girl die first."

Kabuto saw what was about to happen but did nothing to stop it.

He felt that Okatsu . . . deserved the lesson in humility.

Tsunade's arm, the one that had seemed useless surged forward, gripped Okatsu by the ankle and _crushed_.

Okatsu stumbled, Tsunade pulled herself to Shizune and healed her, "Finish this Shizune . . . finish them."

"L-lady Tsunade . . ." Shizune wept but she didn't hesitate.

She was a Jounin; she wrapped one hand around Okatsu's neck and used the other to rip the sword from her grip.

And then things got worse . . .

The giant snake became a flash of red as its head became a gout of blood, it collapsed.

Inuzuka Kiba appeared. Three of him in fact, though two, the two who had ripped through the snake's head, became gigantic dogs.

Kiba sprang on all fours, much like a dog himself and came wards Kabuto, his hands like bestial claws, Kabuto was out of defenses, but he could accept it now.

He wasn't Orochimaru . . . neither for that matter was Anko.

Orochimaru was Orochimaru, and if he died he would die a good servant.

He spread his arms wide and accepted Inuzuka Kiba's attack.

* * *

Naomasa dodged and weaved enemy attacks and struck viciously with a stolen spear . . . which had lost its head by utter coincidence.

It wasn't like Nao snapped the metal head off without thinking about it or anything . . .

He struck left and right, as a ninja he was trained with virtually every weapon but he was somewhat out of practice with staves.

He knew Hitomi had jumped over with the Kazekage and had rushed out to face the enemies, he was trying to reach her but he just couldn't.

He couldn't see her, was she dead? No, he wouldn't believe that.

He struck left and right, Yomiko and Shikamaru were with him; their blades making short work of foe after foe, but Naomasa knew they intended to withdraw; he had to find Hitomi before then.

A samurai came for him; he struck the man in the groin and then swept his staff around, knocking the man hard in the head and sending him to the ground.

The spear shaft was very sturdy and it didn't break but it made a cracking sound and Nao decided not to trust it after that, he jabbed a foe in the gut with it then slammed the staff into the ground and threw himself up into the air to survey the battleground.

He couldn't see very well in the dark, but he saw the mass of enemies fighting not far away, in that mass he guessed he'd find Hitomi so as he fell towards the ground he landed on the shoulders of one enemy soldier and kicked his right leg out, kicking a nearby soldier in the face, and kicked his left leg backwards, knocking out the soldier he'd landed on as he ran on men's heads and helmets for Hitomi.

She was holding a katana she'd stolen form somewhere in one hand and a spear in the other.

She wasn't using the spear to fight; she was using it to hold herself up as she slashed left and right with the sword, panting.

Nao landed besides her, she nearly slashed him but stopped herself just in time, "You stupid little moth--" she said, and she said more but Nao didn't listen to it--probably a good thing--and tore the katana from her grasp and slashed out at one soldier.

"Don't kill them!" Hitomi snapped, Naomasa ignored her.

He wasn't going to kill them, but they didn't know that, he said "I am Ishida Naomasa, Chuunin of the village hidden in leaves. Let myself and the woman pass peacefully and you'll come to no harm, but whosoever dares to step any closer will see their blood grace this blade."

In all the scrolls and books speeches like that made the enemy freeze in their tracks, all it did here was make about five different samurai step forward and fifty soldiers encircle them completely.

One of them, a Wind samurai said "Your sister, wife of the Tiasho of the Lands of Winds' army, has had it circulated that you are to be taken alive. Surrender to me now and I will see to it and the survival of your comrade, surrender not and we will take you by force and you will see her executed here and now before your eyes."

"I can take them, Nao, you run!" Hitomi ordered but Nao ignored her.

He smiled, and he noticed some commotion in the ranks behind the Samurai, though the Samurai apparently did not, "It's good to know Emiko is safe, and your offer is tempting . . . but I'm sure, being a samurai, you understand why I won't even consider surrender."

The Wind samurai laughed and charged, suddenly he caught flame and fell, Yomiko tore her blade from his back and with wind chakra surging through her other she cut a second samurai at the waist.

Her wind blade was too small to cut the man in half but it left a deep gash and swept clean through him, and he fell dead all the same.

Naomasa struck out, disarming one man, Hitomi sprang forward too, swiping out with her spear, taking the man's poorly armored neck.

The soldiers began to flee in surprise; Shikamaru-sensei slashed one soldier who tried to attack Yomiko as he fled, Chouji and two other Konoha ninja, the proctor Konohamaru and a woman with dreadlocks made sure the enemy retreated just a bit further.

"So . . . I don't mean to be troublesome but it's time to _run_." Shikamaru said in a slightly frosty tone.

Nao nodded, he knew Shikamaru-sensei would be mad at him for rushing ahead to save Hitomi, but he knew it had been Temari, not the Kazekage that Shikamaru had wanted to save when he ordered the rearguard to jump over the wall, Shikamaru-sensei cared about what happened to the Kazekage but he'd really been trying to save the woman he loved.

Nao figured with him and Hitomi it was basically the same principal.

But Hitomi, being Hitomi, clearly wasn't going to let Nao feel like he'd actually saved her, and she continued to fight the whole way back to the wall even though Konohamaru and the other Chuunin were practically dragging her along.

* * *

He was knocked to the ground, he coughed up blood, his chest felt wet and he knew it was blood.

He let his eyes close . . . and he played possum, stopping his own heartbeat, ending his own life temporarily just as he had done to deceive Hatake Kakashi years ago.

If Okatsu was lucky they'd take her prisoner, but he doubted it.

Kiba moved on, presumably to kill Okatsu.

And Kabuto "came back to life" and wrapped his serpent arm around Kiba.

Shizune was slamming Okatsu's head into the ground and Okatsu was laughing despite the fact that both her right arm and left ankle were useless.

No, her arm wasn't useless . . .

She pulled a scroll from an equipment pouch at her waist and slammed it roughly into Shizune's neck, though it didn't faze the Konoha Jounin Kabuto could see it was the blood from the earlier inflicted and now healed neck wound that Okatsu was after, and borrowing some of the blood from Shizune's neck she let the scroll of summoning fall to the ground where its seal was activated in a puff of smoke.

Snakes emerged from the ground and wrapped themselves around Shizune, one around her neck, one around her waist.

They bit into her and squeezed, Okatsu shoved her back and stabbed forward with her sword even as Kiba's dogs rushed to his aid he was helpless as Kabuto held him and the sword buried itself in his chest, piercing his heart.

He howled like a dog in death and . . . became a dog?

Kabuto looked back and knew one of the two dogs charging them was the real Kiba, but which one?

The dog would be a threat but not a major one, Kiba on the other hand . . .

Kabuto couldn't use any Jutsu; he leapt back and collapsed on his broken leg.

It saved his life, the unexpected movement sent Kiba, or his dog, whichever it was that attacked him, sailing over head, Okatsu fell back and began using a rapid Jutsu even as both Kiba and his dog slammed into each other and in a puff of smoke became a two headed demon.

The massive two headed dog howled in fury and then sprang just as Okatsu finished her Jutsu.

A bolt of lightning slammed into the ground between Okatsu and Kiba, the flash of light masked the invisible entity that came to life and sprang for the large monstrosity that was Inuzuka Kiba.

The two headed demon split, one of its halves became a regular dog the other became Inuzuka Kiba. Both Kiba and his dog stumbled and fell unconscious, possessed by the life stealing forces that Okatsu had summoned up with the help of Kabuto's sword.

Okatsu turned to Shizune and Kabuto, "The first of the twelve captured, my former master." She approached Shizune and sneered, "You see . . . sometimes the good guys win."

She raised the sword and was about to bring it down on Shizune's heart but Kabuto checked her, "Stop!" He roared.

"Hmm?" Okatsu raised an eyebrow.

Kabuto limped towards the struggling Shizune and the triumphant Okatsu; he said "I want her . . . alive." He said, considering one last time before saying the final word.

Okatsu sneered, "She _is _pretty . . ."

"And," Kabuto said calmly, "a healthy specimen . . . I assume Lord Orochimaru won't mind me continuing with the experiments I originally intended."

"I know our lord would want nothing more. In fact I got a strong sense that he intends to do some experiments of his own." Okatsu said.

Kabuto smirked, and spat blood on Shizune's pretty face, "Don't worry," he told her, "your body belongs to science now . . . you'll die for a good cause after _many _years of suffering."

"Kill me now!" Shizune screamed then gagged as the snake constricting around her neck squeezed tighter.

"No." Kabuto said simply as turned to the still form of the leaf village's Hokage . . .

He smiled, "The last of the legendary Three Ninja . . . at least the last to have both her body and soul . . . such a shame."

Okatsu said "One more thing . . . do you have a stick or something?"

"Why do you ask?" Kabuto raised an eyebrow.

"Well we'll need _something _to display her head on when we parade it through the streets, won't we?" Okatsu practically sang, and though she limped towards the fallen Hokage there was such a spring in her step she might as well have been skipping on two healthy legs.

Kabuto half expected Tsunade to strike out one last time, he noticed Okatsu, for all her humming was very careful on her approach.

When Okatsu finally did kneel over the dead body she glanced over her shoulder at Kabuto, "Shall we share the honor, my love?" She asked.

Kabuto smirked and limped over to the fallen Hokage to help Okatsu decapitate her even as Shizune screamed every sort of plea imaginable.

What did it matter? The old bag was already dead.

"Sometimes the good guys win, hmm?" Okatsu giggled like a school girl.

"Sometimes." Kabuto laughed, "Though I'm sure Konoha and its people would think you quite wrong."he said.

Okatsu kept laughing, "Then the bad guys win, who gives half a damn? _We _win, _they _lose, the dynasty is about to begin, we haven't won just peace, we've won _order_. Order . . . and as fine a decoration as any banner," she added as they together raised the sword to decapitate the fallen heroin. "A shame few Konoha ninja will recognize the face without its age-defying Genjutsu."

Kabuto smiled and said "Oh no . . . they'll recognize her."

And the blade came down swiftly as Shizune screamed one last echoing denial.

"_**No**_!"

**To Be Continued . . .**


	165. Blood In The Streets

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Sixty Five**

Kotaro breathed a sigh of relief as the last civilians made it to the rear wall.

It wouldn't have been possible to escape the village if it were still surrounded, but now that the entire enemy army was concentrated at the gate they could hopefully escape, and since it was the dead of night they might get pretty far before anyone noticed.

"Rearguard," Kotaro said, pointing to a group of six Genin, "Vanguard," he said to another group of six, "the rest of you spread out amongst the civilians, hide your bandannas, if we're attacked surprise the enemy and take them out, don't hesitate to take life, show no mercy." He ordered the remaining Genin in his detachment.

They shouted their affirmatives and they went about their duties as the Jounin Yamato stood forward and called up a wooden ramp complete with rails on both sides of the wall.

Everyone set out at once as quietly as an entire population can be, which, when their lives depend on it is actually rather quiet.

Apart from the "medical wagons" and a few carts carrying the elderly, there had been no time to gather up wagons or anything like that, everyone had to leave on foot and it would be dangerous, they'd need about a mile of distance between themselves and the enemy and their three hundred non-ninja escorts were already winded.

Many civilians had refused to leave, those that were willing to run were doing so, and Kotaro meant to see to it that they all made it to safety, wherever safety was.

The Kazekage was unconscious in one of the wagons; Kotaro regretted that because he would have been a major asset.

He checked in on Sumiko and Shikamaru-sensei's mother and then was about to take his place hiding amongst the fleeing civilians when suddenly someone said "Captain, Genins Yukio, Inuzuka Kyusaku and Oedo Tomoko are all missing."

Kotaro sighed, "I can't wait for them."

"But Ko--ur I mean sir," The Genin said, "we're not _leaving _them are we?"

"They left themselves," Kotaro said grimly, "the Jounin will scoop them up when they make their run, don't worry about it. We need to get these people out of here before it gets too bright for them to do it stealthily."

The Genin nodded and took his place in the moving river of civilians but Kotaro moved to the back with the rear guard.

He had a sickly feeling he knew where Yukio had disappeared to, or at least his general direction, and it could mean that this secret evacuation was about to become common knowledge to the enemy.

"Speed them up," Kotaro said, "I don't care if they make noise, we need them out of here, get every elderly or injured person on a medical wagon, anyone strong enough is going to have to quick march."

The rearguards nodded and radioed the orders to the vanguard squad, Kotaro on the other hand rushed for the city . . .

He had to find Yukio before he turned himself over to the enemy, before he betrayed everyone.

And when he found him . . . well he'd give him _one _chance to reconsider and come peacefully.

Then, because he already knew the proud Suna ninja would turn it down, he'd kill him.

* * *

"No!" Shizune screamed.

Kiba's eyes snapped open, he smirked and thanked the holy seal that all of Konoha's ninja had been issued in case of just such an emergency.

He sprang to his feet and threw himself into the two enemy ninja just before the blade could decapitate Lady Tsunade.

Kiba didn't know if she were dead or alive, but if she was alive he wanted to keep her that way.

Kabuto glared at him, "Why won't you just stay down?" He asked in a calm voice, though his eyes were ablaze with anger.

"Not my ninja way." Kiba said with a smirk.

The woman stood up and shook her head, "This is becoming too much of a hassle . . . Lord Orochimaru won't want us dead."

Kiba blinked, wasn't Kabuto supposed to be Orochimaru?

Kabuto glared at Shizune, "She heard where Orochimaru is."

Kiba sprang; he wouldn't let them say any more.

If Shizune knew where Orochimaru was he didn't need these two alive . . . they didn't deserve life anyway, not with Shizune lying on the ground being strangled and crushed by two massive snakes, and with Lady Tsunade and both his dogs lying in unknown condition.

Were they alive? Were they dead? He didn't know, but one thing he was certain of was that Kabuto and this woman would die before he dared find out.

"Inuzuka Transformation Jutsu!" Kiba roared, feeling his own muscles expand and his legs suddenly change their shape.

He became something of a werewolf, a half man half canine covered in fur with massive claws ready to rend flesh.

He sprang and reached out for the two enemy ninja, he had precious seconds in this hybrid form with his chakra as low as it was but they were seconds he would use to their fullest.

His sense of smell was heightened, if they substituted he'd know just from smell where they were, and his claws were each as deadly as any katana.

He thrust his clawed hands forward, the woman substituted and appeared behind him but Kabuto dived low to avoid him.

Kiba slammed both his claws down onto Kabuto's back, slamming the injured man into the ground even as he kicked out with both his legs, knocking the woman several feet back until she slammed into a tree.

Kiba raised one clawed hand to slash at Kabuto but saw the snakes that had been holding Shizune spring forward.

One remained holding her around her legs and waist, keeping her on the ground and the smaller snake that had held her neck leapt at Kiba, Shizune, now free to breathe tried to scream a warning but Kiba already saw what was coming.

His hand meant to kill Kabuto swept out and shredded the snake, the woman shouted "Serpent, _kill_, crush the woman to death!" and then ported away.

Kiba could smell her, knew where she'd gone or at least her basic direction and he wanted very badly to follow her but instead he leapt for Shizune, after all she knew where Orochimaru was.

He slashed the snake that held her and then twisted his head to see that Kabuto had also gotten away, he howled in outrage as he was forced to give up the transformation.

Shizune rushed over to the former Hokage, Kiba took a step towards his injured dog and then collapsed.

He'd burned more chakra than he'd expected . . . he didn't have the strength to move, let alone get back to the village or fight . . .

He groaned and managed to turn his head to look at Shizune, who was kneeling over the fallen Tsunade, moving her hands about frantically, likely trying to see what she could do to save the old woman's life.

Kiba said in as loud a voice as he could manage, which came out as barely a whisper, "Is she . . . going to make it?"

Shizune didn't answer, she just kept working. Kiba hoped that that meant that the fight for Tsunade's life wasn't over yet, but he wondered if maybe instead Shizune was just trying to undo the irreversible.

* * *

Tomoko sat on a chair near a window of her own room watching the enemy fill the city.

The Oedo clan was ready for them of course.

"When do we strike?" Tomoko asked.

"Not yet." Her father said gruffly.

Tomoko shifted uneasily, watching the enemy soldiers, illuminated by the street lamps begin to separate into squads and begin inspecting houses.

She knew many of them would enter a house and not come out due to the ninja waiting within, was the Oedo home going to be such a place?

"Here they come . . ." One of her cousins said. "You're sure about this?"

"Absolutely sure." Tomoko's father said calmly.

Tomoko watched, the soldiers came to her home . . . and walked right by it.

"What are they doing?" Tomoko demanded, "What are they doing?" She repeated, turning to her father who nodded grimly to her cousin.

"Just as I said." The head of the Oedo clan said smugly.

Tomoko felt her blood boil, "What the hell are they doing?" She shouted at the top of her lungs, "They . . . they just passed us by and you act like it's a good thing? Aren't we going to ambush them?"

Her father scoffed, "Don't be stupid."

"Well then educate me!" Tomoko said, "Because there are ninja and soldiers losing their lives--"

"For a lost cause." Her father said calmly, "It hardly matters now. The war is over, Konoha is no more. We're citizens of Otogakure now."

"The war isn't over," Tomoko hissed in fury, "How _dare _you say otherwise, the Hokage and the others will still fight, _we _have to fight!"

Her father glowered at her, "Don't you fuss. You're not going to be arrested."

"What? That's ridiculous, who cares about getting arrested? I want to be out there with my fellow ninja fighting for our village!"

"Dying you mean. And what about your clan?" Her father demanded.

"A clan of traitors it seems." Tomoko spat, and her cousin slapped her across the face.

"Who are you to talk, the little whore who traded our clan's secrets to an outsider all over some flirtatious glances and fancy words?"

She didn't so much as stumble, she stood firm as stone and glared at her cousin whom she barely knew yet who clearly knew or at least had some idea of who she was by reputation alone. Her father on the other hand slugged him so hard he flew into the wall, "Don't you be laying a hand on her, it's because of her that we're spared this war."

"What?" Tomoko raised an eyebrow.

Her father glared at her, "What does any father want for his daughter?"

"Educate me." Tomoko said again, grimly.

"A proper marriage well above her class. The Kamikage approached me during your little ninja exam . . . you'll be a sort of empress you see."

Tomoko's eyes widened, "No . . ."

"Not to the old Kamikage of course . . . to his heir, whoever that is. It's all part of the deal. We deliver you, our clan is restored to its proper prestige and when the Lands of Earth are subdued we get our scroll back, your sins are not only redeemed you'll also be the reason your clan becomes the most powerful of our kind in all the land. All you have to do is get married to a powerful man and have lots of powerful children. Sounds like a fine destiny, don't you think?"

Tomoko smiled weakly and sat back down in her chair. "That's why you took me back . . ."

"Of course. What did you think?" Her father demanded.

"I thought you gave half a damn." Tomoko said darkly.

"I do, that's why I agreed. Haven't you been listening? You're going to be _royalty_, more than any of us have right to dream of! I did that for you because you're my daughter and you need someone to look after you when I'm gone, I did it because I give _more_ than half a damn!"

Tomoko looked at her father and shook her head slowly, "Actually . . . I'm going to be a ninja-sensei someday, train a squad of Genin. I'm going to write books, lots of them. Someday I'll settle down with a nice guy and live a peaceful secluded life far away from wars and killing . . . but that's only _after _this war is over, I won't turn my back on my country!"

Her father shook his head, "It's not your decision to make girl, you're an Oedo, and you're my child!"

Tomoko stood up and raised her hand to attack her father but just couldn't bear to do it.

Instead she slumped and turned her back on him, looking out the window at the army, no longer bothering to hide herself from them.

"I'm sorry daddy . . ." She sighed, "but it looks like Daisuke's your only child again. Permanently this time. I'm discarding the Oedo name; I don't ever want to be called that again. I'm not some item to be cast aside and picked up whenever you please, my purpose in life isn't to make life for this clan prestigious and comfortable, not by betraying this village anyway. When we win this war you'll be tried for treason, all of you . . . if you fight for justice now, however tardy you may be, maybe the Hokage will go easy on you."

"Don't be a fool!" Her father roared. She saw in the glass her father and several cousins spring for her, probably meaning to restrain her.

Maybe they sensed what she was about to do.

She grabbed her chair and with every ounce of strength in her body she slammed it against the glass window, sprang forward, shooting one of her chains out for a nearby soldier, wrapping it around his neck and pulling herself towards him through the smashed window.

She landed hard in the streets and ordered her chains to arm themselves with her blade attachments, she glared at the soldiers, "You neglected to inspect this house sirs, I think you'll find at least one Konoha loyalist within . . . well, without now."

She slashed out, killing two men and then whipped her chained blades around, injuring or killing the rest of the squad.

She thrust her hands forward, the blades impaled and Oto Samurai and Tomoko yanked them back, the man toppled over and she ran for his squad.

Spearmen lowered their spears as if they thought she would be stupid enough to impale herself, but instead she leapt into the air above them and let her blades dance through their ranks as she herself let out the greatest ball of fire she'd ever conjured, setting flame to the entire street.

Soldiers screamed in agony, Tomoko hit the ground behind them and retracted her chains, "Who's next?" She whispered to herself, looking for a foe.

She felt something slam into her shoulder, and then something hit her chest, she staggered back and stumbled as two more rough impacts hit her.

They were senbon, she swept her arm out towards the ninja throwing them and he used substitution, "I'm not that easy," Tomoko hissed as the Oto ninja appeared behind her.

She spun around, leapt back and lashed out at him, her blades burying themselves deep in his chest.

She didn't have time to yank them out; two more ninja were on her.

She discarded the blades and willed her chains to the next weapon, her iron claws as she lashed out and dodged, struck and evaded.

The life she knew had ended and in the fire lit night she struggled against two enemy ninja in the burning streets of Konoha.

* * *

Hitomi leapt into a tree as a trio of enemy soldiers ran past beneath her.

She'd moved quickly enough that they hadn't seen her; they focused entirely on Konohamaru, who ran on, leading them into a darkened alley.

Hitomi dropped down from the tree in the middle of the three men and struck out, hitting the first as hard as she could at the base of his neck, then kicking the second in the face.

She turned to the third, which turned and tried to run.

She almost picked up a spear and threw it to impale him.

_Almost_.

But something in her didn't want to murder a fleeing man. He was just a soldier, maybe he didn't want to be here, and maybe he'd take this chance and flee from Konoha, never again to return.

Maybe Naomasa's way of thinking had rubbed off on her.

Hitomi turned to the two fallen, both were unconscious, though the first was more likely dead.

Either way they weren't anyone's problem anymore, the battle would be over before they could contribute again.

Konohamaru nodded to her and said "Toss me that guy's spear."

Hitomi did so and took a second spear for herself, the rest of Konohamaru's team, Matsuri, Hibari and Kouji appeared.

Matsuri playfully punched Hitomi's shoulder, "Well, looks like the sun will be up soon . . . we've fought almost the entire night, how many more can there be?"

"That many?" Hibari grunted, Hitomi spun around and saw that the man she'd spared had led a rather large group back with him.

There had to be a few dozen soldiers, many armed with bows and flaming arrows.

"Surrender," A Samurai shouted.

"Uh . . . no?" Konohamaru shrugged as if he were answering a really stupid question.

The five ninja sprang for the enemy soldiers, the arrows flew and the ninja leapt into the air to avoid them.

But the three enemy ninja mixed into the enemy ranks leapt up too. Hitomi had been prepared, she lobbed her spear as hard as she could, impaling one of the three Chuunin, but the other two knocked Kouji and Hibari down into the path of the arrows.

Both of them were hit by multiple burning arrows, Hibari might survive but Hitomi saw one arrow go into Kouji's left eye and piece his skull, shattering bone and coming out of the back of his head.

Konohamaru blew a ball of flame down on the bowmen, Matsuri slashed out at the ninja who'd knocked Hibari down.

Hitomi landed on the Samurai, he stabbed up with his katana but she easily dodged and struck his armored stomach with her unarmored fist.

He tried to bring his sword down on her head but Hitomi's other hand shot up, knocking the blade away and she inhaled sharply for a fire ball, hoping the samurai would jump back in caution.

Instead he tried to knee her in the stomach, so she jumped back, a pair of spearmen charged, one of them the man she'd spared.

She caught both spears, and diverted them in the hopes that their wielders slashed each other. She didn't have the strength or the time to make them impale one another, but the man she'd spared slashed the thigh of his comrade, and nimbly avoided being cut himself.

Hitomi however yanked on his spear, pulling him towards her, she reached up and with all the strength she had she snapped his neck back, killing him.

_Never spare an enemy_, she thought, _don't be weak, you know better than that!_ She shouted internally.

She came to her feet. The samurai brought his sword down on her and were it not for her eyes she would have leapt right up into the blade it would have cleaved her skull.

Instead, because she saw it she dodged out of the way in time and kicked viciously, hitting the man's hands and knocking his blade off course. She snapped the head off of the spear of the injured soldier and slammed that into his neck even as more spearmen charged for her.

Matsuri appeared by her side and stabbed the Samurai in the chest with one of her short blades, then slashed the man's wrists with her other. Konohamaru caught the fallen Samurai's katana and swiped at the remaining ninja.

The ninja leapt back and threw shuriken which Konohamaru deflected; Hitomi took the broken spear and using it as a staff, struck out at foe after foe.

She saw down another street another group of soldiers approaching, she shouted to Matsuri and Konohamaru but she doubted they heard her over the roar of the battle.

Burning arrows flew, Hitomi saw them and deflected them with her staff, Matsuri deflected them with her swords and Konohamaru was out of the line of fire as he fought the enemy ninja.

A few enemy soldiers were hit by their own side's arrows, Hitomi ran for the enemy but then she saw it.

A second row of archers fired another volley of arrows, these ones were not lit up, Hitomi didn't think at first that it should matter until she realized that in the fire lit near darkness only she could see the arrows coming, Matsuri couldn't.

"Matsuri, get down!" Hitomi shouted and felt an arrow she hadn't properly deflected slash her shoulder.

She reached the enemy line and swept her staff out, knocking back the first row of bowmen, then blew a ball of fire to incinerate the second and panic the remaining soldiers, who staggered back and started to withdraw when Konohamaru leapt over her head and slashed three of them at once with his katana and blew another ball of flame at their retreating backs.

Hitomi turned back to see Matsuri . . .

Matsuri had been hit by three arrows.

One had hit her shoulder, and another had hit her side, still it was the one in her chest she seemed most interested in.

Hitomi gave up all thoughts of pursuing the enemy with Konohamaru and rushed over to her friend.

She caught Matsuri as she fell backwards, the older woman coughed and smiled weakly, "Don't . . . linger." She whispered. "You'll get caught . . . y'know . . ."

Hitomi felt her lip trembling, "I'll get you out of here." She told Matsuri.

"Nah . . . s'okay." Matsuri told her, "You run, kid . . ."

Hitomi shook her head and held Matsuri close, "No . . . I won't leave a friend behind! You're going to be okay, you'll see!"

Matsuri whispered "I . . . want to see . . . just once."

Hitomi blinked, "Huh?"

"Your eyes . . . the eyes you . . . keep hidden. Please . . . let me see them before I . . ." Matsuri whispered.

"What good will that do?" Hitomi said, trying not to sound too harsh.

"I . . . just want to see . . . your full face." Matsuri said.

Hitomi was trembling, she felt tears in her eyes, she whispered "I . . . I . . . they're so ugly, you'll hate me."

"Don't be . . . an idiot." Matsuri laughed, then looked like she regretted laughing, her hand weakly grasped the arrow in her chest, "damn . . . don't make me . . . laugh again." she whispered.

Hitomi took one deep shuddering breath and then pulled the goggles from her head.

Her eyes were closed reflexively; she felt Matsuri's weak hand lightly brush her cheek, wiping away a tear.

She opened her eyes and let Matsuri see them.

Matsuri smiled, "That's so amazing . . ."

Hitomi laughed and wiped tears from her eyes, "You want to trade? Pull through and they're yours."

Matsuri smiled, "Name your first . . . daughter after me . . . then maybe I . . . can just come back . . . with those eyes."

Hitomi shook her head, "I'm not having--"

"Nope." Matsuri said with a wry smile, "Now you have to . . . at least one."

"I can't wish these eyes on you Matsuri, not on anyone, they're a curse."

"They're beautiful . . . like swirling whirlpools . . . in a sea red as . . . the most beautiful rose."

"Blood red's more like it." Hitomi whispered.

"No . . ." Matsuri whispered, "not like blood . . . at all. Like . . . flowers. Everything . . . about you . . . is like a rose . . . beautiful . . . inviting . . . sought after . . . and covered . . . in thorns." Matsuri laughed one more time, this time she didn't groan in pain or clutch the arrow in her chest, instead her hand just fell away limply.

Hitomi was shaking. Matsuri's own eyes closed slowly and she stopped breathing.

Hitomi held her and cried.

Matsuri had been one of her earliest friends, really her first outside of her team and one of her few close friends.

She gently laid her friend down and picked up her goggles.

She was about to put them on, but instead she shoved them into one of her equipment pouches.

Matsuri thought her eyes were amazing, others said they were grotesque or frightening.

Amazing, scary, disgusting, whatever they were she wanted her victims to look into them when they died.

And she'd learned her lesson. No one, no matter how pathetic or harmless they seemed, was going to be spared.

She heard footfalls behind her; she saw a group of enemy soldiers rushing down the street. They must not have seen her because they were too close, within striking distance for her. They probably thought she was dead as she held on to Matsuri.

"Surrender!" A Samurai ordered her.

Hitomi just laughed and with all her speed rushed to the man before his bowmen could fire and snapped his neck.

She tore his katana from his dying grip and decapitated one bowman and severed the arm from another, she had strength now though she wasn't sure where it'd come from, nor did she care.

Even if she was just a fire about to burn out she'd show every last one of these cowards that she would not fade away.

She would go out with a bang, like a star going super nova, and her flames would engulf everyone who dared cross her path.

Everyone.

Laughing when she just wanted to curl up and cry, stolen katana flashing in the fire lit night she dispatched the entire platoon down to the last fleeing soldier, and then went on the hunt for more.

She'd be nothing like Naomasa, she'd show no mercy, have no pity, she'd kill them all, every last foe she faced and she'd just keep looking, she'd kill until her own tears stopped flowing.

And she didn't know when that would be, because the tears weren't just for Matsuri anymore.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	166. Strength of the Sound

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Sixty Six**

Kurai wandered the darkened fire lit streets, the sun would rise soon and the advantage of darkness would be gone.

His bugs were slightly hindered by the fire to boot, and he'd been separated from the others of his clan and his Anbu squad.

He was alone, but he wasn't scared.

Anxious though, it'd been almost an hour since he'd run into a patrol. Was the battle over? He'd stuck to the markets where there were a great number of stalls to hide in, though he'd found no other Konoha ninja.

And he wondered why that was, he didn't see any soldiers or ninja from either side.

If one side or the other had won then surely the survivors of the other would be searching for wounded, or prisoners.

Some buildings were on fire, the enemy bowmen moved with their arrows lit on fire to light their paths, the flames didn't seem to bother them and they didn't seem to burn the city to cinders so Kurai assumed they were somehow under some Jutsu but he didn't believe that so many soldiers would be able to use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu and still die as easily as the archers he'd faced.

Besides the flames were real enough, that counted out Genjutsu.

Kurai stalked towards the academy and a cold voice said "Sorry, you won't find any friends there."

Kurai spun around, who could get near him without his bugs alerting him?

He put up his guard but dropped it _slightly _when he saw the woman talking to him.

"Mitarashi Anko? I am . . . relieved to see you."

"Hmm." Anko whispered. "Yes . . . you'll do fine."

"For what, ma'am?" Kurai asked.

Anko smiled, and disappeared in a puff of smoke, in her place stood another woman . . . not really even a woman, a girl Kurai's age.

"Sh-Shiroi-chan . . . what are you doing here?" He asked, then laughed, "Never mind, stupid question . . ."

Shiroi smiled slightly, "I've missed you . . . in a few ways, y'know . . ."

Kurai took a step back, his eyes narrowed, "You're an enemy of Konoha, Shiroi, unless you're finally willing to--"

"I'm not _your_ enemy, Kurai-kun . . . I've decided on a name for our baby, don't you want to know?"

"What?" Kurai shouted, "Are you insane? We . . . have to fight . . ." He said, almost laughing at the lack of conviction in his own words.

"I think you'll approve, you know? I want to name him Saizo . . . do you like it?"

Kurai shook his head, "Surrender, Shiroi."

Shiroi smiled, "I do . . . I surrender my heart to you Kurai, but unfortunately the rest of me won't be content to be a branch family pawn . . . so tell me Kurai? Can you kill me? Will you? Will you kill _us_?"

Kurai glared, "I . . . I have a duty."

"Do you?" Shiroi whispered, "To whom?"

"To my village . . ."

"To your lover?" Shiroi demanded.

"To my clan!" Kurai insisted.

"To your child!" Shiroi shouted sharply.

Kurai staggered back. "I can't . . . I won't betray."

"You were betrayed," Shiroi said, "Sasuke-sensei didn't save Saizo, he didn't save me, how do you think I ended up with the Sound? Only over Sensei's dead body? Not even close! He left me behind and they just took me!"

"No, it couldn't have happened like that" Kurai said.

"Would I lie to you?" Shiroi demanded, "After all we've been through . . . after what we've shared, you think I'd lie to you?"

Kurai didn't want to answer.

He couldn't betray . . .

He couldn't defect, he _wouldn't_.

But Shiroi . . . their child . . .

He couldn't let either of them go free . . . and couldn't let them get hurt either.

He closed his eyes, "I won't serve your master."

"Then serve me." Shiroi said. "Loyalty to Lord Orochimaru will come to you in time, what's important right now is you come with me."

Kurai was shaking, "Shiroi . . . please . . . don't make me do this . . . I _will _have to kill you."

He felt Shiroi's hand on his cheek, he opened his eyes, "Every second you refuse me is like murder," Shiroi whispered so softly Kurai could barely hear her, "don't you understand? We're all that matters in this worthless world, us and our child. Country, what is country? Some lines on a map? Some flags? Kurai-kun _we _are what matters, Fire doesn't matter, Leaf doesn't matter, if the Aburame survive they'll be welcomed into the Kamikage's ranks, you'd be their head, their leader, would it really matter if they served Leaf or Sound? You and I will found a new clan, The Kamikage has told me this personally, we will rule a portion of the land as his regents, we might as well be a king and queen!"

Shiroi shook her head, "But I can't do any of that without you. These past few weeks have been the scariest of my life just because I wasn't sure what would become of you, I knew you'd never betray Konoha, and I know I can't bring you in by force, and so . . . what can I do? I need you to be with me . . . won't you just come along? Grant me this one wish and I will be your slave forever, come with me, be safe, be powerful, it's the only way we can be happy." She said and she held his left hand with both of hers, his right was free to reach into his kunai holster and draw a blade . . .

He could end her rebellion now . . .

"Maybe _you_ would be happy . . ." Kurai whispered.

Shiroi squeezed his hand, "Then come and be happy for me?" Shiroi whispered, "Please Kurai, Leaf will burn, it's burning now . . . don't burn with it . . . I'm begging you on my life, on our child's life."

Kurai closed his eyes, "If I come along my clan has to be spared, not captured."

"The Kamikage agrees, he anticipated exactly that. As many of both our cousins as can be spared will be. The Orochi clan will need a strong genetic mix after all . . . and just like you and me they have to come willingly."

"Orochi clan?" Kurai asked calmly.

"Orochi Shiroi, Orochi Kurai . . . the name granted to us by our illustrious master, the man who made the clan's formation possible . . . do you not approve?"

Kurai closed his eyes slowly and wrapped his arms around Shiroi . . .

"What's . . . in a name . . ." _A traitor by any other word would be as worthless,_ he thought bitterly.

Tears rolled down his cheeks as he accepted the gravity of what he was doing, but as long as he held Shiroi he could forget it . . . at least a bit.

* * *

Akira and his men waited in the trees, when the Konoha civilians got close enough they'd reveal themselves and force the people back into their city walls.

It left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"This is your chance for victory my love, why do you look so displeased?" Emiko asked.

"You cannot guess?" Akira scoffed.

"Of course I can . . . but we cannot have a conversation if I do." She said and though she wore a mask over her face her eyes smiled.

Akira looked at the line of fleeing civilians and said "I can't consider slaughtering civilians to be any victory, not even killing the men guarding them sits well with me."

Emiko gently placed a hand on his shoulder, "I know."

"You didn't guess I'd feel this way?" Akira asked.

"Of course I did. That is why I knew you would be the right man to seize this opportunity. Though I admit I did not expect you to be ordered into this position, that was pure luck. I had thought we would have to move here on our own."

Akira shook his head, "How can I slaughter these civilians?"

Emiko sighed, "Husband . . . you're not slaughtering anyone."

"What?"

Emiko removed her mask so he could see her face, "Don't you see . . . the chance for victory?"

Akira shook his head.

Emiko waved her hands towards the army at the gates, "How many of your men remain there? Some hundreds maybe? Out of the thousands that came originally?"

"Many thousands ran away," Akira said, "that is no victory."

"But how many remain fighting?" Emiko asked.

"Some hundreds," Akira admitted, "if that by this time."

Emiko nodded, "And how many of the Divine Shadow's soldiers are there?"

"Several thousands I suspect." Akira said calmly.

Emiko folded her arms, "With that many soldiers, do you think he really needs you or any of the weary coalition soldiers? The soldiers who aren't totally loyal to him?"

Akira raised an eyebrow, "What are you--"

"Rather as a man of Wind wouldn't it make more sense to protect the civilians fleeing for their lives from the man who is about to be as much your enemy as theirs?"

Akira shook his head, "Are you saying--"

"He has that army, he could have attacked Konoha alone, instead he let the great nations wage war on each other and whittle each other down to this. _Now _he shows up with his army, now when you all have no chance or desire to resist him. The Great Nations waged war and now he's the winner."

Akira lost his strength as he realized how much sense that made.

It was difficult to accept but even now how sparse was the defense in every city? Every soldier who could be was fighting at Konoha littering the ground with corpses and blood, minor garrisons had been left behind and who knew how many of them had been Sound operatives? Who knew how many civilians had been Sound operatives? The organization was like a cult, it had attracted followers from all over, while the fighting men and women of the various nations wasted their strength against one another they'd left their homes open to invasion.

Akira laughed bitterly, "If we have homes to go to." He said, and even though she hadn't heard his inner monologue Emiko nodded.

"You understand now."

"Why didn't you tell me this before we fought Konoha?"

Emiko frowned, "So many reasons. For starters would you have believed me? Would you have listened? Anyway I didn't know until I spoke to Okatsu . . . she wants me and my sisters, she seemed very convinced that my sisters in Lightning, Water, and Earth would be easily acquired but she wanted to know how to get Eri. I lied and told her that if she was in the city Eri would no doubt hide in the rocks near the Hokage monument, she'll look for ages before she can confirm she isn't there."

Akira shook his head, "You want me to side with them then, the allies?"

"Rebels soon." Emiko said, "Guide them to the Water armies."

"Water armies?"

"Their best chance for survival, I'll explain more when we're safe . . . let me go with two bodyguards and we'll announce your good intentions, then your army will help protect the civilians as we flee for the Lands of Water."

"Water's no doubt taken over by now too."

"Even if they are their army is coming for Konoha, Okatsu said that both Lightning and Water were rushing for Konoha and asked me if they could be trusted, I told her they could be trusted to do what's in their best interest."

Akira nodded, "All right . . . lets do this."

"No argument?" Emiko asked.

"Guess." Akira sighed, calling two of his best men over, "Escort the lady to the target."

"To offer terms for surrender?" One of the soldiers asked.

"Yes, ours." Akira said, "There are Sunagakure personal in that mix, including the late Daimyo's niece, this regiment is now allied with the Suna survivors and their Konoha allies."

The other soldier hesitated, "What about our families? They'll suffer for this betrayal."

Akira glanced at Emiko, she said "We have the advantage, we know which side we're on, the Kamikage doesn't know which side we're on or who we are, his agent selected Akira at random, that gives us time when we hook up with our other allies to rescue your families."

The two men nodded and fell in with Emiko, Akira watched them carefully, drawing a bow and arrow.

He trusted them . . . but if they made even the slightest threatening move towards her . . .

They didn't, and the fleeing civilians kept coming for the woods so Akira figured the negotiations had gone well.

Then again the Konoha refugees were in no position to refuse any kind of help.

When Emiko and his two soldiers came into easy visual range a Konoha ninja ported to Akira's side and said "Your men will sheathe their swords and hand their weapons over to our men peacefully as a show of your compliance," The blonde Konoha woman said calmly.

Akira nodded and began by handing her his bow, the woman smiled slightly, "Also . . . the Kazekage wants to know what took you guys so long to get your loyalties straight."

"The Kazekage is with the refugees?" Akira blinked.

"He is." The Konoha woman said with a smirk.

Akira smiled weakly, "How fortunate for us that we did get our "loyalties straight", as you put it."

The blonde smirked and Akira ordered his men to hand their weapons over to the Fire soldiers.

The Fire soldiers held them for a minute or two then immediately began handing them back.

A woman with her hair tied up in buns walking on a crutch said "Okay, we trust you, now lead us out of here!"

Akira and his soldiers obliged, taking up defensive positions amongst the Fire soldiers as the band headed into the trees for the Land of Water.

* * *

Naruto stood on the top of the old ninja academy looking up at the monument to the five Hokage that had come before him.

He felt one by one, his shadow clones disappear, and he gained their knowledge of the situation, their experience of what was happening.

There were just two left.

"I always said I wanted to be the greatest of the Hokage," Naruto said quietly, but the words were meant for the great stone faces, "I didn't understand then that greatness isn't how much respect you're given or how many people love you. That's just popularity."

One left . . .

"I know now, to be truly great one has to do what's best for the people regardless of their own popularity. Even if everyone in the city sees me as a demon, even if it kills me . . . I have to do this . . ."

He looked at the sky above, he took a deep breath.

"Even if it costs me my life, like you all before me my life stopped being my own the moment I became Hokage. What I realize now is that there's no such thing as the greatest Hokage, or the worst Hokage . . ." He smirked, his final clone was gone.

He looked back at the monument and stretched forth his hand, "But keep your ancient eyes peeled, predecessors of mine, because I'm going to be the greatest _anyway_!"

The civilians were almost far enough away . . . it was time.

He retreated into himself, looking for the nine tails chakra.

He remembered his dream of a burning Konoha, and he, the nine tails, standing in the center of it.

He remembered seeing his friends dead all around him.

_Don't let that come true, _he warned, _or I'll kill us both_.

**Don't****make promises you can't keep.**

Naruto's eyes shot open and with a long bestial howl the Demon Fox Hokage warned the Sound soldiers that their end had come.

* * *

Naomasa tackled an enemy soldier at the knees and Yomiko slashed his throat with her wind enhanced chakra blades.

Shikamaru-sensei threw several kunai, cutting the bow strings of five bowmen; the remaining five fired their burning arrows.

Kyoko swept her fan out and blew the arrows back, Temari-sensei spun rapidly, a smaller fan in each hand sent out razor blades of wind that helped the little paper fans slice cleanly through armor, Temari was slow by ninja standards due to her weariness, but fast enough to outdo every common grunt.

Yomiko slashed left and right, kicking anyone who approached her while her blades were indisposed, but Naomasa noticed that she wasn't killing left and right.

She cut bows, broke spears, knocked foes unconscious, she resorted to fatal wounds sparingly.

She was doing what was necessary . . . and he didn't disrespect her for it.

He'd been angry, even disgusted by Tomoko and Hitomi's killing and yet with Yomiko he was witnessing it first hand and far from ashamed of her he was ashamed of himself . . .

Yomiko, who, along with Kotaro he'd never wanted to hinder, whom he'd swore he'd grow strong to support, was cleaning up his messes and still doing damage of her own . . .

He clenched a fist as the final soldier fell . . .

Why couldn't he just kill? Why couldn't he bring himself to do it? He'd killed Akuma . . .

He felt Kyoko pull him up gently, "Are you hurt?" She asked.

"What? No . . ." Naomasa whispered.

Yomiko came over and said "What's next sensei? We can't keep fighting like this; my arms are going to fall off."

Shikamaru seemed about to answer when suddenly there was a blast, a nearby building which had been relatively undamaged suddenly burst into flames, its windows shattered and its door flew off its hinges.

There was a shout and a ninja flew out of the second floor of the destroyed house. It was a Sunagakure Jounin by his uniform but Naomasa didn't recognize his face.

He was cut across the chest, half the katana was had broken off and was still sticking out of him. A troop of Samurai emerged from the bottom floor. They wore Sound village symbols on their helmets almost like ninja wearing headbands.

And from the second floor, through the same hole the ninja had been thrown from a large, muscular man leapt and landed softly.

He carried a katana, or rather the other half of the katana that the Sand ninja had buried in his chest.

He was scarred, bald, and dressed in the tattered remains of an Iwagakure uniform, he turned his strangely empty eyes to Shikamaru Sensei and stood up straight, "There you are . . . I was worried I would fail to find you."

Shikamaru staggered back, "What the . . ."

"No way!" Yomiko shouted, "Sensei that's--"

The Jounin smirked, "Did you . . . miss me, Nara?"

Naomasa looked at Shikamaru-sensei, "What's going on?"

"You're dead!" Yomiko shouted.

"Mm." The Jounin shrugged, "No argument from me . . . but Nara, my blade, do you still have it?"

Shikamaru-sensei stood up straight, "Yes Toshiie, I have your blade."

"Return it." Toshiie said calmly.

Shikamaru shook his head, "Why give you any advantage."

Toshiie smiled slightly, "It's really quite liberating . . . not having to hold back. I mean . . . what more could you possibly do to me? Your schemes murdered my older brother, you robbed me of my own life . . . worse you robbed me of a proper death, letting your brother in law finish me? For shame."

Shikamaru spun his two blades in his hands and said "Everyone run."

"I won't leave you." Temari whispered.

"Get the children to safety." Shikamaru said.

Temari shook her head, "Damn it Shikamaru I won't leave you! They're all Chuunin; they can make it on their own!"

"Get _all _the children to safety, Temari . . . that includes the one inside you." Shikamaru whispered.

Temari looked surprised, so was Naomasa.

Temari was pregnant? Again?

This wasn't the time for congratulations, Naomasa took Temari's hand, "Ma'am, we . . . we have to trust Sensei."

Temari tore her hand free, "Forget that! I raised Sumiko alone; I won't raise another child by myself! I'd rather die with you than live without you and I don't care how selfish that is! You're the selfish one anyway trying to act so heroic, I don't want a dead hero for a husband!"

Naomasa notice the slightest of smiles on Shikamaru's face. "I don't need a dead heroin for a wife."

"Then we'll survive together." Temari said firmly, "but I won't go."

"I won't go either." Kyoko said suddenly, "We'll stand together. I'd rather die now than live for ten years wondering 'what if'. "

Yomiko spun her chakra blades as Shikamaru-sensei had done before, "I'm a Sarutobi; my father's going to be ashamed of me if I back down." She smirked at Naomasa, "Besides, we're a team, right?"

"That's right." Naomasa nodded, he smiled wickedly, "You're not facing this alone Sensei, no matter what."

Toshiie snatched a katana from one of the enemy samurai and shoved the other man back. The other samurai all stepped back and stood firm.

A sinister voice laughed and Naomasa looked to the burning building to see a woman in a tan trench coat . . .

She leapt from the roof of the building and snatched the katana from Toshiie who staggered back as if he were afraid. She stood up straight and glanced at the collected ninja, "Don't mind my interruption, but I can't stand to see such scenes."

It as Mitarashi Anko, Kotaro's mother. Naomasa smirked triumphantly but he noticed Shikamaru-sensei looked worried, he backed away slowly.

Anko smiled fiendishly and tossed Toshiie's katana back to its original owner, her black hair was tied in a high ponytail but she loosed it and let it fall down her neck, She threw her coat away into the flames and said "I do believe it's too warm for such attire, don't you, Nara Shikamaru? Are you certain you won't surrender?"

Shikamaru's hands shot back, he shoved Naomasa and Temari back, "Run!" He shouted, "Run now, everyone!"

"We can take her," Temari said, her lip curling in contempt.

Now Naomasa had serious reservations.

Anko was Kotaro's mother, why would she want to hurt them? If nothing else they were at least her son's friends.

As if she realized this herself Anko's eye twitched ever so slightly, a look of horror in just one solitary eye though the rest of her face was completely impassive.

Temari and Naomasa didn't budge. Anko's skin began to come to life with red flames almost as if she were covered in a living tattoo.

She laughed softly and said "I will need a good warm up to really get used to this body . . . do you really think you're up to it, Shikamaru? You're a clever boy, but not much else. Surrender, serve Sound, live a peaceful lazy life watching clouds."

Shikamaru laughed softly, Temari however answered for him.

"This war isn't just about achieving peace, it's about living our lives the way we want, it's about freedom! This is all about the next generation, we can't sell out, and that would make us even more worthless than a traitor like you."

"Traitor?" Anko asked, "Don't be stupid . . . everything I've done has been for this village, for the next generation," she spun and faced the group, her body covered in black markings, "I'm a _hero_ really."

"Debatable . . . you're as mad as Kabuto." Temari said.

"Yes well you may notice Toshiie here hasn't tried to kill you yet, wonder why? It's because unlike Kabuto I'm not just mad, I'm mad with power . . . don't you miss your brothers?"

"What?" Temari demanded.

"Kankuro, killed in the streets of Sunagakure . . . and by now Gaara lies dead with the civilians of Konoha, whom your beloved Shikamaru so _stupidly _sent to their deaths. Bad from, Shika-kun."

Temari laughed uneasily, "I don't believe you."

Temari gripped her two small fans tightly but Kyoko outdid her, charging forward, battle fan bared she shouted "They wouldn't die, Kotaro-kun would never--"

Anko's leg snapped out too fast for Naomasa to see, Kyoko slammed into a wall and hit the floor like a sack of bricks, one of the samurai rushed over and grabbed her by the hair and tore her head back, exposing her neck and raising his katana to decapitate her but Shikamaru-sensei's shadow rushed forward and the man stopped, dropping Kyoko and taking a pose similar and then identical to Shikamaru-sensei's.

Kyoko struggled to get to her feet, Naomasa rushed over and returned the favor she'd paid him earlier, helping her to her feet and then helping her get back to their group of comrades.

Kyoko squeezed his hand and whispered "Kotaro can't be . . ."

"He's not, she'd never do it." He whispered back to her, "Not to her own son."

"My son?" Anko laughed in a voice that wasn't quite hers. "_My_ son? Oh--_oh_ of course . . . this body isn't fully assimilated yet . . ."

"Orochimaru . . ." Shikamaru hissed.

"Took you long enough . . . stupid boy." Orochimaru smirked. "Surrender now and see your daughter again . . . and you Temari . . . surrender and I'll bring your brothers back to life just as I restored Toshiie . . . and look how polite he is now, their personalities can be as you wish . . . just serve me."

Temari was shaking, Shikamaru closed his eyes and said "Everyone needs to follow my orders very closely if we're going to win this fight."

There was a deathly howl in the distance, Shikamaru said "And we need to be fast, because our secret weapon just went off."

Anko sneered, "I'm not worried. But you should be." She tipped her head up and Naomasa sensed something, he spun around and saw a massive form swagger towards them shuffling what looked like a deck of cards.

The man dressed in bloody rags snapped a card out of the deck and glanced at it and said "So . . . who's afraid of the dark?"

**To Be Continued . . .**


	167. Kotaro and Kamikage

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Sixty Seven**

Shikamaru-sensei's shadow sped on towards the enemy ninja, Anko rushed forward, Toshiie came on as well and the ninja in rags tossed his card on the ground where, like smoke spreading from a smoke bomb, darkness crept wards from it.

He heard Anko laughing but her voice seemed to alternate between her own and a mildly more masculine unfamiliar one.

Naomasa felt something cut into his shoulder, he felt something sharp, like needles dig into his ankle.

He leapt up and felt pain course through his legs, he emerged from the darkness and grasped a nearby roof but the Samurai were pointing at him and laughing, the darkness, as if noticing his absence sprang forward like smoke chasing him and engulfed him.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu!" Shikamaru-sensei shouted.

"Don't be stupid," Anko's voice seemed to come from everywhere, "You can't use that to find us, you're blind to us but we still see you, we still see your shadows!"

Naomasa couldn't tell where her voice was coming from; he couldn't tell where she was.

But then he felt himself suddenly forced to crouch, and he realized Shikamaru-sensei hadn't been trying to find Anko.

"Shadow Puppetry!" Shikamaru-sensei shouted.

Naomasa suddenly kicked out, but hit nothing, he punched and hit nothing. This continued for some time and he couldn't resist the sense that Shikamaru-sensei was using him as part of a simple scouting mechanism.

Yomiko screamed in pain, Naomasa wanted to know where she was but her scream seemed to echo from everywhere, he didn't know where she was.

Suddenly he was flying towards the left, he shouted in surprise, what was Shikamaru-sensei doing and was Yomiko okay?

* * *

The Kamikage--whom Hikaru had to admit was really very attractive--summoned a pair of snakes which rushed out after Shikamaru's two students while Toshiie himself rushed for Shikamaru's wife.

There was a brief scuffle, Temari did quite well, blasting Toshiie into a wall with her fans even though she couldn't have possibly seen or heard him through Hikaru's improved Darkness Jutsu.

The female student slashed out with her blade, cutting the head off of the snake attacking her but accidentally nicking her friend, who staggered and was bitten by his serpent enemy.

He leapt up and the darkness followed him, he fell back down and suddenly Shikamaru shouted "Shadow Possession Jutsu!"

"Don't be stupid," The Kamikage laughed, "You can't use that to find us, you're blind to us but we can still see you, we still see your shadows!"

Hikaru smirked and took on his cursed form, and watched as Shikamaru's shadow swept out, encompassing all of his comrades.

Idiot.

Then he took control of all of them at once, and began having them all flail about wildly, Hikaru laughed quietly to himself, the samurai all laughed and pointed like spectators at a show.

He dodged their wild attacks easily enough, everyone laughed.

The Kamikage held up her hand and four fingers.

She drew one down, then another, it was a count down.

_Two . . . one . . . now!_ Hikaru thought, throwing a kunai at Shikamaru's female student so that her scream would mask any sounds of their attack, then leaping with the others, suddenly a blade slashed into his stomach, a gust of wind slammed into Toshiie and the Kamikage had to substitute to avoid being kicked in the face.

Shikamaru's shadow puppets slashed and kicked and the young girl's fan knocked an entire building down, Hikaru withdrew, the Kamikage shouted "Not such a stupid boy after all!"

Hikaru felt like he might be.

"What just happened?" He demanded.

"Shut up!" The Kamikage roared and Hikaru felt pain suddenly ripple through his entire body.

"Do that to them!" He shouted.

"Shut up! You fool, don't you see? The darkness spell hinders anyone _but _Nara Shikamaru." The Kamikage scowled and clapped her hands, "Clever, Shikamaru-kun. Clever. Now surrender clever boy, surrender and join me. I'll kill Toshiie again, or I'll let you do it if you wish. You and your wife won't have to be part of the experiments."

In response Shikamaru's wife suddenly seemed free of the shadow puppetry Jutsu and she sprang forward, out of the darkness before Hikaru could will it to follow her.

Her two small fans in her hands she slashed both out and the Kamikage's head flew from her shoulders in one direction; her legs fell out from under her torso in another.

Except they weren't hers, they belonged to the unfortunate Samurai she'd traded places with.

"Kill them! Kill them all!"

Hikaru dropped the Darkness Jutsu since it didn't seem to be doing any good, and just as he did it he realized what a fool he was.

The Darkness Jutsu _was _effective, but Shikamaru had used his puppets to lull them into a false sense of security, seeming to attack at random he'd waited for the right moment, probably as a sensor was able to detect them when they got close enough even through the Jutsu but when Hikaru had thrown that kunai at the girl her scream had just signaled to Shikamaru that the attack was on, he'd probably have been doomed against all the Samurai.

Then from the rubble of the ruined wall came something new.

Something fast too, almost too fast, he came in and spun in the air, kicking one of the samurai in the head and snapping his neck back so hard that it must have snapped.

He tore the katana from the dead man's grasp and swung violently at Toshiie, who dodged and swept his sword out to decapitate the masked kid but the Kamikage screamed some profanity and Toshiie went flying into a nearby wall.

"Kotaro!" Shikamaru shouted, "What are you--"

"Kotaro!" The Kamikage shouted, "Save your friends!"

"What?" Hikaru raised an eyebrow, but the boy, Kotaro took to the enemy ranks with an intense passion, he cut left and right, he slashed, he stabbed.

He didn't relish it as Ami might have; he was more like Kaori, businesslike, to the point. It wasn't pleasure to him it was just a job, and yet there was still the slightest fire in his eyes . . .

When the last of the Samurai fell dead Kotaro threw the katana away as if it disgusted him and drew a kunai instead, a true ninja tool.

"Mother, what's going on? What's happened to your skin?" He asked.

So he was the Kamikage's son? Well Hikaru was shocked enough just learning that Kabuto's true master was a woman, learning that she had children wasn't that big of a shock, especially since she was so beautiful. Heck, Hikaru might have even considered knocking her up just to lock her down and--

And he suddenly flew into a wall just as Toshiie had, his second cursed form melting away like wax from his skin.

"That isn't your mother, Taro!" Shikamaru's female student shouted, "I don't know who that is, but she is _not _your mother!"

"Don't be stupid. Kotaro . . . this is your mother's body is it not? Are these not the eyes that watched over you as you grew up? Are these not the hands that cradled you?"

Kotaro seemed confused, "What's going on?" He demanded.

"Kotaro, you need to save your friends." Kamikage said, imploringly, then in a darker, more sinister voice she said, "You need to save _me_, my darling child."

* * *

"You need to save _me _my darling child," Kotaro's mother said in a voice not her own, the black marks on her skin turned red and swirled over her like dancing flames, they retreated to her neck and she said "Your little friend says I'm not your mother . . . but isn't this the body that carried you for nine miserable months? Isn't this the same body that protected you and nourished you and taught you for the thirteen years you've graced this earth? Doesn't that make me your mother?" The sinister voice hissed through his mother's mouth.

"What are you?" Kotaro growled.

"I carried this body, not within my own but certainly with my powers and reputation I picked her up from nothing and made her _everything _she is today, don't I therefore have some right to her body? I fed her, gave her my own strength and she spurned it, refused to use it and denied all she could have been with my help, am I not wronged? She owes me doesn't she?"

Kotaro sprang forward, kunai ready, he heard Kyoko scream a warning but it was too late, his mother's hand wrapped around his neck and slammed him into a hard wooden building, his head slammed into a glass window but not quite hard enough to shatter the glass.

He'd dropped his kunai, he was defenseless as his mother leaned in close, her soft cheeks brushing up against his as she whispered into his ear in her own voice "Oh save me my son, save me . . . she's screaming Taro-kun, _screaming_ at me, pleading, crying in her own mind. She's furious, and she's scared. I love it when she's afraid . . . I love it when _anyone's _afraid and yet even now I don't sense fear from you. Confusion, yes, but not quite fear."

She laughed and pulled back a bit to stare deeply into his eyes, hers were different.

Kotaro wasn't the sort to stare intensely into his own mother's eyes, but he knew them and the eyes looking into his own now weren't hers, not entirely anyway.

He noticed it right away, her pupils were changing, becoming more like slits, and her irises were deforming too, gold was creeping in around their edges.

"What the hell are you?" Kotaro growled.

"I'm your mother Kotaro-kun, don't you see that?"

Kotaro would have shaken his head but she was still holding his neck, he grasped her arm with both hands, "You're not, you can't be. My mother is _never _scared! She never cries!"

"Oh she's shed quite a few tears in her time, and the memories of it are part of me now . . . just like she is, just like she always was. Always will be . . . she's mine . . ." His false mother said calmly, "You need to save your friends Kotaro; you need to save your mother . . . from me."

Kotaro felt his breathing getting difficult.

"Taro!" Kyoko screamed, "I'm coming!"

Kotaro's eyes glanced towards Kyoko, she was fighting with several soldiers who'd rushed in from out of nowhere, Naomasa was trying to reach him too, he was closer but he wouldn't make it in time, not if this person holding onto him didn't want him to.

Kotaro's life could end in an instant.

He took his hands from her arm and began the hand signs, she laughed, "Go ahead Taro-kun . . . kill your mother, doom your friends . . ."

"My friends are strong," Kotaro said, "my mother isn't here . . . and if she is and what you say is true . . . she'll welcome this . . . Chidori!" He roared as the lightning in his hands came to life.

"Do it and run Kota--" His mother said, for an instant she was herself again, her eyes were her own again, and she was herself.

And the Chidori died in that very instant, Kotaro's resolve failed.

"M-mother?" He whispered.

A tear lined her eyes but their tainted appearance was back, and she laughed in that same voice that didn't belong to her, "Didn't I tell you? You have to save your friends Kotaro; you have to save your mother. It's not that only you can do it . . . more like only you have the slightest chance of not dying in the attempt."

Kotaro choked on the words, "What do I have to do?"

"Give yourself to me wholly, completely . . . and I'll save just enough of her to release when I'm through with this body."

"Kotaro, whatever she's saying don't listen!" Naomasa shouted, "Don't listen to her!"

"Don't give up!" Kyoko screamed, "I won't let her take you!"

"So adorable . . . if you want them to live you _have _to give up, my son." His false mother whispered, "Save them Kotaro, they're in danger purely for your benefit . . . I don't care about them right now, just you. There will be time enough later to recruit them; maybe I'll even send you to do it once you realize how wonderful life will be under my leadership, once you have your mother back. But first you must save them, save yourself, save your mother . . . what do you say, Kotaro?"

Kotaro swallowed hard, "I . . . I . . . I'm sorry . . . I'm so sorry!" He shouted to Shikamaru-sensei, to Naomasa, to Yomiko, to Kyoko, to Temari, to all of them.

He felt a tear roll down his cheek, "I'm so sorry . . . if your deaths are on my hands."

He kicked viciously, sending his so-called mother sprawling backwards, the soldiers tried to seize him but anyone who came too close went flying into a wall, "Run everyone, run!" Kotaro shouted, "Don't let her get you, just run!"

Kotaro grabbed Kyoko's hand and leapt with her onto the top of a roof, he dragged her along, trusting the others were following.

"I knew you'd never give in." Kyoko whispered, sounding overjoyed.

Kotaro however just squeezed her hand, he didn't know why but it made him feel just a little better, "we need to get the hell out of this city, nothing else matters anymore . . . we just need to get away."

"I . . . I'll follow you barefoot into hell, Hatake Kotaro." Kyoko told him.

_I may ask you to do just that. _Kotaro thought. _I won't let you suffer long, mom . . . I'll find dad, and we'll rescue you._

He thought this promise and he ran, he prayed his friends were doing the same.

He'd meant what he said, he'd feel terrible if their deaths were on his hands because he'd been too selfish to just surrender . . . but somehow he didn't trust the beast within his mother, and he wouldn't make any deal with it unless he was certain his mother would be freed.

* * *

Sasuke saw Konoha in the distance, saw the fires light up the city, he scowled.

"So we're too late . . ." Sasuke whispered.

Suigetsu was quiet for a moment, and then he said "In the confusion . . . you can still rescue the ones you care about, we can take them to safety while I go present my army to the bastard."

Sasuke lowered his gaze, "I might not return to you in Kirigakure."

"Not right away." Suigetsu shrugged, "Eventually you'll realize it's the only safe haven for those who aren't ready to give up the fight."

Sasuke nodded and headed for the village when suddenly one of the Mist ninja shouted "Look!"

A group of ninja approached led by Yamanaka Ino, Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks, turned from the city and headed for Ino.

"What's going on?" He demanded.

Ino tried to punch him in the stomach but he easily avoided the strike and removed the Mist village disguise he still wore, "It's me, Sasuke!" He shouted, "What's going on?"

Ino hesitated; Sasuke grabbed her shoulders and shook her, "Ino I--"

She punched him after all, he barely flinched but she seemed satisfied and began speaking after that, "The city is evacuated, Naruto's going to use the nine tails, Shikamaru's lured the enemy army into the city and what's left of our ninja are trying to take them out, but there's thousands of them and hundreds of us, they're burning portions of the city, I think they're doing it to force the ninja out of hiding."

"Sweet!" Suigetsu roared, "It isn't over!"

"No, it's over." Sasuke said darkly, "If Naruto is using the nine tails it's over."

"What're you doing then, fleeing?" Suigetsu asked Ino.

"Guarding the fleeing civilians, when we neared your force our uh . . . strategist guessed you'd be friendly, but wouldn't hazard any guesses on how helpful you'd be. I guess really it's too late for help."

Sasuke shook his head, "Who's with you? Is Sakura--"

"She's still in the city--"

"With Naruto?" Sasuke roared, Sakura shouldn't be anywhere near the nine tailed fox; Naruto would rip her to shreds before she could even blink.

"No, I mean not really, any ninja with enough chakra left to take on the army stayed behind, minus the guard for the civilians that is."

Sasuke didn't need to think too hard to guess why that was. The Civilian's guards were just the inexperienced Genin of the village, those who hadn't fought the enemy army yet.

"Suigetsu . . . what's your plan?"

Suigetsu was quiet for a moment, then he said "Ninja, you're all coming with me, we're going to present ourselves to the Kamikage. Soldiers, set up a perimeter, let any Konoha stragglers and runners through, same for Suna but stop anyone from Stone . . . I'm sorry we can't take you to safety, toots, but there's a Lightning army on our heels and if you can't avoid them not having any of our soldiers with you might help you talk your way through them. We'll direct everyone who gets through to head for the Land of Water, which is where you should go but if anyone else asks you're headed for Kumo, you got that? Just trust me on this, we're your friends, they're not."

Ino nodded, she looked at Sasuke, "And you, Sasuke?"

"I've got to find Sakura and stop Naruto from using the Nine Tails, I don't care what Shikamaru has planned. The Nine Tails would destroy us all."

Ino nodded, she and her six Genin escort suddenly departed, Suigetsu said "I'll see you in Kiri, Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke didn't say anything; he had no intention of going to Kirigakure if he could get Sakura and Naruto to safety elsewhere.

He ran for the village, Suigetsu and his remaining ninja headed for, he presumed, the Kamikage.

_Be safe, Sakura,_ Sasuke thought, _you too, Naruto._

* * *

Naruto punched through one of the burning buildings, red chakra arms stretched out and grasped the Oto soldier around the waist and pulled him through the wall. By the time he reached Naruto he was a mess, it almost wasn't necessary to backhand him into another building.

Necessary? No. But fun?

Three tails swirled around Naruto, the fourth was beginning to take shape too, he sprang, barely aware of who he was, he slashed out with blood covered hands, his red chakra which was almost solid around him did the actual cutting, an enemy Samurai fell dead along with three soldiers, Naruto's tails swiped out taking out even more foes, a ninja tried to run, Naruto just reached out, his chakra arm extending until the ninja was caught, then Naruto brought him back, raised him up by his neck and then with all his might he slammed his head into the ground, it burst like a melon.

He howled again in warning to his allies or perhaps just o howl, he wasn't sure anymore, all he knew was that his fifth tail was already coming around, by the time he reached six there'd be no turning back, he was already being overcome, swallowed up in the nine tails' chakra.

The Nine Tails was enjoying itself fiercely. It was defending its territory, the invaders had to die.

And he'd see to it that they all did.

* * *

Kotaro took a deep, slightly difficult breath when he and Kyoko reached the ramps everyone else had used to escape.

Kyoko suddenly wrapped her arms around him, he looked at her, "What?" He asked.

"I just . . . your mom, I thought . . . I thought you could use that." Kyoko said shyly.

To be honest Kotaro was tempted to just smile and say that everything was okay just to keep Kyoko from pitying him but he didn't.

Instead he held her, took off his mask and pressed his lips against hers.

She leaned against him and kissed back, when their lips separated she whispered, "Don't worry, we'll get her back."

"Yes . . . I will." Kotaro said softly. "Kyoko, get to safety."

"What?"

Kotaro turned away from her, "I had to see you out of the city, I don't want you getting hurt, but I can't leave my mother, she doesn't deserve that. Go Kyoko, get to safety."

"No, I'll help you, I'm not useless you know, I'm a Chuunin, I--"

Kotaro shook his head, "You have to go, if I worry about you getting hurt I won't be able to focus and think of a way to do what has to be done. You _have _to go, I'll catch up."

Kyoko had tears in her eyes, she hugged him again, "Promise me."

Kotaro didn't want to promise her anything, he didn't intend to leave the city without his mother and that might very well mean his death.

But if he could find his father or Shikamaru-sensei there was a chance, so he said "I promise" only it didn't come out that way.

"I love you." He told her, she sobbed into is shoulder, "I uh, I mean I promise." He said sheepishly.

Kyoko kissed him again, "I love you," she said softly, "I . . . I want to go with you, I want to promise I wont hold you back . . . but you won't listen to me, will you?"

"No." Kotaro said softly.

Kyoko kissed him a third time, "I'm sorry Kotaro-kun . . . I know you'll hate me, but I just can't let you stay here. Not alone, I have to--"

Suddenly she was torn from his arms and he was flat on his back, Anko stood between them, a look of utter ecstasy on her face, "Young love . . . so damned convenient."

Kotaro glared at her, "Let her go!"

"Pledge yourself to the Sound." Anko said firmly.

"Let her go!" Kotaro shouted.

Anko took a kunai and like lightning the blade shot towards Kyoko, Kotaro kicked up, knocking the blade from his mother's hand though it caused her leg to slip and nearly slam into his neck she quickly threw herself back to avoid damaging him.

He did the hand signs for Chidori, he ran towards her, reaching her just as the electricity crackled to life in his hands.

It looked like he'd get to leave with Kyoko after all.

_I'm sorry, mother . . . _he thought.

And then his mother shoved his hand outward and bit into his neck.

"No!" Kyoko screamed, but Kotaro could feel his whole world going dark.

His lightning blade Jutsu failed and he heard his mother whisper in the voice that wasn't hers, "I didn't want to do that . . . you forced my hand. Live on, Kotaro . . . this Jutsu has a low survival rate, and I will be very upset if you don't make it."

* * *

"No!" Kyoko screamed in denial, she swept her fan outwards towards Anko but the older woman just sneered and whispered something into Kotaro's ear as his entire body went limp.

Kyoko rushed forward and tried to use her fan up close since using it further away would just catch Kotaro in the blast, but Anko kicked out, hitting her in the mouth.

She fell back, Anko took a few steps back and then said to Kyoko, "What about you? Care to surrender yourself to me now, and forgo a life in hiding? Kotaro is mine. He'll never turn his back on the Sound now that I've left my mark on him so you might as well come over as well if he means that much to you."

Kyoko scowled and spat out blood, then realizing what that could mean reached for a summoning scroll.

"Scrolls hmm? A tattoo is more efficient." Anko suggested, Kyoko ignored her and spat blood onto one of her scrolls, only it was too late.

Anko held her mouth shut and kicked the scroll into a nearby fire, she held Kyoko's head and looked into her eyes.

"You could prove useful later . . . I can be generous." Anko said calmly, examining Kyoko carefully, sliding her hand away from the girl's mouth to her chin.

"What do you m--" Kyoko began to ask what the older woman meant but Anko suddenly forced her head to the side, exposing her neck, Kyoko didn't know what happened next, wasn't sure at the time whether or not Anko succeeded in biting her, she just felt panic. Someone screamed and for some reason it took her a moment to register that the person screaming was herself. She heard footsteps and it must have been help because Anko suddenly gave up on biting her, or maybe had already done it. The older woman shoved her head, and it slammed into the hard ground.

Kyoko felt everything suddenly explode, her vision went fuzzy for a moment.

Soldiers arrived then, Anko and Kotaro both disappeared in a cloud of smoke, Kyoko meant to charge at the enemy and find Kotaro. She didn't care what Anko said, she'd never be a traitor, and she knew Kotaro too would never be a traitor.

_I love you_.

His words rang in her head, _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ She scolded herself. Those three words had made her lose all sensibility, she wasn't a Chuunin, she wasn't even a Genin she was a moron. If she hadn't been kissing Taro-kun maybe they'd have noticed their enemy before it was too late.

This was all on her head, all her fault.

Her vision was fuzzy, she felt dizzy, but while the first problem was slowly clearing the second was getting worse and the soldiers were surrounding her now which just made her feel frightened somewhere in her head she reasoned they must be enemies but she wasn't sure where or how that conclusion was reached because everything was getting confused and all she knew for certain was that Kotaro's capture was her fault.

She swung her fist at the first soldier as he got near to her but a green blur stopped her, "Desist, these are Fire soldiers, the retreat has been called, you must turn and flee!"

"Lee?" Kyoko wept, "Lee they took Taro-kun! We have to get him back!"

Lee hesitated, "Who took him?"

"Anko! Mitarashi Anko!"

"Then there is nothing to fear! She is his mother and one of the finest ninja in the village; he will no doubt escape safely." Lee said, catching her as she stood up and fell again, holding her head.

"No . . . you don't . . . understand . . ." Kyoko said pitifully, but she lost consciousness and in the strong arms of Rock Lee she escaped the burning Village Hidden in Leaves.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	168. Tomoko's Stand

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Sixty Eight**

Tomoko staggered towards a darkened alley, the fires hadn't been set in this part of the city yet. She walked slowly into the alley and fell behind a dumpster.

She examined her various wounds, her right thigh had two horrible gashes, and she'd been forced to give up one of her chains or lose her left whole arm in one fight so though there was nothing wrong with either of her arms she had only one weapon.

She swallowed a lump in her throat and took deep calming breaths, she tore the sleeve off of her left arm and wrapped with tightly around her leg, hoping it would stop the bleeding.

She needed to take a break, just a short one, and she'd be okay.

Just a short break . . .

She felt someone shake her, "Get up Tomoko-chan, you can't rest here!"

Tomoko's eyes fluttered open, she was surprised that she found it difficult to breathe as she did so.

Had she fallen asleep? No, she couldn't have, the sky wasn't any different. It was still just almost dawn.

Kyusaku pulled her to her feet, "Come on, we have to go."

"No . . ." Tomoko muttered, "nowhere to go."

"The whole city is evacuating, remember? We'll link up with them."

"Never find them . . ." Tomoko mumbled, she shook her head and limped out from behind the dumpster, "We won't make it; I can't run."

Kyusaku clenched a fist, "Then we'll walk, but we're getting out of here together."

Tomoko smiled slightly, "You could probably make it alone . . . I don't really care about getting away . . . I just . . ."

"Just what?" Kyusaku asked.

"I just want to rest." Tomoko mumbled.

"If they catch you they'll kill you." Kyusaku protested.

"Yeah but . . . if they don't catch me I'll have more chakra, and I can kill more of them. You get out of here, find Chouji-sensei and get to safety, you've got a long life ahead of you."

"Not without you I don't." Kyusaku said firmly, "I . . . I'm in love with you and I won't leave you."

Tomoko nearly fell down at that statement.

She didn't know how to respond to it, "Kyu-kun I . . . that's . . ." Her brain registered that she actually _did_ fall down at that point but the rest of her barely noticed, "is this really the best time to--"

"It could be the only time, but whatever happens I wanted you to know . . . I won't let you stay here and die, you have to get out of here, you have to get to safety."

Tomoko rose to her feet again and nodded, "I . . . fine, I . . . uh, let's go . . . I did my part for the walls, I bet Daisuke's already gotten away, let's go."

She felt strange, Kyusaku had just told her that he loved her and . . . what was she supposed to do about that?

The girl in her wanted to take a time out and figure out what her feelings towards Kyu might be, did she love him too? That wouldn't be so bad, he was a nice guy, he was good looking . . . but the ninja in Tomoko wouldn't even consider thinking about it, it wasn't the time or the place.

When they got to safety she'd do some soul searching or something, only when they got to safety.

"Okay . . . I can't run," she said.

"Can you walk fast?" Kyusaku asked.

"I can try." Tomoko nodded.

He took her hand, and knowing how he felt about her it made her feel sort of tingly, he led her out of the alley moving quickly.

Her leg burned and ripples of pain tore through her, but she ignored them and followed Kyusaku's quick step, then suddenly an arrow whizzed by her head, she glanced behind her and saw a group of five bowmen running after them, they'd catch them in no time.

Tomoko swept her arm back and her remaining chained claw slashed the throat of one enemy, and knocked the bow from the hands of another, shattering it.

The three others charged, one loaded another arrow, Kyusaku stood in front of Tomoko, blocking her from the shot but she saw over his shoulder when a large frame burst out of a side alley and slammed his hammer into the head of one enemy soldier, tore the arrow from the bow of the man about to fire and slammed it into another man's neck.

Tomoko's father tore his gore covered blacksmith's hammer from the head of the enemy he'd felled, the soldier who's arrow he stole quickly grabbed another and using it as a dagger stabbed the Oedo patron in the side with it, the muscled man just roared in anger rather than pain and raised his hammer high into the air.

The soldier turned to run, the hammer came down missing his head by inches and slamming into his shoulder instead, the man fell like a sack of bricks.

Her father turned away from him and shouted to them, "Come on girl, don't be too proud, if you can't run out of this hell city I'll carry--"

He didn't finish the sentence, the fourth soldier, whose bow Tomoko had broken seized the bow from the man whose throat she'd slashed, fitted an arrow and fired.

Tomoko didn't see where it hit her father, he just staggered forward and turned around. She shoved past Kyusaku and tried to run to her father but failed, falling to the ground in excruciating pain.

She ignored the pain and struggled to reach her father, seeing the arrow in his back as he turned to face the soldier who fitted another arrow.

Kyusaku raised a kunai to throw, Tomoko thrust her hand forward and let her chain fly towards the enemy soldier.

Her iron claw slammed into his forehead, he fell backwards.

But not before he fired his arrow.

The shot flew true, Kyusaku's kunai might have deflected it but he'd already thrown it at the soldier.

Tomoko's claws might have deflected it but she only had the one, and it was still lodged in the skull of that soldier.

Her father fell to the ground, she struggled to reach him and help him up, "Daddy," she wept pitifully.

But he had nothing to say to her, the arrow had found his neck, he was already dead.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks, "I should have just listened to you. I should have stayed home . . ."

She felt Kyusaku's hand on her shoulder, "Tomoko, I'm sorry but--"

"No!" She snapped, "I did this, it's my fault, everything I do is wrong! I always make things worse for my family!" She held on to her father and wept, "I ruin everything."

"No you--look this isn't the time, we have to--"

There was the sound of armored feet hitting the stone road, Tomoko looked up through tear filled eyes and saw a much larger group of enemy solders, this time spearmen and bowmen along with three Samurai, each of them wearing a helmet with the Village Hidden in Sound's symbol on its brow.

Kyusaku took a defensive stance over her but Tomoko glared hatred at them. She wrapped her arms around her father's neck and held him close one last time, felt his blood stain her clothes and she didn't care.

"Stand down and surrender." A female voice said coldly, Tomoko looked up to see the girl from Yuu's team.

For a fleeting instant she thought maybe Yuu was there, maybe Lightning had come to rescue them, but she noted the Sound symbol on Kasumi's forehead protector and clenched her fists with rage.

"What do you want?" Tomoko demanded with a cracking voice, "Permission? Fire! Kill me!"

"We could do that, or you could surrender and live on." Kasumi told her. "My master wouldn't exactly mind having Oedo Tomoko join his ranks."

Tomoko looked up at Kyusaku, "Don't die here, Kyu-kun."

"What are you--" Kyusaku began in confusion but Tomoko grasped her father's hammer and sprang to her feet.

She couldn't run, she had no hope of closing the distance between her and Kasumi before the bowmen shot her down.

She raised her hands as if she meant to bring them above her head, and then in a flash her chain swept out and lashed the three nearest bowmen, knocking their bows from their hands, it cut into the substitution log that Kasumi used, and almost knocked the katana from the hands of one of the Samurai.

She shoved Kyusaku down the street her father had come out of since it wasn't facing the enemy, he'd be safe there but she didn't have time to reach it.

And she didn't want him getting killed on her account, they'd never outrun this mob, not with her leg the way it was, alone Kyusaku might make it.

She was tired to screwing everything up, she'd do at least one thing right, she'd die like a Shinobi.

She sprang forward, arrows soared towards her, too many to deflect.

One slammed into her right shoulder, another hit her stomach, she tumbled to her knees, she coughed blood and then the spearmen closed in to finish her off.

She inhaled as best she could and shouted "Fire Summoning Jutsu!"

The initial ball of flame engulfed the spearmen, the steed that it formed charged the enemy lines, and several of the bowmen backed off and tried to run.

They didn't make it far before Kyusaku stepped in front of Tomoko.

"You idiot, run!" Tomoko rasped.

Kyusaku said, "I'd rather die with you than live without you any day, and we're not dead yet. Human Boulder!"

Kyusaku's body expanded and he rolled towards the enemy, the human boulder slammed into them, Tomoko shook her head. _Why?_

Her father had left the safety of their home to pursue her, to rescue her . . . why?

Now Kyusaku was risking his life protecting her when she'd given up her own specifically so he could escape.

She fell forward, the arrow in her stomach snapped its shaft and drove deeper into her, she didn't care, she tilted her head and saw Kyusaku stop his spinning as the last of the bowmen fell before him, the three Samurai advanced and he dispatched one of them with a kunai and then took that one's sword and raised it up against the other two.

But Tomoko saw the hand emerge from his shadow and slash his ankle, he stumbled backwards and one of the Samurai stabbed him in the chest.

Tomoko reached out, she didn't know why, they were too far away for her to do anything and she didn't have the chakra to animate her chains anymore.

She cried as Kyusaku fell to the ground, as Kasumi finished emerging from his shadow and walked up to her.

Kasumi examined her and said "Looks like there could be damage to your reproductive capabilities . . . kind of makes you useless to us I'm afraid."

Tomoko just scowled with contempt at Kasumi, the younger girl laughed softly and patted her shoulder soothingly.

"It's not so easy is it? Seeing the people who love you die . . . too bad, we could have had an understanding and everything."

"Just kill me." Tomoko said contemptuously.

"I kind of have to . . . I mean I didn't want to, especially now that you know how I feel, we're like kindred spirits now!" Kasumi laughed rudely, and shook her head, "Nah, I kid, I kid . . . but if you can't get pregnant you're no use to the master, so . . . I mean that's all we want you for. My medical Jutsu is a little rusty on top of being nonexistent . . . do you think this injury would prevent you from baring heirs? Do you want to live on, do you want to be like me, knowing everyone you loved who loved you died--in your case _because _of you--or do you want to just give up now, and die?"

Tomoko felt nothing but contempt for Kasumi but she also recognized what was happening.

Neither she nor Kasumi knew how serious the injury to Tomoko's lower abdomen was or what it would affect, all Tomoko knew was that it hurt a lot and she felt like she'd die even if a medic showed up.

But Kasumi had said it quite plainly, "do you want to be like me?" she was giving Tomoko a chance to avoid the fate of capture, who knew why? Maybe she felt sympathy, maybe she just wanted Tomoko dead, but the question was simple.

Did Tomoko want to be like Kasumi, alive when her loved ones were dead, hating the world, hating herself . . . and both girls knew the answer to that.

"Just do it." Tomoko whispered.

Kasumi nodded, she spun her kunai in her hand, the same one that had slashed Kyusaku's ankle.

Kasumi slid her kunai across Tomoko's throat with utter ease.

Tomoko didn't even feel it.

But she could still breathe.

Kasumi's eyes grew hard, she looked towards Tomoko's nonexistent neck wound, then Tomoko felt a strange sensation as a fist rose _through _her and wrapped itself around Kasumi's neck.

Yuu's sister rose _through _Tomoko and slammed Kasumi into the ground, Kasumi reached for a weapon but Kaori was faster, grasping the girl's kunai wielding hand and jerking it out so quickly that Kasumi stabbed her other hand, and screamed in pain.

Kaori fell backwards, into the ground and pulled Tomoko with her, and then Tomoko couldn't breathe.

Before she suffocated however they emerged inside of a burning building.

Kaori helped Tomoko up, she said "I'm sorry I wasn't in time to save your friend, in fact I was barely in time to save you. I guess there's no way you could have known, but next time you have the bad guy in a monolog, try to keep it going until help shows up."

Tomoko didn't say anything as Kaori tore strips of her own clothes to bandage Tomoko's stomach and shoulder, though she did notice that Kaori had left the arrows behind when they phased.

Tomoko didn't know what to say or what to feel. She kind of didn't want to feel anything.

She closed her eyes, "He'd have made it if he just ran away. If he'd have just left me . . ."

"Would you have left him?" Kaori asked, Tomoko shook her head slowly. "So how could you expect him to leave you?" Kaori said softly.

Tomoko closed her eyes.

She'd had no clue how Kyusaku felt about her . . . she had no clue how she felt about him.

_Better never to think about it_. She decided, closing her eyes even tighter, _whatever the answer ends up being it'll just be more painful than not knowing._

If it turned out she loved Kyusaku too, that was bad enough, if it turned out she _didn't _love him it made his sacrifice for her even more unforgivable on her part.

She should have done more, should have forced him to leave, should have explained things to him maybe. Maybe if he'd understood that she was dying for him, he would have just gone.

She felt Kaori's hands on her shoulders, and felt herself sink into the ground again.

Part of her hoped the Jounin would slip and leave her buried . . . but she didn't.

**

* * *

**

Sasuke ran through the burning streets of Konoha, wherever he met enemy soldiers he dispatched them quickly and as efficiently as he could without having to actually stop moving, which meant a lot of fireballs and a lot of men burning to death.

But it wasn't like he'd asked them to invade his home.

He spotted a few other ninja from Konoha or Suna as he went and each one he ordered to evacuate.

The sun was coming up and he hadn't found Naruto yet, if Naruto were really using the demon fox's chakra he should have noticed him by now, he should be huge.

And where, for that matter, was Sakura?

Sasuke suddenly spotted a Konoha ninja ripping into a group of enemy ninja, was that Sakura?

He leapt from the rooftop he'd been running on and landed behind the young woman dressed in dark red.

No . . . not red.

Her clothes used to be black.

Hijiri Hitomi's katana cut through one man's spine as he tried to run, she spun around and decapitated another, blood sprayed everywhere but she didn't seem bothered. She was probably using her chakra to enhance her strength. Sasuke noticed immediately that her goggles were around her neck now, he sprang in front of her, both to stop her rampage and to finally see those eyes.

"Hijiri!" He barked, "Stop! Stop now, they're retreating!"

"So?" She asked calmly. "What does that matter?"

Sasuke noticed the threatening way she held her katana, he drew his own blade, "Stand down, Hijiri, you need to leave the city."

Hitomi smiled slightly, "No." She whispered.

"It's overrun, you've been fighting for hours on end, your body can't possibly last much longer," Sasuke told her, "stand down and get out of the city before it's too late."

Hitomi's half closed eyes slowly opened, exposing her eyes . . .

They were red, completely red just as the Hyuga's eyes were completely white, but while the Hyuga's irises and pupils were a mildly darker shade Hitomi didn't appear to have any iris, or else her entire red eye was a massive iris.

But she did have a pupil . . . sort of. It was a constantly moving swirl, like a black whirlpool in the center of her eye.

It wasn't Sharingan or Byakugan, it probably wasn't a combination either, though Sasuke wouldn't rule out that possibility.

Sasuke had held out hope . . . hope that she was secretly the daughter of his brother Itachi or some cousin of theirs who'd escaped the purge, had hoped that the task of restoring Uchiha wouldn't fall solely to him.

But it wasn't so.

Nevertheless they were similar, and he suspected that like him she was the last of her bloodline.

He jumped back when Hitomi suddenly sprang for him, he blocked her blade with his but she discarded it and lashed out with both hands instead, each gathering flame almost like a fiery Chidori.

And with that thought in mind Sasuke chose not to let the strike hit him, dropping down and knocking the girl's legs out from beneath her.

She leapt up to avoid him but he swept his leg back and took her from behind, knocking her on her back and holding her down before she could rise.

He was about to speak reason to her but she kicked him roughly in the back, knocking him off of her and into a small pile of bodies.

He pulled himself up, expecting another attack but she was on the move, apparently all she'd wanted was for him to get out of her way.

He followed her, still holding his chakra katana, he saw a group of soldiers, probably some of the last remaining from the Lands of Earth.

They saw them and turned to run screaming "It's Uchiha!" and Sasuke wanted to chase them, kill them all but he knew that wasn't the priority.

Finding Sakura was . . . but he couldn't leave Hitomi.

Even if she wasn't an Uchiha she could be of use to him. "Hijiri, you have to stop or we might lose Naruto! I need your help!"

Hitomi slowed for an instant, then said "I can finish them quickly enough."

"No, let them go!"

"They deserve to die!" She screamed, "They all deserve to die!"

She sprang after them, Sasuke could tell her equipment pouches were empty, she'd have to catch them before she could harm them--or so he assumed. Without even slowing down Hitomi tore some shards of glass from a nearby broken window and hurtled them, killing three of the enemy soldiers as she gained on the remaining dozen.

"Stop Hijiri!"

"They have to die! They have to die!" She told him over and over again, Sasuke was faster but at the rate she was moving Hitomi would probably run into another patrol before he could catch her.

"Hijiri, you are a Jounin of Konohagakure and your Sensei is in danger, you will do your duty!"

He didn't know what made him say it. He just said it, it just came out.

And she stopped.

She stopped so suddenly he almost slammed into her.

He used his momentum to grab her by the back of the neck and slam her into the ground, using enough force to knock her down but not enough to stop her from holding her hands out to avoid having her face smashed into the ground.

She was crying, probably not from behind knocked to the ground, but still crying, Sasuke pulled her up, "Help me find Naruto!" He told her sharply, "He's your sensei, if you won't retreat you can at least make yourself useful to me!"

Hitomi looked at him, her eyes were swirling more rapidly, it was mildly dizzying, and it made him feel a little ill.

"They all have to die . . ." She whispered, "I . . . I don't want to stop. They . . . they killed Matsuri . . . they'll kill me if I stop . . . I have to hurt them before they can hurt me . . . I have to kill them so they don't hurt anyone ever again . . . I can't stop, I don't want to stop, you of all people should understand!"

Sasuke wanted to slap her, her vengeance had nothing to do with finding Naruto.

But he didn't, he held back and said "We'll make them pay together . . . _after _we find Naruto."

Hitomi shook her head, "I can't . . . I can't face sensei. I'm-I . . . I can't find Miyuki, I have to find Miyuki . . . I don't know where Miyuki is, I don't know where Sensei is, I don't know where Hara is, I don't know where captain Konohamaru went, I don't know if Tomoko and Naomasa are okay and I . . . I don't dare find out, I don't dare look for _anyone_. What if . . . I mean I . . . I don't want to find them dead!" She screamed, shoving him away angrily, "What if sensei is dead, did you think of that? Everyone's dying, why not him? Why not me? Why not you, why not this whole village?"

_Stop babbling, you're worthless if you can't focus,_ Sasuke thought but he didn't say it.

Instead he jabbed Hitomi between the eyes, hard as he'd ever struck Shiroi.

She staggered back, blinked a few times and glared at him, "What do you think you're--"

"I need a Jounin, not a babbling lunatic. You will focus, you will do your duty as a ninja of the leaf village."

Hitomi glared at him but she seemed to be under control now, "How am I going to find Naruto-senesi?"

They began to run away from the area that Sasuke had already checked, they had no destination in mind, were just looking for signs of battle as they ran over the rooftops and tried to formulate a strategy.

"Don't you have any way of finding him? Can't you sense him?" Sasuke demanded.

Hitomi seemed confused, then she nodded, "I . . . no, no I can't but Shikamaru can, he's the one in charge of the defense, he knows where everyone is and he's a sensor so he can pinpoint Naruto-sensei."

Perfect, really he should have thought of it. Shikamaru would know or at least have a vague idea of where Sakura and Naruto would be according to his plans, and indeed as Hitomi had said he could sense their chakra and could lead Sasuke to them.

"But where's Shikamaru?" Sasuke growled, "It's like giving up on one needle in a haystack in favor of looking for a different one."

"I may know a way to find Shikamaru. But if Naruto-sensei is using the nine tailed chakra isn't it a good sign that we can't see him? Shouldn't he be giant or something?"

"Not if using it kills him before he has a chance to get that way." Sasuke said darkly.

**To Be Continued . . .**


	169. The Fall

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Sixty Nine**

Yomiko leapt backwards, using her chakra to stick to the wall like a fly, she threw the last of her shuriken, one ripped into the neck of a soldier the other three each cut bow strings, Temari-sensei swept her fan like a club and one enemy soldier was hit sharply on the head.

At full strength she'd probably have broken his neck or snapped his head to the side so hard it'd almost come off--but she was tired, they all were.

They couldn't stop though, Shikamaru-sensei had said so.

When they all split up Shikamaru-sensei said to fight until they were out of the city, not to stop, not to turn around, not to look for him and Naomasa, just to get out of the city and fight every patrol they could.

He hadn't meant it, he'd said it only because the enemy was in earshot.

But Temari-sensei had decided that doing the opposite of what Shikamaru-sensei wanted by doing _exactly _what he told them was the right way to go, and Yomiko was trying desperately to match the older woman's pace and stamina.

It wasn't really working.

She'd fall apart soon, but they were nearly to the wall, they'd escape soon enough.

She had to hold on until then.

She staggered backwards, since she was still attached to the wall she moved upwards.

Temari leapt, landed on the roof and pulled Yomiko up, she surveyed their handiwork.

Three bowmen without bows, and a samurai were all that remained of the current enemy patrol, the streets were stained red and because no fires had been set in this area of the city Yomiko could see only the eerie twilight, still she did see the way the bowmen slowly backed away, then ran.

Temari waved for the Samurai to come to them, but he just scowled and picked up an intact bow and an arrow, he aimed and fired.

Temari swept one of her smaller fans out, caught the arrow in the fan and then snapped her arm out, throwing it back at the man.

It missed the Samurai, but he did decide after that that it was time to back off. Yomiko breathed a sigh of relief and fell flat on her back on the roof of . . . what were they standing on? A restaurant? Or a home?

The roof of the building in any case.

Temari said "It's time to go now . . . say your goodbyes, you won't see this city again until it's on the wrong end of an invasion force."

Yomiko gawked, "What?" She whispered.

"We're leaving what's left of this city for Sound. Shikamaru wouldn't have evacuated the civilians if he really believed we could win the city. He means to win this battle but I don't think he plans to win in the way you'd expect."

"What's that mean?" Yomiko asked, "is that why we fought all those patrols on our way out?"

Temari smiled and said "No point explaining it where the enemy might hear us. Come on, time to run for our lives . . . I'll let Shika-kun explain it when he catches up to us. We've left him a nice enough trail of carnage, just as he knew we would. That's why he sent you with me instead of Ishida. Ishida wouldn't have contributed at all."

Yomiko staggered to her feet, "What's that meant to mean?" She asked, "Are you saying Shikamaru-sensei _wanted _us to kill enemies after all, you weren't just disobeying because of bloodlust?"

Temari said "I'm a Jounin, I don't pick fights carelessly or unnecessarily. A deception can exist within a deception and sometimes truth is the greatest deception. In telling me to engage enemy patrols Anko would have assumed Shikamaru meant for me to avoid enemy patrols, so she could have told those patrols to hunt someone trying to escape, they weren't prepared for an enemy coming at them head first, they've just been executing stragglers all day. Climb on my back, I'll carry you out."

"You have the strength for that?" Yomiko asked.

"Of course." Temari said with a shrug, "I had to make sure I had enough strength left to run away."

Yomiko swallowed a lump in her throat as she looked at burning Konohagakure, "I don't know if there's going to be anything to come back to, I thought they wanted to capture the city like they did to Suna. Why are they burning it?"

Temari frowned, "If I understood madmen I'd be truly afraid."

Yomiko smiled a mirthless smile as she clung to Temari's shoulders, the older woman swept her large fan out and they flew over the wall. They went down low, gliding inches from the ground, instead of high in the sky where anyone could see them.

She kept going until they reached the trees, some soldiers saw them but didn't try to stop them.

And then Temari ran.

But Yomiko decided not to be a burden, she loosed her grip on the woman's shoulders and ran alongside her, into the darkened forest, away from the only home she'd ever really known.

* * *

Shikamaru watched Toshiie very carefully.

He seemed to be sniffing the air for them, he'd recovered three swords but kept discarding them whenever he found a new one, as if none of them were in a condition that satisfied him.

He wasn't the real Toshiie, at least Shikamaru doubted he was. He looked like Toshiie, moved like Toshiie, but Toshiie was dead. This thing was some clone or golem, not at all a real human being and as such it shouldn't be approached like one. For the time being it seemed incapable of locating them, which meant it needn't be dealt with, any fight one could avoid after all . . .

Shikamaru doubted that Kabuto could actually bring someone back to life on a whim, this was far more likely a trick meant to put Shikamaru off his ease. The body was real enough, the damage it could inflict was real enough, but it was just a construct, a fake, Shikamaru wasn't overly concerned with it.

Naomasa was right besides him as he whispered into his earpiece, "Is everything in position?"

"Naruto-kun is all right for now, but I don't think he can hold on forever." Hinata said over the radio.

"It's fine, I'm going to finish this now." Shikamaru said, grabbing Naomasa by the shoulder he led the younger ninja away from where the ghoulish Toshiie hunted for them. Naruto would take care of that _thing _shortly.

Shikamaru proceeded down the road, his sensory Jutsu wasn't perfectly accurate when he was on the move and trying not to use much chakra, but what he did get told them where to go to avoid enemy patrols.

They headed for the ninja academy, Shikamaru told Naomasa "Listen carefully. The main objective of this battle is not to stop the enemy army, but to assassinate their leader. The trap is set and I'm keeping you with me to keep an eye on you but I cannot stress enough Naomasa, the importance of this battle. If the opportunity for you to kill this man arises, take it."

Naomasa nodded, Shikamaru smiled a forced smile, "I know you have reservations about killing, but this--"

There was an explosion suddenly, a monstrous form rose above the rooftops, eight long tails, nearly the full fury of the nine tailed demon fox, Naomasa fell back in terror.

"Wh-what manner of summoned beast is that? It's enormous!"

"That is . . . the guardian of the Leaf Village." Shikamaru lied.

Hinata's voice came over the radio, "Shikamaru! I'm sorry, we couldn't stop him, he's out of control!"

Shikamaru shook his head, even though Hinata wouldn't see it he knew Naomasa had heard Hinata and would worry, "It's all part of the plan, just keep Hokage-sama safe, on your life and all of ours, Hinata, keep Naruto safe."

"Y-yes. Out." Hinata said.

Shikamaru watched the eight tails rampage, the remaining Konoha ninja would spring into action now, with any luck Kabuto, Orochimaru, whoever he was, would too.

* * *

Hitomi saw the demon fox and shouted a warning to Uchiha but he was already moving.

"Damn it!" He roared, "Damn it! I have to stop Naruto before he kills himself!"

"What can you--_we_ do to stop that thing?" Hitomi demanded, amending her statement to include herself, after all she wouldn't let harm befall her mentor and Hokage.

"Just follow me and stay out of my way," Sasuke snapped, moving at a speed so quick that Hitomi at her best still managed to fall behind him centimeter by centimeter, inch by inch until, when they reached the scene, Sasuke was a few meters ahead of her, which allowed her to see the group of Sound ninja who leapt up to attack him.

She lashed out, throwing shuriken and both ninja substituted and appeared behind her.

They reached for her, deciding it seemed to ignore Sasuke who was now the better part of a block away.

Hitomi didn't have time to form any Jutsu or reach for any weapons, instead she spun mid leap and thrust her hands forward, slamming both men in the chest and knocking them back.

She tried to spin around again to land properly and she failed.

She hit the next rooftop at an awkward angle and slipped, she fell from the roof to the ground.

The impact forced the air from her lungs, one of the ninja who'd attacked her appeared over her, having recovered faster.

His companion went on, probably after Uchiha, Hitomi reached up swiftly, grabbing the man in a very uncomfortable place and twisting very hard.

The ninja howled in pain as Hitomi forced her lungs to fill with air, he dropped his kunai to the ground but Hitomi caught it with her free hand and slammed it into his knee.

He fell over, she climbed up, his free leg kicked her sharply in the stomach, he kicked her into the air, she twisted and hit a nearby wall on her hands and knees rather than on her side, she clung to it like an insect and climbed backwards up the wall.

The Sound nin tore his own blade from his leg and threw it at Hitomi, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The man snapped, and even though his projectile wasn't a shuriken it did the trick.

The blade duplicated a dozen times as it flew towards Hitomi, she had no way of deflecting it or defending herself, she couldn't leap away in time.

"Wind Scythe Jutsu!" A new voice shouted, and in a blast the shuriken were deflected.

Ryu of Suna leapt down from the rooftop of the building Hitomi had been climbing up, he looked at Hitomi and said "Go on Jounin."

"We'll finish him and go on together!" Hitomi said.

"We'll take it from here," Another boy, Yukio said, leaping down from the same roof, sand knives appearing in his hands, "this guy's Chuunin level at best, Ryu and I can take him, you go help your Hokage."

Hitomi hesitated, "We'll do better as a group."

"You Jounin might stand a chance against that thing but we Genin and Chuunin won't. Better to let us handle these enemies and keep your backs clear!" Ryu said as he swept his fan out, knocking the enemy ninja against a wall.

"Don't worry, we've got your back." Yukio said, advancing on the downed man with his blades.

Hitomi couldn't suppress a smile, "Very well . . . good luck."

"We don't need luck, we're ninja of the sand." Yukio smirked.

Hitomi sprang from the wall onto a nearby rooftop and sprinted towards the growing monstrosity.

Uchiha would be there by now. She didn't blame him for leaving her, even if he'd known she was accosted the Hokage was the greater priority.

She glanced back over her shoulder at the place where the Suna ninja were holding off the enemy.

_Good luck,_ she thought again. They'd be fine against that one, he was too injured to put up proper resistance, but there could be others, they could be in danger.

As soon as Naruto-sensei was safe she'd go back for them.

* * *

Shikamaru leapt into the center of town, Naruto wasn't far.

Naomasa seemed worried but he also seemed to trust Shikamaru's word that the demon was really a guardian spirit.

Shikamaru drew his blades and suddenly six large serpents erupted from the ground around him, or rather from the buildings around him.

They were massive, larger even than orochimaru's old snake had been and on each one rode a group of six ninja.

One snake brought its head low and Shikamaru saw Kabuto standing atop its head.

His clothes were clean, his body _looked _healthy, but Shikamaru noticed the subtleties that showed it to be a façade. Things like the way Kabuto so "casually" leaned against his female companion, the same woman who'd trained Akuma. It was meant to seem like an affectionate gesture but it wasn't, he was leaning on her for support and he noticed how he'd nearly fallen onto her when the snake lurched forward to bring him close to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru laughed as if in resignation, "So in the end you were a step ahead of me."

"Surprised?" Kabuto smirked, "I've been at this much longer than you. You're a worthy foe, this battle was costly . . . You'll go down in history as a monster."

"Will I?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"Your actions led to the death of thousands of men and women, soldiers and ninja, you brought total destruction onto this village. How would you have yourself remembered?"

"As the man who was willing to fight you to his dying breath." Shikamaru said.

Kabuto smiled, "You'll be that. And also the monster that I felled before becoming the Shogun. You'll live forever in legend . . . are you not honored?"

"Sure am." Shikamaru said evenly. "I'll be even more honored when you're dead."

"You really think stopping Shikamaru-sensei will lead to your victory when Konoha's guardian bares down on you?" Naomasa dared to shout, standing between Shikamaru and Kabuto, but Shikamaru stepped between the boy and Kabuto.

"My dear fool boy . . . I am over here, and he . . . he is way over there." Kabuto said, pointing far off and putting his hand to his brow as if looking far into the distance. "With your death Nara Shikamaru, the enemy will be easily outmaneuvered."

"Want to bet?" Shikamaru asked evenly.

As if on cue the lead snake suddenly shuddered, Kabuto was thrown from its head and landed on his face, the woman with him fell as well, their three escorts did not, and instead turned to run down the snake's back, but the spiked boulder ripping a path up the monster's back wouldn't be denied.

Chouji ripped through the snake, and then he ripped through the first of the three guards.

The other two ninja leapt into the air, Shikamaru quickly caught Kabuto in his Shadow Possession Jutsu, Kabuto fought but he was truly captured and in his weakened state there was nothing he could do about it.

"Naomasa, hold the woman off!" Shikamaru barked, seeing Okatsu rising to her feet drawing a blade.

"What about the other ninja?" Naomasa cried in panic.

"Leave them to us!" Chouji shouted, emerging from his human boulder state he threw two people high into the air, two people who'd come along for the ride, transformed into shuriken grasped in Chouji's hands.

The first became Haruno Sakura, she went high into the air and came down towards a serpent which snapped out at her, trying to bite her out of mid air.

It failed, she hit it on the nose so hard the top of its head was torn clean off and flew into a nearby building, the two ninja who hadn't already leapt off went along for the ride, the other three moved in on Sakura who was already running down the snake's dead body and springing for the third giant serpent.

The second shuriken became the legendary copycat ninja himself, Hatake Kakashi descended on his serpent, chidori burning in both hands.

He landed on the snake's head and slammed his fists into the chest of two Shinobi, the three others rushed for Kakashi but the Chidori in his hands suddenly rippled through his entire body and onto the snake.

The snake became electrified, and the men on its back other than Kakashi were electrocuted as well.

"Oh hell yes!" A voice behind Shikamaru laughed, "Now _this _is how you end a war!"

Shikamaru saw the shadow of the monstrous cursed form, he ducked low, and Chouji's oversized fist flew in, knocking the man back.

"We're just getting started." Shikamaru said, glaring at Kabuto, "Chouji?"

Chouji threw the box of explosive tags in front of Kabuto.

Shikamaru mimed opening the box as Chouji and the others fought off the army of ninja all around him.

As Naruto's fox form moved closer, and closer, Shikamaru mimed placing the explosive tags on Kabuto's face, more specifically the neck, the eyes, and even stuffed one in his mouth.

He smiled and waited.

_One . . . Two . . ._

He didn't have to reach "three" in his head before the snake burst from the ground and pulled him back, constricting around him.

He felt his body being squeezed, coughed and tasted blood in his mouth. He saw Kabuto quickly rip the explosive tags away as Mitarashi Anko stood between him and Shikamaru, smiling sinisterly, "Do you _really _think I'd let you kill my most loyal servant in such a way?"

Shikamaru just smiled as he used his shadow summoning Jutsu and called out Toshiie's sword.

It appeared in his hand and the simple act of being called forth caused it to plunge deep into the snake, Shikamaru came free and tore a scroll from his chest pocket, and coughed blood onto it.

"Oh, what's this? Some little deer to help the little dear?" Orochi-Anko laughed snidely.

Shikamaru just smirked and let the realization set in as Hara and Neji appeared to help defeat the remaining enemy ninja and the two giant snakes.

Anko's eyes which were already Orochimaru's serpentine orbs grew wide with realization as the sounds of Naruto's rampage behind her disappeared.

"Say hello to our guardian, Orochimaru." Shikamaru said darkly.

And from the scroll specifically designed to summon Naruto in his fox form, a contract privately signed by Naruto and Shikamaru, the eight tailed demon fox appeared in the center of town.

It gazed down at Orochimaru and its final tail sprouted.

With a terrifying howl a shockwave was unleashed that shattered every window in Konoha and blew everyone nearby off of their feet, including Orochi-Anko.

Orochimaru's eyes were full of rage and fear as the demon fox's powerful jaws descended on him and his stolen body.

Shikamaru struggled to his feet and watched, his total attention on the Fox.

_Finish it, _he thought, _finish it, end this war, Naruto! Do it!_

"Do it!" He roared out loud, but the fox needed no one's permission to do what it so very much desired to do.

It leaned forward as quickly as lightning, but to Shikamaru it was all slow motion.

It felt like it took ten minutes instead of less than a second.

And even moving so slowly Shikamaru barely saw it in time.

_No!_ He thought, _No, no, no!_

But it was too late, there was nothing he could do.

Even before it was over he abandoned his attempts to stand and fell to his knees, he felt a tear roll down his cheek.

It was over . . . but it wasn't the ending he'd hoped for.

He heard Orochimaru-Anko laugh maniacally, "Nice try." He/she said in that strange mixed voice.

* * *

Yukio gazed levelly at the injured Sound ninja, his blades were shaking in his hands, "You're sure about this?" Ryu asked.

Yukio nodded, "I'm sure. Are you?"

Ryu was quiet for a moment, then he said "I'll follow you my friend. Wherever you go. If Kyoko were here, she'd agree."

Yukio nodded. The sand in his hands lost its shape and fell to the ground, he bowed before the enemy ninja, "I am Yukio of Suna, we wish to join you and your master, please take us to your lord."

The ninja laughed softly, "You think I'll just trot you before the Divine Shadow? You must be dreaming."

"We could just kill you and ask someone else, at least this way you get out of the battle with your injury and you get the credit of bringing us in." Ryu said.

The ninja nodded slowly, and the two boys helped him up. They led him out of the alley soon stumbled upon a group of samurai who aimed bows at them.

"Surrender!" The lead Samurai said.

"They already have," The ninja said with a laugh, "Take us to the Kamikage."

Yukio smiled.

Now he'd have a real teacher, one who'd play to his strengths.

_Forgive me, Temari-sensei, I tried things your way, time to try them another._

* * *

Sasuke leapt over rooftop after rooftop but he could see Naruto in his eight tailed state, he wouldn't make it in time.

He saw five giant snakes appear, he'd ignore them, they weren't important.

As he passed them by though he heard something, Sakura-chan's voice . . .

He spun around, if Sakura was in danger . . .

Suddenly the fox seemed to sort of teleport, he was there between the now two snakes, his head lunged forward, Sasuke heard someone shout "Do it!"

He saw the ninth tail sprout, saw the fox become complete, he leapt down, saw Anko about to be consumed, Naruto had lost it, he'd turned on his own village.

Sasuke hit the ground between Anko and Naruto, he used the full power of his Sharingan, he entered the Fox's mind, it's outward body froze.

_In the battlefield of Naruto's mind Sasuke saw Naruto standing before the Fox's cage, the bars broken._

_Sasuke sprang past Naruto, "Sasuke?" Naruto cried in surprise, "What are you--"_

_"Back!" Sasuke ordered the demon fox, it shuddered and tried to resist._

_It reached out as if it meant to attack Sasuke, he used the full force of his Sharingan, "Back!"_

_"Sasuke what are you--" Naruto protested but Sasuke rebuked him too._

_"You don't need this thing Naruto, it'll destroy you! You've come too far to give up now, Shikamaru is a fool, the nine tailed fox would kill you!"_

_"Sasuke you don't understand!" Naruto protested, but luckily Sasuke had arrived just in time._

_He forced the Fox back into its hole, used his Sharingan to stun it._

_It would only last a moment, but hopefully it would be enough time for Naruto's personality to reassert itself._

_But the disappointment on Naruto's face spoke volumes and as the mental world faded Sasuke realized he'd been too late, the stress of the battle had been too much, Naruto was dying._

The mental battle lasted a millisecond, Sasuke on the outside world head Anko laugh triumphantly and in an strange voice decree "Nice try."

He saw in slow motion Naruto's now human body collapse to the ground, smile weakly at him, whisper "H-hey Sasuke . . ." and then disappear in a puff of smoke.

The world returned to normal speed then, everyone was in motion, fighting, struggling to survive, Sasuke stared in disbelief, had Naruto truly been able to use the Fox with a shadow clone?

No . . . no, it had to have been one of his perfect clones. So he'd used a perfect clone, sacrificed that body to unleash the fox's full power . . .

And Sasuke had got in the way . . .

Sakura lunged forward, knocking Sasuke out of the way as a pair of serpents ripped from Anko's sleeves, they would have captured Sasuke in his shocked state.

The pieces were falling together now, he heard Shikamaru shouting for everyone to retreat.

"Get out of the city! Hinata, get Naruto to safety!" Shikamaru was shouting as he struck out at an enemy ninja.

Sasuke saw the Cloud Jounin from a long since past mission, the one with a cursed seal, he was fully transformed and he moved in on Sasuke, laughing sinisterly.

* * *

Naomasa had barely begun to fight Okatsu when the nine tailed fox threw them both five feet or more with its shockwave.

He staggered to his feet and was knocked down again as the giant fox disappeared and became Hokage-sama, Okatsu had kicked his legs out from under him, raised a short blade in the air, she pinned him and brought it down quickly.

But even faster was Hitomi who kicked the older woman's blade from her hand and then slammed her head into the ground so hard Naruto heard a cracking sound and saw blood spurt from Okatsu's mouth.

Hitomi didn't say a word, she just grabbed Naomasa's arm and pulled him up, they heard Shikamaru shout for everyone to retreat and she shoved him towards his Sensei.

Naomasa saw her take Okatsu's blade and throw it with all her might at one of the two remaining giant snakes, both of them had been knocked down by the shockwave, but now they rose, Hitomi struck one in the left eye, Naomasa saw Hitomi turn to run with the rest of them.

And he saw Kabuto's long serpent arm shoot out and bite into the girl's shoulder, pulling her back.

He had a kunai, Nao saw that much before Shikamaru-sensei grabbed him and pulled him away.

He heard Hitomi scream, he struggled to go back but Shikamaru-sensei wouldn't let him go.

The two of them ran through the streets, along with them ran Akimichi Chouji but Naomasa didn't see anyone else.

He could barely understand what had just happened, what he did know was that Shikamaru-sensei was out of plans, this was a real retreat, and that scared him.

Even scarier was knowing that they were leaving Hitomi behind.

* * *

Hitomi felt herself pulled back sharply, she felt Kabuto's knife slam into her back, close to her spine.

He'd probably missed on purpose, but just in case she thrust her elbow back and fell to the ground, she pulled herself forward with her hands as she brought her legs up under her and tried to run.

Hara was with her in the blink of an eye, "The heck are you--never mind, I've got you!" He told her.

He picked her up and carried her rather than trying to help her run, Hatake Kakashi leapt over their heads and Hitomi saw over Hara's shoulder that he barreled into Mitarashi Anko, who'd nearly caught them.

Anko bound Kakashi with snakes and shouted "Hold him, we'll need him later! Spare Uchiha, but kill the rest of them!"

Hitomi struggled and got free of Hara, she suspected she was delirious because she didn't know which way she was running, she tried to run back to help Kakashi but she meant to run away with the others.

Hara grabbed her wrist and pulled her along after the others but now she wanted to help Kakashi and instead ran after the others, her mind was a jumble, her legs felt heavy and she realized the reason was that she was more or less out of chakra.

Her body hadn't rested at all since the gates went down, fumes were all that were keeping her alive now, she ran with Hara but she knew it was doomed.

They'd never get away.

"Where's Miyuki?" Hitomi asked.

"You don't know?" Hara sounded horrified.

There was no time to look for her now.

One of the giant snakes, the one Hitomi had half blinded suddenly bounded ahead of them, knocking over several buildings as it did, sending building debris at them, then it cut them off, and reared up.

Hitomi leapt into the air, over the snake, it bit out towards her, she saw the movement but she didn't have the energy to try to avoid it.

Hara knocked her out of the way and the snake ripped into his arm instead, he fell to the ground hard, blood everywhere.

Hitomi reached for his hands to pull him up but he had only one now.

His other arm had been ripped off almost at the elbow, but for some reason he didn't scream until he saw it.

Even then he didn't panic, he screamed in pain but still struggled to get to his feet, he made it a few steps then said to Hitomi, "Look after Miyuki, tell her I loved her."

Loved her? "No, no I'll tell her you _love _her, come on!" Hitomi insisted.

But Hara shoved her away and turned to face the snake, "You can't . . . outrun it or . . . help me to . . . fight it . . . such as you are . . . go!"

Grasping what was left of his right arm he took one step towards the snake.

But he was about to pass out, it was a slightly unfortunate miracle he was conscious even now to suffer. If Hara remained to fight he'd buy her seconds at best and then die, but Hitomi would die herself before she left her friend to do so alone.

She began her final Jutsu, putting every last ounce of chakra into it, "Miyuki told me before, she loves you too, so you tell her yourself and make her marry you!" Hitomi shouted, shoving past Hara, a ball of flame coming to life in her hand, "Incineration Palm Jutsu!" She roared, and then she sprang forward, running with every ounce of strength she had left, still it felt like running through molasses.

She didn't actually have the chakra to properly form her Jutsu either, rather than a tight compact ball of flame it was more like a fiery Chidori, covering her arm, she could feel it burning her own flesh, could even _smell _her arm being burned away.

But she'd take the snake with her . . . she swore she'd take the snake with her . . .

Her eyes grew heavy, from somewhere deep in the back of her mind she heard a voice, her mother's voice whisper "It's okay . . . just let go . . ."

And she did.

She forgot the world around her, she forgot what she was doing, she forgot everything.

She thrust her hand forward because she'd already been doing that, she felt the fire leave her arm . . . and Hijiri Hitomi, simply let go.

"Mother . . ." she whispered as the shadowy world she could usually see through her eyelids became utterly black, "I love you."

She felt warmth, she felt comfort, but only for a moment as the blackness that engulfed her became absolute.

* * *

Hara saw Hitomi slump and fall, but she reached the snake, she thrust her hand forward, the giant beast twisted and roared and was consumed by the fires Hitomi had passed on to it.

He felt tears roll down his cheek at Hitomi's sacrifice, and he wouldn't deny her dying wish, he would escape, he would see Miyuki again.

He took one step, then another, he heard shouting for some reason it was barely more than a whisper to him. He limped through the burning city, he saw the men, their bows aimed at him, he saw the ninja closing in on him, but for the life of him he couldn't quite understand what they were saying and his sense of balance was starting to fail.

He gripped his injured arm, he felt too dizzy to go any further . . . he fell to his knees. _Guess in the end you and I can't escape the ninja's fate, eh Hitomi?_ Hara Masamune thought as he too succumbed to darkness.

* * *

Naruto had fallen unconscious when his clone died, Hinata wasn't sure why, and she was worried but the priority now was to get Naruto away to safety. Jounin Konjo Takumi helped her load the Hokage onto the back of one of his wolves, he'd summoned three for some reason.

Hinata spotted the chakra signature coming towards them then, "Look out!" She said, but the form to emerge from the ground was that of Yurei Kaori, holding along with her Oedo Tomoko.

"Room for one more? I found her, thought she could use a lift." Kaori said with a dry, weary voice.

Takumi nodded and Kaori and Tomoko climbed aboard one wolf, Hinata climbed aboard the wolf that would carry Naruto, and Takumi himself took the third.

Hinata's wolf howled, its fiery red fur seemed almost to match the burning city of Konohagakure.

The wolf leapt from the Hokage monument, landing gracefully on the nose of the First Hokage, then running almost down the sheer drop.

It made Hinata a little sad . . . Naruto hadn't had time to have his face carved into that monument.

Now . . . now it might never happen.

The others followed, Hinata wasn't sure what kept her and Naruto on the wolf's back, there was no saddle or harness, still they didn't slip as they ran down the mountain and headed for what they could only pray was safety.

But now with Konoha burning was anywhere safe anymore? Had the enemy paid a steep enough price that ninja could go on without seeing further violence?

Only time would tell.

* * *

Sasuke hit the ground where he'd seen the giant snake burst into flame, a group of soldiers was running off, probably not seeing anything important.

Sasuke himself barely noticed Hitomi, lying on the ground, not moving, not breathing.

But he picked her up anyway, he looked around for a moment for any other survivors.

But there were none, his Sharingan would have spotted them.

He felt more than just a little responsible for this . . . If he'd only known . . .

Yes . . . if he'd only _known_! If Shikamaru had told him the plan none of this would have happened, Shikamaru should have had some way to warn him, didn't he think two hundred steps in advance?

This was Shikamaru's fault, not Sasuke's. Shikamaru had to know that Sasuke would have thrown away anything, including the war effort if it meant saving Sakura and Naruto, he should have had some way of warning him, some way of communicating with him, telling him what his plans were.

No, this was all Shikamaru's fault, Sasuke had thrown a wrench in the so-called genius ninja's plans but in truth had the plan been worthy no wrench could have stopped it.

Sasuke carried the limp form of Hijiri Hitomi and noted that he could ever so slightly feel her taking shuddering, shallow breaths.

He noted that Sakura was with him, as long as he had her he supposed everything would be okay.

She was with him, and Naruto was safe, wherever he was.

So everything might yet be okay . . .

**To Be Concluded . . .**

_(I've waited _almost _three years to write that word)_


	170. The Beginning

**New Blood**

**Chapter One Hundred Seventy**

Tomoko gripped the wolf's fur tight as they ran through the woods, the sun was rising when suddenly the group stopped.

"What's going on?" Takumi asked.

"Hokage-sama," Hyuga Hinata squeaked, "He's waking up!"

The three wolves stopped and the five riders dismounted, Yuu's sister and the other Jounin took up guard positions, Hinata carefully set Naruto-sama down on some soft dirt and propped him up against a tree.

His eyes were open but he didn't seem to be looking at anything until Tomoko knelt down near him and bowed her head.

Then he looked right at her and said softly, "At least some of the little ones made it out . . . unless . . . you're not a shadow clone are you?" He asked with mock suspicion but it was halfhearted, there really wasn't anything to joke about.

Tomoko choked back a mixture of a laugh and a sob, she hated to think of the scene they'd left behind.

At least _some _of the little ones made it out. Naruto-sama probably meant it as a joke . . . but how many of the younger ninja _had _made it out of the city? She knew most of the Genin under Kotaro's command had probably made it but there were plenty of Chuunin who were still just kids . . . like her brother.

But where were the others? Dead back in Konoha? Or dying?

Imprisoned? Escaped? Escaped to what? To where?

"Where will we go, Hokage-sama?" Hinata asked as if she'd read Tomoko's mind.

"Kumo." Naruto whispered, "For now . . ."

"Are we sure we can trust them?" Hinata asked, "We haven't heard anything from anyone else, Ino might have taken the survivors to Kiri or who knows where."

Then suddenly Kaori cried out a warning, Takumi drew his sword, but the first people to emerge were Yamanaka Ino, and someone else Tomoko recognized.

She ran forward, shouting in surprise and relief even though she didn't know why she was so relieved.

She threw herself at him, and luckily, despite being startled he didn't let her run right through him, instead they embraced.

Tomoko buried her face in his shoulder, closed her eyes and whispered "You're safe at least."

Yurei Yuu held her just as tightly and said "I couldn't die without telling you what I thought of your story."

Tomoko felt tears rolling down her cheeks, staining Yuu's flak jacket, "That's all you had to live for?"

"There are worse things." Yuu told her.

"Um . . . yeah, so anyway Hokage-sama," Yamanaka Ino said, "I couldn't just call ahead, didn't know if you were in a compromised state, Shikamaru hasn't caught up yet but Temari has and she said everything was going according to plan . . ."

"It was . . ." Hinata said, "but in the end something happened, Kabuto defeated the nine tails somehow."

"No . . . it wasn't Kabuto . . ." Naruto whispered, "but there's nothing we can do about it now. Shikamaru should make it back safely."

"Good . . . the people are waiting, the civilians and all the others are on their way to Kumogakure." Ino said, she indicated Yuu, "Their ninja intercepted us, they were only too eager to take us in."

Naruto smiled and rose to his feet, "Then that's where we need to go. All of us . . . all that's left."

_Yeah_, Tomoko thought, _all that's left._

_

* * *

_

Daisuke stood with the remains of his clan, he didn't see father, he didn't see Tomoko.

He'd been asked to speak on behalf of the entire clan, he still didn't know the whole story but since he and Eri had survived the razzing of Konoha mainly because they'd been hiding with his clan he figured his father and Tomoko must have been fine too.

There was a makeshift throne room built in what had once been the Hokage's office, and it was here that everyone was being sent one by one or in small groups to swear allegiance to their Shogun and to their new Emperor.

Both men were covered completely in white robes, their heads alone were visible.

The Emperor had a soft, almost familiar feminine face and shoulder length hair, but his voice and his cold serpent eyes were completely male. The Shogun had gray hair but probably not due to age. He had glasses, but one of his eyes was completely covered in scales and was serpentine like the Emperor's.

A pair of Jounin stood on either side of them, one was the woman who'd trained Akuma. Daisuke felt afraid as he was brought before the two men who had outthought Nara Shikamaru and outfought Uzumaki Naruto.

The Emperor said "It is regrettable to learn that your father was accidentally killed in the final hours of fighting, and that your sister too perished in the battle," the feminine man said, confirming Daisuke's fears, "but I do hope, young Oedo, that you will lead your clan towards a bright future, as your father wished. Help me rebuild the world . . . starting with this place that was once your home, and will be again when we are through."

Daisuke closed his eyes, "The Oedo are simple blacksmiths, but our tools are at your disposal . . ."

_What choice do I have?_ He wondered.

Eri squeezed his hand, he smiled slightly, the Shogun stood and walked over to Daisuke, he put a hand on the younger man's shoulder and Daisuke couldn't help but shudder.

If he were going to survive in this new enemy world that would have to change, he'd have to become more accustomed to being around people he wanted to hurt or even kill.

And when the time came . . . maybe there would be something he could do . . . some way of hindering these people . . .

"Look out at that, what do you see?" The Shogun asked, indicating the window and the blackened remains of Konohagakure.

"I see a destroyed city."

"I see a blank slate." The Shogun said calmly, "the Emperor sees a blank slate. You will build us our new city, a city with tall towers made of metal and glass. Not a hovel made of wood but a city made of steel and stone. Your clan will be nobility, simply build me, and my master, the city we expect. You'll have as much resources as you need, as many workers as you need."

Daisuke nodded.

A metal city . . . a life of nobility . . . a life of shame knowing that for all he knew he was rebuilding the city for the very people who'd killed his father and sister.

But he glanced back at Eri, who was caught in the crossfire . . . if he denied his honor might be satisfied but she might be harmed, and besides the way he'd so obviously taken comfort in holding her hand the Emperor and Shogun might use her to force him to do their bidding . . . so in the end it was risk Eri or build a few buildings . . . what choice did he have?

He'd tried to protect her, get her out of the city, and he'd failed. Now she was alone, her brother was gone, maybe dead or captured, her parents were in a whole other country, for the time being at least she was the only person outside of his clan that he felt close to, and he felt responsible for her.

"It will be an honor to build your city . . . my liege." Oedo Daisuke whispered.

He was lying, it was no honor, it was simple survival. Worse he sensed the Emperor and Shogun sensed it . . . They just didn't _care_.

They'd won. He was nobody, no threat.

He swore then and there that regardless of the risk to him or his clan he'd prove them wrong on that count.

* * *

Hokage and Raikage walked side by side at the forefront of the Konoha exodus. They weren't separated from the others but mostly only ninja were within earshot, their aids were walking right alongside them, with Naruto was his temporary aid Ino, and the Raikage's aid Tetsuo. Hinata was in the crowd attending to the injured.

Ino was a medic too and would have been tending to the injured as well but since she'd been in nominal command of the refugees since they left Konoha Naruto had asked her to act as his aid for this talk with the Raikage.

Normally it would probably have been Sakura-chan, or maybe even Sasuke or Shikamaru, but with all she'd been through Naruto sort of felt like Ino was the best suited to advise him for the moment.

Both sides had their soldiers nearby, the Raikage had several members of the Hattori clan nearby, pretending not to watch them, Naruto noted that Temari and several Suna ninja were shadowing him and Hinata-chan was treating patients that were very nearby, the remainder of the Hyuga clan was watching Hinata very carefully.

But whatever happened Naruto wouldn't let it come to blows between him and the Raikage, not with so many civilians who could and would be caught in the crossfire.

The older man smiled slightly, "You're our guests . . . and those of you that wish to will join our ninja force . . . those that choose otherwise can go to Kirigakure."

"So it's your way or the seaway?" Naurto asked.

"You'll understand if I'm not comfortable having possibly hostile ninja in my city." The Raikage said simply. "Besides spreading our forces between Kiri and Kumo would be beneficial, it keeps the Shogun from conquering one place and wiping out all resistance."

Naruto nodded, but said "Last I heard you were still at war with Kiri."

"Yes well that came to an end. We were fighting them on the shores, they were trying to stall us, keep us from going after their ninja who'd gone ahead to Konoha's aid."

"They were late." Ino said darkly.

The Raikage smiled weakly, "We sort of contributed to that. It was . . . a misunderstanding, we had no idea they were your allies, so we fought them at the shores thinking we'd wipe them out and then move to your aid. You have to understand if we'd left our village exposed to possible enemies we might save your home only to find ours in ashes."

Naruto nodded but he sensed there was something the Raikage wasn't telling him.

Something he didn't trust.

"We tried to fight them off of the shores, it wasn't happening. So we captured their ships at sea and forced their soldiers to surrender. We've come to an . . . agreement with them. They'll ferry you and your ninja to Kirigakure if you so choose." The Raikage's aid, Tetsuo said.

"So you mean to divide our forces between your own city and your enemies." Ino snapped, Naruto raised his hand to rebuke her but she continued anyway, "what happens if you tell our ninja to kill their own clansmen in the other city? You realize we won't do it don't you?"

"By the time Lightning and Water return to their old feuds," the Raikage said, "we expect Konoha and Suna will be reclaimed . . . we're in private alliance with Kiri and the new Shogun will enforce peace between Lightning and Water."

"If it makes the chain of command easier, keep the Sunagakure survivors in Kumo, and the Konoha survivors in Kiri, after all Kumo and Suna never really had a proper chance to exchange blows, the hatred between our ninja will be less than that between Kumo and Konoha ninja if they're forced to share living space." Tetsuo said.

"That'll be Gaara's call when he's feeling better." Temari said calmly, "whether or not the Suna ninja take residence in your city that is."

The Raikage nodded, "Of course. In fact my agents tell me that the Mizukage would like to have a meeting of all four allied Kage."

"Four allied Kage." Naruto said softly, "it _sounds _like we're a formidable force."

"In the old days we would have been." The Raikage agreed, "But then, I suppose you know better than anyone that even an alliance of ninja villages doesn't always spell doom for their target."

Naruto smiled wryly, "Lets hope this Sound Shogun isn't as resilient as Konoha and Suna then."

Temari seemed distracted, Naruto added for her benefit, "We'll go to Kumo for now, that's where Shikamaru will be headed . . . we'll hold a meeting with the Mizukage when Gaara is up to it . . . and begin plans to take back the ninja world."

But even as Naruto said that he was already thinking of a plan of his own.

"What's that?" Ino piped up, Naruto's gaze went upwards, to where Ino's eyes were looking and he saw the large shape moving towards them.

The dragon descended and landed almost delicately nearby, and on its head was a very familiar ninja dressed in black. Most of the civilians backed away, several ninja stepped forward to defend them against the possible threat, but one ninja in particular strode closer than the rest.

"Kankuro!" Temari screamed in a mixture of joy and surprise, "Kankuro you're alive?"

Kankuro's dragon puppet lowered its head, he smiled weakly and said "Thank to the Raikage I am . . . and you were correct, Raikage-sama, Sound agents tried to launch an insurrection, we stopped them."

Naruto noticed that there was someone else on the dragon's back, and once he recognized her he was surprised he hadn't noticed her before the dragon, she was huge.

Hanabi slid off the puppet's back and threw her arms around her husband, "Tetsuo! I was so worried!"

Hinata looked up from her work and Hanabi smiled at her, Naruto couldn't help but smile too.

It was kind of nice seeing two pairs of siblings reunited . . .

"Kan-kun?" A trembling voice said from the crowd, "Oh my gosh you're safe? I was so--"

The dragon's head suddenly snapped towards Syako, who had emerged from behind the line of ninja holding Temari's daughter, she staggered back but the ninja seemed unsure of whether or not to get between her and one of their own, after all pretty much everyone knew she'd been with Sound.

Kankuro glared at her and then turned to the Raikage, "With your permission I'll take Gaara and some of the other injured on ahead to the city for proper medical attention."

"Absolutely." The Raikage said, "And you go with your wife Tetsuo."

"If there's room after the injured," Tetsuo said evenly, "I wouldn't want to deny any with greater need."

Naruto folded his arms and said "Won't the dragon puppet be a fairly obvious sign of ninja?"

"It's good that the people see our ninja helping the common people," The Raikage said, "the Shogun has and will likely continue to smear the reputation of ninja."

Naruto nodded, and he trusted Kankuro, but . . .

"Ino and Hinata had better go too," he said, "since they know everyone's condition."

They didn't, they probably knew a few people's situation but Naruto wanted some of his own ninja going with the civilians and injured ninja, he didn't want there to be any chance of foul play and even though he was aware that Ino was pregnant she wasn't so far into it and could still defend herself and aid Hinata in the event of trouble.

The Raikage nodded and all of the ninja began to search through the convoy for the most injured or ill.

All while Naruto thought and rethought his own schemes.

* * *

Sakura and Sasuke moved as quickly as they could after the refugees, knowing full well that Sound ninja might follow them or worse that Sound ninja might have beaten them to the civilians.

Sakura kept one eye on the trees as they leapt and another on Sasuke.

She'd known him for more than half of her lifetime and yet still didn't know him as well as she wanted to, wasn't certain about some things, but still one thing she did know was that he was thinking very deeply about something very troubling.

They hadn't said a word to each other after they escaped Konohagakure, she'd asked after Hijiri Hitomi's condition, they'd paused long enough to stabilize her, and then ran off through the trees in silence.

What was Sasuke thinking about and why wouldn't he tell her?

Maybe he was waiting until they were safe . . . maybe he didn't want to talk about it out in the open but whatever was troubling him did he even know that he could ask for her help?

Had she made it clear enough in their time together that she was trustworthy?

A pair of ninja traveled faster than nearly the entire population of Konoha, still with the headstart the people had Sakura hadn't thought they'd catch up to them until she saw a pair of Genin standing guard. She and Sasuke showed themselves to the boys to make their presence known, they could have bypassed them or at least restrained them so there were no accidents but Sakura didn't want to make the two Genin seem incompetent in their own eyes or in the eyes of their superiors, and Sasuke, regardless of how he felt in the matter, was carrying an unconscious teenager so he just followed her lead.

"U-Uchiha, Haruno!" One of the Genin said, awestruck.

"How far are we from the main group?" Sakura asked.

"Not far, they've stopped."

"What? Are they insane?" Sasuke demanded harshly.

"Uh no, it's just Kumogakure's sent a big flying machine to--"

"A what?" Sakura gawked, "A flying machine? Are you serious?"

"Yeah, it's like a dragon!" The boy said excitedly, "I guess the village hidden in Clouds would have lots of flying things, but this one was a huge dragon!"

"Has Hokage-sama arrived?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, he showed up a few hours ago, I heard him saying he rode on wolves just to catch up to us! This is really exciting!"

Sakura shuddered from the look Sasuke shot the Genin, "It's _what_? Our city is in flames, our people evicted, good men and women dead or dying or captured . . . and you think its _exciting_?"

"Well," The Genin said, seeming unnerved by Sasuke's ire but not remotely apologetic, "with you two here now, and the dragon to fly all the civilians to Kumogakure aren't we going to turn around and take back Konoha?"

"Yeah!" The other Genin piped up, "We've got reinforcements now, isn't the plan to go home while they're not expecting us?"

Sasuke's anger disappeared, but not completely, "I don't know the plan . . . ask the _master _strategist."

"Look," Sakura said, interrupting, "if Naruto-kun needs us we should go to him, and if there's some flying machine taking people ahead to Kumo we should let Hitomi see a physician, field treatments will only get her so far."

Sasuke nodded and they ran down the trail left behind by the civilian mob.

Sakura watched Sasuke, he seemed even more withdrawn now, what was he thinking?

"Do you think the Mizukage will help us if we do go back?" She asked.

"He'll help himself and his village, if we go back with enough force that he thinks we can win, or would win were he to side with us, then he'd help us. If we go back counting on his help he'll stick with the winning side, stick with Kabuto."

Sakura nodded slightly, "What do you think we'll do?"

"Shikamaru didn't tell you what to do?" Sasuke growled.

"No." Sakura said flatly, "He told me where to be for the ambush and said that if it failed I should head for Kumogakure."

"He shouldn't keep so many of his plans in his head." Sasuke said, "If he'd told me it wasn't really Naruto, that it was just a clone I would never have--"

"Sasuke-kun, none of us knew you were there."

"Shikamaru's a sensor, he should have known I was coming." Sasuke snapped back.

"He can't sense chakra all the time, he has to focus and even then he can't always tell who an individual is . . . but it doesn't matter, it's not your fault we failed to assassinate Kabuto."

"I never said it was my _fault_." Sasuke said coldly.

"And it isn't," Sakura reassured, "You were worried about Naruto. It's understandable . . . Shikamaru should have anticipated the chance of you showing up. Maybe he _did_, I don't know, but the fact is you had no way of knowing that Naruto's life wasn't in danger by the demon's chakra. You're not to blame, Naruto knows that."

Sasuke was quiet for a while, then they reached the refugees.

Several ninja showed up but nobody threatened them, it was clear right away who they were.

Sakura could see now the giant dragon which stood on the treetops, its head leaned down to the ground to allow people to climb aboard, "How did we not see that coming in?" She asked, even if her eyes were blocked by the trees she would have thought Sasuke's Sharingan would notice it.

Maybe he hadn't had his Sharingan activated? She wasn't sure and Sasuke didn't answer, they went to the dragon and saw several ninja conducting people onto the monstrosity.

"You're sure you can fly it with so many people, Kankuro?" Sakura heard Temari asking, and turned her head to see Temari and indeed the missing and presumed dead Kankuro chatting by the giant puppet's side.

"I perfected controlling the Dragon while I slaughtered the Sound agents trying to invade Kumogakure, I can even make it fight _while _it flies if I need to defend myself. Gaara's going to be perfectly safe."

"So it's a giant puppet? Where did it come from?" Sakura asked, noting that the dragon didn't really look all that aerodynamic, it was a giant snake with legs mostly.

"Sakura?" Temari said in surprise, turning around to see her, "And Sasuke? Is Shikamaru with--"

"No." Sasuke said sharply.

Kankuro answered Sakura's question, "It is one of the things I could take from Suna, the most powerful puppet ever designed. I felt like I would need it more than Sound."

Sakura smiled, "See that, Sasuke? Doesn't a powerful ninja tool like that make you even a little cheerful? We'll take Konohagakure back in no time."

"It should never have fallen to begin with." Sasuke said quietly.

"Well . . . It looks like they're done loading me up," Kankuro said, "Want me to take the kid too? We're going to Kumo, where there's real medicine, might help her out."

Sasuke nodded, he turned to Sakura and said "Take Hitomi, I want you to make sure she's kept safe. You're the best medic in this or any army so you're her best chance for survival, the best chance most of these people have for survival."

Sakura frowned, about to protest but she noticed that over two dozen badly injured ninja and samurai had already been loaded onto the dragon.

No civilians thankfully, they'd been kept properly safe, the soldiers of Fire and the ninja of Konoha had done their duty splendidly . . .

Or as splendidly as any defeated army ever could.

Sakura said "All right, but I should see Naruto-kun first."

"I'll tell him you're safe. She has a bloodline trait, her eyes, and I don't want those doctors in Kumo getting their hands on them if she doesn't make it."

Sakura frowned, but she nodded, the glanced at the girl whose goggles covered her eyes . . .

What did those eyes look like? There were some rumors that Hitomi might have the Sharingan, and Sasuke's interest in the youth might mean that they were true, was that why Sasuke didn't want anyone getting Hitomi's eyes?

Sakura decided to just nod and accept Sasuke's instructions, if it helped him with whatever he was planning she'd just do it.

"No problem, Sasuke. I'll see to everyone, but Hitomi in particular."

Sasuke nodded, Kankuro took Hitomi from Sasuke and said to Sakura, "Well come on if you're coming I guess."

Sakura smiled encouragingly at Sasuke, "Everything's going to turn out fine, you'll see."

Sasuke smiled back, which only made Sakura smile more.

Then he leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips.

Sakura's eyes went wide with surprise, and before she could close them and really enjoy the kiss Sasuke started to move away.

_Oh no you don't!_ Sakura thought sinisterly, wrapping her arms around Sasuke and using her enhanced strength to keep him from escaping her, she leaned into the kiss and finally, after years of waiting, shared at least one moment of perfect clarity with Sasuke before letting him go and climbing up the dragon's neck, too embarrassed by her own brazenness to say any sort of "goodbye".

Which was fine, she wouldn't say "goodbye" to Sasuke, they'd meet up in Kumogakure soon.

And maybe if he was finally willing to kiss her he'd be ready to do a bit more.

Maybe she was just getting ahead of herself.

"Are you okay Sakura?" Hinata asked and for the first time Sakura noticed that Hinata and Ino were on the dragon along with the other injured.

"Uh . . . yeah." Sakura said.

"Your face is so red . . ." Ino remarked, "you look like you might faint."

"It's nothing." Sakura said, a little cross and embarrassed as the dragon began to rise up.

"Are you sure? Because if you need to lay down . . ." Ino trailed off.

"I'm _fine_." Sakura said firmly, though she didn't miss the wink Ino sent Hinata.

* * *

Shikamaru and his group reached the refugees not long after Sasuke and Sakura did, Shikamaru was pleased to lean from the sentries that they'd made it back.

As soon as he reached the camp he spotted Naruto, he approached the Hokage and asked "Why're we stopped?"

"Just finished loading passengers on Kankuro's amazing flying dragon." Naruto said evenly, "Besides I was hoping to find any stragglers. Now that you and your group are here we're still missing Kiba, Shizune, Kakashi-sensei and Granny . . . among others that is. I haven't seen any of my old Genin for that matter, I would have thought Miyuki would be tending the wounded."

"I haven't seen any of them either," Shikamaru admitted, "Hara was part of my ambush force, he was under the impression that Yamamoto and Hijiri had made it out already . . ." Shikamaru hesitated, recalling that he was pretty sure . . . "I think Hijiri showed up at the ambush though."

"She did." Sasuke said, approaching the group and looking just a little flushed, "she was badly injured, I sent her on the dragon, Naruto."

"What about the others?" Naruto asked but Shikamaru didn't really hear him because he noted that Sasuke wasn't alone, Temari and Tenten were with him.

Tenten threw herself at Neji, though her injuries made it look painful.

Temari was a lot more reserved, the obvious public display of affection wasn't really her thing.

"Guess I'm not a widow, then. Shame I was already compiling a little black book." Temari remarked.

Shikamaru smiled, he decided not to bother trading barbs, instead he just walked over to her and kissed her, but then after the kiss he couldn't help but remark "I guess it's lucky for all those men I made it, none of them would want such a bossy, unfeminine woman stalking them."

"If I'm unfeminine and you married me does that mean you're really--"

"Give it a rest you two." Chouji said good naturedly.

Shikamaru smiled weakly and said "So what's the plan, Hokage-sama? I told you you'd have to decide what we do if we lose."

"I made that decision," Naruto said with a shrug, "we're going to Kumo for now, the Mizukage will be showing up for a meeting there."

"When?" Shikamaru asked.

"Raikage said one week." Naruto shrugged.

Shikamaru did a slight calculation . . .

Enough of their ninja might recover from their injuries and exhaustion by that time for an insurrection if Naruto so chose, but betraying the Raikage and siezing Kumogakure for themselves might just be offering Kabuto and Anko--that is Orochimaru, another reason to launch an all out attack on them. One of the things that made staying in Kumo so attractive was the security of it, security that would dissipate if the Raikage were murdered.

But Naruto didn't ask for that and in truth Shikamaru supposed he wasn't really the sort that would.

All Naruto said was "Lets go home . . . Or at least lets go to our temporary home away from home."

"And our next move?" Sasuke asked.

"To go home . . . Our real home." Naruto said and Shikamaru nodded agreement. The remains of Konoha's ninja and free citizens marched on towards Kumogakure escorted by Kumo ninja and Lightning soldiers.

* * *

Kotaro's eyes opened slowly, he sat up in bed . . . he was in his room.

What was going on? Wasn't there a battle going on? And why hadn't he--"Good morning sunshine." His mother said, standing in the doorway of his room.

Kotaro blinked, his mother didn't often talk like that . . . what was the pain in his neck?

"You slept the entire day away you know." His mother remarked.

"Then the battle's over?" Kotaro blinked, why hadn't anyone woke him?

"Yes it's long over." She said, "Don't worry, the good guys won."

"Is that a fact . . ." Kotaro said, doubting that he and his former-mother shared the same opinion on which side had been "good" and which hadn't.

Anko walked out of the doorway and as she passed through it the illusion of her body melted away, or perhaps the illusion was really melting _onto _her true form, Kotaro wasn't sure.

All he knew was that as she stepped into the room she became a man with skin almost paper white, eyes yellow and serpentine, hair long and black.

"You don't trust me yet. That's fine. I've given you a gift . . . you're going to become a very powerful ninja, my child."

"I'm not your child." Kotaro said coldly.

"Oh don't say things like that. It breaks poor Anko's heart to hear you talk that way. You see I have retained just enough of your mother's mind to hear her protests and screams . . . it'll pass in time when she realizes how helpless she is, so don't worry one bit about me."

Kotaro just glared, wondering if he could hit this bastard with a Chidori, but doubting he had the strength.

Orochimaru smiled, "I've done this for a reason; normally I'd take full control and only the hosts' most powerful desire would reach my mind, when I left their body they'd die. But I left just enough of your mother, Kotaro, that she can be restored when I leave. That's my offer."

"Offer?" Kotaro blinked.

"Yes, my offer. Get me a new body, and you'll have your mother back . . . and your father. Did I fail to mention? Ah yes, I captured the legendary Hatake Kakashi as well. Both your parents are at my mercy, but they'll be set free if you can carry out my wishes."

Kotaro said without hesitation "Take my body then, leave them alone."

"You're not the one I'm after I'm afraid." Orochimaru said calmly, "The one I want is Uchiha Sasuke, his Sharingan eyes intact. You and your comrades will fetch him for me when your training is completed."

"My comrades? Nao and Miko? You have them too?" Kotaro demanded.

"Those weak, worthless undesirables? No. But I do have Kurai, Yukio, Shiroi, and Kasumi, your four new teammates. Together you will be the Sound Five, you will hunt down and capture Uchiha Sasuke so that I can inhabit his body, in exchange I won't destroy your mother's mind, and I won't kill your father. Refuse me or double-cross me however . . . Well I suppose I could always surgically implant your father's Sharingan eye in your skull, it would make you more useful and while I'm at it I might as well rearrange some things in your head."

Kotaro doubted Orochimaru could rearrange anything in his head to make him work for him . . . But the danger to his mother and father was real, much too real for him.

"Just capture Uchiha Sasuke?" He asked calmly, "I won't have to hurt anyone else?"

Orochimaru laughed, "Dear boy you'll hurt whomever I _tell _you to hurt, I'm the Emperor now, my wish is your command. As the leader of the Five you will be expected to carry out various duties to keep the peace, you'll do as your told . . . But there are benefits. You will have access to my vast knowledge, learn from me. You'll also learn from the strictest, most brutal instructor, the same woman that turned a spoiled prince into the death machine you know as Akuma. When your training is complete you'll be one of the most powerful ninja the world has ever known . . ."

Kotaro looked away, thoughts of power wouldn't tempt him.

"You'll also be able to observe humanity itself, study it, understand it as I myself intend to do. You may not be my flesh and blood son, but you do have my thirst for knowledge. Besides . . . Wouldn't it be a shame if your friends, Nao and Miko was it? Wouldn't it be ashamed if they were hunted down by another member of the Five and you weren't able to help them? As leader of the Sound Five you'd be able to take your friends alive . . . Or let them slip through the net even, if it meant bringing me Uchiha. What do you say?"

Kotaro clenched his fists, he didn't have any choice . . .

"I'll never join you." He said coldly, "My father would understand and my friends would rather die than be at your mercy."

"Are you so sure that helping them from the inside isn't the better course?" Orochimaru sneered.

"I might have thought so, but the fact that you even suggest it just affirms that it'd be wrong, you probably have some sort of plan or Jutsu to keep me in line, or to make me loyal to you once I join you."

Orochimaru laughed, he turned for the door and said "Clever boy . . . wrong, but clever. You see Kotaro I am an honest Emperor and Kamikage. The Shinobi world must return to its roots. In shadow and in secret, let the rest of the world wage its public wars let ninja be the terrifying whisper in the night. I've unified the world Kotaro, you can stand at the forefront as my right hand and help me to preserve it and the peace or you can oppose me."

Kotaro wanted very much to continue opposing Orochimaru.

But the opportunity to ruin things for the tyrant from the inside was too much. The chance to rescue his parents too much.

Even if he could just get to his father it might be enough, his father might know a way to stop Orochimaru.

He lowered his gaze, ashamed of himself . . .

But the world _was _at peace, and it would be a long time before another full scale war broke out.

It might be nice to just train and research, to be apart of something upholding the peace.

If his parents weren't being held hostage he might even consider this a good deal.

But the fact was his parents _were _being held hostage, and that was something he'd never forgive.

"I'll join you," Kotaro said calmly, "I'll bring you Uchiha Sasuke."

_And someday, _Kotaro thought, _I'll kill you._

As if the evil creature had read his mind Orochimaru smiled a sinister smile at Kotaro, as if to say _just try it_, but Kotaro supposed in reality the man was just smiling because he'd gotten what he wanted . . .

For now.

* * *

Hitomi's eyes slowly opened, she gazed around the room, her brain seemed to be working in slow motion.

She saw a figure dressed in white standing near her bed, was that an angel? Was she in heaven? How did _she _get into heaven?

No, no, couldn't be that . . . so what was going on?

He was reading from a clipboard, her brain began to struggle to get back up to normal speed, but while it was still down she hazarded a guess at the figure in white, "M-Miyuki?"

The figure turned to face her, it wasn't Miyuki, it was a man.

He was vaguely familiar, Hitomi began to remember him as he smiled and said "Well, well, the leaf bug's awake."

"Bendo . . ." Hitomi grumbled.

"Endo," the doctor said with what Hitomi's brain had sped up enough to recognize as a smirk, "and might I add what a lovely scowl you have. Your boyfriend is going to be ticked, I told him he didn't have to stay with you, you probably weren't going to wake up for another day or two, told him 'go ahead, attend that Kage meeting."

Hitomi blinked, forcing her brain to work faster and process information properly, "What Kage meeting? Why's Naomasa at a Kage meeting?"

"I meant Uchiha, he comes here and just sits in a chair waiting for you to get up. Uchiha wanted me to tell him as soon as you were conscious but there's this whole meeting of the Kages and the Hokage chose Uchiha to be one of his aids. He was going to turn down the offer but Haruno wouldn't shut up about supporting the Hokage so I told him not to worry, you probably wouldn't wake up, now he's probably going to shove that lightning fist of his down my throat." The doctor said though he didn't look concerned, just amused.

"Why are you taking care of me?" Hitomi asked.

Endo raised an eyebrow, "For the joy of healing others? I don't know really. Mostly because you're here, injured, and because though you're usually Haruno Sakura's problem she just happens to be the _other _aid to the Hokage, and I was the only person around to take over making sure you didn't swallow your tongue or something."

He smiled at her and said "From what they've told me though, you're set to make a full recovery, though it could be a while before you can use that arm for ninja arts again."

Hitomi noted her bandaged right arm, her burns ran only a couple inches past her elbow, but it'd felt as if they were much worse.

She sat up in bed and asked "When can I leave?"

"When Haruno-sama says so." Endo said simply, "I don't hold much faith for medical ninja, but I will say I respect _her_. When I first saw you dragged in here I thought we'd have to amputate that arm, the burns covered the whole thing right up to the shoulder."

"And now it's like this . . ." Hitomi said, eyeing her comparatively minor injury. Then she glared at Endo, "You would have _amputated_ my arm? Because of a burn?"

"My rule is that if I can see more bone than flesh you probably won't need the limb anymore. _That _is how bad it was before Haruno showed up, and it's why I'll admit to grudgingly respecting her medical prowess now." Endo said casually, as if he were talking about what he'd wear tomorrow rather than removing a vital part of her body.

Hitomi massaged her forehead with her working arm, "Is Miyuki around?"

Endo didn't answer, Hitomi assumed he didn't know who she meant, she asked "My friend from before? Have you seen her at all? Or maybe you could just ask for the name, Yamamoto Mi--"

"I know who you're talking about . . ." Endo said carefully, "Look . . . She didn't make it to Kumogakure."

Hitomi felt tears rush to her eyes, "What? No, she can't be . . . I mean you're not saying--"

"No, I'm not," Endo said quickly, sounding irritated, "don't make assumptions. I just said she didn't get to Kumo, but then a lot of your ninja didn't arrive here. She might have made a break for Kusa or something, you never know."

"Well has anyone come to see me?" Hitomi asked, thinking maybe Hara had been in and maybe he knew where Miyuki might be.

"Dunno. I haven't paid much attention to you. There has been this girl with braids every once in a while though, running errands of some sort for some Jounin but checking in on you for whatever reason, and like I said; Uchiha."

Hitomi nodded slowly, and tried to get out of bed but Endo stopped her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Not so fast, you're not clear to leave until Haruno says so."

Hitomi groaned irritably, Endo just smirked.

She looked around the hospital room, it was small, cramped, she didn't like it.

"I want to go." She commented. "I don't like this place, and I definitely don't like the idea of being treated by you even if its only temporary."

"Sucks to be you then, doesn't it?" Endo laughed, "Why don't we try something to get your mind off things?"

"Fine," Hitomi scowled, "What's the state of things?"

"Hmm? Your arm is burned and you're in the hospital."

"I mean the state of things outside here. How many ninja made it out of Konoha? Why are we in Kumogakure?"

Endo shrugged, "I don't know how many ninja made it out of Konoha, maybe a hundred, two hundred? As for why you're in Kumo, well the Kages are discussing it but it seems like most of you are going to stay in Kumogakure or take over some nearby town until Konoha and Suna can be recovered. Otherwise you'll probably all go to Kirigakure with us and hide on one of the smaller islands so you're out of our hair. Those are the rumors anyway, for all I know the Kage are discussing what color the decorations should be for the new years celebration."

Hitomi shook her head slowly, whatever the Kage decided she wouldn't go to Kiri and leave Konoha to rot, at least not unless she could confirm that Hara and Miyuki were already safe.

Until she knew where they were, or what their fate was she wouldn't leave the mainland, and if it turned out that their fate was bad . . . well she just wouldn't leave at all, she'd stay and get revenge however she could.

She closed her eyes . . . Whatever the Kage decided she was going to fight, she just needed to get healed.

So she'd rest quietly, and hope it sped things up.

* * *

Naruto was watching the horizon almost as if he expected to see the silhouette of an oncoming army.

Hinata was watching Naruto, worried about him.

Whatever had gone down at the meeting of the Kage hadn't sat well with Naruto, Sasuke had actually stormed out early and that was probably what had upset the poor young Hokage.

Hinata swept her hair over her shoulder and said "N-Nartuo-kun, how do you like it in Kumogakure?"

"It's fine, but it just doesn't feel like home." Naruto said.

Hinata nodded, "It shouldn't. If we get too comfortable it might delay our return to Konoha, right? We … are going back, aren't we?"

Naruto frowned and kept looking at the horizon, "We are."

"How soon?" Hinata asked.

Naruto looked at her and said "Ten years."

Hinata stared at him with a mixture of confusion and horror, "T-ten?"

But the Hokage smiled and said, "Kidding . . . just kidding . . . but then again it took about that long for Kabuto to throw us out maybe it'll take that long for us to get back in . . . how can anyone say?"

"Well . . . what's the plan?" Hinata asked.

Naruto gazed into the distance again, but this time Hinata realized he was looking out towards the sea, Kumo's ninja captured the Water country's fleet . . . And they've got a lot of extra room aboard . . . Enough that two light destroyers will be filled almost to capacity with our civilians . . . those willing to go anyway."

Hinata blinked, "N-Naruto-kun, we're joining Kirigakure?"

"No." Naruto said. "The Mizukage offered us sanctuary, the Land of Water isn't just one big island, it's a big island surrounded by smaller ones, as you know . . . we're going to build a new village on one of the smaller islands . . . it's impossible to attack the Land of Water without a massive fleet, one that wouldn't be able to show up undetected, this gives us the best possible defense against Kabuto . . . and keeps our allies in Cloud from becoming targets when it becomes known that they helped us at all."

"But . . . we're just going to abandon the mainland?" Hinata whispered.

"That's what Sasuke says. But that's not what we were planning . . . it's a regrouping effort. In this new village we can safely lick our wounds, more than half of our remaining ninja are academy students and Genin, by being so close to Kirigakure we can host secret Chuunin exams, keeping the ninja of both our countries sharp . . . when the time is right we return."

Hinata frowned, she wasn't a major fan of the idea but . . . she would follow Naruto's orders.

"I talked to Sakura-chan about it after the meeting was over, she said I should consult Shikamaru, but . . . I relied on Shikamaru for everything during the invasion, what kind of Hokage would I be if I kept going to him for everything? This is a decision I should be able to make on my own and . . . Honestly I'd made up my mind before Suigetsu even suggested the second island."

"So what's your decision?" Hinata asked.

Naruto looked at her, "I'm . . . I'm going to ask something really difficult of you, Hinata-chan . . . and it's because I trust you . . ."

Hinata nodded, "Anything."

"You're the head of the Hyuga clan now. I want you to stay in Kumogakure with your sister . . . join the Raikage's ranks."

Hinata blinked, "I don't understand . . ."

"When we leave there are going to be other ninja who got out of Konoha and couldn't make it here, I want someone here in Kumogakure to help direct them, Gaara's leaving Kankuro and an honor guard who're going to work with the Raikage's Hishu to sneak the families of Suna's surviving ninja and Wind's soldiers to the island . . . I would like you and your clan to remain behind as Konoha's honor guard, keep an eye on things on the mainland and when the time is right let those on the island know."

Hinata noted two things about her Hokage's insturctions.

The first was that she was to keep an eye on things on the mainland, she suspected Naruto also wanted her to keep an eye on Kumogakure's ninja, to spy on their allies and ensure that they were trustworthy, which would place her clan in a tight corner if the Raikage double-crossed them, they'd be cut off from any support by an entire ocean.

It would be dangerous, but then again someone had to do it, knowing whether or not Kumo was truly friendly was important.

The other thing she noticed was the way Naruto-kun had said "let those on the island know" as if he wouldn't be there . . .

"Are you staying in Kumogakure too, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

Naruto looked at her and said nothing for a long time.

Finally he whispered "No. I'm . . . I'm going to try to find a way to . . ." he shook his head, "I'm going to be on a mission of my own . . . alone."

"But then who will lead us?" Hinata asked.

"Gaara will have control of his own forces and technical control of the Konoha ninja in a combat situation, but otherwise Sakura, Shikamaru and Sasuke will form a military council until I get back." Naruto said.

Hinata looked out at the waters as Naruto had been doing, "You're sure about this? About this exile?" She asked.

Naruto nodded, "It's the best thing. Right now most of the Fire and Wind soldiers aren't interested in continuing the fight as long as their families can be kept safe, and our ninja have their families already so they won't be eager to leave them so quickly just to recapture the charred remains of a city . . . this'll give us time to restore our strength . . . and even enjoy the peace for a while. Maybe Orochimaru's empire won't be so bad and we can just enjoy a life of freedom, if that's the case when my mission is complete I'll call you and the other Hyuga to the island.

"But in the more likely event that Kabuto is a tyrannical despot . . . well not only will waiting give us time to train more ninja and sharpen our own survivors, but give the people time to see that peace in and of itself isn't the goal, freedom is. It'll give them time to decide which side they're on . . . when, and _if _the war begins again it won't be about country lines, Hinata-chan . . . it's going to be them or us, ninja or empire, freedom or servitude. Give the common folk time to recognize that some things are worth fighting for even if it puts you at risk.

"If Kabuto and Orochimaru need to be overthrown--and lets face it, they probably will--it'd be easier for us and harder for them if there's a civilian uprising at the time of our attack. Until then . . . like I said, we just lick our wounds and enjoy the peace."

"I'd enjoy the peace better if I knew where you were going." Hinata said.

Naruto smiled, "Don't worry . . . when I get back you'll be the first person I come to."

Hinata took a deep breath and said "All right . . . the Hyuga clan will be your honor guard."

"Thank you, Hinata-chan . . ." Naruto whispered.

Hinata swallowed a lump in her throat and asked "Just . . . when are you planning to leave? For your mission?"

"As soon as possible . . . but before that I should make sure the village is on its feet so I'll go to the island for a month or two to oversee the planning and as soon as I'm sure they'll be okay I'll set out."

Hinata felt nervous, not afraid or ashamed, just nervous as she said "Then . . . we have some time to spend together before you go."

Naruto nodded slightly, "Yeah . . . Not sure what we'd do in this place, dattebayo."

"I-I can think of at l-least one thing." Hinata barely managed to say without fainting.

Naruto smiled, she could tell he'd guessed what she had in mind. Seeing him smile at her, she didn't feel nervous anymore.

* * *

Naomasa sat on top of a wall near the Kumogakure barracks.

Most of the city was off limits to ninja and soldiers, the public didn't want to be bothered but more importantly the Raikage didn't want anyone to know that Konoha and Suna's surviving ninja were staying in his city.

So Naomasa and Yomiko couldn't wear their forehead protectors, couldn't even carry them on their persons even though they were within the confines of the Kumo-nin barracks.

Things were starting to get sorted out now, Naruto-sama had made the announcement, they'd be falling back to an uninhabited island and building a new village, a new life for themselves.

They would wait . . . they would rebuild their lives.

Most everyone's family had escaped the city, Anbu and Hishu units had been abducting the families of surviving Suna ninja and Wind soldiers for the past week, Shikamaru-sensei said that it was a dangerous thing to do because no one knew who was or wasn't a Sound operative.

But he hadn't seen or heard from Eri. If she was alive she'd stayed in Konoha for whatever reason, and nobody had tried to get into Konoha, it was too dangerous.

They wouldn't forget those who might have been taken prisoner, Hokage-sama had said that there would be no lasting peace unless Orochimaru agreed to hand those people over, but for now it was necessary to lick their wounds.

Naomasa had been told that since many Jounin had died in the fighting Chuunin like himself might be expected to help in the training of Genin teams, he doubted it would come to that.

Besides what would he teach them?

He wondered how Hitomi was doing. Would she get a Genin team? What would she teach them? Her killer Jutsu? Something milder?

He wondered how she was doing . . . he hadn't been able to see her, Haruno Sakura had forbade anyone without official business from going to the hospital and Naomasa had no official business.

So he sat alone on the wall, thinking about Hitomi, thinking about Eri, thinking about Kotaro , who'd been captured right before he and Kyoko could escape.

He thought about Yomiko, Shikamaru-sensei, and his parents who were in Kirigakure.

He wouldn't be able to see them unless he joined Mist, the island they would be going to was separate and for security reasons wouldn't be getting any visitors.

But he'd have Emiko at least. She and her husband would be going to the island too, once the building started he'd probably stay with them until a barracks could be finished or until he managed to find some place of his own.

He briefly imagined a quiet home, maybe even a farm . . .

But no. That wasn't for him.

He was a ninja, his house would be a place to sleep and nothing more, when Konohagakure was recaptured, restored, then he'd worry about things like farms or shops, until then only one thing mattered . . .

He had to become a powerful ninja, he had to help take back Konoha . . . and he had to fix Hitomi's Jutsu, like he said he would.

"Naomasa . . ." Shikamaru-sensei called up the wall, Nao turned and looked down to see his sensei and Temari-sensei standing together looking up at him.

Nao leapt down from the eight foot wall and landed softly on his feet, "Yes, Senesi?"

Shikamaru-sensei put his hands in his pockets and said "Yomiko says your friend is in the hospital and you can't get in to see her . . . She asked me to write up some fake authorization for you because you were, according to her, 'too damn gloomy'."

Naomasa frowned, Yomiko had gone and told Shikamaru-sensei that? Asked him to do that? It surprised him because Yomiko didn't really approve of his liking Hitomi, and he was amazed she noticed his gloominess at all since he'd been careful to be gloomy only when she was around her mother, when she was around him he'd tried to pretend to be upbeat and enthusiastic, "Kotaro was just captured" he'd say, "we'll rescue him" or "Eri's probably fine, she's too valuable to kill" he'd tell her and himself.

Now a chance to see Hitomi . . . but did he even have it in him? She was strong, did he want to see her in such a weakened state? He knew the answer; he wanted to see her no matter what . . . But Shikamaru-sensei couldn't possibly send him, probably wouldn't approve himself of Nao liking Hitomi . . . so he said "I . . . I don't know, she's probably not even conscious and if you wrote some fake authorization you might get in trouble, sensei."

"Exactly, which is why I'm not doing it." Shikamaru shrugged, "On the other hand . . . as you know, Temari is getting exceptionally f--"

"Say "fat" and I'll drown you in a pool of your own blood," Temari said cheerfully.

"_Pregnant_," Shikamaru-sensei decided. Naomasa didn't think Temari looked any different at all, but he let Shikamaru-sensei continue talking, "she really should see a doctor and so she'll be going to see Sakura. She should have an escort in this alien city but I can't go because I . . . well I just don't want to. So I'm assigning it to you to take my wife to the hospital . . . occupy yourself while she's being examined or cut open or whatever it is doctors do to pregnant women, then escort her back. Consider it a D ranked mission that I'm not paying you for."

Naomasa smiled weakly, he could see now that while Shikamaru might not be writing him some fake authorization he had still found a way to do Naomasa this favor, whether or not he approved. All Nao could think to say was "Thank you, sensei."

Shikamaru just shrugged and Temari said "Well, let's go."

Naomasa followed her out of the barracks gate, she flashed some paper to the two Jounin guards, and the two of them walked casually through the streets of Kumogakure, blending with the civilians as any ninja could.

Naomasa was able to see the city for the first time, or at least the parts of the city that led to the hospital.

It was pretty, but it wasn't beautiful, it wasn't Konoha.

* * *

Hitomi was awoken from her sleep by Uchiha Sasuke, who stood towering over her, his red Sharingan eyes activated, similar to her own eyes and yet still different.

"Your friends never made it back." Sasuke said calmly, "We have no way of knowing if they were killed or if they were captured, but there are a lot of ninja who are missing in action . . . they might just be lost, unsure of where to go."

Hitomi frowned and sat up, "Thank you . . ." she trailed off, hoping Uchiha would explain his reasons for showing up and telling her all this out of the blue.

She hadn't asked him anything, in fact hadn't seen him at all, even though Endo had said that Uchiha had barely left her side since they arrived in Kumo.

She'd assumed he'd been satisfied by the knowledge that she'd pulled through and went about his business, she wasn't expecting him to bother visiting her now, and wasn't entirely sure she welcomed his visit if all he was going to do was tell her what she already knew; Miyuki and Hara were lost or dead.

She noticed that Sasuke wasn't wearing his usual Uchiha jacket, but instead was dressed like a civilian, a traveler, he even had a large pack on his back, "Sakura says your arm should be more or less healed by now, if you feel like you can use it you're free to go. If you're prepared to go . . . you can come with me and we'll see if we can find your friends."

Hitomi blinked, "What?"

"The Kage are all going to play the waiting game, they're going to retreat and lick their wounds, they say they're not going to just forget those we've left behind but I know better. They might make an attempt to rescue any prisoners they can find but they won't look for missing-nin, they'll just hope they make it to Kumo on their own. Your friends, Kiba, Tsunade, Shizune, my old sensei Kakashi . . . if they're out there I'm going to find them before I even think about hiding away with the others and accepting defeat."

Hitomi considered it for a moment, then nodded, getting out of bed and moving her bandaged arm around just to see if she could do so without pain.

"For Hara and Miyuki, for _anyone _we can find . . . sure, I'll follow you."

Uchiha nodded, "One hour, be dressed for the road and at the gate, I'll have supplies ready for you."

Hitomi nodded, Uchiha left without another word.

Hitomi paced for a few moments, then called for a nurse and asked her to bring her things.

But it turned out her clothes had been ruined, apart from her resilient flak jacket, which she couldn't wear if she were pretending to be a civilian, it'd be just a tad obvious.

Someone had "donated" civilian clothing for her, all of it just happened to be road worthy so she suspected it was from Uchiha. She dressed in the clothing she'd need, took only the ninja pouches and equipment she could easily hide, the days when ninja could stroll around with their kunai holsters and equipment pouches in plain sight were gone.

But she didn't want to just throw her flak jacket away, and she couldn't risk carrying it with her, so instead she wrote a note and left it and the jacket with one of the nurses to deliver to the first Konoha ninja who had the time.

He thought briefly of seeing Tomoko or Naomasa before she left, just to be sure they were okay, thought of seeing Naruto-sensei too but in the end she decided against all three.

Naruto-sensei might ask where she was going, she didn't get the impression that Uchiha's mission was officially sanctioned, finding Tomoko just to say "goodbye" would take time she might not have, and seeing Naomasa would only feed the boy's unhealthy attraction to her . . . There was no reason to lead him on, and even if it might be comforting to see him before leaving she'd only be going for her own selfish reasons, no point in bothering him or being bothered by him.

So she just left and headed for the gate.

It would be mere minutes after she left the hospital that Naomasa would arrive, and be given her flak jacket and the simple, short note she'd composed.

_Please keep this safe until my mission is complete._

_~Hijiri Hitomi_

But she never knew he was there, and really it wouldn't have mattered, she didn't want anyone to try and stop her . . .

She rushed through the streets as fast as she could without attracting attention, she didn't know where anything was in Kumo, but finding the main gate was a simple matter since, like the gate of Konoha, it was so large.

Sasuke nodded when Hitomi arrived at the gate, "Any later and we'd have left you." He said flatly, "Let's move out."

"Lets . . ." Hitomi grunted, "Who else is in our . . ." she trailed off as she got her answer.

"Your arm will still need tending as we go, so for a little while at least I'll be helping you out. Besides, my father's missing same as your friends," Endo said, "I travel with you two I figure I can find him and then you can bust him out of whatever prison he's in, assuming he's still alive that is."

Hitomi sighed, then shrugged. "Let's get moving then." She said, but looked and saw Uchiha Sasuke had already started down the road.

And so she followed him, Endo followed her, and the three of them left Kumogakure unimpeded, though hardly unnoticed.

Hitomi noted the Hishu who watched them go, but didn't pursue.

She hated to think that Naruto-sensei would find out that she'd deserted from the enemy's black ops team . . . But then again it was more likely that they wouldn't even bother to tell Naruto-sensei, that they'd tell the Raikage and no one else.

And before long they'd probably find out someone was following them, intent on stealing those Uchiha eyes.

Hitomi smiled, in spite of herself. The journey had only begun, and already it was exciting.

* * *

Toshiie stepped into the audience chamber of the Tsuchikage, his liege said "I am most pleased to see our Immortal Hero returns to us."

Toshiie registered the words but didn't pay them much attention.

They were unimportant. Lord Orochimaru had brought him back to life with one single purpose in mind. It wasn't to kill Nara Shikamaru, that would just be a bonus if he carried out his other duties properly.

Orochimaru's desire was simple: Toshiie had to be loyal.

The phantoms leapt out of an amulet Toshiie wore, they were invisible to the naked eye but Toshiie felt their presence attack the Tsuchikage and his assistants. In an uninjured state the great ninja might resist the phantom serpent, but Toshiie wouldn't give the man the time.

He drew his sword which had been recovered when Nara left it behind in Konoha. It came to life with wind chakra, and without a word he slashed out and cut through the Tsuchikage's nearest assistant, then through the unprepared Tsuchikage himself, the act was finished before Toshiie himself fully recognized that he was committing it.

His former liege lay dead in a pool of blood, the second assistant recovered enough to try to run, Toshiie let him go, he wasn't the target, and now that the mission assigned to him by Lord Orochimaru was completed the serpents dissipated, there would be no evidence that he hadn't killed the Tsuchikage fairly, or at least as fairly as any ninja would be.

Toshiie turned to the assembled group of Iwa ninja who had survived the fiasco at Konoha, "I'm the Tsuchikage now," he told them.

Only one of them dared to argue, Kuto stammered, shaking her head, "Y-you just murdered the Tsuchikage, that doesn't make you--"

Without a word he slammed his blade into her chest and twisted it, slashing to the side and severing her left arm as he cut the blade free of her body.

"I'm the Tsuchikage now," he said again, this time nobody argued. "Clean the mess," he instructed his ninja, six of whom worked together to drag the dead bodies away as he practically fell into the Tsuchikage's chair.

Orochimaru had brought him back to life not to face Nara Shikamaru in Konoha, but to be a loyal servant, and that was exactly what he would be.

And his village would be loyal servants of Orochimaru too.

And so with just one man, Orochimaru conquered Iwagakure, greatest of the remaining Shinobi villages.

And Toshiie was happy to have been a part of it . . .

Whatever Lord Orochimaru wanted he would do without failure, and now he had an entire army to ensure success.

* * *

Shikamaru leaned against the railing of the light destroyer _Kagemusha_, which Naruto-sama had named in his honor, the second destroyer which the Land of Waters had given the now sea-bound ninja formerly of Konoha and Suna.

The ships were small, decently armed, but not exactly the power of the seas. They weren't built for sea combat so much as transporting troops, and they had a great human cargo capacity, which was why they'd been handed over, the navy of The Land of Waters had too few soldiers and sailors left to fully man every ship returning to their capital island so rather than leaving anything to Kumo and Lightning, they'd somewhat grudgingly handed them over to Konoha and Suna.

All told there was just over a thousand soldiers heading for the island, most of them from Hirate Akira's Wind regiment, though some remnants of Taisho Miura's Fire regiments remained Taisho Miura himself hadn't made it out of the city.

And ninja . . . well if the headcount was accurate--and it was--less than two hundred ninja would be taking residence on the island. In addition to the twelve members of the Hyuga clan remaining behind as Naruto-sama's honor guard to guide new ninja in the right direction, eight of Konoha's ninja had decided to accept a position with Kumogakure, or Kirigakure.

About seventy Suna ninja remained, and just over a hundred Konoha ninja, six squads of which were young Genin.

"What do you think, sensei?" Yomiko asked.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her, "About what?"

"The future. Are we going to make it, you think?"

Shikamaru smiled, "Yes. I don't have any doubt. We'll build a new village, but it'll only be temporary, when our ninja force is strong enough we'll strike back and defeat Orochimaru . . . we'll take out homes back."

Shikamaru watched the ocean roll by beneath their ship. It'd be hard, but they wouldn't give up. For the sake of the next generation, like Yomiko, or Sumiko, they didn't have the luxury of just giving in.

He forced a smile and looked at the other passengers.

Gaara was coming to the village but Kankuro was staying behind, and so was Syako, presumably to be near Kankuro who was ignoring her existence, but Naruto and Shikamaru suspected she really just wanted to be on the mainland in case she needed to contact Kabuto, Syako would never have another unaccounted for moment as long as she lived, the Hishu would see to that.

Neji and Tenten had stayed with Hinata, Ino and Chouji were coming to the island of course, they had a future to think about, a child to raise, and this sanctuary was probably the best place for that.

Kiba, Tsunade, and Shizune were missing, presumed lost. Shino's cousin Kurai, such a promising ninja, was gone too.

In fact most of the promising youths were gone, Oedo Daisuke had been lost and his sister Tomoko had resigned, saying that there was nothing for her with Konoha since her father and brother were dead and her clan were, apparently, to be punished. Kyusaku also had failed to escape, Tomoko had confirmed his death and so Chouji had lost his entire team.

Even though he said he approved of Tomoko's decision to blaze her own trail and join Kumogakure's ninja, Shikamaru knew it hurt Chouji to lose them, they had been like his siblings or even his own children.

It hurt Shikamaru a bit to know that he was the cause of part of Chouji's pain, for it had been he who suggested to Naruto that leaving Tomoko in Kumogakure as a mole would be a good idea. The girl had reluctantly agreed to transfer her services on paper whilst taking a vow of secret loyalty to the Hokage.

Nao and Yomiko had made it out, Kotaro hadn't . . . Kyoko had made it, neither Yukio nor Ryu had, and both Nao and Kyoko shared the same sullen, depressed looks. Shikamaru noted that Naomasa wasn't wearing his flak jacket, just a red and white coat, the colors of the Ishida clan without the symbols on the shoulders.

Naruto was on the bridge of the ship along with Sakura, probably discussing what measures they'd take to track down and bring back Sasuke, who'd left a letter refusing to "retire" and insisting that he would raise his own army and then fight his own war, which obviously upset Naruto.

It upset Shikamaru too because he wasn't so sure he didn't want to be with Sasuke. He knew it was the wrong thing to do, that Uchiha and those with him were doomed to failure, but all the same for some reason Shikamaru would almost rather fight and fail than retreat. But what Sasuke failed to realize was that they weren't running away, they were regrouping. Hopefully he'd realize that and they could work together when the time came to really wage war again.

But Shikamaru watched Temari, knew that because of her, Sumiko, and their unborn child he couldn't go, and knew as well that a small, selfish part of him was glad.

He wouldn't be retiring on the island, he'd be planning and plotting and preparing to play the biggest, most high stakes game of shogi the world had yet seen. But part of him _wished _that Uchiha's accusations were true, that they were giving up, that he could just live the rest of his days with his wife and children in perfect peace and quiet. It made him feel sick to think that way.

He watched the sky as the ship sailed onwards, the clouds . . . they looked so peaceful.

On the surface the world resembled them now, peaceful. The war was over, the suffering at an end, rebuilding could start and peace had come.

But it was all a lie . . . In the shadows the war was continuing, people would be taken to be part of Orochimaru's experiments, just as Shikamaru had been told it was before, and good, honorable men and women would die pointlessly trying to stop it.

The peace was a lie. So many would suffer, so many would die, the war was far from over.

A quiet life with Temari and their children . . . It was all he wanted, all that was required for his world to be perfect and complete, he wanted a quiet life, wanted retirement . . . but first he had to earn it.

He'd carve his happy ending out of the tattered remains of Orochimaru's.

As he saw the island that would be their new home coming up on the horizon he decided they did have one last weapon, something Orochimaru had _almost, _but had ultimately failed to take from them.

Hope.

Sasuke was wrong. They weren't running away, they weren't retiring. The ninja of Konoha and Suna would be back, and when they returned, they would take back their world.

The war wasn't lost. For better or for worse . . . it wasn't over yet, this was just the beginning of a new phase of the war, maybe they'd have to fight in a new way, maybe guerilla groups like Sasuke's would be the order of the day, maybe that would be what toppled Kabuto's evil empire.

But one thing was for sure, they _would _topple it, they _would _win.

* * *

**One Year Later**

Naruto stood on the outskirts of the new village. He glanced over his shoulder once, just once. It was a thriving little place, all things considered it was doing very well and with Shikamaru and Gaara in charge for a while Naruto had no worries about his little . . . pilgramage.

_When I come back__ it will be time, and I will be ready and worthy,_ he thought as he slipped away into the night, towards the dock they'd built and the small boat he'd had prepared for his journey.

The journey that would change his life for, he hoped, the better.

**The End**

**Final Word:** It's really hard to believe we've come so far. Back when I first started writing New Blood I didn't expect it to go over one hundred chapters, didn't expect it to take three years to finish though that is due at least partially to my own occasional laziness, being disracted by other projects, and so on.

Part of me wonders how many of the people who were with us since chapter one are still around, it's been such a long time sometimes even I'm amazed I stuck with it and, crazier still, plan to write a sequel, but after nearly three years New Blood is finally finished.

The sequel's first chapter should be up, the title is Old Souls and I've written a Gaiden that takes place shortly before Old Souls but isn't required reading, it was just something that I wanted to write one day so I did. It is called Saeki, it's Orochimaru's new world through the eyes of Ito Taiki, Naomasa's nephew, it's my attempt to really illustrate what Orochimaru's world order is like for someone who is more or less raised in it and sheltered from its darker side.

Though New Blood itself is over, the war is far from done, but I'm not making any new forum so check the New Blood message board for discussions on New Blood, Old Souls, Saeki, Red Eyes, and all the fan fictions from the New Blood universe, the link is in my profile, moved to the top so it's even easier to find now.


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